What They Say:
The Master – Eph and Fet recon for an all-out assault that Setrakian assures them will finally kill the Master; Gus aligns himself with a strange new force.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
As the first season of The Strain comes to a close, it’s a series that I find myself very enthused about since it has a good mix of being serious and grand in scale but also a kind of lightness about it that keeps it moving and fun. A lot of shows can spend most of their episode not doing much, but The Strain keeps very busy throughout with a lot of parts in motion. They may not make big reveals sometimes, and even when they do they may undercut it by the quickness of it, but it also feels like it’s working these stories to get us to the really good stuff. This season is all about the setup when you get down to it. It’s not the culmination of things but rather the beginning of it all. The pieces on the board are now only starting to reveal themselves, such as Palmer now taking a more active role in events having been given a taste of health after all that his body had suffered.
Palmer may be doing better than he was, but he’s not exactly where he wants to be yet. As Eichhorst tells him as Palmer investigates Setrakian’s place, Palmer is going through another test for the Master, one that should he pass will give him what he truly craves, a place next to the Master for all eternity. That doesn’t quite sit well with Palmer considering the way he’s been praying for this for so long and worked events as best as he could for the Master through Eichhorst, so it’s fun to see the way he’s not dealing quite so well with all that he’s now hearing. Life’s not going quite so well for Zack either, who gets things underway in the main episode proper as we get a touch on his relatively recent past and how the life of a child is shattered through the reality of the present. It’s an interesting angle to work with, since it also gets to tug on our heartstrings a bit since we get a little more time with Kelly pre-infection.
The sort of father/son relationship that Palmer has with Fitzwilliam is also tested during a lot of this as he’s not exactly been enamored with the relationship that was cultivated with Eichhorst. That’s gone on for some time as we could see the tensions in the first episode easily enough and then more forcefully with the way Fitzwilliam let Fet and Dutch go during their foolish escapade into Stoneheart. But all of it has gone too far for him finally and we see the end of their relationship with Fitzwilliam quitting and doing it while making it perfectly clear why. For someone like Palmer, who has gotten everything for a long time outside of his health issues until recently, it’s not something that he handles well as there’s plenty of words to be had on both sides about it. Fitzwilliam has felt like he’s shifting to a different role for a bit, and now it’s becoming clearer.
Gus’ arc in the series has been one that’s been all over the map when you get down to it, and with the kind of shootout that happened in the previous episode, it was fun to see him get picked up by the other vampire tactical force that’s out there with its own agenda. With him in their hands now, deep down underground, he’s given a bit of leeway but is still easily shown that he’s outclassed by the one that’s spending some time to fill him in on things.
With a plan forming to deal with the Master if they can find him, Eph and Fet head off on a pretty decent exploration mission as they have a general idea of where he may be based on the outflow of vampires for a bit. It’s a little awkward with how it goes since Eph is being properly cautious and Fet is just gung ho to find something, but the fact that they do isn’t a surprise as we have to lead up to something here that really makes this a show that you come back to when it returns next summer. Thankfully, it doesn’t turn into the two of them going over the top in going after the vampires they come across but rather has a nice little bit of planning that goes into motion that has Fet being the one that thinks big in the right way by setting more sunlight into the sewers.
While their plans are coming together, we see how Palmer is putting things into place properly for Eichhorst so that the Master gets what he wants in controlling the city. Their visit to the HHS Secretary to stop her from putting real controls into place, such as martial law and more, is not one that will end well for her. You know the bad thing will happen with the way it plays out, but just watching it build to that is a good bit of fun, especially since our CDC guy, Barnes, isn’t exactly one you root for after what he did before to Eph. But he’s finding himself in a truly bad place now and having to sell himself out in order to survive. It’s cold and almost comically brutal, but it works to show how Eicchorst is massaging the situation in order to give their plans more time to breathe and expand.
When the show shifts to the attack mode for Eph and his group, it’s almost fun right from the start. While we get Eph getting Zack up to speed on what to do since they’re bringing him with them, it’s once they get to the tunnels that things shine. Having Fet toss some dynamite at a group definitely reminds us of the vermin he usually deals with, but it also gets a lot more serious when they get to Bolivar’s place and there’s a lot of more difficult vampires to deal with. A little hack and slash is what the show needs, but it’s just plain good to see the team going on the offensive with what they’re doing rather than just reacting to it all. But it also works really well as the stakes are upped nicely when Eicchorst arrives after Setrakian and Eph go off elsewhere to try and find the Master. This puts the rest in a tough spot in dealing with what they have to face as there’s plenty of nobodies alongside both Eicchorst and Bolivar to deal with.
The difficulty for both Setrakian and Eph though is that the Master knows how to toy with its prey, using voices from Setrakian’s past while Eph thinks every vampire he comes across may be Kelly. The fight that goes on is definitely really good to see play out as we get both Setrakian and Eph doing their best to work the situation to corner him, attack him and injure him until they can give him the killing blow. But such bad guys can’t be eliminated that easily and we see the twist that he’s not exactly as susceptible to sunlight as those that he creates. It’s a hugely disheartening moment for all involved as they managed to get so close only to havre victory snatched away from them by simply not knowing what he was really capable of.
In Summary:
The Strain brings the season to a close with a pretty good action sequence to it overall as the group goes after the Master and gets some surprises along the way. I liked the way the group has managed to come together to do what’s necessary and that they’re mostly realizing the scope of what they have to accomplish. Eph and Nora are on the right page now and Zack is having the challenge of growing up amid this while still not having all the truths told to him. I’m also intrigued to see how Palmer’s story will go now and the way that Fitzwilliam is likely headed off to his own arc as well that should intersect later in a good way. But it’s the small moments in the episode as a whole that got me, particularly with Gus’ storyline as he manages to get to the heart of the matter of what’s going on and throws in his lot with another game changer yet to come. The opening season of the series has hit a lot of very good notes for me overall as it’s unfolded and has given me the kind of show I want through the summer where it’s a mixture of serious and fun with a lot of creepy violence making its way into it as well as some utterly goofy character moments. The next season can’t come soon enough so I can see more of what’s in store for this group and who may or may not survive.
Grade: B+
