TV REVIEW: The Strain “The Disappeared”

By Clinton Bell

After last week’s sharp, focused episode, I expected The Strain to return to its usual structure, by focusing on its ensemble cast and some boring subplots.

But “The Disappeared” wasn’t nearly as scattered as most of the season has been, and kept the focus relatively narrow, though not nearly as narrow as last week. Although not as good as “Creatures of the Night”  it wasn’t worse either.

The episode picks up shortly after last week’s action-heavy installment, with Eph and the gang still in their getaway van. Eph returns to his old home where his ex-wife Kelly and son Zach live, and arrives just in time to save Zach from vampire Matt. Eph quickly disposes of Matt—he has had a lot of practice and is getting quite good at killing vampires—and tells Zach a little bit about what’s been going on. Kelly is missing and Eph fears the worst.

Even though “Disappeared” is a slow paced episode, it is still effective. The episode serves as a reflection on last week’s harrowing installment. Jim’s death is addressed multiple times, and Nora is still angered and saddened by Vasiliy’s decision to shoot Jim. It’s a wake-up call to both Nora and Eph—this is real, and either of them could die at anytime. Realizing this, Nora and Eph have sex—might as well, right?—to stave off some of the stress.

I’ve complained in past weeks about the ambiguity of Nora and Eph’s relationship, but this week we get a sense of how they feel about each other. “I love my wife,” Eph tells Kelly’s friend after she walks in on them half naked and in bed together. Notice that Eph said “wife,” not ex-wife. Nora certainly looks disappointed when she hears Eph say this, and her reaction suggests that she loves him more than he loves her. Since the show began, Eph has been determined to be part of Zach’s life again. But now, with Matt out of the picture, Eph might think he can now be part of Kelly’s life again, too. His alcoholism tore his family apart, and now that he’s better, he wants to try again. Although, his alcoholism likely wasn’t the only reason his marriage fell apart; Eph is a workaholic, too, and that likely interfered in some way.

We also get some more Abraham flashbacks this week, which concludes with Abraham escaping and Eichhorst becoming one of The Master’s chosen ones. And yes, we finally get a glimpse at what The Master looks like under that hood. Besides our first look at The Master, the flashbacks don’t reveal much this time. I’m still not quite sure why Eichhorst chose to align with The Master.

The flashback scenes, as well as the rest of the episode, are handsomely shot. The Strain regularly boasts production qualities that are a level above most of its cable drama competitors, but “Disappeared” was a particularly beautiful looking episode.

I suspect that some viewers were disappointed that this episode had very little tension or momentum, but I felt that it was an effective slow-burner. The show seems to be starting to figure out its characters, and “Disappeared” does a good job of keeping the focus on the people that matter most. And Matt died in this episode, so that was great.

Additional notes:

– Time passes extremely slowly on this show. The past three episodes have each taken place on the same night. Only a few days have passed since the show began.

– Nora’s mom only had one line in this episode, so that proves that the show is getting better.

– I’m warming up to Dutch. Her scene with Vasiliy was nice, and she has some amusing quirks. I didn’t enjoy her much in “Creatures of the Night.”

– It’s obvious that Gus is going to meet up with Eph and the gang soon. Wouldn’t be surprised if it happened next week.