4 out of 5
The Strain: Season Two, Episode One Review
WARNING: Major Spoilers Ahead!!!!
(The internet is dark and full of spoiler. Lord of light protect us.)
Season two of The Strain starts with a very important flashback. The episode sets the mood with little Abraham sitting in his grandmother’s cabin. He refuses to eat his dinner unless she tells him a story so she begins to weave a tall tale passed down through the generations, one that involves the unfortunate demise of a very kind giant, a member of the royal family at the time of the story. If you’ve been following up with the show then you can probably guess exactly who that man with gigantism turns into, and if you haven’t then beware of spoilers. It’s The Master.
The Master’s true name is Jusef Sardu. He is revealed as being a 19th century Polish nobleman. Jusef was born with gigantism, yet despite this unfortunate disease, he remained a kind hearted and gentle giant of whom the local children adored. One day his brother set out to find an ancient being called the “great white wolf” which could potentially heal Jusef of his crippling condition, Jusef coming with. On their journey something begins to pick them off one by one, leading Jusef into a local cave and what he finds there is no natural born creature, but a vampire! Spooked yet? You should be. This show is about vampires. Spooky vampires. Jusef enters the cave with his cane sword (important) in hand to slay the beast within. Jusef enters to find a terrifying creature feasting on one of his friends. Jusef and the creature talk it out for a minute before the vampire pukes a bunch of worms into his mouth and the vampire dies. No I’m not making this up and, yes, you get to see all of it. This flow of worms bestows the powers of The Master unto Jusef, transforming him into a mad being of insatiable bloodlust, preying on the children of the local village that once adored him. It seems the writers made Jusef feed on the local children to up his spook factor, and boy howdy did it ever. Jusef is a real creepy spookster. The highest grade of spookster and for a villain as sinister as he, it seems a perfect fit to have that weird pedophile-type characteristic thrown into the mix.
After getting a look into the worm-puking process of The Master’s powers, we can rest easy as the show fast forwards to the present. Don’t get too comfortable though, Abraham begins to search the last place they fought with The Master for any clues regarding his whereabouts. Upon a tense and eerily predictable build up, Abraham is finally (and forcefully) introduced to the one known as Vaun who then quickly captures him the way he did with Gus in the first season to explain the same thing explained to Gus from the first season. While this is transpiring, The Master meets with Thomas for some super important business. Super important vampire business. The Master explains the dire urgency to get revenge on “The Jew,” (of course meaning Abraham) for burning The Master’s face in the first season, even though in all fairness it wasn’t REALLY Abraham that did it. Regardless, The Master has some sour feelings towards “The Jew” for the events that transpired at the end of the first season. I get that he’s an evil, maniacal, megalomaniac vampire but come on, Jusef, chill out. Also, calling someone “The Jew” isn’t really cool in 2015. That’s just anti-Semitic, Jusef. I’m sure you were raised better than that. We’ll talk about this later. The Master then tells Thomas that he needs to seek out a new body due to the damage that his current one has taken. Thomas is also instructed to “prepare the children” which one can only assume is for something bad. Something about those words says he’s not organizing a water park field trip for the local public schools. Though that would be pretty awesome of him after all that child murdering and whole anti-Semite business. Just consider it, J.
Around this time, Vaun takes Abraham to see The Ancients, which are the leaders of all vampires within the world. Of course, Abraham’s instinct says to kill them, though he knows that one wrong move and they’d put him six feet under, but not before draining him of all his blood first, naturally. Should it be “naturally” or “supernaturally”? It’s not really “natural” for vampires to exist in the first place, so it seems like that word is out of context on a situation like this. Then again it is natural in this universe, so you’ll just have to suspend disbelief. You’ll also have to suspend disbelief for the deal made between Abraham and The Ancient beings that Abraham would love nothing more than to do away with, he must now cooperate with. Anytime Abraham is aware of The Master’s location he must alert The Ancients, Abraham also drops a question about the existence of a particular book entitled the “Occido Lumen”. This book supposedly has the power to destroy the vampire menace, as the mere mentioning of the title gives The Ancients the willies, but he could easily discern its existence from their reaction. If you haven’t seen it, their reaction looks like what would happen if someone talked about you open mouth kissing your grandma. Unless that’s something you’re into, in which case maybe you should see someone about that. That’s about as “natural” as vampires. And the joke comes full circle.
During this whole disaster, Mr. Palmer, a.k.a Slim Shady Old Rich White Guy (title pending), buys up a huge plot of factory land with all his rich old white dude money for reasons unknown. Safe guess would be vampire business. Mr. Palmer also gives a PSA regarding the disaster the city is facing and explains that he has offered an open line of credit to the city of New York during this time of crisis. You have to know something is fishy about this, even if we didn’t already know he was working with The Master (spoiler alert) it would be obvious he’s a bad guy. No old, rich, white dude would do something this nice for no reason. In fact, it might be on the safe side to test all charitable rich old white dudes for the vampire parasite because it just doesn’t sit right with me. Call me paranoid if you want, but I’ll be damned if Bill Gates isn’t donating money right now so he can easily hijack a bus full of blind kids. Oh, by the way, that happens in this episode too. When The Master said to “prepare the children” he was referring to a class full of blind kids that Thomas has arranged to kidnap. See, the class thinks it’s being transported to a safe zone but instead finds itself abandoned in front of one of the factory properties Mr. Palmer had purchased. The teacher didn’t realize what was happening because she too is blind. In fact, the only person on the entire bus that has the ability to see is the bus driver. It seems a little odd that there wouldn’t be at least one or two more people on board that had the miracle of human vision on that bus. That is thoroughly beside the point though, this poor class full of blind kids (plus one adult) become pawns in the cruel struggle for Strigoi dominance at the hands of The Master.
Our lovable rag-tag group of vampire murderers is tasked with finding Abraham’s old storage locker and gathering the contents within which include a metric ass-ton of weapons, notes, and silver grenades. Yes, silver grenades are grenades that explode with silver flakes in them to make them incredibly effective against the Strigoi. Strigoi is Romanian for vampire according to the story, it would have been helpful to mention this but I didn’t feel like it, and being that I am a damn adult; I made the decision not to mention it. So what? Who cares? Can we move on now, please? Once our crew makes it inside, they open a locker which sounds like it has living beings inside. They cautiously open the locker to reveal two normal humans hiding within. Just as we are getting an indepth view into the lives of some normal non-vampire-killing people, the lights go off and vampires show up. Hold on whilst I lift my jaw up off the floor. What’s this? Vampires? During a seemingly calm moment near the end of an episode? Finally, a show that breaks all the conventional rules of television storytelling. This attack is important though considering we see the unfortunate infection of two characters of whom I really don’t remember nor care to know the names of. Instead of killing them, Eph and Nora decide to use them as subjects to test how the disease works and ways to potentially defeat it with science I could never begin to understand.
Remember the previously mentioned bus jacking of the class full of blind kids? We finally see why Thomas was given the order to “prepare the children”. It wasn’t a field trip to the water park; it was a field trip to the next stage in vampire warfare. That would make an awesome back cover synopsis to a movie on VHS. Seriously, just imagine the possibilities. As cool as that back cover synopsis would be, it is not nearly as cool as Thomas bestowing the gift of voice and memory onto Kelly, Ephraim’s wife and Zach’s mother. The Master allows her these personal gifts back in order to flush Ephraim and his son out of hiding. Kelly receives one more gift, she is lead to a large tank filled with dirt, there is something swimming underneath the dirt. As she stands over the shifting earth two hands begin to rise, we are introduced to Feelers. Any human born blind, once given the vampire disease, is given incredible otherworldly senses of smell and tracking ability. With these creatures at Kelly’s disposal, it is clear there will be quite a struggle in the episodes ahead of us.
The North remembers.
In the universe of Game of Thrones, scenes’ before the opening theme are constant for the first episode of every season. For example, two great scenes that come to mind are the three Night’s Watchmen hunted down by White Walkers in season one or Tywin Lannister melting down house Stark’s sword Ice for Jamie and Geoffrey, season four. On the other hand, the opening scene of season is just plain horrific but awesome at the same time. Nothing is more satisfying then watching all the men of House Frey choke on their own blood after being reminded of the Red Wedding. It was an absolute grand-slam and took off perfectly from where we last saw Aryain season 6.
The North remembers.
Right after the credits we get a quick reminder of the army of the dead, and with more bad news; Giant white walkers. But thankfully we are intercepted by Bran warding into one of them which seems like a very useful ability (what’s next dragon’s or an ice dragon?). He is now with
the Watchers on the Wall and back in the mix, hopefully heading for Winterfell where he can inform Jon he is a Targaryan (This will be hype! I wonder if he can be burnt by fire!). Bran’s story has taken a back seat to other prevalent Starks but it’s nice to see him in the mix, demonstrating his power.
Next, we have psycho Cersei and her sane, lover brother Jaime. I still can’t forgive him for pushing Bran from the tower but I am starting to come around. The disapproving way he has been looking at Cersei dating back to last season says it all. From confronting her about
Tommen’s suicide, to questioning her about the enemies created (Targaryans, Tyrells, Starks, Dornish, and Half the Iron Borne) and the lifeless dynasty they will continue. He keeps his position with Cersei discussing what allies they have left but Jaime is clearly becoming distant and realizing the extent of his lover/sister’s delusion. I forecast a remake of the tale of “The King Slayer” retitled “The Queen Slayer”. In the mean time, the diabolical Yuron Greyjoy, the new king of the Iron Islands rekindles the bond between the Lannisters to move him into a prime position to become King of The Seven (three at this point) Kingdoms. He is presented as a lot more cunning and rounded character kissing up to the Queen and promising her a gift, whether that be Tyrion, and/or a thousand ship armada. What will be interested is how Jaime responds to a marriage between them, because Cersei and Yuron have a demonistic chemistry. She even abides by him making hand jokes and death threats (killing his brother, telling her to do the same). This was a fantastic scene all the while, and it really shows if Cersei get’s close to Yuron and isolates Jamie she will create yet another enemy.
We then get to a short snippet of Samwell Tally’s horrific, grotesque life as a server at the Citadel preparing to become the maester of Castle Black. There is a massive scene which shows him preparing food, cleaning and handling old people plumbing. What’s intriguing is the un-thrones like comedic cut between him doing his daily work; It’s funny and it’s not a bad idea to lighten the tone up because Tyrion used to be the comedy for us in the earlier seasons. Samwell helps the archmaester with the dissection of a corpse where he confirms his thoughts of the White Walkers. What was kind of cheap for me was his simple way of finding dragon glass through a book in the restricted section. It seemed too easy for Game of Thrones, like something you would see Hermione Granger find in the “restricted section”. Hopefully there is more too this but it was kind of stale and forced
Oh wait, Ed Sheeran? I didn’t see it coming, and I thought it was weird but acceptable. It was obviously him having an in with the producers and wanting a cameo role, but he has pure, angelic voice and creates a sympathetic feeling for the Lannister troops that brings out the non-assassin in Arya. She tells them she’s on her way to kings landing to “kill the queen” and it’s not taking seriously which shows how dangerous she has become. But what I see from this is season two when Mellisandre said there is a darkness in her. This darkness has come to fruition and it will be interesting to see how this is received by the remaining Starks. Besides the randomness of Ed Sheeran, I thought this really grounded Arya.
Sandor Clegane and the brotherhood without banners are now at a place he would rather not be; an old victim’s house where Clegane took their silver and resources. They find the father and daughter dead, holding each other. This almost creates an epiphany for the character, asking why the child dies, and fellow brother Beric Dondarion should be brought back. Then the flames get him, showing him the army of the dead and the reality of the larger issue at hand. I think we will see a more compliant hound the rest of this season. I’ve loved this character from the beginning and his arch is getting much broader for the better. I predict a positive change in attitude for the hound.
Finally, the Queen of Dragons, Breaker of Chains, Denarys Stormborn is finally home. From season one this is the only thing she has wanted. But now, she has an army of unsullied, the Dothraki and there gigantic Dragons. The final scene of her tearing down the Baratheon banner and taking her spot among her ancestors war table was breathtaking. It was a long, drawn out scene but the character deserves this and it has been a long time waiting. Fire and blood seem to be the strongest motto of any house right now, and it will for sure be enforced upon the Lannisters. My prediction although is that she won’t penetrate King’s Landing because of Cersei’s ruthlessness and George R.R Martin curveball tendency. Whit I think everyone is looking forward to is the meeting with Jon Snow that will eventually happen. It will be interesting if she commands him to bend the knee (he better not, he’s the rightful heir of the Taragaryan house and not a usurper like Daenarys)! This episode was a great starting block for the season while still providing notable and exciting action.
Rest in peace, watermelon.
The latest episodes in ‘Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid’ were very interesting to watch.
One was definitely a fanservice episode, and heck, even the producers know that! Episode 7’s title contains the phrase ‘The Fanservice Episode, Obviously’, so that cracked me up.
Episode 7 focuses on the elements of anime that will appeal to any nerd out there. By that, of course I mean bathing suits and comic conventions! Cue the beach episode!
Tohru and company decide to go swimming for the day. Kanna’s adorable as always, while Lucoa doesn’t realize just how sexual she is toward a small boy.
Like, really? You think wearing a very sexy swimsuit in front of a lot of kids on a beach is okay? And why do you insist on torturing Shouta with your breasts? It’s obvious that he’s tempted, but stop trying to seduce small children.
Of course, they’re dragons, so hilarious antics ensue. Tohru and Kanna get carried away in a swimming race, making water splash up everywhere. Also, a crab and watermelon are murdered. RIP.
However, one aspect that I thought was a nice touch was the backstory we got for Tohru. It wasn’t much, but Tohru and Kobayashi have a deep and meaningful conversation about their family’s lives, as well as how humans and dragons are different from one another. Fanservice episodes usually focus on that alone, but fortunately that’s not the case here.
The second half of Episode 7 focuses on Comiket. Tohru and Kobayashi help Takiya run a booth, and we learn that Fafnir is also participating by attempting to sell powerful curses. Wow, didn’t see thaaaaat coming at all.
Tohru notices otherworldly creatures in their true forms at Comiket, as they reveal that this is a great way to show their true forms. With Kobayashi’s permission, Tohru exposes her wings and tail, appearing to others as if she’s cosplaying as, well, a dragon maid.
Episode 7 was very nice because there were many heartfelt and adorable moments.
Meanwhile, Episode 8 FINALLY introduced the dragon that I keep on mentioning in my reviews. Her name’s Elma, a dragon who is a rival of Tohru’s. Elma accuses Tohru of disrupting the human’s ways and tries to force her to return to the dragon world. This doesn’t succeed, however, as Tohru sends her to an open field and leaves her there.
Unable to get back home, Elma stays in the human world and begins working at Kobayashi’s company. Kobayashi teaches Elma how to use computers and technology so that she can keep her job. Of course, this prompts Tohru to become jealous, smelling the scent of another dragon off Kobayashi like a dog does with a human. I won’t reveal how the episode ends, but it ends in a positive manner for Tohru.
Overall, I really loved these two episodes because they made me feel warm and fuzzy. They appealed to the emotional senses through a heartfelt conversation between Kobayashi and Tohru. Elma is also an innocent sweetheart who only wants to bring harmony to the human and dragon worlds. And I can’t wait to see more of her in the upcoming episodes.
I feel like in these two episodes alone, we learned so much about Tohru and her feelings for Kobayashi. She really wants to understand the human world and will do anything to stay with Kobayashi.
I’ll up my rating to a 4.7. These episodes were both fun, and we finally got the new dragon! Bless.
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