The Strain: Tainted Love
August 21, 2017 11:31 PM - Season 4, Episode 6 - Subscribe

Fet and Quinlan must figure out how to get the nuclear bomb back to New York, while a desperate Eichhorst draws near; love-struck Zack tries to learn more about his new crush, but makes a devastating discovery.
posted by jojo and the benjamins (6 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
The blurb, it came from Google; most questionable things do these days.

Q and his make-believe family held no interest for me except for the rather blatant revelation that his GF's daughter was the product of incest (twin brother). Nothing else makes sense. But WHY? This subplot has no reason for existing. It's a Zack--gross, creepy, immoral, stupid.

Eichorist's takedown of three armed dudes would have been more believable and impressive if he hadn't just had his ass handed to him by an old man tied to a bed and a barely present Dutch.

Does the master need a willing host? Is there any reason he can't just go grab an athlete or wrestler to possess?
posted by jojo and the benjamins at 11:53 PM on August 21, 2017


I thought seeing the Master in his giant body was a nice callback to the first season. Quinlan is my favorite character, though Eichhorst remains such a tenaciously stupid villain that it's just fun seeing him onscreen. I have a feeling Fet's new girlfriend is going to get eaten next episode. There's no way she's getting away. I doubt genre favorite Rhona Mitra would stick around in creepy strigoi makeup for a few more episodes, but it'd be fun to see.
posted by Catblack at 7:31 AM on August 22, 2017


I'm not enjoying the split storylines as much; it makes the episodes feel *very* disconnected from each other. They leant very hard into the Holocaust imagery last week; it feels jarring to jump back from to Quinlan's Victorian cosplay and Zack's ongoing worstness.

I have a feeling Fet's new girlfriend is going to get eaten next episode.

I thought for sure they were setting her up to sacrifice herself to the better cause at the end of this episode: her actions allowed Fet & co to get away, but left her alone on the ground with a now very angry Eichhorst.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 6:16 PM on August 23, 2017 [1 favorite]


Obligatory AVClub:
Are we supposed to feel bad for Zack? Are we supposed to want him to come back from the ledge and find redemption? Are we supposed to think that there’s a meaningful showdown between Eph and The Master in the future, with Zack used as a bargaining chip? The Strain seems to think that Zack can be used as a storytelling piece to challenge ideas of morality within other characters, but there’s really no grey area here. Zack is an unrepentant villain, and we can only cheer for him to get his comeuppance, but something tells me the show doesn’t quite see him in the same way.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 6:18 PM on August 23, 2017 [3 favorites]


Pardon, this episode had me conflicted about whether or not to continue with the show. I've decided to stick with it, but man, this was an unpleasant watch.
posted by mordax at 10:50 AM on September 3, 2017 [1 favorite]


I like Eldritch Palmer so much better now that he's the Master and not whiny Eldritch Palmer. I also really enjoyed the Master giving relationship advice to a lovelorn teenager. He's obviously just manipulating a knucklehead, but I kept thinking of him as Delilah after Dead.

But then Zack had to Zack it up. He's worse than Carl. Fridging your crush in a fit of Nice Guy/Friend zone/Redpill/incel bullshit is a tragedy, nuking a civilian population is a statistic? No Zack, you're just just an asshole.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 11:26 AM on March 22, 2018


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