The Strain - Creatures Of The Night - Review: "Just Like Any Other Vermin"

Previously on The Strain
Eph, Nora, Setrakian and Jim try to corner and capture Eichorst. Part of Setrakian's history, and connection to Eichorst and The Master, is revealed.

One of the most popular series of the Summer season is The Strain and each episode gets better and better. Last week we learned a little history about Setrakian and how he came to know Herr Eichorst. Eichorst was his warden in a World War II Concentration Camp as he made Setrakian carve the coffin The Master uses to travel and sleep in. It was one of the better episodes of the season as it was full of action and rich with story and answers to some of our burning questions.

Sunday's episode of The Strain was filled with action sequences from beginning to end and we got quite a few answers to the mythology, which is always welcome. Sunday's episode picks up immediately after the events of Episode 7, 'For Services Rendered', with our team regrouping in the subway and realizing their plight will be a constant uphill battle. Episode 8 has some of the best action scenes to date, in my opinion. Our team of vampire hunters gets right into fighting mode, looking for ways to get the upper hand on the evil infiltrating their lives. The best part of Sunday's episode was that Vasily Fet, my favorite character so far, has now joined Eph, Nora and Setrakian in trying to save the world from The Master and his spawn.

The episode was unique in that its scenes mostly took place in the gas station. We learned a few more characteristics of the strigoi from Setrakian and I'm beginning to wonder why Eph, our resident 'Man of Science', is still questioning him about what he knows regarding them. You would think at this point Eph would say, "I have seen people transform, in a matter of days, into blood-sucking creatures with 6 foot tongues...maybe you know a little something about them." Maybe with Fet in the mix now, some of the pressure of leading will be taken off of Eph so he can wrap his mind around what is going on?

We have been wondering from the beginning of the season why there were some survivors from the Regis Air incident and why others took a little longer to exhibit symptoms of the virus. Now we know that The Master grants certain things to certain people he infects. It is like a class system inside the viral population. That is why Eichorst has many characteristics of his former life. Also, why there were four survivors from the plane incident in episode one. The Master appears to be giving some infected people certain abilities for a grander plan while making other infected individuals just pawn or possibly soldiers for his ultimate fight.

'Creatures Of The Night', is a great episode and one of the better ones of the series so far. I would have preferred if they ventured out of the gas station earlier and fought a little more, but it was still fun to see all of the characters together finally. I was surprised by what happened with Jim and expected something like that to happen much later in the season if not in the finale. I love the series and still can't get over how quickly the episodes fly by. When they were driving away in the bread truck I was shocked to learn that was the end of the episode as it felt like only 15 minutes had spanned at that point. There are only five episodes left this season and the next few look great from the promos. I am hoping we get more of The Master and I feel they will start building to a huge confrontation with him and our vampire hunter gang. Now we just need to get Gus and the hooded vampire from Episode 7 into the mix and we have an awesome vampire hunting team.


Thoughts and Discussion

- Now we know that The Master can control his spawn like remote control vehicles. All he would have to do is find out where Eph and the gang are hiding out and send an army, right? I'm sure they have thought about this and will take precautions.

- We learn that silver burns them in this episode. Also, The Master can control his spawn remotely. I am really looking forward to seeing how Setrakian has prepared for this and the different weapons we will see that he has created.

- Setrakian and Eph argue with each other quite a bit and are fitting into 'Man of Science, Man of Faith' roles very well. Will this be helpful or a hindrance in the future?

- Where has Bolivar been? He is the only survivor of the four originals from the Regis Air incident and I actually liked his character.

- Did you notice...That blonde woman, Dutch Velders, that was held with everyone in the gas station is the same woman that Eldritch Palmer and Eichorst hire to take down the internet to prevent social media from relaying information about what's going on around the city.

Tagline Game

Here is the results of the Tagline Game from my Advanced Preview.

1. The Strain - Creatures Of The Night - Review: "Crazy Old Man With A Bloody Sword" - 13%

2. The Strain - Creatures Of The Night - Review: "Biggest Issue Is Still The Price Of Gas" - 9%

3. The Strain - Creatures Of The Night - Review: "Just Like Any Other Vermin" - 50%

4. The Strain - Creatures Of The Night - Review: "Us Or Them" - 10%

5. The Strain - Creatures Of The Night - Review: "Release Me" - 18%

I hope everyone has a great week! The next episode of The Strain looks great and I can't wait to watch it. please comment below so we can discuss this episode and the series 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, The Leftovers, The Strain, 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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