TV REVIEW: The Strain Season Finale “The Master”

By Clinton Bell

I hate to say it, but The Strain isn’t as good as I hoped it would be. “The Master” is not the weakest episode of the season, but it’s the only one that had me go “That’s it?” by the time it had ended.

A lot of people have ridiculously high expectations for season finales. Some will expect at least one major character to die. Some will expect a crazy twist they never saw coming. Some will expect an insane cliffhanger that has them begging for more. “The Master” does not have any of these things, so I expect a lot of people are going to be disappointed.

I, however, do my best to keep my expectations in check. Sometimes crazy twists and cliffhangers aren’t the best, and I’m not sure The Strain would’ve benefitted from either of these things. I usually prefer it when a season wraps up with a sense of completeness. Mad Men, for example, ends every season this way. The Strain sort of tries to achieve some sense of (temporary) finality, but it does so at the last possible minute, with an Abraham voiceover that mirrors the voiceover from the episode that started the season. That’s it. Other than that, “The Master” feels like an ordinary episode. The stakes are raised somewhat, but not any higher than previous episodes. Eph and the gang already faced off against The Master a few episodes back. And of course I didn’t expect them to win this time, because if they did there would be no season 2.

While the episode does expand the mythology a little—which I’ll get to later—it fails to offer any sort of tantalizing glimpse into the show’s future. And that’s a shame.

The episode picks up with Palmer, who has since been healed by The Master. Last week I wrote that Palmer had been selected as one of The Master’s Chosen Ones, but it appears I was wrong about that. Palmer is still human and does not have eternal life. The episode’s early goings on spend a lot of time with Palmer and his goal to prevent the city from being quarantined, but none of it adds up to anything of importance, at least for now.

Eph and the gang are once again trying to locate and destroy The Master. Vasiliy and Eph go on a recon mission, and discover that The Master is hiding out in Gabriel’s theater. They go back to base and gear up for what they believe could be the final showdown. Eph and Abraham agree to give Zach a sword to protect himself with.

Once at the theater, they manage to slaughter a number of vampires. The Master shows up and wreaks havoc. Eph tells everyone to smash the windows and use the sunlight to defeat The Master. It appears to work for a moment, but The Master escapes outside and disappears.

Abraham and the others are equally perplexed, because they didn’t think The Master would be able to withstand the sunlight. “I did not know he was capable of that,” Abraham says, still in disbelief.

Later on, Zach fakes an asthma attack so that he can go home and grab a family photo album. Kelly then shows up at the house. Eph shoots her, but only wounds her slightly. After Kelly runs away, Abraham tells Eph that The Master will use Kelly to track them down. Eph, feeling utterly distressed, has a drink for the first time in a long time.

And that’s pretty much how the episode ends. Between all of that, there are a few scenes with Gus and the creatures that kidnapped him. These creatures are vampires, too, but they’re not like the ones Eph and company have been battling. Up until now, I’ve been confused about these guys, because they weren’t evil (like the other vampires) and they didn’t seem to have a huge problem with sunlight, though they do wear hoods for some protection. These guys are part of an ancient group of vampires. For some reason, The Master, who is also part of this group, broke a truce and betrayed the others. This is what I meant by “expanding the mythology.”

The episode left me with a feeling of ambivalence. I don’t care much about the characters or the quest they’re on, and this episode did nothing to change that. Will I watch season 2? I’ll probably be curious enough about it to give it a chance, but I am not looking forward to its return with much enthusiasm.

It was a rocky season. The show has had consistent direction and impressive visuals throughout. The makeup has been extraordinary at times, though I still don’t like how The Master looks. Unfortunately, Corey Stoll has been wasted so far. Stoll was phenomenal on House of Cards and it’s a shame that The Strain hasn’t allowed him to shine. The material just isn’t strong.

I still have a great amount of respect for Guillermo del Torro and much of the writing staff. FX is a quality network, and if anybody can get this show on the right track, they certainly can. I would love for The Strain to return next year leaner, meaner, and better. But based on the quality of its debut season, I can’t yet recommend it.

Additional notes:

– This show isn’t as gory as I expected it to be. Maybe I’ve just been desensitized, but the gore on display is much tamer than The Walking Dead.

 – “Creatures of the Night”—the episode where they’re trapped in the gas station—is still my favorite episode. No other episode was able to match its atmosphere or focus.

– Eph shooting Kelly was supposed to be a visceral moment, but it didn’t land quite right for me. Maybe they didn’t hold the tension long enough. Something about it felt off.

– The subplot with Fitzwilliam and his pals plotting against Palmer still hasn’t evolved into anything. I’m not sure why it had to be introduced into the story so early.

The Strain returns next summer.