FX “The Strain” Makes Vampires scary again. Alex Yarde breaks down the plot in the first four episodes.
Beware: Huge Spoilers ahead!
FX Network’s The Strain is a high concept thriller that tells the story of Dr. Ephraim Goodweather (Corey Stoll, House of Cards), the head of the Center for Disease Control Canary Team in New York City, and his driven biochemist partner and ex-lover, Dr.Nora Martinez (Mia Maestro, Frida from TV’s Alias). Ephraim, Nora. and the team are called upon to investigate Regis Airline flight 753 out of Berlin that lands at JFK with all power off and everyone on board apparently dead. As the investigation unfolds an elderly but viral Harlem pawnbroker, Abraham Setrakian (David Bradley, Argus Finch in Harry Potter,Game of Thrones, Doctor Who) races to the airport convinced that what looks like a mysterious viral infection is in fact the beginning of something imminently more sinister. Four survivors of the 200 plus casualties that were isolated for treatment start to exhibit strange symptoms, but as a disinformation campaign begins they are released from quarantine (one of the four survivors of Flight 753 is the lawyer that’s springs the quartet, Joan Luss, played by an appropriately snarky Leslie Hope) and the terror really begins. I devoured the first four episodes of this chilling, whip smart, remarkably effective adaptation of Guillermo Del Toro’s (Hellboy, Pans Labyrinth, Pacific Rim), & author Chuck Hogan’s vampire armageddon novel The Strain. The voice over of vampire hunter Abraham Setrakian at the beginning of the pilot, “Night Zero,” was resonant. It served as the major premise of this new tale of how the world ends. He spoke first of hunger, our first motivation at birth, and love for which humanity is in constant craving, Love defines us, and in this case ultimately spells our doom.
Our heroes are appropriately flawed (workaholic Eph trying desperately to keep his family together and be there for his young son. Nora understanding Eph’s situation but still in love with him after their brief affair) and are motivated to protect their own which keeps the good guys one step behind. The well fleshed out characters are their own worst enemies because of a connection to a loved one. The primary being CDC Canary team member “Jim Kent” (Sean Astin from The Goonies, Samwise in LOTR Trilogy & Raphael in the upcoming TMNT) who works with Eph & Nora. Jim’s wife Sylvia is dying from cancer and in an effort to save her life, puts the entire city in jeopardy. Gus Elizalde (Miguel Gomez, The Domino Effect, FX’s Louie) a gangbanger from Spanish Harlem, only wants to do well by his mother who fought to make a good life for him and his brother agrees to make some quick cash only to wonder what kind of mess he’s gotten himself into. A grieving parent of the youngest victim of Flight 753 heartbreakingly welcomes home his reanimated daughter. Another 753 survivor, Ansel, returns home but is slowly changing into something monstrous. His spouse making an unthinkable decision to sate her turned husband’s murderous hunger. It’s a slow burn of poor but understandable choices anyone would probably make for a loved one that snowball and culminate into some of the most grisly feeding and execution scenes you will see.
The contagion is spread through parasitic worms that mutate their hosts. Digestive systems become rudimentary tubes, their skin turns transluminescent, they shed hair and cringingly reproductive organs. When 753 survivors goth rock star Gabriel Bolivar (Jack Kesy) loses his penis mid-urination he casually flushes it down the toilet. Yikes! The turned basically become super powerful human sized mosquitoes who ingest the blood of their victims and expel parasitic worms through a two meter long razor sharp barbed tongue. Turning their victims into another worm delivery system whose only motivations are hunger for human blood and to return home to their “dear ones” to consume and infect in turn. All controlled by The Master (Robert Mallet), the King Vamp, who is a gloriously grotesque immortal. Director Del Toro famously stated, “I want to make vampires scary again.” He succeeds in spades (no breathless southern gentleman or sparkly children) nesting and feeding in secret and in darkness for millennia drawn to pain and suffering The Master sees what his progeny sees and controls their hive mind through telepathy. He is the ancient threat whom Sarkarian shares history that he prepared his whole life to face again.
The Master’s awakening is orchestrated by dying human sympathizer Eldritch Palmer (Jonathan Hyde, Titanic, The Mummy), a wealthy, esteemed businessman and owner of the shadowy Stoneheart Group, and The Masters thoroughly creepy chief lieutenant Thomas Eichhorst (Richard Sammel,Casino Royale, Inglourious Basterds), who retains his human appearance and individuality in order to walk amongst the living. During WWII he helped run the death camps where he first encountered a teenage Setrakian and The Master. As a fan of the original Strain trilogy my favorite character was hands down Vasilly Fet, the charismatic, bear like, Brooklyn based second generation Russian exterminator at the NYC Bureau of Pest Control who sees himself as a steward of the city and kills vampires as easily as rats. Brilliantly realized in Canadian comedian Kevin Durand (Mystery Alaska, Winter’sTale, Noah). He’s one of the first outside the CDC to realize something’s not right when NYC’s rat population starts evacuating the sewers. In episode four, “It’s Not For Everyone,” the kinetically charged thriller revs up, events continue to unravel as a secret autopsy demonstrates the bizarre progression of the mystery virus. Eph and Nora fail to save the father of the youngest victim and Ansel one of the four survivors in the grip of the disease takes desperate measures to protect his family. Oh, and 200 bodies get up and walk away. This is one hell of a series. This macabre masterpiece is not to be missed and premieres July 13 th at 10PM ET/PT only on FX
all art ~ FX Network
