The Strain - Gone Smooth - Review: "Soon, No More Charade"

Last week, The Strain aired its second episode of the season with, "The Box", a much more mellow display of horror than the first episode. That is not a crack at the production of the show, but it had me thinking about when we would see another action-packed hour of this series that is, so far, doing great in the ratings department. I am enjoying the show immensely as well as the hard work of all the actors involved. It makes all the difference when you can see in their work how much the actors care about the story and their character counterparts. Although the horror scenes and action have diminished since the premiere, I believe it is a necessary component to get the audience familiar with the cast and the plot before events get more complex in the middle of the season and beyond.

The Strain aired its third episode of its freshman season on Sunday with, "Gone Smooth". It definitely upped the creepiness factor, but still felt like it lacked in certain areas. We are still in the 'learning' phase of the season so we get some more info on the characters and their involvement in everything, especially one of my favorites, Vasily Fet, the rat exterminator. He provides the show with the slightest amount of comedic relief necessary in a show as grim and gruesome as The Strain. Eph is still proving himself to be the relentless anti-hero and you can't help but wonder if anything will ever transpire romantically between Nora and himself.

The cold open for this past episode was uber creepy and at the same time amazing when you think about how close the creatures look compared to their comic book counterparts. The four survivors, and 206 other passengers that escaped the morgues, are going through a transformation to eventually resemble what Eichorst looks like now. Eichorst says something very ominous, "Soon, no more charade". I imagine this means that his and The Master's plan is to eventually have the virus cause a pandemic where there will be more vampire creatures than humans, freeing him, and others, from hiding under a mask. If this is true, then we are looking at an apocalyptic story down the road.


There were some very important scenes in this episode as well. Bolivar's transformation was both gross and a little funny...admit it, you laughed a little at that scene with him in front of the toilet. Redfern's scenes were important because it showed, possibly, what Bolivar, Barbour, and Luss will eventually turn into. If this will be an apocalyptic story, then it will be interesting to see all of these vampire creatures running around with ones similar to Eichorst leading them.

Overall, I thought it was a better episode than "The Box", last week. We got a few more answers regarding the four survivors and the 206 passengers from the plane, which is always a bonus. I have not seen any future episodes, but I think the series is going to start picking up in speed very soon with, possibly, a few more slow episodes before the season ends. The story should get a lot more interesting now that there is more vampire creatures turning.

Thoughts and Discussion

- The classical piece of music playing during the cold open is "Fantasia For Piano Chorus And Orchestra in C Minor" by Clement Krauss, Friedrich Wuhrer, Akademiecho, and Wiener Symphoniker.

- What is the significance of the rats that Fet sees running out of the sewers? The virus is not transmitted through them.

- Why were four people allowed to survive the plane --- Captain Redfern, Bolivar, Joan Luss, Ansel Barbour --- while the other 206 appeared dead, but later came back as creatures? Is there a hierarchy among the vampires?

- What did Captain Redfern mean when he said "He's here"?

Thank you for checking out my Review! Please comment below so we can discuss the episode more and I can answer any questions you might have! Have a great week!

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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