The Strain: Intruders
August 31, 2015 10:50 PM - Season 2, Episode 8 - Subscribe

Competing bids for the Lumen lead to a sinful break-in; Fet executes a high-pitched, scoffing laugh; Kelly Goodweather gets a makeover with help from Eichorst; Palmer has a bedroom scene; Gus is visited by Quinlan; and the writers give tribute to Wuthering Heights in a 'I'm so cold, let me in' moment.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome (10 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
This episode spilled over with eerie moments and some graphic horror - and I'm not talking about the bedroom scene with Palmer! *snare drum*

The little clacky kid got turned into a pincushion, and the mother tap tap tapping on Zach's window.

Scene where Palmer dresses Eichorst down was wonderful in a passive-aggressive way but the way Eichorst looked at him in the end gave me chills; he will not forgive and I'm certain we're heading for a gross Palmer death this season. Where that would leave the show I have no idea, a main narrative thrust would be removed to be replaced by...what?

I wish the reveal with Coco would come sooner rather than later.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 10:54 PM on August 31, 2015 [1 favorite]


I've grown to love this show. The more out there they get the better it is. That New York is under siege and controlled by the vampires and no one is doing (much of) anything about it is something you have to accept. That season one was clunky as all hell to get us to this point is another thing you have to just go with to enjoy this show. The fact that the Master is able to see through the eyes of the infected is why, for example, Eph has been the only one to formulate a response to him. It's little things like this that the show hints at, rather than hammers at.

I think Palmer is going to end up meeting the ancients, but who knows if they'll eat him or not. I love the utter daftness in naming the name of his mistress (and protege) Coco; it makes me giggle every time he says it.
posted by Catblack at 5:05 AM on September 1, 2015 [2 favorites]


Interesting development with Quinlan - what did he say, "I've had beauty and power and lost them both."
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 7:44 AM on September 1, 2015


I wish the reveal with Coco would come sooner rather than later.

Yes, she may as well be wearing a "HEY LOOK I'M A MOLE" hat at this point.

I fear they're going to run out of Feelers soon if they continue to kill them off at this rate. A shame, they're such horribly creepy clicky scuttley things.

So the Master can apparently moderate the level of control over a vamp, such that Kelly has some autonomy but is basically still doing his will. What level is Eichorst at, then?

And couldn't they simply solve their "Palmer is becoming insubordinate" problem -- his taunting of Eichorst in this one, and Eichorst was also annoyed a few episodes ago by Palmer's secret UV vampire-trap -- by infecting him and using him as a puppet, the same as the Master is doing with Kelly?

Although hmm, last season the Master deliberately tormented Palmer by denying him wormy immortality -- instead just giving him a drop of rejuvenating ichor. Maybe we're working up to a "Palmer betrays the Master" turn.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 4:18 PM on September 1, 2015 [2 favorites]


Catblack, I now de facto think of them as "Palmer's Coco Butter" whenever both Eldritch and Ms. Marchand are together on-screen.

Is ANYONE surprised to see the Catholic Church involved with the Occido Lumen? I'm guessing the only reason Palmer's still human/not dead (or undead, for that matter) is Eichorst's inability to acquire it himself. If he knew where it was or who held it, no question, Eichorst would sacrifice everything in pursuit of that book.

I surmise that Coco Marchand is also in search of the Lumen on behalf of the Ancients, since they are just as eager to get hold of it as the Master is and Strigoi cannot touch nor handle the book's silver coverings.

It's been said before in earlier eps, but to emphasize: neither the Master nor the Ancients can touch that book. Not Quinlan, not Kelly, and not Eichorst, either. Only a human carrier can transport and read the mysterious tome, which leaves us with four distinct possibilities:

- Setrakian/Fet -- Fet doesn't know what to look for, and Setrakian can't risk searching alone at this point in NYC's decline. They have to at least go as a pair or teamed up with other human players, possibly including Gus and Quinlan

- Coco Marchand, possibly with help from other human/Strigoi mercenary players who currently remain unknown

- Gus Elizalde, likely under Quinlan's guidance and possibly including Angel de la Plata/others listed above

- Eldritch Palmer, who unfortunately only has $$$ and influence left to bargain with now that he's lost Mr. Fitzwilliam


I can't wait until someone gets that book and we, as the audience, get to see what's in it. Shit's gonna get super-real when the Hitchhiker's Guide to Strigoi shows up, hopefully this season.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 4:43 PM on September 1, 2015 [5 favorites]


Or maybe it's The Phantom Tappen Zee Bridge Tollbooth!
posted by Room 641-A at 10:39 AM on September 2, 2015


I hope the Coco revelation is big, whatever it winds up being. I can believe that Palmer believes a beautiful woman young enough to be his granddaughter is into him -- the sense of entitlement runs pretty deep -- but her character as written makes it clear she wouldn't fuck him for his money*, so what the hell is it then? Palmer's a good-looking dude for his age and all, but come ON. I don't always know how hot a character is meant to be in the world of any show, wherein most or all the characters are conventionally played by people who are of above average looks (like: is Will Graham on Hannibal really "not that handsome," as Francis Dolarhyde suggests, despite Hugh Dancy himself clearly being, you know, pretty handsome?), but Coco is canonically a former model, so yes: She's really supposed to be that hot. And that young. So something is obviously afoot.

*Or anyway, this is what I took away from Coco mentioning the sleazy dudes she encountered as a young model and how she wasn't taken in by them. On a different show, this could mean Coco was just trying to make Palmer think she was incorruptible so that he wouldn't question her motivations. The Strain, however, is Not that Kind of Show.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 11:26 AM on September 6, 2015


The Strain: Come for the Palmer's Coco Butter, stay for the Vampire Makeovers!
posted by Dr. Zira at 5:22 PM on September 8, 2015 [1 favorite]


Question: wouldn't a gun be more useful protection against Kelly than a rifle?
posted by miss-lapin at 2:14 PM on September 1, 2016


Also at this point someone either to just kill Eph's kid or lock him up when he's unattended. It was pretty clear he couldn't be trusted not to do something like that. Surely they could have some place they could put him which wouldn't allow him to breach their safety while being able to comfortably play videogames or whatever.
posted by miss-lapin at 2:50 PM on September 1, 2016 [1 favorite]


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