FX's The Strain

Nice development of Dutch's story this week, along with the interplay b/w Eph and Quinlan. Also have to say that the interactions b/w Fet and ol' Abe are always a highlight of the show. Need more Gus, but I'm liking this season so far.

 

for once i didn't find irritation in the brat's scenes. great corny & spooky stuff.

 

She doesn't die that way in the books. It appears the TV adaption has deviated some from the three novels.

 

Maybe they deviate to keep those familiar with the books watching as much as possible...some are guessing that Dutch will get some of Nora's story line from the books.

 

I think that's part of it but I also think that there is some material that would work on the screen and some not so much. Since Nora is in all three books (as I recall) I suspect that the network either didn't like her character or the actress felt,she could do as much with the character as possible and stayed only long enough to complete her contract.

The actress evidently knew mid season about her fate but she also had her appearance on Scandal already set up and a tour of South America with Damien Rice so, perhaps, she had these lined ip when she found out her fate from producer Carleton Cuse.

 

Latest episode was pretty good. I found Quinlan's backstory the best part of the season so far. I also find Quinlan's character to be the most interesting on the show. What's interesting to me is that the scenes with Quinlan and Eph seem to raise the bar on Corey Stoll's performance. I'm not a big fan of him, but Eph's interaction with Quinlan is really good.

 

I agree. I also like the stuff that he does with Kevin Durand. Interesting how they envisioned the parasite in the Master. I'm hoping that Quinlan somehow survives his (admittedly) fatal looking wounds. Interesting character that they should keep around.

Info on IMDB.will reveal the outcome. if you want to be surprised, don't go there and read the info.

 

Boy, that stinks! Thank you for the warning.

 

i'm surprised at how decent the last two episodes have been. and i agree with the assessment that eph's interactions with quinlan have been something... better.

strange at how powerless the "master" seemed in this episode. didn't seem in concert with the first two seasons.

 

He seemed to be the master of nothing. Just another one of his followers.

 

He was just a giant worm (and moved like a snake).

 

I think that's because he was out in the open something we never saw in any contemporary scene -- he also wasn't quite as large and imposing as he was before.

 

well yeah, but something about the direction (or maybe the script?) just felt "off" there.

 

It felt rushed and simplified as if they didn't really have the money to do the episode the way it should be done. In many respects it was a "bottle" show--limited low profile locations, small cast compared to other episodes and limited visual effects.

 

I really, REALLY, like this show. I just had to say it.

It's not the same kind of like/love for a show like Breaking Band, The Sopranos, Better Call Saul, Mad Men, Boardwalk Empire, et al. It's really more of a, if this were a comic book, and it was on the screen, this is exactly the way it would look and feel. In a comic, you can forgive some of the leaps of logic, the same as I am very forgiving with the The Strain, because it doesn't pretend to be anything other than what it is (unlike, say The Walking Dead, which takes itself so seriously that anything illogical stands out ten-fold...and there is a lot of stupid gaffs).

As deftly as a well-written comic book does, The Strain does a fantastic job of weaving multiple storylines and plot threads throughout. The episode last night was very well done (09/25/2016), after the episode before it probably being my least favorite out of all of the seasons.

Oh, yeah, and of course it's been mentioned before, worst. child. actor. ever!

This is how to make a show without being the least bit pretentious in doing so. Just tell the story! - and it does. I like the twists and turns.

Has anybody heard if it will extend to a Season 4?

 

No word yet. Looking at ratings info online suggests a bit of audience drop out after this season's premier. This show was FX's highest rated original programming but took some losses last season. They usually make these announcements a little later on. I'm hoping it gets renewed. It's a great show with some excellent themes that aren't covered with other shows.

I think this season is playing out much better than last and has a great flow. They've certainly upped the graphic content fwiw. This season on DVD would be a great one to watch all the way through. Very action-packed these last 2 episodes!

 

Renewed for fourth and final season...

‘The Strain’ Renewed For Fourth & Final Season By FX »

 

My take on what the Master's plan is and perhaps how this season will end, or at least will progress into next season:

Spoiler: Possible Strain Plot

I think the red worm of the Master will go to Zack. Seems to make sense as relates to the Father/Son/Sun language they've been using. Quinlan is the Master's "son," who is on a death quest to kill the Master. Eph is desperately attempting to get back his son, who is hostaged by the Master. If the Master inhabits Zack, then Eph must kill/save his son while Quinlan will be attempting to kill his father. Sets up the whole self-sacrificing scene for all those characters. Then there's the fact that Fet is an adopted son of sorts of Setrakian, who will die without any additional source of the white once the Master is defeated. Throw in the situation with Gus and his mother who's on the loose and is bound to pop back up at some point. I don't know how they'll handle that relationship, but I think they've played it up to broaden the parent/offspring drama.

Also want to highlight one of the aspects of this show that I enjoy so much, and it's the common anti-fascist themes that show up in nearly all of del Toro's works. In The Strain, I think they're using the Master and his parasites as a representation of a form of fascism. Some are rather obvious, but some are more subtle. For instance, when Fet burned the worm that was attempting to infect Feraldo, she was left with a scar followed by a moment of clarity in which she teetered into full fascist mode, adopting techniques of past fascist regimes. It will be interesting to see how that continues to develop and what actions Feraldo will take, but that scar to me symbolizes her closeness to the Master's "plague." To continue that metaphor, notice Eichhorst is spelled with 2 H's, a fascist dog-whistle symbol. He also adopted tactics in episode 3 that reflected his former regime's strategy with exploiting a certain region and religion. There's more along this line that this show presents, but the continued use of this theme is one of the reasons I think this show is better than average.

Anyway, take it for what it's worth.

 

Another solid episode tonight. I mean, the scenes with Zac and that horrible little spider-creature was pretty far fetched, even for The Strain, but the rest of it was solid.

It was good to see the krooked cops get theirs, and I liked how they set it up for a big win for Team Human, only to have the whole thing deflate in the end in favor of Team Munchers.

It's no Breaking Bad, but it's great adventure entertainment.

Oh yeah, and it took all of those hours for Fet and crew to reach the big nest? That was like 12 hours! Pffft!

 

I gotta say: A book for Zac. I don't care if it's a $4 paperback from CVS--he's overpriced.

 

The scene with Zac and the spider creature pet was hilarious.

The people writing this had to have been laughing their arses off.

 

Yeah, I just can't imagine any kid playing fetch with that thing, let alone asking if it wants to come up in the bed...and petting its head? Plus, Zac knows what his mother looks like under the makeup. How can he even be cool with that? I love my mother, but no, not like that.

So, Zac chooses to leave his father, who is not a muncher, knowing that after the train derailed, he would go back to that nice comfy place, with a hot British chick a few beds down, a big bolt on the inside of the door, food to eat, with every adult armed to the teeth, for his mother with a giant stinger coming out of her mouth, who, when she first ran across Zac, tried to kill everyone in the church.

There are idiots...and then there is Zac.

I have two kids, 10 and 13, and my wife and I agreed that we would have whipped Zac's ass about 12 or 9 times already.

Punk.

 

Dutch even sleeps with her makeup on