Monday, September 29, 2014

The Strain Season 1 Episode # 12 "Last Rites" - Recap and Review


Stephen McHattie as Quinlan the ancient vampire hunter in FX The Strain Season 1 Episode 12 Last Rites

This post discusses the episode in detail. Readers yet to watch the episode are recommended to skip it, if they wish to avoid spoilers.

Thomas Eichorst (Richard Sammel) pays a visit to the sick business tycoon, Eldritch Palmer (Jonathan Hyde). Eldritch reminds him that The Master owes him in return for all the help he has done as per the deal. Thomas responds that the Master does whatever he pleases. Eldritch claims to be still having faith that he will get his due.

Flashback to Albania in 1967. The younger Abraham Setrakian (Jim Watson) is still in pursuit of the German strigoi, Thomas Eichorst. Miriam Setrakian (Adina Verson) is concerned about her husband's obsession with tracking down the German tormentor.

Abraham is fooled into a trap laid by Eichorst and his wife is turned into a strigoi. Abraham makes the difficult choice of killing his beloved Miriam and then carves out her heart as a reminder and inspiration to continue his quest/mission.

Corey Stoll, David Bradley, Mia Maestro and Kevin Durand as Eph Goodweather, Abraham Setrakian, Nora Martinez and Vasiliy Fet hunting vampires in FX The Strain

Back in the present, Dr Nora Martinez (Mia Maestro) tries to comfort Abraham about their failure to end The Master's life

Gus Elizalde (Miguel Gomez) gets the drop on Alonso Creem in his car. Gus needs money, ammunition and has decided to procure his supplies from Alonso. Things get out of hand, when they come under attack by vampires.

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Quinlan (Stephen McHattie), the hooded guy dressed in black (we saw a long time ago), reappears just in time to save the day. His crew kidnaps Gus.

Dutch Velders (Ruta Gedmintas) returns to the pawn shop and explains her plan to broadcast Eph's message to the world.

Richard Sammel as Thomas Eichorst the German Nazi strigoi vampire attacking Abraham Setrakian's pawn shop in FX The Strain Season 1 Episode 12 Last Rites

Just as Eph finishes his first ever speech, Eichorst leads an attack on Abraham's pawn shop. The turned Gabriel Bolivar (Jack Kesy) attacks Nora's mom, Mariela Martinez (Anne Betancourt) with his stinger. As the good guys make their escape from the shop through an escape door, Nora decapitates her now infected mother.

In the closing scenes, The Master arrives at the Stoneheart Group building and secretes his body fluids into Eldritch's mouth. Eldtrich quickly regains his vitality and is able to walk and enjoy the rain on the patio. His assistant/bodyguard Mr. Fitzwilliams (Roger R. Cross) is surprised and concerned with this sudden change in his employer.

The Strain has got to be one of the most pondering shows on TV. Having read the novels on which the series is based, it baffles me to as to why the show has been scripted this way. Things have been moving too slow right from the beginning and this episode is no different.

Nothing much happens of note, except for Gus' kidnapping and the death of Nora's mother. On the plus side, at least we have one less unnecessary character, thanks to Gabe.

Corey Stoll and Ben Hyland as Eph Goodweather and his son Zach Goodweather in FX The Strain

The scenes showing the budding romance between Vasiliy Fet and Dutch Velders feels like more of the filler material that we have been seeing as part of the show. To his credit, Kevin does provide some humor in his interactions with Corey Stoll's character, Eph Goodweather.

Jim Watson gives a good performance as the younger Abraham Setrakian. Credit to the make up department for making Jim's Setrakian look like a credible younger version of David Bradley's older one.

Another nice touch was Thomas Eichorst's reflection vibrating in the mirror.

Hopefully, the season finale will ratchet up the tension that has been sorely missing so far in a show about vampires and humans racing against time to stop a fast spreading infection.

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Image Source: FX Networks

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