First the good stuff. This show looks amazing. Some of the visuals are pure Guillermo Del Toro, artistic shots of burning cityscapes, surrealistic, moody, dramatically lit tombs and basements, sewers and tunnels, this series certainly knows how to frighten. Everything looks great and the cast sells the hell out of everything, creating an atmosphere of pure believable terror. The scene this week of Eph and Setrakian giving Zach a sword, preparing him for the coming battle with the Master and his hordes could have been utterly ridiculous. Zach is ultra cute, there is nothing in that kid’s cherubic face that could convince anyone he could actually harm a vampire. But Corey Stoll, David Bradley, and even little Ben Hyland each were totally convincing during the scene. Bradley played up the respect he had for the boy entering the hunt and Eph’s heart breaking as he watched the kid’s innocence ebb away as he clutched the sword. It could have been comically cheesy, but the cast nailed it. While our heroes were entering the sewer, a place that Fet was more than comfortable in, we got to visit Palmer and Eichhorst as they made sure the CDC was in their corner. In a terrifying scene, Palmer tossed a government official off a balcony while Eichhorst made sure the head of the CDC, Eph’s former boss, played ball. These past two episodes have really made Palmer an utterly repulsive villain, a man who sold out his entire race just for a few more years of life. Palmer is such an evil bastard that even his loyal man servant, Fitzwilliam, abandons him, leaving the Master and Eichhorst as Palmer’s only allies. Fitzsimmons still has a role to play, one must assume. Will he join with Eph and the others or will he join that other group of vampires currently involved with Gus? We don’t know, because the show ends with no resolutions. For anyone. As the boss fight begins, Setrakian, Eph and Zach enter the Master’s lair while Dutch, Nora, and Fet hold off the vampires outside, including Bolivar and Eichhorst. The action was incredibly choreographed and gripping as I was loathe to see any of the heroes die. Fet, of course, held his own and even Dutch proved very useful in a fight. Setrakian finally had the Master cornered with Zach and Eph busting out windows to let sunlight leak in. Setrakian had the Master, but he kept freakin’ hesitating, screaming battle cries and giving tense looks instead of delivering the killing blow. It wasn’t intense, it was irksome. The big reveal was that the master could not be killed by sunlight and was able to escape. With the Master injured and in full retreat, the vampires, including Eichhorst and Bolivar, retreated by creepily walking backwards, away from the heroes. There were no resolution or real answers for Gus either. Last episode, Gus was abducted by that other group of militant vigilante vampires. This week, Gus learns a bit about who they are. These soldier vamps serve an ancient council of semi-comatose ancient vampires who wish to stay hidden. These vamps want Gus to serve as a human agent and go against the rebels led by the Master. It seems The Strain will wait for next season to resolve everything. While I don’t want to seem entitled, it still would be nice to have some closure after such a heart in throat, intense season. While having no closure is annoying, if next season features a vampire civil war, I’m down like D-Lo Brown, baby. Don’t get me wrong, I love this show; I love the cast and the writers, the creators and the special effects. It is a perfect series to counter the sex vamps of True Blood and Vampire Diaries. It’s a series that is not afraid to bring the grue and it knows how to scare. But the finale failed to give any satisfaction and while it looked amazing, after such a harrowing season, their needed to be some sense of closure for at least some of the heroes. All we got was a big, fat “to be continued.” Thanks for reading Strainers, see you guys and Eph, Setrakian, Nora, Fet, Gus, Zach, the Master, Eichhorst, Fitzsimmons, Dutch, Palmer, and dickless Bolivar next year. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for all news updates related to the world of geek. And Google+, if that’s your thing!
