FX's The Strain

FX announced this morning that it has been renewed for season 2.

 

You're kidding right ?

 

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/fxs-strain-renewed-second-season-725669

 

Nope.

Shalom, y'all!

L. Bangs

 

From the article:

"The series opened in July — after a wave of controversy surrounding its graphic billboards — to 3 million viewers but grew to 4.7 million with three days of time shifting. Factoring in encores, the total grew to 8 million total viewers, with 2.43 million among the advertiser-coveted adults 18-49 demographic, ranking The Strain as the best demo premiere on cable this year. Through five broadcasts, the series is averaging 2.34 million total viewers. FX notes that the series premiere ranks as the most-watched in FX history with 12.7 million total viewers."

That, folks, is success. Congrats to them.

 

Been watching, still waiting for something to happen.

 

Wow...So now we have good guy vampires?? At least they don't have any qualms about killing the infected.

Wondering when the exterminator hooks up with the good guys.

And wondering how the boxer will escape without being killed by his friend in that jail cell.

 

I was gonna say.... who the heck were THOSE GUYS?!?!?!

 

Remember this was a 3 book series...things don't all unfold in the first 10 minutes. There are lots of surprises coming.

 

This episode as you saw the exterminator hooked up with the good guys.

Nice cameo from make up great Rick Baker in this one as well (the guy in the gas station with the ponytail).

 

I thought this was, by far, the weakest episode of the season (so far, anyway). Way too much "let's battle the vampires" stuff. The foreboding menace of all the earlier shows is much more suspenseful.

 

I liked this most recent episode. Wasn't the best, but I like how the plot is moving forward and the various storylines are coming together.

 

Anybody read the books?

Wonder if we'll see more of Sean Astin's wife now that he has...................
Not bad.

 

Not yet. All checked out at the library and so looking for them at a bargain price b/c I'm a cheap mofo. Thinking I'll wait until the first season is over before reading anyway.

 

We thought the reveal of The Master was weak, weak sauce. I've seen better makeup FX on Face Off - and just in this season alone! That was truly disappointing.

Couple that with horrible child-acting from Eph's son, constant awful acting from Eph's partner, and over-the-top awful acting from "hacker goddess," and this week's ep was a bust.

 

Agree about his partner. A weak sex act by her. Over the top.

 

This week:

Negatives:

Entirely gratuitous sex scene
Eph's son can't act
Still not sure what the point of the English hacker is, except to stand around looking hot

Pros
Well, now we know how the boxer gets away. I guess he'll hook up with the good guys soon

Eh:

I didn't mind the Master reveal was all that terrible. I don't know what else you might have expected.

Questions:
They know these vampires can't be in the light. So why do all the Muskateers insist on going back to their houses in the dark?
Why did the Master break the old guy's hands (back in the day), but not inflect/kill him?

 

I hope Eph's son doesn't last too long on the series.

 

Not sure that sex scene was gratuitous, thought it made sense regarding the characters' relationship. I agree on the disappointment of the Master reveal in the last episode. He looked familiar, almost frog-ish in a way. I did think it was an interesting scene aside from that. I can also say that I enjoy Fet more when he's by himself. Definitely an irritating guy when around others. Looking forward to how ever many episodes are left in this season.

Anyway, what I've enjoyed from these last few episodes:

Spoiler

The development of the strigori and their relationship with the Master, along with the arrival of a rival strigori gang. Someone may have mentioned earlier that the rival gang is upset at this latest effort to upset or spoil the truce/treaty. I can only guess this will be explored in later episodes, which should be fun. I've read elsewhere that the head honcho of that gang is the Master's son and is somewhat of a hybrid, which is touched on in the books.

There is also the bits of dark humor here and there. This last episode when Fet uses Eph's credit card to fill the gas tanks and decides to use the premium with a 'what the hell' moment, and back to the second episode when the lady feeds the neighbor to her husband after the guy told her he beat her dog - dark revenge fantasy.

I'm also enjoying the exploration of Setrakian and Eichorst's prior engagement in the concentration camp. The previous episode when Eichorst rants about how Hitler was 'elected' was terrific. This Nazi fascism/vampire virus theme is fascinating to me. The continued play on sentimentality in this series was possibly a reason why the Master didn't kill Abe back in the day.

 

I thought last night's episode was the least suspenseful so far...The amount of time given to the story of Eph's wife turning into a vampire was pretty odd...I have to imagine that she's going to reappear and that the Master was summoning her for some very specific purpose. Will she be like the German, and able to pass for human?

I guess we will see the guy who works security for the rich guy again...

The hacker is an idiot. "You hurt my feelings. I am so out of here." Yeah, OK,

I won't miss Eph's wife's Brooklyn friend.

So..."Half the students and teachers" didn't show up, mostly without calling (which suggests they're dead/vampires). It seems that at this rate, the whole city should be vampires within a few more days.

 

So...final episode for the season down...

I think it's gotten a lot more cartoonish as it has gone alone...Still fun/interesting but not as good as the first few episodes...

 

Well they now have time for the writers to work out the kinks. We should know by the 2nd or 3rd episode how it's going to go I would think.

 

Finally got around to watching the last 2 episodes. Man, writers/directors really straining to stretch this out as the plot holes/contrivances are shining pretty bright. Looking forward to the next season, and hoping they can get this thing back on track.

 

Do you think this thing has something to do with The Holocaust? The old man has the numbers tattooed on his forearm and they made a reference to it once.
That would be kind of cool if this thing was made by the Nazis and it somehow got out.


I'm sorry if this is already mentioned, I stopped reading this thread because I bought the dvd set and am on chapter 5. I enjoy these more when I can watch 2 or 3 episodes all at once. A week is too long to wait.