TV Review: THE STRAIN Season 1, Episode 13: THE MASTER

A lot of the problems and inconsistencies in the show can be traced back to the script.

I want that to be my entire review, just one sentence that encapsulates it all, but in the name of journalistic integrity, I should expand.

So first I want to say how much I hate Gus. It’s no secret that I thought he was useless and just filled up time, but here we finally had a moment where he could have had a moment of growth and it was squandered. He’s taken underground by the vampire killer team that still doesn’t have a name. IMDb lists McHattie’s character as “Quinlan” but I don’t think I ever heard it uttered in any of his appearances. All this time while he’s being held there, he makes sure to remind everyone that he’s Mexican. The lines “What? You scared to look a Mexican in his eye, you coward?” and “You planning on eating Mexican, tonight?” are uttered and they are totally stupid. He discovers that the reason they brought him is that they want him to be the human member of the team who can go out in sunlight. A normal person would be motivated by revenge or the ego boost of being “the chosen one” but not Gus. Gus only accepts when Quinlan says there is a big payday involved. Are we really supposed to get behind a character who’s only motivation is greed? Not to mention the fact that we’ve had way too much screentime for a character who’s only importance will be shown in season two.

Now let’s talk about that showdown. First off, this show has historically kind of sucked at action scenes and tonight was no different. Lot’s of zoom ins. Then, when the Master is injured he calls on all his vampires to retreat to help him and they all move backwards. Why? I guess it was in the script. Then it’s discovered that the Master can live in direct sunlight, and everyone in the room is baffled. I figured that the Master wasn’t going to die in this episode, we’ve got a season two to worry about and he’s our only villain! It was just a really weird moment especially since there were other ways to kill him had it not been for the script. Had Setrakian not taken his time with his sword and his pre-kill speech, the Master would be dead. Had Fet not wasted his dynamite on a group of vamps earlier and waited to use it on the Master, he’d be dead. It seems the only thing keeping the Master alive is the script.

This was just a poorly written finale for a poorly written first season, so in a way, it was kind of fitting. The only interesting moment was when Palmer (who we see outside of his room for the first time ever) throws the secretary of health off of a building. It’s a scene that shows how poorly they blend camp and serious horror. Hopefully season two picks up the slack.