The Strain: The Strain
September 7, 2016 2:47 PM - Season 3 (Full Season) - Subscribe
So, The Strain is back for a third season.
Given that we're three episodes into this turkey and nobody's said a word, I'm not sure anybody else is still watching and wincing, but I wanted to make sure. I don't figure there's much call to do this episode by episode anymore, but I figured it might deserve the Wayward Pines S2 treatment where we can all drop in and make observations and complaints as we're so moved.
Noteworthy stuff at the time of this posting:
* The AV Club has given up on reviewing the show. (Can't blame them.)
* Ephram has a big choice to make with regard to trading the Lumen for Zack.
* Kelly is now the creepiest mom ever.
* Zack is still the absolute worst.
* Fet is working with the Mayor to try and hunt the Master.
* Setrakian is hanging out, hoping the Lumen contains a secret to defeating the Master and sounding less and less like Abraham Van Helsing, and more like Grandpa Simpson.
* Quinlan is just chilling, creeping everybody who comes by out.
* Dutch certainly fell in with a bunch of winners.
* Eldritch Palmer is still paying for the whole Coco thing.
Given that we're three episodes into this turkey and nobody's said a word, I'm not sure anybody else is still watching and wincing, but I wanted to make sure. I don't figure there's much call to do this episode by episode anymore, but I figured it might deserve the Wayward Pines S2 treatment where we can all drop in and make observations and complaints as we're so moved.
Noteworthy stuff at the time of this posting:
* The AV Club has given up on reviewing the show. (Can't blame them.)
* Ephram has a big choice to make with regard to trading the Lumen for Zack.
* Kelly is now the creepiest mom ever.
* Zack is still the absolute worst.
* Fet is working with the Mayor to try and hunt the Master.
* Setrakian is hanging out, hoping the Lumen contains a secret to defeating the Master and sounding less and less like Abraham Van Helsing, and more like Grandpa Simpson.
* Quinlan is just chilling, creeping everybody who comes by out.
* Dutch certainly fell in with a bunch of winners.
* Eldritch Palmer is still paying for the whole Coco thing.
I'm still watching. The season premiere was particularly dour. We went to the victory with Setrakian finally getting the Lumen to pretty much everyone in a crappy place.
If you thought Eph mooning over the loss of Kelly was bad, wait until you see Eph mooning over the death of Nora, the loss of Zack (which honestly? Crack a beer, buddy. This is a good thing.), and Kelly now offering him a trade for a valuable book vs his useless whining offspring.
Dutch....oh Dutch....we need to get her and Fett back together.
Setrakian is attempting to find the truth in the Lumen, but it takes more than a week to figure out the secret (to the dismay of pretty much everyone). Speaking of Setrakian, Palmer offers Setrakian a deal, to which there is very little downside and Setrakian refuses it. Sigh.
Oh and Gus has a pet zompire (of sorts).
posted by miss-lapin at 3:16 PM on September 7, 2016 [2 favorites]
If you thought Eph mooning over the loss of Kelly was bad, wait until you see Eph mooning over the death of Nora, the loss of Zack (which honestly? Crack a beer, buddy. This is a good thing.), and Kelly now offering him a trade for a valuable book vs his useless whining offspring.
Dutch....oh Dutch....we need to get her and Fett back together.
Setrakian is attempting to find the truth in the Lumen, but it takes more than a week to figure out the secret (to the dismay of pretty much everyone). Speaking of Setrakian, Palmer offers Setrakian a deal, to which there is very little downside and Setrakian refuses it. Sigh.
Oh and Gus has a pet zompire (of sorts).
posted by miss-lapin at 3:16 PM on September 7, 2016 [2 favorites]
Hey guys, you're all the best family of strangers I've never met.
As such, I feel it's my duty to disclose my extreme!nerd status as a book reader -- and who's willing to spoil literally any plot point or character arc as needed, though obviously I won't do it here in-thread.
Feel free to memail me if you wanna know something and can't bear to keep watching this shit show to find out ;) The series isn't exactly following the book plot, but it's close enough to make me keep watching.
My original fervor for the show died a bit last year when major plot points changed, but there have been significant visual clues already about the key to defeating the Master. Bonus: New credits look cool!
Points off for ditching the really cool comic book-style opener that ended I think with ep9 of S1, maybe? Honestly, the visual descriptions in the book are great. It's Del Toro! But where he fails is: 1) dialogue -- I mean, really dude? you're Hispanic and Gus is a stereotypical gang-banger? props for Miguel Gomez bringing some emotion and gravitas to a really thin character; 2) plot movement, at least in the TV series. Things move along at a nice clip in the book, and the few episodes where we're granted a Setrakian voiceover highlighting the major plot developments or foreshadowing of events to come have actually been refreshing to me.
I appreciate Fet and Dutch moving on in character development beyond potential love interests with weird accents and aggressive sex appeal; this is good.
Less good: Nora's gone, so there's nobody to talk sense into Eph (as ineffective as THAT was last season, she tried!).
RIP Corey Stoll's wig, and boo to the half-grown beard he's rocking in S3. I'm glaring at it like it should know better, because it just highlights that his "real" hair ain't never making a comeback.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 6:53 PM on September 7, 2016 [3 favorites]
As such, I feel it's my duty to disclose my extreme!nerd status as a book reader -- and who's willing to spoil literally any plot point or character arc as needed, though obviously I won't do it here in-thread.
Feel free to memail me if you wanna know something and can't bear to keep watching this shit show to find out ;) The series isn't exactly following the book plot, but it's close enough to make me keep watching.
My original fervor for the show died a bit last year when major plot points changed, but there have been significant visual clues already about the key to defeating the Master. Bonus: New credits look cool!
Points off for ditching the really cool comic book-style opener that ended I think with ep9 of S1, maybe? Honestly, the visual descriptions in the book are great. It's Del Toro! But where he fails is: 1) dialogue -- I mean, really dude? you're Hispanic and Gus is a stereotypical gang-banger? props for Miguel Gomez bringing some emotion and gravitas to a really thin character; 2) plot movement, at least in the TV series. Things move along at a nice clip in the book, and the few episodes where we're granted a Setrakian voiceover highlighting the major plot developments or foreshadowing of events to come have actually been refreshing to me.
I appreciate Fet and Dutch moving on in character development beyond potential love interests with weird accents and aggressive sex appeal; this is good.
Less good: Nora's gone, so there's nobody to talk sense into Eph (as ineffective as THAT was last season, she tried!).
RIP Corey Stoll's wig, and boo to the half-grown beard he's rocking in S3. I'm glaring at it like it should know better, because it just highlights that his "real" hair ain't never making a comeback.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 6:53 PM on September 7, 2016 [3 favorites]
Also per ActingTheGoat I feel the need to dub him "Zack, son of Eph, worst of his name," Eph being short for Eph This Guy, first (and hopefully last) of his government name which oh by the way is stupidly, overtly loaded with "hero/protagonist" symbolism ("Goodweather"? OMG, REALLY???).
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 7:07 PM on September 7, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 7:07 PM on September 7, 2016 [4 favorites]
Unicorn on the cob-I may take you up on your offer. I've watched some serious dreck in my day so I'm not ready to tap out yet, but I am willing to admit that it's possible. I think more likely is the series getting cancelled.
posted by miss-lapin at 8:07 PM on September 7, 2016
posted by miss-lapin at 8:07 PM on September 7, 2016
Thank you for calling it a turkey!
You're welcome, haha. That's actually what's got me watching at this point: the lowest circle of writing hell is a boring story. This tends more toward spectacular, ridiculous failure, so like a floor or two above that.
I appreciate Fet and Dutch moving on in character development beyond potential love interests with weird accents and aggressive sex appeal; this is good.
Agreed. Fet and Dutch are both still completely watchable. I think they might be the only ones I'm rooting for in any way, shape or form at this point, of the main people. I do like the Mayor, for bit players.
Also per ActingTheGoat I feel the need to dub him "Zack, son of Eph, worst of his name,"
That's awesome, thank you. Hahaha.
I think more likely is the series getting cancelled.
I was pretty shocked when it got a third season, personally. No way does this hit a fourth. I move we mark its passing with that big heap of spoilers, when that becomes official. (I'm terribly curious, but holding off a little longer myself.)
posted by mordax at 8:21 PM on September 7, 2016 [3 favorites]
You're welcome, haha. That's actually what's got me watching at this point: the lowest circle of writing hell is a boring story. This tends more toward spectacular, ridiculous failure, so like a floor or two above that.
I appreciate Fet and Dutch moving on in character development beyond potential love interests with weird accents and aggressive sex appeal; this is good.
Agreed. Fet and Dutch are both still completely watchable. I think they might be the only ones I'm rooting for in any way, shape or form at this point, of the main people. I do like the Mayor, for bit players.
Also per ActingTheGoat I feel the need to dub him "Zack, son of Eph, worst of his name,"
That's awesome, thank you. Hahaha.
I think more likely is the series getting cancelled.
I was pretty shocked when it got a third season, personally. No way does this hit a fourth. I move we mark its passing with that big heap of spoilers, when that becomes official. (I'm terribly curious, but holding off a little longer myself.)
posted by mordax at 8:21 PM on September 7, 2016 [3 favorites]
I read the books some years ago, and to be honest, the show is better. I love GDT, but he didn't write this stuff alone, and I'm inclined to attribute the best stuff to him (the vampires are straight out of Blade 2, so that's a gimme) and the rest to others, although the character names are definitely him (you all saw Pacific Rim, right?).
Anyway, I tapped out a couple episodes away from the S2 finale, and was as shocked as anyone to see it has apparently returned. I'm not sure that I'll be catching up, what with all the fall shows coming. I think its summertime positioning may be what's kept it on this long, and could keep it on a while longer; the series does have a built-in ending, and if they've gotten this far, they might as well wrap it up.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 8:42 PM on September 7, 2016 [1 favorite]
Anyway, I tapped out a couple episodes away from the S2 finale, and was as shocked as anyone to see it has apparently returned. I'm not sure that I'll be catching up, what with all the fall shows coming. I think its summertime positioning may be what's kept it on this long, and could keep it on a while longer; the series does have a built-in ending, and if they've gotten this far, they might as well wrap it up.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 8:42 PM on September 7, 2016 [1 favorite]
"Zack, son of Eph, worst of his name," Eph being short for Eph This Guy, first (and hopefully last) of his government name which oh by the way is stupidly, overtly loaded with "hero/protagonist" symbolism ("Goodweather"? OMG, REALLY???).
You had me at, "Zack, son of Eph, worst of his name."
posted by ActingTheGoat at 9:23 PM on September 7, 2016 [2 favorites]
You had me at, "Zack, son of Eph, worst of his name."
posted by ActingTheGoat at 9:23 PM on September 7, 2016 [2 favorites]
Anyone see the last ep First Born?
If not, read no further.
So if you thought Zach was already the worst, he goes even further by appearing to lap up his mother's "the master is going to stop all suffering" schtick. Seriously, how does this kid even tie his shoes? PLEASE KILL HIM SOON.
The Angel Gus story line goes completely off the rails when a house to house sweep threatens to reveal that Gus has been keeping his mom. Angel actually releases Gus's mom to eat officers TRYING TO KEEP OTHER PEOPLE SAFE and sets her free to wreak havoc rather than just let her finally be killed, which would be better for everyone.
Eph teams up with Quinlan to beat the Master, but things (shock) don't work out as planned resulting in the death of one of my favorite characters who managed to survive 1k years for a rather anticlimatic end, while the ones I wish would die remain fairly unscathed.
The best part of the ep is the reveal of Quinlan/Quintus/ Invictus origin story and the motive for revenge.
The theme of the ep seems to be how each son's love of his mother is destructive. Gus endangers himself and others, Quinlan becomes blinded by his desire for revenge, and Zach buys into Kelly's pipedream version of the Master. It reminded me, in a ham handed way, of a famous line from Doctor Who "There isn't a little boy in the world who wouldn't tear apart the world to save his mommy." Of course, Who did it much better than this annoying shit salad. Sigh.
posted by miss-lapin at 4:17 PM on September 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
If not, read no further.
So if you thought Zach was already the worst, he goes even further by appearing to lap up his mother's "the master is going to stop all suffering" schtick. Seriously, how does this kid even tie his shoes? PLEASE KILL HIM SOON.
The Angel Gus story line goes completely off the rails when a house to house sweep threatens to reveal that Gus has been keeping his mom. Angel actually releases Gus's mom to eat officers TRYING TO KEEP OTHER PEOPLE SAFE and sets her free to wreak havoc rather than just let her finally be killed, which would be better for everyone.
Eph teams up with Quinlan to beat the Master, but things (shock) don't work out as planned resulting in the death of one of my favorite characters who managed to survive 1k years for a rather anticlimatic end, while the ones I wish would die remain fairly unscathed.
The best part of the ep is the reveal of Quinlan/Quintus/ Invictus origin story and the motive for revenge.
The theme of the ep seems to be how each son's love of his mother is destructive. Gus endangers himself and others, Quinlan becomes blinded by his desire for revenge, and Zach buys into Kelly's pipedream version of the Master. It reminded me, in a ham handed way, of a famous line from Doctor Who "There isn't a little boy in the world who wouldn't tear apart the world to save his mommy." Of course, Who did it much better than this annoying shit salad. Sigh.
posted by miss-lapin at 4:17 PM on September 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
Oh and I hope Setrakian reads Eph the riot act for stealing the Lumen.
posted by miss-lapin at 4:18 PM on September 12, 2016
posted by miss-lapin at 4:18 PM on September 12, 2016
Speakng of which... there are, what, 500 pages in that book? It's thick but each individual page is, too. So, one guy turns the pages while the other one clicks the shutter, and a day later, you've got a damn backup in case the original gets stolen.
posted by Mogur at 4:24 PM on September 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Mogur at 4:24 PM on September 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
I can buy Fett and Setrakian maybe not coming up with that but Eph? Seriously.
posted by miss-lapin at 6:36 PM on September 12, 2016
posted by miss-lapin at 6:36 PM on September 12, 2016
I mean hell the Scoobies on Buffy thought of that way back in the 90s!
posted by miss-lapin at 6:54 PM on September 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by miss-lapin at 6:54 PM on September 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
IIRC, in the books this happens while Setrakian had the Lumen for a very short time and other than sketches and a handful of loose pages, they have nothing after the Lumen is snatched. It's really frustrating, because literally every time you think AHA, gotcha this time, MASTER! Then... Nope.
So, worm escaped and who would be the worst possible choice of host he could groom for himself next? Really ponder that for a minute.
I do like Gus and Angel together; stupid choice with Gus' mom this ep of course, but Angel could've easily left him to die. They are like the antithesis of Fet and Setrakian: not nearly the best in their respective fields, but on the way there (Gus) or on the way down (Angel). It's a nice attempt at adding some realistic contrasts to hyper-Ayn Randian archetype Eldritch Palmer, hactivist supermodel Dutch Welders and Literal Nazi Supervillain Eichhorst.
Like, way to let the mediocre catch some shine this ep -- and I will never be mad at a chance to gape Quinlan's evolving fashion and stoic personality tics throughout history. He is the best version of the vampiric Blade antihero, and the tv show is portraying the loneliness and repressed rapacity of that character so well!
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 8:10 PM on September 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
So, worm escaped and who would be the worst possible choice of host he could groom for himself next? Really ponder that for a minute.
I do like Gus and Angel together; stupid choice with Gus' mom this ep of course, but Angel could've easily left him to die. They are like the antithesis of Fet and Setrakian: not nearly the best in their respective fields, but on the way there (Gus) or on the way down (Angel). It's a nice attempt at adding some realistic contrasts to hyper-Ayn Randian archetype Eldritch Palmer, hactivist supermodel Dutch Welders and Literal Nazi Supervillain Eichhorst.
Like, way to let the mediocre catch some shine this ep -- and I will never be mad at a chance to gape Quinlan's evolving fashion and stoic personality tics throughout history. He is the best version of the vampiric Blade antihero, and the tv show is portraying the loneliness and repressed rapacity of that character so well!
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 8:10 PM on September 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
OK I am getting really sick of the dour on this season.
posted by miss-lapin at 8:28 PM on September 18, 2016
posted by miss-lapin at 8:28 PM on September 18, 2016
I thought it picked up considerably in the last 2 episodes (First Born and Gone But Not Forgotten); the Quinlan backstory was a nice echo of the Setrakian/Eichorst flashbacks.
But guh; Setrakian watching gormlessly as the big worm wriggle away down the drain -- or at least the scene was shot in a way that made it appear so. No wonder he's not particularly surprised when the Ancients revealed their failure.
OK I am getting really sick of the dour on this season.
The dour I like; what grates on me is the show's relentless belief that Eph's drinking makes him interesting.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 10:49 PM on September 19, 2016 [4 favorites]
But guh; Setrakian watching gormlessly as the big worm wriggle away down the drain -- or at least the scene was shot in a way that made it appear so. No wonder he's not particularly surprised when the Ancients revealed their failure.
OK I am getting really sick of the dour on this season.
The dour I like; what grates on me is the show's relentless belief that Eph's drinking makes him interesting.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 10:49 PM on September 19, 2016 [4 favorites]
Oh, and Natalie Brown is really and uncomfortably good at playing Kelly's barely-repressed desire to feed on Zach.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 10:51 PM on September 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 10:51 PM on September 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
Two thoughts:
1) Eph got punched in the face! Eph got punched in the face!
2) That's it.
3) I'm just happy Eph got punched in the face.
posted by Mogur at 4:32 AM on September 20, 2016 [4 favorites]
1) Eph got punched in the face! Eph got punched in the face!
2) That's it.
3) I'm just happy Eph got punched in the face.
posted by Mogur at 4:32 AM on September 20, 2016 [4 favorites]
Yes we need more of Eph getting punched in the face. This would please me greatly.
posted by miss-lapin at 1:04 AM on September 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by miss-lapin at 1:04 AM on September 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
I just got caught up, so I'm posting after Gone But Not Forgotten. Thoughts:
* Last time, this was asked:
So, worm escaped and who would be the worst possible choice of host he could groom for himself next?
My money was on Zack. I now wish to double that money, after the ending taunt at Eph and Dutch. Disclaimer: this is only the worst move I can picture for the show, (I'm picturing The Anointed One, only dumber and Zack-er), and they often think of something so awful I never would've expected it.
* I'm glad Quinlan's still around, and I'm glad that tipped them that the Master survived. I agree with Quinlan that the Ancients don't seem to be super invested in actually icing the Master.
* I hate vampire super speed in general, but I hate it here even more than usual. With magic - stuff like True Blood - at least you can just fall back on 'a wizard did it.' This show has a generally sci fi premise, and absolutely no explanation for why weird body horror worms should turn someone into a speedster. Plus, it changes the dynamics of any fight: there is literally almost no way the human protagonists should be able to defeat the Master, the Ancients or even the likes of Eichhorst.
* Drunk Dutch and Drunk Eph feeling sorry for themselves and somehow not ending up a couple is probably the most likeable either of them have ever been. Which means I was still rooting for the vamps to get them, but, you know, mildly less.
* I'm glad Fet and Setrakian are holding Eph accountable for his stupid, stupid decision.
* I'm not sure what was up with the Mayor going all jackboots at the end. Like, I'm not sure what the takeaway is supposed to be for us, the audience: should we be shocked? Sympathetic? I dunno what they were looking for, and am uncertain why the subplot was introduced.
* Suicide bomber vampires were pretty funny. I did laugh when I realized what Eichhorst was doing. Good times, just the sort of batshit stuff I actually watch for in a remotely positive way.
posted by mordax at 5:01 PM on September 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
* Last time, this was asked:
So, worm escaped and who would be the worst possible choice of host he could groom for himself next?
My money was on Zack. I now wish to double that money, after the ending taunt at Eph and Dutch. Disclaimer: this is only the worst move I can picture for the show, (I'm picturing The Anointed One, only dumber and Zack-er), and they often think of something so awful I never would've expected it.
* I'm glad Quinlan's still around, and I'm glad that tipped them that the Master survived. I agree with Quinlan that the Ancients don't seem to be super invested in actually icing the Master.
* I hate vampire super speed in general, but I hate it here even more than usual. With magic - stuff like True Blood - at least you can just fall back on 'a wizard did it.' This show has a generally sci fi premise, and absolutely no explanation for why weird body horror worms should turn someone into a speedster. Plus, it changes the dynamics of any fight: there is literally almost no way the human protagonists should be able to defeat the Master, the Ancients or even the likes of Eichhorst.
* Drunk Dutch and Drunk Eph feeling sorry for themselves and somehow not ending up a couple is probably the most likeable either of them have ever been. Which means I was still rooting for the vamps to get them, but, you know, mildly less.
* I'm glad Fet and Setrakian are holding Eph accountable for his stupid, stupid decision.
* I'm not sure what was up with the Mayor going all jackboots at the end. Like, I'm not sure what the takeaway is supposed to be for us, the audience: should we be shocked? Sympathetic? I dunno what they were looking for, and am uncertain why the subplot was introduced.
* Suicide bomber vampires were pretty funny. I did laugh when I realized what Eichhorst was doing. Good times, just the sort of batshit stuff I actually watch for in a remotely positive way.
posted by mordax at 5:01 PM on September 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
... also, fridge horror, I realized I was liking Dutch before, up until she was paired up with Eph, per my earlier comment. Eph is so horrible that pairing him with anybody makes me instantly root against them.
Heh.
posted by mordax at 9:12 PM on September 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
Heh.
posted by mordax at 9:12 PM on September 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
Speakng of which... there are, what, 500 pages in that book? It's thick but each individual page is, too. So, one guy turns the pages while the other one clicks the shutter, and a day later, you've got a damn backup in case the original gets stolen.
Sure, I get it, but what you're failing to consider is that everyone in this show is an idiot. An entire world of bumbling fools; the only reason we don't see aircraft falling out of the sky left and right just from the sheer incompetence of the pilots and ground crew is that the show spends too much money pretending that Toronto is Brooklyn to show that. That the Master is also a blithering idiot, as are the other Uber-Vampires, is a nice touch.
I love my stupid hamsters. I'm not hate watching the show, but I am watching it the same way I would a good ol' 80s horror movie where I'm mostly hoping for people to be eaten in entertaining ways. So far the show mostly continues to deliver at that basic, cheeto-smeared chuckles level.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 6:45 AM on September 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
Sure, I get it, but what you're failing to consider is that everyone in this show is an idiot. An entire world of bumbling fools; the only reason we don't see aircraft falling out of the sky left and right just from the sheer incompetence of the pilots and ground crew is that the show spends too much money pretending that Toronto is Brooklyn to show that. That the Master is also a blithering idiot, as are the other Uber-Vampires, is a nice touch.
I love my stupid hamsters. I'm not hate watching the show, but I am watching it the same way I would a good ol' 80s horror movie where I'm mostly hoping for people to be eaten in entertaining ways. So far the show mostly continues to deliver at that basic, cheeto-smeared chuckles level.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 6:45 AM on September 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
I thought Mayor hinted at skewing jackboot wise with her little "display" on staten island. I thought that was the direction her character was headed, but then they seemed to pull her back into a place of she can get things done, even though she's not going the conventional route. I kind of hope her character doesn't go full on villain, but instead kind of toes this line of doing really questionable stuff, but also getting some things done.
posted by miss-lapin at 4:32 PM on September 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by miss-lapin at 4:32 PM on September 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
Just finished watching episode 5, Madness. Some thoughts:
* One thing I like about The Strain, even though it is generally a total disaster, is that it depicts the fall of human civilization to a plague of the undead as a gradual affair. I feel like most zombie fiction cheats here - like, Fear the Walking Dead didn't show us civilization falling because they couldn't picture it actually happening under those circumstances. Just... one moment, zombies. Next, zombies have won because Reasons.
The Strain shows something closer to what I would actually picture under those conditions: a spread along travel routes, fragmentation of government authority, panic, turf grabs by anyone with manpower, and the general sense that human civilization would actually take time to wipe out. (One way to resolve this, if I were ever writing a zombie apocalypse, would be to pair it with a massive plague.)
I also feel like zompires are a more reasonable foe to wipe humanity out, because they're smart - your basic zombie is just a human who's been stripped of almost everything that makes us dangerous: tool use, coordination, group tactics.
Unfortunately, this brings me to my largest objection about the show, apart from the ubiquitous Idiot Ball use:
* Zompires are too effective, and should have wiped out humanity ages ago. Something as fast, irresistibly infectious and centrally directed should have won before it even really realized what it was doing. There's no way ancient anybody dealt with someone like Eichhorst or Quinlan, much less an Ancient. I'm reminded of Brian Lumley's Necroscope world, where similarly fecund vampires were actually extradimensional, and the only reason they hadn't wiped out humanity was because they arrived in relatively modern times, and met with commensurately greater resistance. (They had conquered their native world handily, because of course they did.)
* Watching Setrakian and Quinlan sit around reading always reminds me of the bit on The Simpsons about, "When are they gonna get to the fireworks factory?" Except I know the answer is 'for like three minutes in the season finale, no sooner and no more.'
* Dutch and Eph were actually downright watchable, this episode. I think it's because they were hardly drinking. I even liked their banter, although the failure of the microwave weapon felt like moving goalposts on the Master's indestructibility. Again.
* I haven't seen Nigel Bennett play a vampire in forever, but it's always fun. He's still got it.
posted by mordax at 1:47 AM on September 26, 2016 [1 favorite]
* One thing I like about The Strain, even though it is generally a total disaster, is that it depicts the fall of human civilization to a plague of the undead as a gradual affair. I feel like most zombie fiction cheats here - like, Fear the Walking Dead didn't show us civilization falling because they couldn't picture it actually happening under those circumstances. Just... one moment, zombies. Next, zombies have won because Reasons.
The Strain shows something closer to what I would actually picture under those conditions: a spread along travel routes, fragmentation of government authority, panic, turf grabs by anyone with manpower, and the general sense that human civilization would actually take time to wipe out. (One way to resolve this, if I were ever writing a zombie apocalypse, would be to pair it with a massive plague.)
I also feel like zompires are a more reasonable foe to wipe humanity out, because they're smart - your basic zombie is just a human who's been stripped of almost everything that makes us dangerous: tool use, coordination, group tactics.
Unfortunately, this brings me to my largest objection about the show, apart from the ubiquitous Idiot Ball use:
* Zompires are too effective, and should have wiped out humanity ages ago. Something as fast, irresistibly infectious and centrally directed should have won before it even really realized what it was doing. There's no way ancient anybody dealt with someone like Eichhorst or Quinlan, much less an Ancient. I'm reminded of Brian Lumley's Necroscope world, where similarly fecund vampires were actually extradimensional, and the only reason they hadn't wiped out humanity was because they arrived in relatively modern times, and met with commensurately greater resistance. (They had conquered their native world handily, because of course they did.)
* Watching Setrakian and Quinlan sit around reading always reminds me of the bit on The Simpsons about, "When are they gonna get to the fireworks factory?" Except I know the answer is 'for like three minutes in the season finale, no sooner and no more.'
* Dutch and Eph were actually downright watchable, this episode. I think it's because they were hardly drinking. I even liked their banter, although the failure of the microwave weapon felt like moving goalposts on the Master's indestructibility. Again.
* I haven't seen Nigel Bennett play a vampire in forever, but it's always fun. He's still got it.
posted by mordax at 1:47 AM on September 26, 2016 [1 favorite]
YES it is awesome to yet again see Nigel be a vampire. And Lumley's Necroscope. Loved that series. Part of what also ekpt vampires in check is the lord/lady vampires all competed against each other. Here you have a cabal of 7 "master" vampires-one of which is the master. One is buried somewhere. Two are missing/unaccounted for. Three are being served by various minions. In necroscope, the lord/lady vampires don't really work together although they do form tentative alliances. There's no real reason why the head zompires would necessarily work together so....that's problematic. Competition between leaders could certainly keep the zompires in check.
This episode,ep 5, actually really entertained me. I think a lot of that has to do with absolutely NO Zack and Zompire Mommy Dearest in this ep. That really allowed to show to be the good silly fun I know it can be.
posted by miss-lapin at 12:00 AM on September 27, 2016 [1 favorite]
This episode,ep 5, actually really entertained me. I think a lot of that has to do with absolutely NO Zack and Zompire Mommy Dearest in this ep. That really allowed to show to be the good silly fun I know it can be.
posted by miss-lapin at 12:00 AM on September 27, 2016 [1 favorite]
E5: there was quite a big dose of "we have become monsters ourselves" here, I thought. Eph and Dutch performing vivisection; past-Abe's "closest I came to madness" torturing of not-Eichorst. Fet is pretty much the only character who has retained his decency.
(And on past-Abe: that de-aging makeup job on David Bradley was not very convincing.)
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 11:20 AM on September 27, 2016 [2 favorites]
(And on past-Abe: that de-aging makeup job on David Bradley was not very convincing.)
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 11:20 AM on September 27, 2016 [2 favorites]
‘The Strain’ Renewed For Fourth & Final Season By FX
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 12:23 PM on September 27, 2016
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 12:23 PM on September 27, 2016
One more season of hate watching! Yay!
posted by miss-lapin at 4:28 PM on September 27, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by miss-lapin at 4:28 PM on September 27, 2016 [2 favorites]
There's no real reason why the head zompires would necessarily work together so....that's problematic. Competition between leaders could certainly keep the zompires in check.
Not really, IMO. The problem is that while vampire lords clearly compete, they don't negate each other - the Ancients can't cure victims of the Master, or vice versa. All they can do is pit their servitor creatures against each other, which means that open conflict between them just leads to more humans being turned.
It seems to me that a world with these guys in the shadows should have turned out like Starside: a bunch of warring vampire lord factions ruling openly, humanity living as slaves or in nomadic groups permitted to exist as prey in a dismal hellscape. Really, the parallels to Wamphyri are pretty strong, except Lumley really handled it better*.
(Basically, they need a stronger check on population growth to avoid exploding that way: a limit to how fast they spread via fertility, like maybe they can only turn so many people so fast. A cure. A predator that pares down their population, like Buffy or something. As it stands, they seem like the body horror version of rabbits in Australia. It seems like the only thing that's kept them in the shadows this long is hiding voluntarily, which doesn't scan very well because of how well the Master has done by *not* doing that.)
I think a lot of that has to do with absolutely NO Zack and Zompire Mommy Dearest in this ep. That really allowed to show to be the good silly fun I know it can be.
Agreed. I watch, read and otherwise engage with a lot of genre fiction, and the trick to all of it is pacing, I think: if the stuff on the screen is entertaining enough to engage the viewer, it can be ridiculous and no one cares. When stuff slows down, the audience is both annoyed and left without enough time to start picking at all the inevitable plot holes.
They kept this one moving more, and it showed. I was still really annoyed by the Lumen stuff, but Eph, Dutch and Fet were all doing some cool stuff.
‘The Strain’ Renewed For Fourth & Final Season By FX
I came here to post this, and agree with miss-lapin: hooray for more hate-watching! I want to be favoriting comments, but in our horrible election cycle, I've been out for ages.
---
* Disclaimer: Harry Keogh is still the worst sort of Gary Stu, but I lurved those vampires and pretty much everything else in that universe.
posted by mordax at 7:21 PM on September 27, 2016 [1 favorite]
Not really, IMO. The problem is that while vampire lords clearly compete, they don't negate each other - the Ancients can't cure victims of the Master, or vice versa. All they can do is pit their servitor creatures against each other, which means that open conflict between them just leads to more humans being turned.
It seems to me that a world with these guys in the shadows should have turned out like Starside: a bunch of warring vampire lord factions ruling openly, humanity living as slaves or in nomadic groups permitted to exist as prey in a dismal hellscape. Really, the parallels to Wamphyri are pretty strong, except Lumley really handled it better*.
(Basically, they need a stronger check on population growth to avoid exploding that way: a limit to how fast they spread via fertility, like maybe they can only turn so many people so fast. A cure. A predator that pares down their population, like Buffy or something. As it stands, they seem like the body horror version of rabbits in Australia. It seems like the only thing that's kept them in the shadows this long is hiding voluntarily, which doesn't scan very well because of how well the Master has done by *not* doing that.)
I think a lot of that has to do with absolutely NO Zack and Zompire Mommy Dearest in this ep. That really allowed to show to be the good silly fun I know it can be.
Agreed. I watch, read and otherwise engage with a lot of genre fiction, and the trick to all of it is pacing, I think: if the stuff on the screen is entertaining enough to engage the viewer, it can be ridiculous and no one cares. When stuff slows down, the audience is both annoyed and left without enough time to start picking at all the inevitable plot holes.
They kept this one moving more, and it showed. I was still really annoyed by the Lumen stuff, but Eph, Dutch and Fet were all doing some cool stuff.
‘The Strain’ Renewed For Fourth & Final Season By FX
I came here to post this, and agree with miss-lapin: hooray for more hate-watching! I want to be favoriting comments, but in our horrible election cycle, I've been out for ages.
---
* Disclaimer: Harry Keogh is still the worst sort of Gary Stu, but I lurved those vampires and pretty much everything else in that universe.
posted by mordax at 7:21 PM on September 27, 2016 [1 favorite]
Oh man yeah I loved the vampire lords and ladies. Vasagi the Suck, Eyegore Killglance. The names alone so much fun. I haven't read those books since I was in college. Maybe I'll have to dig them out and start a fanfare group to go through the series. The vampirism was more fun because on top of everything else the lords and ladies had varying levels of intelligence and different abilities (based both on what/who infected them and their own innate abilities). And then there was the Game of Thrones-esque politics between them.
The head zompires don't have any personality aside from the Master. So what exactly makes the Master different? It makes sense that Quinlan would be different because of his unique nature. But we haven't seen anything in the way of individuality from the three major vampires (what's left of the original 7). So how/why is the Master not on board with apparently hanging out on a cross and eating what is brought to him?
I mean I can see why it doesn't appeal TO ME, but given the character of the zompires I don't see why it doesn't appeal to him.
posted by miss-lapin at 1:16 AM on September 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
The head zompires don't have any personality aside from the Master. So what exactly makes the Master different? It makes sense that Quinlan would be different because of his unique nature. But we haven't seen anything in the way of individuality from the three major vampires (what's left of the original 7). So how/why is the Master not on board with apparently hanging out on a cross and eating what is brought to him?
I mean I can see why it doesn't appeal TO ME, but given the character of the zompires I don't see why it doesn't appeal to him.
posted by miss-lapin at 1:16 AM on September 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
Maybe I'll have to dig them out and start a fanfare group to go through the series.
If you do, I'm totally in. Man, Faethor Ferenczy. Haha. (No clue where most of mine are, but I think I saw Necroscope when I was cleaning last month.)
The head zompires don't have any personality aside from the Master. So what exactly makes the Master different?
It's funny, but a *good* answer to that question might actually untangle the whole 'zompires should rule the world' thing. If it's normal for old vampires to go sort of vampire-senile and just rely on minions to feed them instead of planning large scale operations, and the Master is somehow changed/different, it could account for humanity's continued survival into modern times. I will admit I hadn't considered that angle.
Maybe one of his hosts was all super ambitious, or he had some sort of (un)life changing epiphany. I guess it's telling that he's the only one with a really self-aggrandizing title. 'Ancient' is sort of value-neutral, and Quinlan rejects the titles he's given, preferring to just do the one-name routine. Only the Master insists he's 'the Master.'
posted by mordax at 10:11 AM on September 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
If you do, I'm totally in. Man, Faethor Ferenczy. Haha. (No clue where most of mine are, but I think I saw Necroscope when I was cleaning last month.)
The head zompires don't have any personality aside from the Master. So what exactly makes the Master different?
It's funny, but a *good* answer to that question might actually untangle the whole 'zompires should rule the world' thing. If it's normal for old vampires to go sort of vampire-senile and just rely on minions to feed them instead of planning large scale operations, and the Master is somehow changed/different, it could account for humanity's continued survival into modern times. I will admit I hadn't considered that angle.
Maybe one of his hosts was all super ambitious, or he had some sort of (un)life changing epiphany. I guess it's telling that he's the only one with a really self-aggrandizing title. 'Ancient' is sort of value-neutral, and Quinlan rejects the titles he's given, preferring to just do the one-name routine. Only the Master insists he's 'the Master.'
posted by mordax at 10:11 AM on September 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
uh, I know why the Master is different but I'm not spoiling if y'all aren't asking. It's come up in the series before, so this is NOT a spoiler, but there was an agreement long ago about which Ancients were granted certain continents/areas to hold dominion over as their exclusive feeding grounds, with the understanding that 1) they would not create more minions to serve them than could easily be controlled or destroyed, and 2) they WOULD NOT, EVER, NEVER EVER sting pregnant humans... Quinlan said as much in his origin story episode, and that's why he's The Chosen One as far as the ancient prophecies go for destroying the Master.
In the very first episode, the Master lands in NYC. It's not clear then in the show, but it becomes clear through a very careful watching of the series that the other Ancients are beyond angry because he's broken a sacred taboo and poached another Ancient's feeding ground. They may not spell it out directly in the dialogue, but it's heavily implied that he has gone rogue and broken their truce that's held for thousands of years.
Also yesssss at them showing Fet-Set reading the Occido Lumen held up through sunlight -- the undoing of the 7 cannot be read by the 7 or their minions! finally!
Now I'm wondering, where the fuck is Creem? Remember that guy? He really should be here in the storyline rn but apparently got bumped to final season 4.
as far as worst host ever... I won't spoil but you're on the right path.
Jackboot Jane is apparently taking over a role that was originally doled out to someone who's now dead in the TV series, I think. In the books, the guy Eph killed on that disastrous train mission to DC is still alive, but I think the dearth of female characters in general means that his continuing role is now going to the ambitious, power-hungry Justine Feraldo.
It was a bit satisfying to also see Eldritch Palmer reduced to an old crippled man in a wheelchair, no hot young girlfriend, no army of suited minions to ferry him to and fro in a big black SUV. Hell, he and Setrakian are nearly a match physically at this point, and I cannot BELIEVE that Set would consider playing dealer for his White-addicted junkie!!!
Really excited to also see Angel giving Zomps the ol' one-two punch with his silver cross knuckles. The power of silver (and Christ) burns them, and his glory days as the baddest luchador in town are starting back up again, Zomp-style! I really do love Gus and Angel together; Fet and Set are the real MVPs, Gus and Angel are showing up and showing out in their own JV squad ways, so it looks like they're setting up Eph and Dutch to be the medical/technology also-rans of the Zompocalypse. This last ep is the first one where I legit jumped, cringed and screamed a few times due to their inept drunken microwave experiments.
So many of you guys are recommending Necroscope I feel compelled to watch it -- I've heard of/seen the books before but haven't read them; is this a movie? TV series? I best get to Googling, huh??? :)
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 9:07 AM on September 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
In the very first episode, the Master lands in NYC. It's not clear then in the show, but it becomes clear through a very careful watching of the series that the other Ancients are beyond angry because he's broken a sacred taboo and poached another Ancient's feeding ground. They may not spell it out directly in the dialogue, but it's heavily implied that he has gone rogue and broken their truce that's held for thousands of years.
Also yesssss at them showing Fet-Set reading the Occido Lumen held up through sunlight -- the undoing of the 7 cannot be read by the 7 or their minions! finally!
Now I'm wondering, where the fuck is Creem? Remember that guy? He really should be here in the storyline rn but apparently got bumped to final season 4.
as far as worst host ever... I won't spoil but you're on the right path.
Jackboot Jane is apparently taking over a role that was originally doled out to someone who's now dead in the TV series, I think. In the books, the guy Eph killed on that disastrous train mission to DC is still alive, but I think the dearth of female characters in general means that his continuing role is now going to the ambitious, power-hungry Justine Feraldo.
It was a bit satisfying to also see Eldritch Palmer reduced to an old crippled man in a wheelchair, no hot young girlfriend, no army of suited minions to ferry him to and fro in a big black SUV. Hell, he and Setrakian are nearly a match physically at this point, and I cannot BELIEVE that Set would consider playing dealer for his White-addicted junkie!!!
Really excited to also see Angel giving Zomps the ol' one-two punch with his silver cross knuckles. The power of silver (and Christ) burns them, and his glory days as the baddest luchador in town are starting back up again, Zomp-style! I really do love Gus and Angel together; Fet and Set are the real MVPs, Gus and Angel are showing up and showing out in their own JV squad ways, so it looks like they're setting up Eph and Dutch to be the medical/technology also-rans of the Zompocalypse. This last ep is the first one where I legit jumped, cringed and screamed a few times due to their inept drunken microwave experiments.
So many of you guys are recommending Necroscope I feel compelled to watch it -- I've heard of/seen the books before but haven't read them; is this a movie? TV series? I best get to Googling, huh??? :)
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 9:07 AM on September 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
It's a series of books. I don't believe there's even been an attempt to film them.
When I ask why the Master is different, you have to remember given the context of the show all we see of the ancients is these husks who hang out, get fed, and have minions do their work. All three talk through a minion AS ONE. There's no sense any of them have a unique identity, but like the lower orders of zompire, they have a shared identity. The Master, through his name and his behavior, clearly has a independent sense of self. He is outside of the shared ancient identity and that is why he can and does go rogue. But there's no explanation given for why he is capable of this. Why he alone is able to have a unique zompire identity. Quinlan has one because of his unique nature. His humanity allows him to have that. But the Master? There's reason. We aren't given an inciting incident or an explanation of how this is possible given zompire physiology and psychology.
posted by miss-lapin at 2:15 PM on September 29, 2016 [3 favorites]
When I ask why the Master is different, you have to remember given the context of the show all we see of the ancients is these husks who hang out, get fed, and have minions do their work. All three talk through a minion AS ONE. There's no sense any of them have a unique identity, but like the lower orders of zompire, they have a shared identity. The Master, through his name and his behavior, clearly has a independent sense of self. He is outside of the shared ancient identity and that is why he can and does go rogue. But there's no explanation given for why he is capable of this. Why he alone is able to have a unique zompire identity. Quinlan has one because of his unique nature. His humanity allows him to have that. But the Master? There's reason. We aren't given an inciting incident or an explanation of how this is possible given zompire physiology and psychology.
posted by miss-lapin at 2:15 PM on September 29, 2016 [3 favorites]
It's a series of books. I don't believe there's even been an attempt to film them.
I guess it landed in development hell or something, but I can't see how they'd do it justice anyway. Personally, I'd recommend just reading some of the books.
But the Master? There's reason. We aren't given an inciting incident or an explanation of how this is possible given zompire physiology and psychology.
Yeah, I... hm. At this point, I'm tempted to break down about spoilers, but trying not to yet, haha.
posted by mordax at 2:21 PM on September 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
I guess it landed in development hell or something, but I can't see how they'd do it justice anyway. Personally, I'd recommend just reading some of the books.
But the Master? There's reason. We aren't given an inciting incident or an explanation of how this is possible given zompire physiology and psychology.
Yeah, I... hm. At this point, I'm tempted to break down about spoilers, but trying not to yet, haha.
posted by mordax at 2:21 PM on September 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
DAMN IT. Sigh. Well let's hope they finally explain. Otherwise, I demand some sort of explanation.
posted by miss-lapin at 2:24 PM on September 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by miss-lapin at 2:24 PM on September 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
I'm here, y'all. Send up the Bat-signal (heh) when you're frustrated enough to cave (again, heh) in!
Necroscope books, here I come...
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 3:13 PM on September 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
Necroscope books, here I come...
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 3:13 PM on September 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
Ok for a moment I thought that Eph might become the vessel, which hey whiny drinky vessel, why not? Giving Zach a zompire pet was interesting in terms of allowing him to forge an emotional connection with them as a species and turn against his father even further. Arguably with Eph as a dad, I don't know how much conditioning the kid would need to basically be like "Screw humanity k thanx bai" anyway.
Fett got over his lone wolf act pretty fast. He's the worst kind of romantic. The one who is always talking about how it's better to be alone while falling in love at the drop of a hat, but I still love him to pieces. I thought Kate was going to get eaten and then the Dutch/Fett line would rekindle, but it looks like Kate is in it to win it.
I don't feel like much happened plotwise, really, though. Eph and Dutch discovered nothing except Zach is still alive. Unless I missed it, there was nothing on the Q and Setrakian front. Fett succeeded short term, but the councilwoman has basically lost NYC. The only thing Eichorst did was move Zack, which if this was the plan, why not move Zach beforehand rather than risk being caught? And the Master is still the invisible man, so not much ACTUAL movement in terms of what's happening.
posted by miss-lapin at 3:36 PM on October 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
Fett got over his lone wolf act pretty fast. He's the worst kind of romantic. The one who is always talking about how it's better to be alone while falling in love at the drop of a hat, but I still love him to pieces. I thought Kate was going to get eaten and then the Dutch/Fett line would rekindle, but it looks like Kate is in it to win it.
I don't feel like much happened plotwise, really, though. Eph and Dutch discovered nothing except Zach is still alive. Unless I missed it, there was nothing on the Q and Setrakian front. Fett succeeded short term, but the councilwoman has basically lost NYC. The only thing Eichorst did was move Zack, which if this was the plan, why not move Zach beforehand rather than risk being caught? And the Master is still the invisible man, so not much ACTUAL movement in terms of what's happening.
posted by miss-lapin at 3:36 PM on October 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
Y'all, it should be obvious by now that the Master is crowdsurfing in a giant pile of Zompires based on the fact they showed the "brain center" of one of the creatures as a squirming horde of white transmission vector worms.
I think the writers took a creative leap and expected us to think he would be hidden in the underground lair horde and wiped out by what, like, 8 strapped-together silver dust car batteries exploding? That's some shitty comic book-level writing and LOL, NO. JUST. NO.
If he really was hidden at the bottom of that undead stinking sleeping anti-mosh pit, he was buried at the bottom. Wayyyyyyyy the fuck at the bottom, f'realsies.
It's far more likely he escaped before Fet even arrived on the scene courtesy of Eichorst's Zomp Alert System, then neatly folded in a pocket square and surreptitiously chose to use Eichorst as his personal bipedal Uber. Isn't he the only one that still has some semblance of reason, planning, drive to complete the mission, and loyalty to the Master? He gotta be giving worm-dude a personal Lyft to keep him safe and sound, I'm thinking.
FYI these aren't book spoilers; they're genuine predictions/deductions/guesswork entirely based on this shoddy, go-nowhere filler episode. Seeing the Zompires overrun Central Park (and clearly control the heart of NYC) was good in that it confirmed that the island of Manhattan is well and truly fucked, humans are literally outnumbered 1000 to 1 at this point, and undead takeover is imminent.
Based on their goth wardrobe uniformity, I'm guessing the Master gets a discount at Uniqlo, Hot Topic, Old Navy and... I dunno, Peacoats R Us? Sure was a shitload of uniform black up in that horde, that's all I'm saying.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 10:18 PM on October 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
I think the writers took a creative leap and expected us to think he would be hidden in the underground lair horde and wiped out by what, like, 8 strapped-together silver dust car batteries exploding? That's some shitty comic book-level writing and LOL, NO. JUST. NO.
If he really was hidden at the bottom of that undead stinking sleeping anti-mosh pit, he was buried at the bottom. Wayyyyyyyy the fuck at the bottom, f'realsies.
It's far more likely he escaped before Fet even arrived on the scene courtesy of Eichorst's Zomp Alert System, then neatly folded in a pocket square and surreptitiously chose to use Eichorst as his personal bipedal Uber. Isn't he the only one that still has some semblance of reason, planning, drive to complete the mission, and loyalty to the Master? He gotta be giving worm-dude a personal Lyft to keep him safe and sound, I'm thinking.
FYI these aren't book spoilers; they're genuine predictions/deductions/guesswork entirely based on this shoddy, go-nowhere filler episode. Seeing the Zompires overrun Central Park (and clearly control the heart of NYC) was good in that it confirmed that the island of Manhattan is well and truly fucked, humans are literally outnumbered 1000 to 1 at this point, and undead takeover is imminent.
Based on their goth wardrobe uniformity, I'm guessing the Master gets a discount at Uniqlo, Hot Topic, Old Navy and... I dunno, Peacoats R Us? Sure was a shitload of uniform black up in that horde, that's all I'm saying.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 10:18 PM on October 5, 2016 [2 favorites]
Re: Zach's new puppy: I laughed in delight as Eichorst and Kelly brought in the littlest vampire like they were mom and new stepdad trying to buy the boy's love...and honestly not understanding why he was creeped out.
Btw, haven't read the books, but I do think they're setting him up to be the new Vessel -- the pet is (presumably) a test of some kind.
posted by Mogur at 9:27 AM on October 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
Btw, haven't read the books, but I do think they're setting him up to be the new Vessel -- the pet is (presumably) a test of some kind.
posted by Mogur at 9:27 AM on October 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
Caught up again, I'm now done with Ep 7, Collaborators.
Stuff:
* Not sure about the flashbacks. Like... does Fet really need a dark past, given it's the apocalypse? Felt like a big waste of time, even though the performances and whatnot were fine.
* Setrakian and Fet out running around is the best use of their time. I enjoyed their silver heist. They're probably my favorite team in the current season.
* This is the first time I was interested in what Eldritch Palmer was up to since S1. The bit at the end with the nurse screaming "I quit!" was laugh-out-loud funny. I also liked his continued, feeble attempts to be a player in this scenario this time.
* Eph, Dutch and Quinlan were actually really fun this time. I think it's working for me because - for once - they're not trying to push a romantic pairing there. Having Eph and Dutch just be pals offers some good chemistry, and allows them to actually do stuff instead of sitting around wallowing. Quinlan outdoors and swording/shooting/licking his blade was also way more fun than watching him sit around reading photocopies.
* No Zack, thus promoting the episode an entire letter grade.
I guess the tl;dr version of my review is: this episode was actually pretty good because everybody was out and doing things, instead of moping about relationships or pondering a boring fictional tome. I hope they keep that up.
posted by mordax at 6:13 PM on October 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
Stuff:
* Not sure about the flashbacks. Like... does Fet really need a dark past, given it's the apocalypse? Felt like a big waste of time, even though the performances and whatnot were fine.
* Setrakian and Fet out running around is the best use of their time. I enjoyed their silver heist. They're probably my favorite team in the current season.
* This is the first time I was interested in what Eldritch Palmer was up to since S1. The bit at the end with the nurse screaming "I quit!" was laugh-out-loud funny. I also liked his continued, feeble attempts to be a player in this scenario this time.
* Eph, Dutch and Quinlan were actually really fun this time. I think it's working for me because - for once - they're not trying to push a romantic pairing there. Having Eph and Dutch just be pals offers some good chemistry, and allows them to actually do stuff instead of sitting around wallowing. Quinlan outdoors and swording/shooting/licking his blade was also way more fun than watching him sit around reading photocopies.
* No Zack, thus promoting the episode an entire letter grade.
I guess the tl;dr version of my review is: this episode was actually pretty good because everybody was out and doing things, instead of moping about relationships or pondering a boring fictional tome. I hope they keep that up.
posted by mordax at 6:13 PM on October 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
The flashback was really dark, but yes: it did feel a bit like the show was dipping back into the "hey, Eichorst was a Nazi and so as well as being a vampire is really really bad" well that it had already explored pretty fully in the Setrakian/Eichorst flashbacks.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 9:17 PM on October 11, 2016
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 9:17 PM on October 11, 2016
Yeah that flashback and Fet's "omigah, my grandaddy also teh Nazis -- WAIT, SAME NAZI? -- my family's men, their repressed feelings...etc. Now I, too, am the last of my people" moment with Setrakian was a nice bonding moment, but not book canon.
I think this ep's flashback was the showrunners highlighting Fet and Set's father/son bond, but it wasn't necessary. It's nice to remind viewers about the Reich invading Ukraine during WWII (and somewhat topical re:Putin's shenanigans), but... more running around heisting, licking and stabbing, please. We covered the other shit already, guys!
Gus? Also the last of his people. But he channels that pain into forming a new chosen family with Angel. Angel was the greatest luchador of his generation, but a "son" he initially couldn't stand is trying to give him another stab at greatness, fighting evil near the end of his life.
Dutch? I'm pretty sure she sprang from Zeus' forehead during a drug binge-induced headache. Maybe the last of HER kind, but who knows.
Quinlan was always the last of his kind, and he's basically okay with it. FUCK YES, QUINLAN.
Setrakian... I might argue that he and Palmer are opposites but not really the last of their kind, but others would disagree. Eldritch is Ayn Rand's hubris personified; his attempts at wheelchair-bound intimidation are laughable.
Eph and Zack are, unfortunately, the only ones who aren't the last of their kind. Those two, of all characters??? Zack, son of Eph, Worst of His Name, and both are still alive. /rant
I cannot fathom why they dragged the second book out into two TV seasons, because damn, y'all. They must not have a big enough budget to adequately convey the visuals for The Night Eternal, but hey, we got a whole season of Rupert Penry-Jones!
Rupert Penry-Jones is the best possible timeline version of Quinlan. If they spend an inordinate amount of the show's budget just on his makeup, weapons and wardrobe, I am beyond satisfied. His posh accent, amused facial expressions, acting gravitas and masterful fighting skills have given this season a much-needed shot of charisma and menace that only Eichhorst previously mustered. At first glance you'd assume the goth guy was "bad" and the dapper, bespoke-suited German was "good," but that's what makes them great foils for each other.
The continuing question of "What defines humanity, and what fate do we ultimately deserve having committed such sins against all of God's creation?" is a compelling one; here's hoping the show finds a satisfactory answer for its viewers.
P.S. I left out Justine Feraldo because white people's power grabs are boring as hell, whatever their gender. Same for Sweater Succubus Kelly, but props to the actress. She makes me want to eat a rack of ribs whenever she smells humans.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 4:48 PM on October 13, 2016 [2 favorites]
I think this ep's flashback was the showrunners highlighting Fet and Set's father/son bond, but it wasn't necessary. It's nice to remind viewers about the Reich invading Ukraine during WWII (and somewhat topical re:Putin's shenanigans), but... more running around heisting, licking and stabbing, please. We covered the other shit already, guys!
Gus? Also the last of his people. But he channels that pain into forming a new chosen family with Angel. Angel was the greatest luchador of his generation, but a "son" he initially couldn't stand is trying to give him another stab at greatness, fighting evil near the end of his life.
Dutch? I'm pretty sure she sprang from Zeus' forehead during a drug binge-induced headache. Maybe the last of HER kind, but who knows.
Quinlan was always the last of his kind, and he's basically okay with it. FUCK YES, QUINLAN.
Setrakian... I might argue that he and Palmer are opposites but not really the last of their kind, but others would disagree. Eldritch is Ayn Rand's hubris personified; his attempts at wheelchair-bound intimidation are laughable.
Eph and Zack are, unfortunately, the only ones who aren't the last of their kind. Those two, of all characters??? Zack, son of Eph, Worst of His Name, and both are still alive. /rant
I cannot fathom why they dragged the second book out into two TV seasons, because damn, y'all. They must not have a big enough budget to adequately convey the visuals for The Night Eternal, but hey, we got a whole season of Rupert Penry-Jones!
Rupert Penry-Jones is the best possible timeline version of Quinlan. If they spend an inordinate amount of the show's budget just on his makeup, weapons and wardrobe, I am beyond satisfied. His posh accent, amused facial expressions, acting gravitas and masterful fighting skills have given this season a much-needed shot of charisma and menace that only Eichhorst previously mustered. At first glance you'd assume the goth guy was "bad" and the dapper, bespoke-suited German was "good," but that's what makes them great foils for each other.
The continuing question of "What defines humanity, and what fate do we ultimately deserve having committed such sins against all of God's creation?" is a compelling one; here's hoping the show finds a satisfactory answer for its viewers.
P.S. I left out Justine Feraldo because white people's power grabs are boring as hell, whatever their gender. Same for Sweater Succubus Kelly, but props to the actress. She makes me want to eat a rack of ribs whenever she smells humans.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 4:48 PM on October 13, 2016 [2 favorites]
OH MY GOD THAT EPISODE WAS EVERYTHING
THE NIGHT ETERNAL IS COMING, Y'ALL!!!!!!!
also, who else is a little freaked out by seeing our favorite drawling Tex-Martian suddenly toadying up to Eichhorst? Obviously that role's gonna be short-lived when The Expanse fires up its engines again... but that opening meat hook scene was the ideal demonstration of "21st Century Evil Nazi Factory Efficiency Test" and it set up this episode's tonal expectations and storyline perfectly. All aboard The Night Eternal train!!
Damn, writers, I'm side-eyeing you SO hard for that Dutch kiss. Eph and Dutch, really? What a gross way to pander to the supposed sexual fantasies of hetero men everywhere and undermine the agency of the only unabashedly bisexual/pansexual woman on the show. In no universe and with no quantity of liquor do I believe that Dutch would go for Eph's dick over Fet's, I'm sorry. She already captured the best alpha male on the show's heart and dominated the hell out of him, so now she's moved on to licking up this messy pile of crushed glass held loosely together in a bartender's rag? just... no.
Like, the Heathers death scene where Heather Prime drank drain cleaner and then crashed through her glass coffee table gasping "corn... nuts" was sexier than that seduction scene, ffs.
If their "combo celebrity couple name" is EphDutch, well, *shrug* we've all been thinking it. I'd just rather not have to see it.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 8:27 PM on October 16, 2016 [4 favorites]
THE NIGHT ETERNAL IS COMING, Y'ALL!!!!!!!
also, who else is a little freaked out by seeing our favorite drawling Tex-Martian suddenly toadying up to Eichhorst? Obviously that role's gonna be short-lived when The Expanse fires up its engines again... but that opening meat hook scene was the ideal demonstration of "21st Century Evil Nazi Factory Efficiency Test" and it set up this episode's tonal expectations and storyline perfectly. All aboard The Night Eternal train!!
Damn, writers, I'm side-eyeing you SO hard for that Dutch kiss. Eph and Dutch, really? What a gross way to pander to the supposed sexual fantasies of hetero men everywhere and undermine the agency of the only unabashedly bisexual/pansexual woman on the show. In no universe and with no quantity of liquor do I believe that Dutch would go for Eph's dick over Fet's, I'm sorry. She already captured the best alpha male on the show's heart and dominated the hell out of him, so now she's moved on to licking up this messy pile of crushed glass held loosely together in a bartender's rag? just... no.
Like, the Heathers death scene where Heather Prime drank drain cleaner and then crashed through her glass coffee table gasping "corn... nuts" was sexier than that seduction scene, ffs.
If their "combo celebrity couple name" is EphDutch, well, *shrug* we've all been thinking it. I'd just rather not have to see it.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 8:27 PM on October 16, 2016 [4 favorites]
Just watched White Light. Not as good as Collaborators, but it retained momentum. Specifics:
* This bears repeating:
Damn, writers, I'm side-eyeing you SO hard for that Dutch kiss. Eph and Dutch, really? What a gross way to pander to the supposed sexual fantasies of hetero men everywhere and undermine the agency of the only unabashedly bisexual/pansexual woman on the show.
Eph/Dutch was gross on every level. Apart from the disgusting pandering, they had *just* managed to make Eph watchable by giving Eph and Dutch a work buddy vibe, and they tossed it away. (I was actually enjoying watching Eph for the first time since the show aired.)
* Setrakian and Fet were pretty great, actually doing stuff. Their casual thuggery is pretty entertaining. That subplot has also made Eldritch Palmer watchable, despite him still being completely horrible. (Him being beholden to Setrakian is funny in the short term.)
* Gus' flashbacks were also unnecessary, but I'm willing to look past it because the Gus/Angel friendship is good. The window into the Freedom Centers was good too.
* I'm assuming Quinlan gets out of this one. I do wish he'd made it clear just what he wanted from the Ancients before they got bombed, because I'm terribly curious. Like, did he want them to go out and hunt the Master with him? (They seemed pretty fit, all casually decapitating lesser zompires, but it still seems like a weird thing to be coy about, so I assume he wanted more.)
posted by mordax at 3:38 PM on October 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
* This bears repeating:
Damn, writers, I'm side-eyeing you SO hard for that Dutch kiss. Eph and Dutch, really? What a gross way to pander to the supposed sexual fantasies of hetero men everywhere and undermine the agency of the only unabashedly bisexual/pansexual woman on the show.
Eph/Dutch was gross on every level. Apart from the disgusting pandering, they had *just* managed to make Eph watchable by giving Eph and Dutch a work buddy vibe, and they tossed it away. (I was actually enjoying watching Eph for the first time since the show aired.)
* Setrakian and Fet were pretty great, actually doing stuff. Their casual thuggery is pretty entertaining. That subplot has also made Eldritch Palmer watchable, despite him still being completely horrible. (Him being beholden to Setrakian is funny in the short term.)
* Gus' flashbacks were also unnecessary, but I'm willing to look past it because the Gus/Angel friendship is good. The window into the Freedom Centers was good too.
* I'm assuming Quinlan gets out of this one. I do wish he'd made it clear just what he wanted from the Ancients before they got bombed, because I'm terribly curious. Like, did he want them to go out and hunt the Master with him? (They seemed pretty fit, all casually decapitating lesser zompires, but it still seems like a weird thing to be coy about, so I assume he wanted more.)
posted by mordax at 3:38 PM on October 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
Mordax, I don't think this is a spoiler -- but it's pretty heavily implied that since one (or more?) Ancients has suddenly disappeared from the original set of 7, and they also can't communicate directly with one another except via undead proxies they've either stung themselves/have been stung by "original" servants for each Ancient, the three Ancients that Quinlan was bargaining with had assumed that the newly discovered Ancient who may be currently entombed in the mysterious Egyptian wooden sarcophagus had actually been destroyed/killed by the Master in some bygone era of history.
If that were true, then this particular Ancient would be the only one of the original seven who knew how and when he was captured and therefore particularly valuable as either 1) a bargaining chip for negotiating a new treaty with the Master, or 2) using a similar tactic to ensnare and/or destroy the Master themselves, since the methods in the Occido Lumen cannot be read by any strigoi.
(I say "he" when referring to any individual Ancient because although they seem clearly to be genderless, the Ancients also appear to primarily choose male spokescreatures/voices). This particular wont is likely due to the patriarchal history of humankind, though.
I think what Quinlan particularly wanted from them was to divine this destruction knowledge from the renegade boxed one they'd captured instead of simply destroying him as a food competitor or allowing the Master to do the same.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 6:23 PM on October 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
If that were true, then this particular Ancient would be the only one of the original seven who knew how and when he was captured and therefore particularly valuable as either 1) a bargaining chip for negotiating a new treaty with the Master, or 2) using a similar tactic to ensnare and/or destroy the Master themselves, since the methods in the Occido Lumen cannot be read by any strigoi.
(I say "he" when referring to any individual Ancient because although they seem clearly to be genderless, the Ancients also appear to primarily choose male spokescreatures/voices). This particular wont is likely due to the patriarchal history of humankind, though.
I think what Quinlan particularly wanted from them was to divine this destruction knowledge from the renegade boxed one they'd captured instead of simply destroying him as a food competitor or allowing the Master to do the same.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 6:23 PM on October 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
Shit that was messy. To clarify:
Quinlan 100% wants the Master dead. Not ambiguously, either.
The other Ancients almost certainly want another truce because humans being able to kill the Master means their days are also numbered -- and they wouldn't be cool with that.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 6:32 PM on October 17, 2016
Quinlan 100% wants the Master dead. Not ambiguously, either.
The other Ancients almost certainly want another truce because humans being able to kill the Master means their days are also numbered -- and they wouldn't be cool with that.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 6:32 PM on October 17, 2016
I think what Quinlan particularly wanted from them was to divine this destruction knowledge from the renegade boxed one they'd captured instead of simply destroying him as a food competitor or allowing the Master to do the same.
Mm. Fair enough. Seems weird to put that off though - it sounded like he wanted physical activity from them. You're probably right though, and it was just lousy writing.
Just finished Do Or Die, which continues this season's pattern of being decent. Stuff:
* Eph/Dutch is still gross, but I guess they're going with it. I appreciated them not rubbing Fet's nose in the matter, at least.
* I missed the technobabble about *why* their new sci-fi weapon works, but it's cool that it does - that was probably my favorite subplot this season, simply it fits better with how the show was sold to me. Ancient tomes and vampire elders are fine if vampires are magic, but electronic countermeasures to vampire telepathy are more fun if the vamps are a biologically explicable plague.
* Eldritch Palmer was actually pretty fun this time. The flashbacks were still pretty gratuitous, but his modern day action was cool, including laying a trap for an overconfident Eichhorst.
* Glad to see Quinlan still kicking. Off screen death would've been bad.
* The thing with Angel and Gus felt a bit shaggy dog - of all the characters on the bridge, Gus is the least interesting to me, so seeing him be the only one to make it out fell flat. I hope he has some interesting stuff to do in the near future.
Strangely enough, I'm actually looking forward to both the finale and next season. (I think maybe the premiere of TWD gave me some perspective about how much worse this show could've been, this year.)
posted by mordax at 5:19 PM on October 24, 2016 [3 favorites]
Mm. Fair enough. Seems weird to put that off though - it sounded like he wanted physical activity from them. You're probably right though, and it was just lousy writing.
Just finished Do Or Die, which continues this season's pattern of being decent. Stuff:
* Eph/Dutch is still gross, but I guess they're going with it. I appreciated them not rubbing Fet's nose in the matter, at least.
* I missed the technobabble about *why* their new sci-fi weapon works, but it's cool that it does - that was probably my favorite subplot this season, simply it fits better with how the show was sold to me. Ancient tomes and vampire elders are fine if vampires are magic, but electronic countermeasures to vampire telepathy are more fun if the vamps are a biologically explicable plague.
* Eldritch Palmer was actually pretty fun this time. The flashbacks were still pretty gratuitous, but his modern day action was cool, including laying a trap for an overconfident Eichhorst.
* Glad to see Quinlan still kicking. Off screen death would've been bad.
* The thing with Angel and Gus felt a bit shaggy dog - of all the characters on the bridge, Gus is the least interesting to me, so seeing him be the only one to make it out fell flat. I hope he has some interesting stuff to do in the near future.
Strangely enough, I'm actually looking forward to both the finale and next season. (I think maybe the premiere of TWD gave me some perspective about how much worse this show could've been, this year.)
posted by mordax at 5:19 PM on October 24, 2016 [3 favorites]
continues this season's pattern of being decent
These last two -- "White Light" and "Do Or Die" -- were both great, except as noted above the no-why-would-you-do-that Dutch/Eph hookup. I really liked the choreography of the Ancients' last stand; and the reveal that when pushed to it they're far from passive.
Glad to see Quinlan still kicking. Off screen death would've been bad.
I had mixed feelings about that: like the character, but at this point he's evaded death so many times that his plot armor makes him basically invulnerable. We're to believe he walked nonchalantly out of a nuclear blast now?
And wow. "Do Or Die" was some major deck-clearing for the season finale. Can't help thinking that they really didn't know how to use Angel as anything more significant than Gus's Jiminy Cricket. All that backstory and it never really paid off.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 7:28 AM on October 25, 2016 [3 favorites]
These last two -- "White Light" and "Do Or Die" -- were both great, except as noted above the no-why-would-you-do-that Dutch/Eph hookup. I really liked the choreography of the Ancients' last stand; and the reveal that when pushed to it they're far from passive.
Glad to see Quinlan still kicking. Off screen death would've been bad.
I had mixed feelings about that: like the character, but at this point he's evaded death so many times that his plot armor makes him basically invulnerable. We're to believe he walked nonchalantly out of a nuclear blast now?
And wow. "Do Or Die" was some major deck-clearing for the season finale. Can't help thinking that they really didn't know how to use Angel as anything more significant than Gus's Jiminy Cricket. All that backstory and it never really paid off.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 7:28 AM on October 25, 2016 [3 favorites]
Fucking hell, people! THAT FINALE DID NOT JIBE WITH THE SECOND BOOK'S ENDING. I AM AGAPE OVER HERE RN, WOW!!
LOL, okay, at least we got the nuclear winter/mushroom cloud I've been looking forward to seeing all season. (Please mom and dad never find this comment, I swear I'm normal and sane. It just obviously needed to happen.)
Justine Feraldo clearly won't be heading up the human blood farming industry, cuz she dead now. That was my theory, and I had no idea that the Master would jump into Palmer Eldritch next. WTF!
Seriously excited we get more goth greatness next season from Quinlan, but man, he sure is pissed to still be alive, isn't he? Are there any scientists in the thread that can knowledgeably comment on how majorly irradiated/dead everyone should be at this point instead of staggering away, faintly besmirched by debris instead of deaf/blind/melted/etc. from their close proximity to the bomb's blast radius?
Keep being the absolute fucking worst, Zach. You're the real MVP (Most Vexing Person) on this show, and swapping out shitty Master stepdad for Eph, Worst of His Name is pretty spot-on for a what... a 12-year-old bored and horny not-quite-teenaged American, I guess.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 6:52 PM on November 1, 2016 [3 favorites]
LOL, okay, at least we got the nuclear winter/mushroom cloud I've been looking forward to seeing all season. (Please mom and dad never find this comment, I swear I'm normal and sane. It just obviously needed to happen.)
Justine Feraldo clearly won't be heading up the human blood farming industry, cuz she dead now. That was my theory, and I had no idea that the Master would jump into Palmer Eldritch next. WTF!
Seriously excited we get more goth greatness next season from Quinlan, but man, he sure is pissed to still be alive, isn't he? Are there any scientists in the thread that can knowledgeably comment on how majorly irradiated/dead everyone should be at this point instead of staggering away, faintly besmirched by debris instead of deaf/blind/melted/etc. from their close proximity to the bomb's blast radius?
Keep being the absolute fucking worst, Zach. You're the real MVP (Most Vexing Person) on this show, and swapping out shitty Master stepdad for Eph, Worst of His Name is pretty spot-on for a what... a 12-year-old bored and horny not-quite-teenaged American, I guess.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 6:52 PM on November 1, 2016 [3 favorites]
Seriously excited we get more goth greatness next season from Quinlan, but man, he sure is pissed to still be alive, isn't he? Are there any scientists in the thread that can knowledgeably comment on how majorly irradiated/dead everyone should be at this point instead of staggering away, faintly besmirched by debris instead of deaf/blind/melted/etc. from their close proximity to the bomb's blast radius?
Quinlan should definitely be blind, and that was my main disappointment with the scene. He was just rubbernecking at that whole business, eyes wide open. Best case, he should have needed to regenerate or something, but I expected him to be bad off because light is the natural enemy of Hollywood vampires.
As for dead: not necessarily. Depends on the power of the weapon, which couldn't have been that impressive. I wasn't actually surprised he lived, I was just expecting him to be the blind samurai archetype next season.
I'll have to come back tomorrow or something to talk more, I'm way past punchy tonight. Overall, this was a fun episode though, and I find myself actually looking forward to S4.
posted by mordax at 11:54 PM on November 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
Quinlan should definitely be blind, and that was my main disappointment with the scene. He was just rubbernecking at that whole business, eyes wide open. Best case, he should have needed to regenerate or something, but I expected him to be bad off because light is the natural enemy of Hollywood vampires.
As for dead: not necessarily. Depends on the power of the weapon, which couldn't have been that impressive. I wasn't actually surprised he lived, I was just expecting him to be the blind samurai archetype next season.
I'll have to come back tomorrow or something to talk more, I'm way past punchy tonight. Overall, this was a fun episode though, and I find myself actually looking forward to S4.
posted by mordax at 11:54 PM on November 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
So, Zack is a mass murderer now? Will Eph finally give up on him (and also maybe fall off a building somewhere?).
posted by Mogur at 4:28 AM on November 4, 2016
posted by Mogur at 4:28 AM on November 4, 2016
So... this was mostly pretty fun.
* The love triangle stuff remains a horrible drag, but they seem to be working through it instead of wallowing, so that's good.
* I was legit surprised by the Master hopping into Eldritch Palmer. I figured he would just worm the guy, since his body is so weak. It made sense though - the Master has outmaneuvered the gang at every turn, so while this was overconfidence that got him curbstomped, it felt in character. I appreciated that the group actually got him in the box, too. They had a good plan, they came together to execute it, and it worked exactly as well as I felt it should have.
* Zack truly is The Worst. At the same time, I totally believed him doing that. I've met poorly adjusted children, and I could totally see one nuking New York for half that provocation. (I feel like they telegraphed him pulling the trigger pretty hard, especially when he let his pet strigoi kill that guy who was trying to help him.) Unfortunately, I doubt very much even this will make Eph give up on him. As long as Zack's human and alive, Eph will probably be trying to save him. It's the only thing I'm dreading in the coming season.
* My only disappointment with the use of nuclear weapons here was that it wasn't very ambitious. Triggering a proper nuclear winter, (or trying to), would've been way more spectacular. Still, points for going there.
posted by mordax at 1:16 PM on November 4, 2016
* The love triangle stuff remains a horrible drag, but they seem to be working through it instead of wallowing, so that's good.
* I was legit surprised by the Master hopping into Eldritch Palmer. I figured he would just worm the guy, since his body is so weak. It made sense though - the Master has outmaneuvered the gang at every turn, so while this was overconfidence that got him curbstomped, it felt in character. I appreciated that the group actually got him in the box, too. They had a good plan, they came together to execute it, and it worked exactly as well as I felt it should have.
* Zack truly is The Worst. At the same time, I totally believed him doing that. I've met poorly adjusted children, and I could totally see one nuking New York for half that provocation. (I feel like they telegraphed him pulling the trigger pretty hard, especially when he let his pet strigoi kill that guy who was trying to help him.) Unfortunately, I doubt very much even this will make Eph give up on him. As long as Zack's human and alive, Eph will probably be trying to save him. It's the only thing I'm dreading in the coming season.
* My only disappointment with the use of nuclear weapons here was that it wasn't very ambitious. Triggering a proper nuclear winter, (or trying to), would've been way more spectacular. Still, points for going there.
posted by mordax at 1:16 PM on November 4, 2016
This was fun; a nice trap and counter-trap of Master-Eldritch luring the gang to Stoneheart versus them slamming him into the box.
So these two suitcase nukes: they seem awfully variable in power, no? Eichorst used the first a few episodes to kill the Ancients, and it basically destroyed one building. Then Zack sets off the second and it flattens half of Manhattan?
Quinlan again survives certain death. Is he actually immortal, or simply very tough and long-lived?
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 5:32 PM on November 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
So these two suitcase nukes: they seem awfully variable in power, no? Eichorst used the first a few episodes to kill the Ancients, and it basically destroyed one building. Then Zack sets off the second and it flattens half of Manhattan?
Quinlan again survives certain death. Is he actually immortal, or simply very tough and long-lived?
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 5:32 PM on November 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
So these two suitcase nukes: they seem awfully variable in power, no?
They are totally Hollywood nukes.
Quinlan again survives certain death. Is he actually immortal, or simply very tough and long-lived?
Given the genre and overall quality of the work, I believe his Plot Armor is showing. (Like I said above, I don't think this blast would've necessarily killed him, but being completely unscathed is definitely out of line.)
posted by mordax at 4:39 PM on November 6, 2016
They are totally Hollywood nukes.
Quinlan again survives certain death. Is he actually immortal, or simply very tough and long-lived?
Given the genre and overall quality of the work, I believe his Plot Armor is showing. (Like I said above, I don't think this blast would've necessarily killed him, but being completely unscathed is definitely out of line.)
posted by mordax at 4:39 PM on November 6, 2016
Just started Season 3. Worst person ever:
1. Chuck Hogan
2. Eph
3. Zach
The quicker they are all eaten by vampires, the better.
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:40 PM on September 29, 2017
1. Chuck Hogan
2. Eph
3. Zach
The quicker they are all eaten by vampires, the better.
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:40 PM on September 29, 2017
So, a year and a half later and I finally get around to Season 3. I'm about halfway through, it's the battle of Central Park. None of us can know for sure how we would react to the apocalypse, but if it's getting on towards dark and most of the emergency services swat commandos have just died in the initial tunnel skirmish and I still need to somehow construct the bomb, the last thing I would do is get on the radio and say, "Eph, I think you should get all emo and rush down here. What's that? Dutch has also been on an extended self-destructive bender and she's there too? The more the merrier!"
And the Mother of the Year Award goes to; Here Zack, I got you a pet spiderdog/mutant zompire/bodyguard slave, she used to be a blind child the same age as you.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 8:10 PM on March 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
And the Mother of the Year Award goes to; Here Zack, I got you a pet spiderdog/mutant zompire/bodyguard slave, she used to be a blind child the same age as you.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 8:10 PM on March 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
* Zack is still the absolute worst.
Let me get this straight, Zach has a case of the feels so he nukes the Statue of Liberty, kills who knows how many people, releases the master and wanders off into the sunset with a Nazi vampire just as thousands of zompires rampage through the streets. The apple doesn't fall very far from the tree.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 8:05 PM on March 20, 2018
Let me get this straight, Zach has a case of the feels so he nukes the Statue of Liberty, kills who knows how many people, releases the master and wanders off into the sunset with a Nazi vampire just as thousands of zompires rampage through the streets. The apple doesn't fall very far from the tree.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 8:05 PM on March 20, 2018
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Does season 3 have even more vampire ninjas or did they all die in Eldritch Palmer's UV Laser Foyer last season?
How can Zack be the worst when Eff is the worsty worstest worst?
posted by ActingTheGoat at 3:07 PM on September 7, 2016 [3 favorites]