A Second Strain!

The Strain is arguably my favorite television show right now. I know I exceedingly eager to see the second season unfold. There was inevitably with shows of this nature a bit of a letdown as many of the best secrets had been revealed in the first season, but still and all there's plenty here to hold one's attention.

The show seemed committed to following the slow and steady collapse of New York City and its immediate environs as a particularly nasty version of vampires arrive in town and start taking things over. There's a real sense of the classic frog-in-the-boiling-pot in that as the threat slowly evolves and increases people seem always to attempt to manage it. By season's end we get the sense that NYC has been largely cut off from the larger world, quarantined as it were.

We continue to follow out intrepid vampire killers, a band of hardy souls who fail as often in their missions as they succeed and who alas are all insufficient to meet the threat, though the threat itself does seem to be grooming them to improve in that regard.

In particular the character of Goodfellow (Corey Stoll), a CDC scientist and drunk who had before the crisis abandoned his family is a distinctly unlikable fellow who time and again puts his desires ahead of his responsibilities. He's hard to root for, except clearly some of the gang really seem to love him especially his totally confused kid. Their story seemed to such up a lot of screen time this season, and with little forward advance most of the time.

I do think the show lost a bit of its focus as the limelight fell less on veteran vampire slayer Setrakian (David Bradly) in this season, though to be fair we do learn some more of his history. He is an exceedingly compelling character and was sent off most of the season chasing a book which he seems to have limited ability to actually use we learn. It's a maguffin and a bit unworthy of a fine character to allow him to spend so much of his precious time trundling after it.

Gus (Miguel Gomez), the adorable gang-banger, does get some growth as he is recruited into the ranks of some undead enemies of the vampires who have infiltrated NYC along with his boyhood hero, a former luchadore named the "Silver Angel" who might have more experience with vampires than anyone knows. More on these guys would've made for a richer season and hopefully we'll get some of that next time.  Vassily Fet (Kevin Durand) is still a great wonky character who alas wasn't given enough screen time I felt this season. Both Gus and Fet do find love, though it's as always that proves elusive.

Also added to the cast is Quinlan a centuries old vampire-human hybrid who seems fatally opposed to the Master and works for the Ancients and humanity by his own measures. His potent skills have really added some heft to the battle, though is motivations remain somewhat murky.

There were some great moments and some dandy lines this season, very enjoyable. But I did feel the intensity lessen as a familiarity with the surroundings made the characters and the audience become to comfortable in this deadly new world.

Still I can't wait until the next season. That's enough said I suppose.

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The Strain!

I have to confess to being completely blindsided by The Strain. I knew nothing about this pretty darn good television show before I saw some ads for it early this summer. But I was up to my nose in TV to watch and didn't think I'd have time to add a another show to the mix. Coming off the disappointing Helix, I read somewhere that The Strain was in a similar mode. So I checked it off the list.

But I at last succumbed to the lure and watched the debut episode finding it pretty atmospheric. An airliner full of people lands and goes "dead" on the runway in NYC and the CDC is called in to deal with the threat. Pretty neat. But then they show a scene featuring Abraham Setrakian (David Bradley who I didn't even recognize at the time and who impressed me mightily in this) as an aged but still quite spry Jewish pawnbroker, a scene in which the apparently frail old man proves his mettle and also his stern demeanor against a would be robber, and I was hooked. I had to see more of this guy who it turns out was going to be a major player in the series.

For the few who might not know, this series was created and developed by Guillermo Del Toro and displays in truly nightmarish but relentlessly mundane fashion how a vampire plague descends on the thoroughly modern city of New York. Great economic powers have contrived to distract the news media and the public attention away while the threat slowly but relentlessly spreads.

Setrakian it turns out is a veteran vampire killer and has a brutal relationship with the Master Vampire's right-hand ghoul Eichhorst, a former Nazi who was once upon a time commander of the concentration camp at which Setrakian was held. A character to watch closely is Vasily Fit played by Kevin Durand, a metropolitan rat-catcher with a thorough understanding of his peculiar but necessary trade. Another compelling character is Gus played by Miguel Gomez, a moderately reformed gangster who finds himself employed against his significant will by the vampires. This is a series filled with some strong and distinctive characters.

The vampires have a modern twist, similar in appearance and  character to the mutated "Reapers", the vampire variant seen in Blade II, the one which Del Toro directed. There is a nice blend of classic horror and modern horror in this tale which uses the advantages of episodic television to create a mood of growing and impending doom.

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