Welcome to The Strain-ger Talk, where each week we breakdown and discuss this week’s new episode of FX’s The Strain. We will be going over major plot points, the game plan from both sides of the upcoming war, best action moments, new types of vampires, and of course the Tongue-Punch of the Week! If you missed last week’s talk then CLICK HERE! Apologies for this weeks being a few days late, but sometimes life gets in the way of talking Strain-ge. Now a lot of drama happened this week that we need to cover, so without further ado, lets talk some Strainge!

*MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD! IF YOU DO NOT WANT THIS EPISODE SPOILED THEN STOP READING*

Breakdown:

One of my favorite parts of this show is how good it is at world building. From stepping out of the burrows, to bringing in new Strigori, The Strain is always expanding. This week’s episode is a perfect example of world building. From the homeless man in the beginning shouting “GET STUNG” (although I prefer to call it Tongue-Punched) to Eph’s adventures in Washington. Its great to see the show tackling not just what is happening with the group, but how this contained epidemic is affecting the world around it. With last week’s introduction of Quinlan our world gets a bit bigger. After a few badass shots of Quinlan getting out of a frozen shrimp truck (no clue why he was in it in the first place) we later see him talking with The Ancients.

I made sure not to do any research on Quinlan, even though I already know he is a major player in the books, I wanted to keep him a mystery. In his interactions with The Ancients, we learn that he has his own vendetta against The Master. Clearly he has been around a long time, from the way he addresses the ancients to the fact that he is a fully “ascended” Strigori, its clear he has been a part of this for quite some time. We also learned that he trained the previous “swat” Strigori, which makes Quinlan that much more badass. He tells the ancients that they should have stopped The Master centuries ago and that he will hunt him down, but for his own reasons. He then asks if they have any human fighters left as well as who was the one that wounded The Master. Hopefully this means him teaming up with Gus and Abraham soon. Their team up would be epic.

Eph’s adventures in Washington continue as he meets up with his connection for weaponizing his infection. He is an old friend from back in the day who is quick to not ask questions as to why Eph is using a fake name/shaved his head. After getting in contact with a lovely representative who can get him on the path to weaponizing his infection, Eph celebrates by drinking. And also sleeping with her. This would seem like a kind of lame excuse to show our main protagonist hooking up with an attractive female, but it does show how much of a dick he can be when he is drinking. Starting to sympathize with Kelly as we see why she wanted a divorce from him. Doesn’t matter though, Stoneheart sent an assassin to murder him and everyone who helped him.

This quickly turns into a kill or be killed scenario for Eph as he murders his second human in the show. Life outside of Strigori infested New York is proving to be just as dangerous. Ultimately not only does the assassination set Eph back to the beginning of his quest, it also pushes him further down a dark path. He has now taken two human lives. We don’t see much of him after this, but it isn’t much of a stretch that this will impact him tremendously. Corey Stoll has said that Eph will not be sober for the rest of the season, and the reasons behind it are very clear. Hopefully we will see Eph as a belligerent drunk, as it is a common complaint this season that Eph has been tossing back hard liquor without any signs of intoxication. All we have seen so far is him treating other people like a dick, not even slight slurring.

This week I got rid of the Zach’s Freak out of the Week section because there yet again, wasn’t one. It is looking like they finally found a way for Zach to function within the show. Probably because in this episode he is in more than one scene, he is on the screen longer, and he is not interacting with his drunk jerk of a father. Instead he spends the entire episode with Nora, who has always been the caregiver of the group. There are a few tender moments in the episode between the two as Nora starts to take on a surrogate mother role for Zach. While Zach doesn’t open up to her, he does show that he cares when he asks her how she is doing. After going to one of the local centers to stock up and get out of the house, the duo are ambushed by Kelly and the Feelers.

After their car is ambushed, Nora and Zach are chased into a church. After a long game of hide and seek, they are rescued by Fet, Abraham, and Fitzwilliam. This leads to the death of my favorite Strigori that I named Mohawk (like in Gremlins.) I am going to miss that blind little bastard. This scene will be touched upon more in both Tongue-Punch and Action Sequence of the Week, But I want to talk more about Fitzwilliam. In the last few recaps I talked about how interested I am in his family’s history with Palmer. What causes his father and himself to be so bound/loyal to Palmer? Why didn’t his brother get swept into it as well? So many questions! And then the show spends the last few episodes slowly (very slowly) building his reintroduction into the story. It took three episodes for him to be reintroduced, given some story, and then be approached by the group. Finally in this episode he joins the group and tells them everything he knows about Palmer and his plans with The Master. Which, except some info on some buildings, isn’t much. Cut to the church scene, he gets Tongue-Punched and dies. After all of that slow build, HE JUST FUCKING DIES!

Seriously, what in the flying fuck was the reason to bring him back? He didn’t bring much to the show this season expect one small piece of information and to be at the end of a joke from Fet. Now sure how useful or obtainable the info he gave was yet, but it didn’t seem like much. Even his death was easily avoidable. Not to mention the fact that they didn’t spend time to dwell on him dying. After being Tongue-Punched, he quickly asks to be killed before he turns and before he could finish a sentence, Abraham cuts off his head. Not even the other characters allowed him much screen time. Still, his isn’t as bad as the “Silver Angel” who this week proves, he still doesn’t trust Gus. I really hope they start doing more with some of these characters they are introducing this season. Luckily the Councilwoman is there to insure hope that they will bring more to these new characters. But enough about that, lets get into the best part of this week!

Lets give the final moments of this episode a play-by-play recap. Eichorst and Boulevard go into a basement. Eucharist tells Boulevard that he is privileged to see what is about to happen. Next we see The Master’s coffin. The Master rises from the dirt filled coffin as Eichorst offers himself to become the next host body for The Master.

As Eichorst prepares himself to be taken over by The Master he notices something is wrong and opens his eyes to see:

Boulevard is chosen as the new vessel for The Master! Which of course leads to:

 

Thats right, Boulevard is no more. Long live The Master! I was totally wrong when I predicted it was going to be Gus that The Master was going to take over. The answer was in my face the entire time. Suddenly it all made sense: Why Boulevard was brought back, why he has had a bigger role in The Master’s plans, and his sudden unwavering devotion for The Master. Hell, it even explains why he was wearing that fucking wig still! This came as a huge blow to Eichorst as he thought he was going to be the chosen one for The Master to take over. But honestly, why would he? His body is pretty old even with the elevated Strigori upgrade. Not only is Boulevard younger and in much better shape, but Eichorst is a perfect right hand man. Why would The Master lose his Number 2, especially at this point in their plan? I love this change as now Quinlan and the group will have a fully abled Master to deal with once again, this time in a body with no complications. Shit is heating up!

Tongue-Punch of the Week:

Tongue-Punch of the week has to Fitzwilliam getting it in the leg. It was brutal, quick, and killed off a character that wasn’t being used well enough to keep around. RIP Fitzwilliam and Mohawk.

Best Action Sequence of the Week:

Finally, the group has a run in with Strigori Kelly and the Feelers, and it does not disappoint. The game of hide and go seek between Nora/Zach Vs Kelly/The Feelers hits a good pace, hits the right notes of creepy, and ends with an open space fight between the group and the very fast Feelers. This again was a very different kind of fight than we have seen before as the group had to rely on their firearms more than their melee weapons. But ultimately the fight solidifies Nora as Zach’s new guardian and Kelly as a threat. Hopefully this fight scene will help Zach realize that his mother is gone and that he needs to toughen up.

Final Thoughts:

As the season continues to raise the stakes and reach its midway point, I am excited that they are starting to address some of my biggest concerns. Kelly and The Feelers are no longer some ominous force off in the distance, they are now an extreme threat. Zach is starting to come off as a real person again and hopefully after having to encounter his Strigori mother he will improve. Quinlan is proving to be one hell of a badass and he hasn’t even unsheathed his sword yet. The Master has a new body and won’t be out of action anymore. My biggest gripe right now is that they aren’t doing much with Angel and Gus past the same grumpy old guy hating the young thug schtick thats been going on since his introduction. Angel had such a strong introduction, its sad seeing him being under used. Hopefully the next few episode correct this. Seeing how we are half way through the season, it is great seeing the show start to piece itself together.

What did you think of this episode?  Do you agree with me or think I am wrong? Let us know in the comments and we will see you next week with “The Born.”

Next Week Preview:

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