TV REVIEW: The Strain “The Box”

By Clinton Bell

In some ways, The Strain’s “The Box” plays like “Night Zero Part 2.”

“Night Zero” was a mostly solid premiere, but it never quite reached a crescendo the way I expected it would. “The Box”—which is about on par with the premiere—never quite reaches a crescendo either, but it gets very close in the final five minutes. Like the premiere, episode two teases a lot, but shows only a little.

The episode picks up around where “Night Zero” left off. Abraham is still in jail, and Eph and Nora are still trying to locate the missing cabinet. Meanwhile, the public has been told that the plane passengers were killed by carbon monoxide, even though Eph and Nora insist it that they were killed by a pathogen. Still, Eph’s expertise isn’t enough to prevent the four survivors from leaving the quarantined area and returning to their lives. That proves to be a heinous error on the survivors’ part, all of who slowly begin to transform into vampires.

By the episode’s end, the infected still haven’t completed the transformation into full-fledged vampires. One of the things that irks me about The Strain is the amount of teasing it does. We know that the show is going to get insane and chaotic once the infection spreads to more people, but for now, the show is mostly coasting along. This type of teasing might work in film, but for TV, when we only get one hour a week, it’s a bit irritating.

“The Box” fleshes out Eph a little bit more. We learned that he is a recovering alcoholic who has been sober for a little over a year now, which also provides us a reason as to why his marriage fell apart. Eph is on the verge of acquiring joint-custody of his son, and seems to think it will happen as long as he can stay sober and continue with his therapy. I suspect many viewers are completely uninterested in this subplot, but I am at least mildly interested in how it turns out, because I think it will tie into the main plot in a big way once Manhattan is infested with vampires. Corey Stoll plays Eph with enough sincerity that I do care about what happens to him, and I do think he loves his son dearly. His alcoholism prevented him from being a father before, but now that that is behind him, he’s ready to be a dad again.

The Strain is a solidly built show, but I’m still not fully on board with it yet. I find myself more interested in the gore than in the drama between characters, and that’s probably because there really hasn’t been much drama yet. The reason The Strain has been difficult for me to embrace is because, much like the vampire virus, the drama is still incubating, and because the show’s mysteries—mysteries to Eph and Nora, at least—are uninteresting because, as a viewer, I already know that the vampires are behind everything. Because of these things, The Strain, while respectably made, hasn’t pulled me all the way in yet. The episodes don’t stay with me for long after I’ve filed my review. Guillermo del Toro’s name alone is enough to keep me watching because I’m a fan of his work, but I have to wonder if non-fans will lose interest in the show quickly.

“The Box” is close to the same quality as “Night Zero,” but doesn’t make as big of a splash. Two episodes in, it’s still hard to pinpoint the kind of series The Strain will be late in the season. Will it be a high-octane vampire thriller, or a slowly unfolding horror show? I guess we’ll find out.

Additional notes:

– I didn’t notice Corey Stoll’s wig as much this week. By episode six, I will believe that it’s his real hair.

– I really can’t wait to see what The Master—the really scary vampire from the coffin—looks like. We’ve only seen the back of his head so far.

– Episode 3, written by Chuck Hogan, will debut early at San Diego Comic-Con. I don’t know if that means we should expect a wild episode, but I would like to think that’s what it means.

– “The Box” briefly introduced rat exterminator Vasiliy Fet. I don’t have much to say about the character yet, but I get the feeling I’m going to like him.