The Strain - By Any Means - Review: "In Darkness Bound, In Daylight Destroyed"

"It's munching on Vampire brain juice"
-Eph to Nora

On Sunday night, The Strain aired it's second season premier episode to ratings that are dangerously close to scraping bottom. Personally, I enjoyed the episode and thought it was a great start to a season that feels like it could be better than the first. I'm not sure what qualifies for 'good' or 'bad' ratings at FX, but needless to say, The Strain needs to up it's game if it is to be safe for future season approval. I have seen a few more episodes and although it does get better in quality the pacing of the show still seems to be a bit slow. In fairness, the first two books in the trilogy the series is based on takes place over a relatively short span of time (The first 200 pages were actually what served as the background for the first season pilot).

The second episode this season continues the major plot line of locating the Occido Lumen, the ancient tome that holds secrets to defeating The Master once and for all. Setrakian did not tell his teammates about meeting The Ancients or their recruitment of his skills in locating The Master or The Lumen, which should be a short story arc for the first few episodes. In last week's episode we witnessed The Master still injured and burned from the events of last season's finale and is looking for a new home for his body and soul. In the second episode we see the next steps involved in this transformation, however, I'm not sure if it will be carried out all.

The second episode featured several flashback scenes that added some important elements to the story. We were able to witness the first meeting between Eldritch Palmer and Setrakian as well as the origin story of how Setrakian obtained the wolf's head sword once belonging to Jusef Sardu all those years ago. Dr. Draverhaven as an old concentration camp Dr. who experimented on his captives was a horrifying touch to the story. I hope we get to see Draverhaven in future episodes so we can witness Setrakian catch up with him and take him out the way he deserves to be.

As much as I love The Strain, it is not without it's faults. Like any show on TV, it suffers from occasional dips or lulls in certain parts of the story. This is usually rectified by having a shortened season, but it does't always work out that way. I believe one of the biggest problems with The Strain right now is the pacing of each episode and the two to three episode story arc. The action sequences are great, but they cover only a fraction of the hour.

Another issue I have with The Strain is the overall scope and magnitude of how the virus is portrayed across Manhattan. It seems part of the island has succumbed to the strigoi infiltration, but other parts are seemingly unaware of the change in the air. Some scenes show citizens walking around as if nothing is amiss. Even our heroes are showing signs that the imminent apocalypse is no big deal (Seriously Fet and Dutch? You're both skinny dipping right now?)

This doesn't mean The Strain is a terrible show - not in the slightest. I love this series as well as it's source material. The show needs some more ground to cover before I think fans really pick up on it and enjoy the true nature of the story being told. My favorite part of the entire trilogy actually begins around the midpoint of book 2, which should be around episode 6 or 7 of this season.

The episode was a great continuation of the premiere we saw last week. From what I have seen of future episodes this season looks to be getting better with each new chapter. I have heard from quite a number of fans have an issue with the pacing of the series and I all I can say is that you should give it time, as you should with any show. The Strain still manages to entertain each week with its harmonious relationship between 'drama' and 'horror'. It does a great job at handling that aspect of the series and it only gets better when you tack on the overall mythology of the strigoi and the story as a whole.

Thoughts and Discussion

- I loved the action sequence showcasing Fet and Dutch working together and taking out some nasty strigoi. Still can't believe they went skinny-dipping afterwards - I still laugh about it, lol.

- Eldritch Palmer opens his 'Freedom Center' to help feed people suffering from the madness occurring outside. We know Eldritch is evil so what ulterior motive does he have?

- I am actually enjoying the scenes between Eph and Nora expanding on their efforts to find a cure to the virus. It's interesting to me to see them try and figure this part out. However, part of me wants them to team up with everyone else and go out and kick some butt. The scenes showcase their relationship very well as well as Eph giving in to his drinking habits, which seems like it will be a problem as the season progresses.

- Did you notice...One of the big plot lines this season will be our team of heroes trying to obtain The Occido Lumen. At one point, Setrakian is looking at some ancient text to help him in his quest and one of the pages reads an interesting axiom, "In Darkness Bound, In Daylight Destroyed" - very cool.

- What will be the next step for Kelly and her 'feelers'? We last saw her at the end of Sunday's episode gathering Zack's clothes for them to gather his scent. Speaking of Zack...he is kinda getting more irritating, isn't he? I wonder why they chose this trajectory for his character? (Spoiler Alert - Mini-Eph doesn't get any better)

- Did you notice...Eldritch Palmer states that he has Miriam's (Setrakian's wife) heart. Will this be an object of desire for Setrakian to try and obtain? If you remember from the penultimate episode from last season is when we had last seen Miriam's heart. Bolivar broke into the pawnshop and attacked Mrs. Martinez, infecting her, while Eichhorst and his strigoi army storm the shop, forcing Setrakian and the others to escape through a secret passage. Before exiting, Nora decapitates her mother to prevent her turning, while Setrakian abandons his deceased wife Miriam's still-beating Strigoi heart. Flashbacks to 1967 reveal how Eichhorst exploited Setrakian's obsession with killing the Master to lure him into a trap, leaving Miriam unprotected; When Setrakian arrives home, he finds her infected, decapitates her and removes her worm-infested heart as a keepsake. Eichorst must have taken the heart and given it to Eldritch at some point.

Thank you for checking out my review! Please comment below so we can discuss the episode and the series some more. I should have the Advanced Preview of Episode Three up in just a few days, so keep an eye out for that! Have a great week everyone!

About the Author - Geo N

Geo N is from Detroit, MI. His favorite shows include The Blacklist, Hell On Wheels, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, LOST, The Leftovers, The Strain, Sons Of Anarchy, Sleepy Hollow and countless others. When he's not watching tons of TV, he enjoys reading, playing hockey, comic books, weightlifting, and writing. Thanks for checking out my post.

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