The Strain: Season 2 Review

By Jesse Schedeen

Warning: full spoilers for The Strain Season 2 follow.

It’s not always easy being a fan of The Strain. The show has a lot going for it with its “vampire horror by way of Michael Crichton” premise and the involvement of Guillermo del Toro. Unfortunately, the show too often struggles to live up to its full potential, with lackluster characterization and inane storylines dragging down a generally good tale of humanity fighting a losing battle against an apocalyptic outbreak. That was true for the show’s first season, and despite some improvements it remained true for the second.

The Strain certainly had a lot going for it in Season 2. Building on Season 1’s climactic showdown with The Master, Eph and Nora sought to press their advantage by developing a bio-weapon to turn the tables on the strigoi. Meanwhile, Setrakian embarked on a relentless quest to hunt down the fabled tome of vampire lore known as the Occido Lumen. This season also focused plenty of attention on the other factions involved in the conflict – whether it was the in-fighting between Palmer and Eichorst, the alliance between Gus and Angel, the rise of Councilwoman Feraldo or the debut of the human/vampire hybrid Quinlan.

Season 2 never suffered from a lack of compelling material. The recurring flaw throughout these 13 episodes is that the show would too rarely focus on the characters and conflicts that worked. Too often, supporting characters would drop out of the picture for two or three weeks at a time. This was especially aggravating with Gus, Angel and Quinlan, whose newly forged alliance barely had any room to develop. The same for Quinlan’s protege Vaun, who made a strong impression in his Season 1 debut but was quickly and unceremoniously killed off in “Fort Defiance.”

Nor was it simply a matter of certain characters vanishing for weeks on end. The show too often had a habit of inserting pointless subplots and fixating on characters who had little to add to the larger picture. The love triangle between Dutch, Fet and Nikki was the biggest offender in that regard. Mind you, the blossoming romance between Dutch and Fet was a welcome addition to the show. It served as a reminder that our heroes can find some degree of comfort and happiness even in times such as these. But the addition of Nikki to the mix and Dutch’s resulting emotional turmoil made the entire subplot insufferable. The show never gave us any reason to care about Nikki, nor did it justify why the war against the strigoi needed to be constantly interrupted by this schoolyard drama.

The romance between Palmer and his new secretary, Coco Marchand, was also a source of frequent frustration. Coco was never very well defined or fleshed out, with the writers treating her like less of a character and more of a plot device to make Palmer more vulnerable. Just when it seemed things were getting interesting with her, Coco completely went off the rails when she recovered from her near fatal gunshot wound and morphed into a blindly loyal Palmer fangirl.

It’s tempting to say that The Strain just doesn’t handle romantic storylines very well. But to be fair, the show can handle this element fine in moderation. The romantic tension between Eph and Nora in the later episode was executed well, relying more on silent, emotional looks than dialogue. I also enjoyed the brief romance between Gus and Aanya. That relationship gave Gus a taste of the life he might have had, while also giving him something to fight for.

Despite all these complaints, the show still offered plenty of entertainment when it wasn’t getting bogged down by nonsense. Eph’s bio-weapon made for a strong ongoing storyline. It quickly became clear that the challenge was less about stumbling across the right formula and more about finding a way to mass-produce and distribute it. Eph’s ill-fated trip to Washington in “Identity” proved just how long the Master’s reach was. That trip also impacted Eph’s relationship with Nora, which paid off nicely with Nora’s heroic sacrifice in the season finale.

This season also excelled when it came to keeping the villains fresh and exciting. Kelly’s transformation into a vampire matron accompanied by blind “feeler” minions offered a fun new twist on the now-familiar strigoi biology. Kelly and her children offered a much more dangerous and unpredictable threat than the usual rank and file strigoi roaming the streets. Between that and Quinlan’s brutal swordplay, there were definitely some standout moments when it came to action scenes this season.

The Strain is at its best when Eichorst is at his worst.

Richard Sammel might just be the MVP of the season, if not the show as a whole. His gleefully evil performance as Eichorst never failed to entertain and unsettle. Eichorst was given ample time in the spotlight over the course of Season 2, whether it was teaming up with Kelly to trade beauty tips and attack our heroes, getting catty with Palmer or just generally being a creepy guy. Nowhere was Eichorst more terrifying than in “Dead End,” where he tormented a captive Dutch and relived his old Nazi days. This episode also offered a welcome glimpse into Eichorst’s past as a humble salesman who found his true calling. Those flashbacks offered more insight into the character without making the mistake of trying to fully humanize him or forgive his many gross misdeeds.

The flashbacks in general were very well executed this season. The premiere opened with a campy but dramatic look at Setrakian’s childhood and the origin of of the Master’s oversized form. Another offered a glimpse of Quinlan’s past as an unbeatable Roman gladiator. The best, however, was probably “The Silver Angel,” which offered a lengthy look at one of Angel’s low budget B-movie adventures. The black-and-white, intentionally cheesy approach really enhanced the effect there. Regardless of what and when the flashbacks focused on, they lent some welcome variety and context to the show’s conflicts.

The other big flaw with this season in addition to the pointless subplots and lack of focus on certain characters was the sluggish, even repetitive approach to certain storylines. The show spent too much time chronicling Setrakian’s search for the Occido Lumen and not enough exploring what purpose the book actually serves. Setrakian went through a long process of searching, finding and losing the book, none of which had any real bearing on the finale’s high-stakes bidding war. It was also hard to ignore the repetitive nature of Eichorst’s battles with Eph and the gang. I lost count of how many episodes culminated with Eichorst and/or Kelly being defeated and slinking into the night to lick their wounds. Even the finale pretty much followed that formula.

And finally, it’s tough to ignore how much Zach was a burden on the show this season. Season 1 actor Ben Hyland was replaced by Max Charles for Season 2. And while recasting the role might have been necessary in terms of maintaining the illusion that only a few weeks have passed in the show’s timeline, it had a very negative impact on the character. For all the emotional turmoil Zach experienced this season, between the poor writing and Charles’ one-note performance, he generally came across as sulky and bratty rather than tortured. The finale had a golden opportunity to turn things around and redeem Zach, but instead on;y served to cement his status as one of the most unlikable characters on TV.