Episode 13: The Master
SUMMARY: Eph (Corey Stoll) and the rest of the crew make one last stab at killing The Master, who’s holed up at Simon Bolivar’s former loft, which is now a strigoi stronghold. Meanwhile, the results of Eph’s broadcast are undermined by a newly healthy Eldritch Palmer (Jonathan Hyde).
REVIEW: After a deeply inconsistent run, the first season of THE STRAIN finally wraps up with its thirteen episode. One of the biggest problems with the show has been the pace. Some episodes have been good, others so-so, while the majority have been mediocre-to-bad. The problem? The thirteen episode run is simply too long considering how little content the first season has offered. Despite this being the season finale, it still feels like a prelude to the full-on horror show THE STRAIN has been sold as since day one. If FX wanted to play it slow, or test the waters before getting really dark, a shorter season might have been a good idea, which worked really well for the first seasons of THE WALKING DEAD and PENNY DREADFUL.
Instead, THE STRAIN has been jam-packed with family drama (everything with Eph’s wife and Nora’s mother) which have bogged down the show. Even worse, the defacto leads, played by Corey Stoll and Mia Maestro have only recently come into focus, with it still unclear whether or not the two are going to be able to carry the show forward. Instead, it’s two of the supporting characters, Vasily Fet (Kevin Durand) and Setrakian (David Bradley) who have kept the show worth watching.
So how does the season finale fare? Like most of the season, its inconsistent. One thing I did not get at all was Eph’s decision to take his son along on his mission to kill The Master. I get that he wants to keep him by his side, but it seems a little dangerous, no? Certainly someone from the team could have stayed behind to look after the kid? One especially goofy bit has Ruta Gedmintas’ Dutch shoot a bullet about an inch from the kid’s head to kill a vamp. When did she become a marks-woman? That said it was cool watching Vasily and Nora in action against Eichorst and Bolivar, so there is at least some character investment happening.
Of course, the whole battle winds up being anticlimactic with nothing really happening. Eph and Setrakian totally had The Master cornered, but when they had the chance to kill him they, for some bonehead reason, decided to let him roast in the sun, which – it turns out – isn’t such a big deal for him. Great. I hope that when The Master comes back next season he’ll look cooler.
Meanwhile, there’s a subplot with Gus, where the gets taken into that paramilitary strigoi stronghold. Finally, we get to learn a bit more about them, whole belong to an ancient vampire tribe who want to keep the peace with the humans and want Gus to be their daytime human soldier. I guess we’ll see next year if this pays off. Overall though, this has been an inconsistent show, and I’m not entirely sure I’ll be on board for season two unless it makes a tremendous leap in quality.
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