The Strain - The Box - Review

"I love you You love me
We're a happy family
With a great big hug and a kiss from me to you.
Won't you say you love me too"
- "I Love You" - Barney

The Strain is quickly becoming a favorite for fans, even with only two episodes having been aired. The premiere episode, Night Zero, was watched by 8 million people when you factor in DVR recordings. That is great for any show, especially one in it's first season. I believe FX has a big hit with The Strain and having watched the first four episodes I can say that each episode keeps getting better and better. The writers are doing a great job at converting the story from book form, staying faithful to the source material as much as possible. This means that fans are in for some great story lines going forward.

The first thing we hear when The Strain aired it's first episode were a few beautiful lines from Abraham Setrakian about Love. It is an important element of this series and protecting the ones you love, no matter where the threat originates, is a plot thread we should see throughout the series. We've already seen aspects of this in the first episode and definitely in the episode that aired this past Sunday night, 'The Box'. Eph's love for his son, Zack, and Gus's love for his mother are just to name a few. This is where the vampires have an advantage because they don't "feel" or have those kind of emotions holding them back from doing what is necessary. This will become more evident in the future as we learn more about The Master and his minions.

"The Box" continued where the first episode left off and because of the large cast and scenes jumping around from different Manhattan locales could be a little confusing. I will try, without spoiling, to explain what some of scenes and characters were talking about as best I can. The conversation between Mr. Eichorst and Setrakian I thought was a bit confusing with some of the history they were talking about. Eichorst brings up the heart that Setrakian has in a jar at his pawn shop that he feeds some of his blood. This is a story line that I think the writers will clarify sometime during this season or, at the latest, season two. Needless to say, these two enemies have known each other for a long time. During this conversation of each man trying to best the other Setrakian brings up the name 'Dreverhaven'. That could be confusing to many fans, especially ones who have not read the books. Dreverhaven was an old friend of Eichorst that had a fateful encounter with Setrakian a while back. There are are other scenes that might be confusing to some fans, but rather than list them here I would be glad to clarify in the comments section if you would like to ask me about them there and I will do my best to answer without spoiling anything for you or anyone else especially if I think it is something the writers will answer at a later date.

This episode also introduces a new character in the form of Vasily Fet, played by Kevin Durand. Fet works for the state of New York as pest control manager (read: rat exterminator). His scenes in this episode were funny and he definitely will have more of a presence in future episodes. He is somewhat of an opposite to Ephraim and will be interesting to see the pair's progression throughout the first season. Eph, in this episode, reveals his flaws, but also knows what he is fighting for in his son, Zack. We also got to learn a little more about the four 'survivors' from the plane in this episode. Bolivar had an interesting encounter with the three woman he had in bed and Captain Redfern showed some interesting traits when examined by Eph and Nora. Hopefully we learn the 'why' from all this in the coming episodes.

The second episode did not have as much action as the first I noticed, but I loved the action scenes we did see. The quality of the creatures and the way they are shot is incredible to watch and admire. The Strain is a complex story and goes much deeper than just vampires attacking humans, so I can see why some people have asked me a lot about what certain scenes mean and why certain characters do the things they do. Some of the answers to the mysteries will not come quickly, but rather piece-wise over the course of a few episodes. This is in no way to diminish the quality of the show, but rather the opposite. The complexity of a series that bills itself as part of the horror genre makes it very unique to say the least. I have no doubt that The Strain will be one of the best new series this year and would be surprised if the ratings did not increase, year after year, in the same manner as The Walking Dead on AMC has done.


Thoughts and Discussion

- For those of you that would like to know the song playing at the beginning of the episode is "Ten Below Zero" by Bobo Jenkins.

- Did you notice...The hair falling out of the survivors is a common trait. Emma exhibited this in the bathtub as well as Bolivar while in bed.

- Did you notice...The worms crawling under the skin of Captain Redfern when examined by Eph.

- Did you notice...At one point, Eph says to Nora, ""If the mountain won't come to Mahomet...". This is in reference to the complete phrase, ""If the mountain won't come to Muhammad, then Muhammad must go to the mountain." It is an old proverb that means if one cannot get one's own way, then one must bow to the inevitable. I'm sure Eph appears to some as a person who gets his own way and his emotions sometimes get the better of him as we saw in his reaction to Barnes, but it's all about his love for his family and his job.

Thank you for checking out my Review! Please comment below with any questions or comments.

About the Author - Geo N

My name is George and I am from Detroit, MI. My favorite shows are The Blacklist, Hell On Wheels, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, LOST, Sons Of Anarchy, Sleepy Hollow and countless other shows. When I'm not watching tons of TV, I enjoy reading, playing hockey, comic books, weightlifting, and writing. Thanks for checking out my post.

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