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The Strain S1E3, “Gone Smooth”

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I was hoping the “Smooth” referred to in the episode title had something to do with Eph’s hair finally getting the boot.  Sadly, it was referring to Bolivar’s Mechanical Animals moment.  Maybe they’ll soon discover that vampires are drawn to hair, and Eph will shed his locks.  Fingers crossed.

We’re now three episodes in, and I feel like The Strain is starting to pick up.  There are still a lot of unconnected storylines flying around and a lot of character drama I don’t particularly care for, but things are starting to happen and the show is more interesting for it.

You all see Pacific Rim?  (If your answer is “no”, then we probably can’t be friends.)  How about Godzilla?  Pacific Rim was tremendous.  Godzilla was decent.  Neither of them had particularly compelling dialogue, so what made one so much better than the others?  Pacific Rim knew what it was and what the viewers wanted, so they just threw a ton of massive fight scenes at us.  Characters talking about something unimportant?  It’s okay, here’s a big fight to keep you interested.  Godzilla didn’t do that, and the characters weren’t good enough to hold my interest in the early going.
Which brings us back to The Strain.  Try as they might, I still can’t get myself to care too much about these characters…and that’s with me having read the books.  These episodes have found themselves being bogged down with drama involving characters that I don’t have any connection to.  It’s a slog to get through.
What made this episode better than the first two?  Distraction.  Things were happening outside the characters drama.  There were still some truly tedious moments in this episode (hello, Eph’s custody hearing!), but there were more distractions.  We got to see vampires, and the wives who don’t care if they drink blood.

This wasn’t a great episode by any means, but it was a step in the right direction.  Maybe they’re deliberately throwing bad acting and bad dialogue at us to set-up a B-movie vibe.  I’d be perfectly fine with that.  Just make sure you’re extremely liberal with your blood use.

Hates:

1. One of the characters said, “They showed our house on the TV news.”  Who says “the TV news”?  Besides Fenton Mewly, that is.

2.  The custody battle storyline.  It’s a terrible storyline that they have spent entirely too much time on.  In a show with a ton of important characters and dozens of disconnected threads, it just seems like a waste to spend so much time on this.

3.  The scene with Eph visiting the house of the man that was killed at the end of the previous episode.  This isn’t a knock on the scene – it was a tense scene – but rather a knock on his thought process.  The guy called the night before saying that his daughter (his dead daughter) was at the house, very much alive.  All of the dead bodies from the morgue went missing.  And yet Eph decides to check out the house the next day all by himself?  What kind of sense does that make?  Good scene, terrible logic.

4.  Setrakian’s “you’re not ready for the truth,” speeches are getting really old already.  Nora had tracked him down to find out what was really going on, and he pulls that nonsense?  She recoils a bit when he says they need to track down families and kill them – a reaction any normal person would have – and he says, “You’re not ready.”  Why not explain the situation to her a little more?  She seems open to finding out the truth.  You can’t expect everyone to hear, “kill families” and respond with, “Okidoke!  Gimme a sharp sword.”  And, if you did meet someone like that, you probably wouldn’t want them on your side, because they’re just a likely to turn that sword on you.  Because they’re crazy.

5.  The decision making of pretty much every character.  You’re all terrible.

Loves:

1. The opening scene with Eichorst putting on his face.  It was a terrific scene, and a great way to start an episode.
Fun fact: every time I type “Eichorst”, I think “Einhorn”, which finds me repeating “Finkle is Einhorn” for the next 30 minutes.

2.  Kevin Durand as Vasiliy Fet.  He had a bigger part in this episode and he made the most of it.  Funny guy.

3.  The look on Bolivar’s face when his penis dropped off.  Just an expressionless stare.  It was an odd scene and it made me chuckle.  Although I doubt you can flush a penis down a urinal without it getting clogged up.  (Please no one test this.)

4.  The head-smashing scene.  I love me a good head-smashing scene.  Smash ‘em up, Eph.  Smash ‘em up real good.

5.  No Gus this week.  Hooray!

6.  They’re making a good habit out of ending every episode on a high note.

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The Strain S1E2, “The Box”

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After an underwhelming start to the series, I was hoping that this second episode might renew my excitement for the show.  The survivors were being released.  With The Master being transported across the river by the unaware (and always angry) Gus, the apocalypse would be starting.  In addition to that, Vasiliy Fet (my favorite character from the book, played by the always excellent Kevin Durand) would show up.

Fet showed up, which I enjoyed.  He had a small role, but I’m looking forward to what he can add to the show.  As it was, most of his part in this episode was played for laughs.  And, while I’m happy to have him aboard, I doubt I would feel the same if I had not read the books.  I likely would have wondered aloud why they were adding another character when they hadn’t come close to fleshing out the ones they already had.

This episode was pretty much like the first.  Bloated and confusing scenes masquerading as mystery.  The quicker they get all the characters together, the better off the show will be.  As it is, we’re left watching disconnected characters float around with very little reason to be invested in what they’re doing.  I understand that they’re trying to build the individual characters – to make us care about them – but they’re doing a terrible job of it so far.  Had I not read the books, I wouldn’t care about any of these characters.  As it stands, I have read the book and I’m still having a hard time caring about any of their screen versions.  Here’s to hoping that changes soon, as I’m already starting to lose interest.

Hates:

1. Francis Capra’s lazy, sniveling Crispin.  He has never been the best actor, but I’ve never seen him this bad.  Weevil would be ashamed of you.

2. The dialogue is downright laughable at times.  I was particularly fond of this exchange between Captain Redfern and Eph:
“No one gives a shit about the truth.”
“I do.”
BOOM.  EPH MIC DROP.  This was delivered with all the earnestness of a soap opera.
There was a later scene with Eph and his son (Zach) that was equally terrible.  I had to check to make sure I wasn’t watching an after school special.  “Corey Stoll stars in My Son Has a New Daddy.”

3. Kelly’s friend getting mad at Eph for not remembering her name.  It’s pretty clear that they’re setting her up for a future scene but couldn’t figure out a subtle way to introduce her.  I imagine her turning into a vampire, Eph being forced to kill her and saying something like, “I remember your name now, bitch.”  I am 90% sure this will happen.

4. Eph talking about his entire past in an AA meeting.  This was more or less equivalent to dropping this information on a summary card.  I know they’re trying to get us invested in his character – to show his struggles, to make him more human – but this scene really fell flat for me.

5. Gus.  I’m crossing my fingers and hoping his scenes get better as his storyline overlaps with others, but, for now, every scene involving Gus is painful.  I like his character and storyline in the book, so I’m still holding out hope for him.

6. Eph’s wig.  C’mon man.  Embrace the baldness.  At least there was no mention of milk in this episode.

Loves:

1. Jack Kesey’s portrayal of Bolivar.  It seems like that guy is having a blast.

2. The scene where Eichorst visits Satrakian in prison.  Far and away the best scene of the series so far.  Tense, emotional and well-acted.  I was glued to the TV.

3. The little girl soaking in the tub while “This Old Man” played in the background.  We saw a “cheery music in the background, horror in the foreground” scene last week with “Sweet Caroline”, and another one this week.  While I have really liked both scenes, I hope they don’t overuse it.  Still, this scene was terrific.  A great way to end the episode.

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The Strain S1E1, “Night Zero”

Strain Poster 2

Lisa is now with The Horror Honeys as their resident TV Honey, which means you can still read her terrific write-ups.  Read her take on “Night Zero” here.

I tell people that I’ve read these books, but, in reality, I listened to them as I commuted from Cincinnati to Lexington.  The first book was read by Ron Perlman.  I liked the book, but it was unclear if I really liked it or if I just liked the idea of Hellboy telling me a vampire story.  Probably a little of both.

It has been a while since I’ve read the book, but I’ve read the comic book somewhat recently, so I have a pretty good working knowledge of the plot and how all the characters connect to each other.
Without that knowledge, I feel like I would have been a little lost.  It seemed like they threw a bunch of random scenes together and didn’t even try to explain how any of them fit together.  I understand that’s part of the mystery of the story, but the execution was really sloppy.  It felt less like building intrigue and more like mass confusion.

The acting was uneven.  I generally like Corey Stoll, and, while he was the best actor here, there were times when it seemed like he’d rather be somewhere else.  Sean Astin wasn’t terrible as Turncoat Jimbo, but he wasn’t given much to work with.  David Bradley was fine as Abraham Setrakian, but, honestly, I’m a little disappointed that role wasn’t filled by John Hurt (although I suppose that’s a personal issue).  The rest of the cast fluctuated between “somewhat passable” and “soap opera”.  I’m hoping that the addition of the always excellent Kevin Durand (as my favorite character, Vasiliy Fet) will help to gloss over some of those issues.

Overall, I thought this episode showed promise, but I had quite a few problems with it.  I think it could turn into a really good series.  It needs to improve for me to get really excited about it (something I’m sure the big wigs at FX are concerned about: “How can we get Dusty excited about this show?”), but I know it can get there.  The story is there.  They just need to get better about making it more coherent and being less cheesy with the relationship aspects.  I know that the relationships are what drives this – especially as the story progresses – so it’s more than a little concerning to see those scenes being completely fumbled.
Right now, I’m firmly in the “cautiously optimistic” camp.

And now, some loves and hates about this first episode.

Hates:

1. Corey Stoll’s terrible wig.  I assume the script is riddled with lines like, “Eph runs his frustrated fingers through his FULL HEAD OF HAIR.”  It’s really distracting.  I’m hoping he shaves it in the second episode.  “No hair for the vampires to grab, you see.”

2. The scenes between Eph and Kelly.  I understand needing to establish that storyline, but it was a really slow scene that really dragged the episode down from a very early point.  Also, Kelly kept using the phrase, “You get straight As in your job.”  Who says that?

3.  Eph and his milk-drinking while investigating.  Seemed like they were trying too hard to establish him as “the eccentric genius of the CDC”.  They drew attention to it at least 3 times in a short timeframe.  I hope that goes away.

4.  Kelly’s boyfriend, Matt.  He comes across as a total jackass.  I don’t remember him being like that in the book.  What’s the point?  To give us another reason to cheer for Eph?

5.  Setrakian showing up and pulling the whole, “I know what’s going on, and time is of the essence, but I won’t tell you what’s going on because you’ll think I’m crazy.”  Here’s how to handle that situation: “I know what’s happening.  I’ve seen it before.  There’s a coffin, right?  Now, let me explain what is going on.”  If Eph doesn’t listen to that, that’s on him.  Ranting like a madman never helped a situation like this.  That’s a pretty dope swordcane, though.

6.  The scene with the father of the little girl slapping Eph in the airport.  Felt really forced, and the father was a terrible actor.  Just an annoying scene.

Loves:

1. The intro.  Short and creepy, with terrific music.  There are very few long intros that I like, so I always appreciate a short, well-done intro.

2. Setrakian feeding the heart.  Really creepy.

3.  The Master going for the blood drain/neck snap/head smash combo.  It was like watching a Mortal Kombat fatality.  I kept waiting for an offscreen voice to say, “Finish him!”

4.  The “Sweet Caroline” scene.  Really well done.  Very creepy.  I loved the contrast of a happy song over the creepiness and carnage unfolding on the screen.  Probably the best scene in the episode.
Even then, though, I have some problems.  All of those bodies were brought from the plane.  “Triple-bagged” Eph said (they don’t know where those hoes have been).  Whatever killed them was unknown and lethal, and they had no idea what it was.  So what does the guy doing autopsies wear?  Regular latex gloves.  No hazmat suit.  Just gloves.  No wonder the worms got you.

And finally, my word of advice: if a loved one that you presume to be dead shows up with a blank expression and sunken cheeks, do not hug them.