The Strain: One Shot
July 31, 2017 3:13 PM - Season 4, Episode 3 - Subscribe
The Strain lurches along in its final season.
So, we have a refreshing amount of forward motion this week:
* Eph and the resistance manage a pretty good poisoning plot, although they attract the direct interest of the Master and Eichhorst in the process.
* Fet and Quinlan steal a nuke, but it's missing thedelicious candy reactive plutonium center.
* Zack attempts to buy the affection of his poor maid, whose parents he totally killed. I know we go on about Zack being the worst, but he really is.
AV Club discussion here.
So, we have a refreshing amount of forward motion this week:
* Eph and the resistance manage a pretty good poisoning plot, although they attract the direct interest of the Master and Eichhorst in the process.
* Fet and Quinlan steal a nuke, but it's missing the
* Zack attempts to buy the affection of his poor maid, whose parents he totally killed. I know we go on about Zack being the worst, but he really is.
AV Club discussion here.
Zach is never going to die, is he? And is he really special? I thought they went after Zach just for revenge.
posted by Room 641-A at 1:52 AM on August 1, 2017
posted by Room 641-A at 1:52 AM on August 1, 2017
I have a weird relationship with this show. I watched a couple of episodes last season at random, and got kind of drawn into the storyline with Zach and his freaky pet vampire girl before I lost track of the show. What I saw seemed intriguing, but I never quite got pulled into being a regular viewer. The other day I caught part of a new episode and Zach didn't have his vamp friend around! I googled it and (spoiler warning) read this stuff about how he had helped set off a nuke and everybody hates him now, but there was nothing about whatever happened to his pal. I'm guessing she's come to a bad end, which makes me sad because there was something kind of affecting about the way she followed him around like a rabid puppy. Anybody want to fill me in about whatever happened to little Vampy?
posted by Ursula Hitler at 5:05 AM on August 1, 2017
posted by Ursula Hitler at 5:05 AM on August 1, 2017
She's still there, but he nudged her aside when his real girl showed up.
posted by Room 641-A at 5:20 AM on August 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Room 641-A at 5:20 AM on August 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
Also: yeah, the bits where Zack is hanging out with the rabid strigoi girl are about the only watchable Zack scenes, (some of them are downright hilarious), so it's too bad those are probably going by the wayside.
posted by mordax at 12:07 PM on August 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by mordax at 12:07 PM on August 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
OMG I'm done with this episode yet, but when the Master is basically like "So your human gf isn't gonna like you when you're just uh YOU." The look on his face. I was dying.
also can someone PLEASE cut his fucking hair? What in the hell is with this show and bad hair?
posted by miss-lapin at 12:48 PM on August 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
also can someone PLEASE cut his fucking hair? What in the hell is with this show and bad hair?
posted by miss-lapin at 12:48 PM on August 1, 2017 [2 favorites]
Quinlan continues to be basically indestructible. Did he reset his broken leg by pouring silver dust on it? Anyway. It did last week seem a problem to me, narratively speaking, that he's so overpowered compared to the human players: is he always going to turn up to act as deus ex vampira whenever Fet gets into trouble? It was a nice flip this week to have Fet come to his rescue.
The core of the nuke being missing seems like a way to spin Fet + Quinlan's quest out a bit longer.
Zack all "oh hi hey girl I WASN'T WATCHING THAT RAT GET EATEN no nothing creepy here." And what was with his vision of the taxidermied animal at the museum coming to life? Is the white inducing hallucinations, or is he starting to feel remorse about killing the tiger? Wondering if they're setting up a redemption plot for Zack in which Abby-the-maid acts as a humanizing influence instead of the control mechanism that the Master intends.
Eph was pretty effective this week! Although that whole tanker scene borrowed hugely from Breaking Bad's Dead Freight episode.
Eichorst continues to be creepy as hell; there's something about the way he sneeringly pronounces "the Jew" that makes it additionally repellent. And where is Setrakian anyway?
Freedom Bars get another mention! And I bet the mysterious shipment info that Eph and Alex found is totally Freedom Bar related.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 1:47 PM on August 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
The core of the nuke being missing seems like a way to spin Fet + Quinlan's quest out a bit longer.
Zack all "oh hi hey girl I WASN'T WATCHING THAT RAT GET EATEN no nothing creepy here." And what was with his vision of the taxidermied animal at the museum coming to life? Is the white inducing hallucinations, or is he starting to feel remorse about killing the tiger? Wondering if they're setting up a redemption plot for Zack in which Abby-the-maid acts as a humanizing influence instead of the control mechanism that the Master intends.
Eph was pretty effective this week! Although that whole tanker scene borrowed hugely from Breaking Bad's Dead Freight episode.
Eichorst continues to be creepy as hell; there's something about the way he sneeringly pronounces "the Jew" that makes it additionally repellent. And where is Setrakian anyway?
Freedom Bars get another mention! And I bet the mysterious shipment info that Eph and Alex found is totally Freedom Bar related.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 1:47 PM on August 1, 2017 [1 favorite]
So have the stregs (!) become kind of sentient? Now they're acting like bouncers and stuff.
posted by Room 641-A at 5:47 PM on August 1, 2017
posted by Room 641-A at 5:47 PM on August 1, 2017
They start out in a feral state and depending on their stage of development become more human-like. That's why older ones are so much more powerful as well.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 9:37 PM on August 2, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 9:37 PM on August 2, 2017 [1 favorite]
For example: Zack's mom who is now totally in everyday PTA mom drag. Very convincing. Also, Eichhorst.
Zack only gets the White. Some others only get the Worms. The Master likes to projectile barf his entirety into host bodies, like an Undead Turbo Juicer.
Each distinctive "gift" and maturing process imbues different developmental capacities. Like the Feelers, who could only be made from those born blind -- Kelly snapped all the sighted kids' necks who went blind after birth. I recall someone wondering how she could smell the "defective" ones -- that was the difference she wanted to sniff out. They're less malleable and the Master competes with sight memories for their attention, which would be supoptimal.
The less wnergy and attention he uses to command and "see" through his minions, he better his chances of fending off physical attacks during psychic contact. Like, his actual host body, which isn't indestructible.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 9:48 PM on August 2, 2017 [2 favorites]
Zack only gets the White. Some others only get the Worms. The Master likes to projectile barf his entirety into host bodies, like an Undead Turbo Juicer.
Each distinctive "gift" and maturing process imbues different developmental capacities. Like the Feelers, who could only be made from those born blind -- Kelly snapped all the sighted kids' necks who went blind after birth. I recall someone wondering how she could smell the "defective" ones -- that was the difference she wanted to sniff out. They're less malleable and the Master competes with sight memories for their attention, which would be supoptimal.
The less wnergy and attention he uses to command and "see" through his minions, he better his chances of fending off physical attacks during psychic contact. Like, his actual host body, which isn't indestructible.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 9:48 PM on August 2, 2017 [2 favorites]
On Unicorn's point: look no further than Eichhorst, who's capable of openly disagreeing with the Master, despite being part of the strigoi collective hive mind thing.
(I suspect directly controlling all of those host bodies would be far beyond even the Master's nebulous and ill-defined power, and if he's offloading responsibilities to minions, those minions should probably have some capacity to think.)
posted by mordax at 1:07 PM on August 3, 2017 [1 favorite]
(I suspect directly controlling all of those host bodies would be far beyond even the Master's nebulous and ill-defined power, and if he's offloading responsibilities to minions, those minions should probably have some capacity to think.)
posted by mordax at 1:07 PM on August 3, 2017 [1 favorite]
Okay, thanks, I thought the deluxe regeneration package was reserved for special people like Eichorst et al.
Eff originally shaved his head as a disguise so I'd think it would make sense for him to grow it out now, including facial hair. I'm in it for the long haul, though.
posted by Room 641-A at 1:19 PM on August 3, 2017
Eff originally shaved his head as a disguise so I'd think it would make sense for him to grow it out now, including facial hair. I'm in it for the long haul, though.
posted by Room 641-A at 1:19 PM on August 3, 2017
Corey Stoll is naturally bald, though, and as much as I miss #wigwatch, that shit has gotta be hot and uncomfortable. I'm sure the thought process handwaved it away with "yeah, but radiation!" or somesuch.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 8:02 PM on August 3, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 8:02 PM on August 3, 2017 [2 favorites]
You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments
I laughed so hard
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 1:08 AM on August 1, 2017 [4 favorites]