{TB Talks TV} The Strain Review: “For Services Rendered”
2By: Greg Benevent, Contributor
“Logic is not the issue here.”
Damn skippy.
This episode didn’t go anywhere either really, but it sure had a lot more fun getting there than last week.
The main problem I keep bumping against on this show is that Eph never really gets a “win” against Setrakian. Whenever they discuss something, Setrakian is always right, Eph (and anyone else) is always wrong.
In the original Star Trek series, neither Kirk nor Spock was always right about everything. Just like a million other TV show duos (House and Wilson, Sippowicz and Kelly, etc.) But Setrakian is so infallible, Eph and Nora have nothing to do. Seriously, what did Eph do in this episode? He (presumably) muscled Jim, he lost Setrakian, and then he made a pretty tough non-lethal handgun shot on Eichorst’s leg (on a subway platform without anyone noticing, no less). Other than that… nothing. If “The Strain” were a video game where you could only pick one character, would anyone not pick Setrakian? You’d only pick Nora or Eph or God help us, Jim, if you wanted to make the game more difficult.
I was genuinely excited to see Eichorst and Setrakian there on that subway platform, because I actually thought Eichorst might kill him. Just wipe Setrakian out (or better still, make him a vampire!) And then this entire review would be nothing but !!!! broken up with the occasional J. But no.
The teaser for this episode was a lot of fun. Lusk’s husband comes back from an important business trip, then takes a cab back to his house only to find his wife and neighbors are all vampires. I didn’t entirely buy the cabbie pulling a gun instead of driving away (he really wants paid for his fare) but it felt like a neat moment from a show like “Monsters” or “Tales From the Darkside.”
The flashbacks to the concentration camp in 1944 weren’t nearly as horrible as I feared they were going to be. Eichorst hires a young Setrakian to craft the Master’s coffin, and then gets drunk and talks about why the vampires are going to be like the Nazis, only way better. As silly as this sounds, it was OK, because it felt like an actual scene. It let the actors act, and while Eichorst’s philosophy wasn’t entirely coherent, it made enough sense to make the character so much more interesting than he had been.
Jim has a scene with his Wife where he wants to get with her on a plane out to Palo Alto… until Jim, Setrakian and Nora show up, and then he suddenly has to be a hero and go with them. As dumb as this is, I’m more than willing to let it go, as it gets Sean Astin interacting with the rest of the cast again.
The Nanny has taken all the Lusk children to her own place, but her daughter’s finally had enough of this, and is going to take them back to their house. Of course, once they get there, Mom and everyone else in town is a vampire, but they stumble into a room made of windows that’s somehow impenetrable… till one of the vampires acquires baseball bat swinging technology. Right where they’re about to be killed… silver crossbow in the head shot!
Five not-quite-human figures in black outfits show up, are here to kill everyone that’s a vampire, even though they look pretty vampirish and make frog noises. Hell yes. I’d rather follow a show about these guys at this point.
But if this is where “The Strain” stays, at this level of competence, I’ll be on board. It’s flawed, but kinda fun. Any hope of more than that is long gone.
Random Splatterings of Ammonia-Based-Goo And/Or Blood:
Gus and his buddy are in jail, and his buddy has the vampirism coming. That sure did take up minutes. I feel bad, because I had hopes for the Gus stuff earlier on, because I was so glad to see someone being human by having a family, and real emotions/motivations, but… now this is just as boring as the stuff I hated in those early episodes.
Phones are down. Internet’s down. What’s still going strong? Cabs. Uber would fall apart.
Eldritch gets to be a part of things! Not really getting a lot of return on his investment in the vampires here, right? He spent quite a bit of money, and he’s still wrapped up in that chair.
I did like how the Vampire Assault Team showed up in a New York winter dressed like Cobra Commander.
Next week on “The Strain:” Get Equipped With… Fet! Every episode of “The Strain” should be entitled: “Why not?”
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Greg Benevent is an aspiring TV writer in LA with spec scripts that hit as hard as a silver crossbow to your forehead. He also does stand up comedy.
Twitter: @gregbenevent
Keep up with Greg’s “The Strain” reviews here.
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