The Strain - For Services Rendered - Review: "The Wrong Side Of History"

Episode 7 of The Strain, For Services Rendered, aired on Sunday and it is now, by far, my favorite of the series. The action throughout and the twist ending was incredible and it felt like the show changed completely, breathing new life into an already amazing program. I can't wait to read everyone's thoughts about that ending that I had to watch over and over again to make sure I wasn't hallucinating. "Did I just see a hooded vampire kill another vampire?", I asked myself. With less than half of the freshman season remaining, The Strain is about to get even creepier and a lot more fans.

We start off the episode meeting Mr. Luss, husband of Joan, one of the four 'survivors' from The Regis Air flight, and one of the first to become infected. When he gets home, he finds Joan fully 'turned' and the kids, thankfully, are gone. I still am astounded at how well The strain creators made the strigoi so life like, upping the horror factor by a hundred. They really put in a lot of time and effort and it shows.

We get a few answers this episode in the form of a flashback, a plot device we have seen used before on The Strain when Setrakina first arrived to the camp by train. We see scenes of young Setrakian in a war torn Europe forced to utilize his carving skills for a project forcefully requested by Eichorst. We learn that Setrakian is actually the person that made The Master's traveling home in an incredible twist.

In between those historical scenes we see Eph trying, once again, to rationalize what is going on and thinking of ways to combat the epidemic. He still wants to get the mass media involved, hoping that word of mouth will help bring down the The Master or at least slow it down. Setrakian, speaking like a father, tells him it is not the best way. Setrakian tells Eph, unceremoniously, that if they kill The Master then his spawn will die. The epidemiologist in Eph cannot accept this, however. The must be a logical way this all makes sense to him.

Therein lies the issue they will have to get past in order to better combat the strain and the taking over of Manhattan and potentially the world. Eph is extremely pedantic as anyone in his position would be. He relies on his knowledge from years of schooling and field work using scientific methods and reasoning. Setrakian, on the other hand, uses what he knows first hand from his time in the concentration camps and what his bubbeh, or grandmother, told him. This back and forth between them reminded me a lot of Jack and John from LOST with their constant arguing about faith and science. Eph is clearly the 'man of science' while Setrakian is the 'man of faith'. They will have to overcome their differences and give a little more of themselves in order to work together to become a formidable entity against The Master and his grand plans.

I liked watching Eichorst's demeanor. We know he is working for The Master, but at what point in time was he granted eternal life? It's interesting to note his actions and try and figure out when he was turned. I love how each scene when he enters the room Setrakian was carving in we expect him to be a strigoi, but the writers quickly squashed any presumptions we had by giving him human traits that were clearly visible. So now I think it will be interesting and fun to try and see when he was turned and why he ultimately chose that life. Not like it was that large of a leap going from the Third Reich to The Master.

When the series first aired, I'll admit, I really did not like how the episodes seemed to fly through the hour as if you had just watched a fifteen minute infomercial about how to kill a vampire. However, now that the action is becoming more and more prevalent, I am truly enjoying the speed of the episodes and view it as a great way to tell this story. Even the secondary characters are enjoyable to watch. I look forward to the scenes of Gus and wonder how he is going to get out of prison (If it is anything like the book or comic it will be one of the best scenes of the whole series). I love this series and can't believe we have already passed the halfway point of the first season. If the second half is anything like this past episode, then we are in for a treat.

Thoughts and Discussion

- Did you notice...When Vampire Joan walks down the stairs her reflection is 'shaky'.

- Did you notice...The lock on the door to the room Setrakian was carving in was iron. Just outside was a crate of products made with silver. He inconspicuously conceals a silver knife up his sleeve before Eichorst comes back.

- What does Setrakian plan on doing with the knife he stole? What does he know so far about The Master and his vulnerabilities? Does he know this from his bubbeh, or grandmother?

- What were the silversmiths in the concentration camps doing with all that silver they were melting down? If the strigoi are vulnerable to silver, then wouldn't they want it destroyed?

- One of my favorite scenes was Setrakian and Nora scrutinizing some of the weapons he has procured over the years that teaches us a few more ways to dispose of some of the Strigoi.

- The episode flips back and forth between present day and the World War II concentration camp Setrtakian was imprisoned in with Herr Eichorst as his warden. Each scene and line are delivered perfectly by the actors and they are some of the best scenes of the show.

Tagline Game

On Sunday morning I posted my Advanced Preview for this episode and added a fun little game, which a lot of you (Thank you very much by the way) told me you loved through comments or eMail or whatever. I appreciate that. It was the 'Tagline Game' where I typed five titles to my Review of the episode, but changed the tagline in each one. One was to be the tagline I would actually use while the remaining would be split between two relevant taglines and two...not so relevant. I didn't think everyone would like it that much, but you all did and I thought it would be neat to show the percentage of what everyone picked. Thanks again everyone; you all are really the best.

1. The Strain - For Services Rendered - Review: "Is That Buffy Underneath That Hood" - 7%

2. The Strain - For Services Rendered - Review: "The Wrong Side Of History" - 23%

3. The Strain - For Services Rendered - Review: "Lawyers Really Are Bloodsuckers" - 10%

4. The Strain - For Services Rendered - Review: "Strigoi Saviors" - 20%

5. The Strain - For Services Rendered - Review: "I Could Turn You Right Now" - 40%

I hope everyone has a great week! Thank you for checking out my Review and please keep a look out for my Advanced Preview of Episode 8! Please comment below so we can discuss the episode further!

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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