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The government manages to cover up the plane incident by blaming the whole thing on carbon monoxide poisoning. You know, instead of the actual thing that is going on. Which is typical in shows to show that government as assholes that want to cover up the truth from the public, but at the same time given recent events involving planes and governments it becomes less far fetch. There is a need to ensure the world doesn't panic, but when watching a show when it is obvious the death is coming, it is frustrating.
The show picks up where the last one left off with newcomer Miguel Gomez's character Gus bringing the "coffin" across the bridge and into the heart of the city. Knowing nothing about the books I automatically assumed that his character is not important. From what was shown in the pilot he comes off as a very unlikeable character save for a little footnote at the end that shows he's actually a good son trying to stay good for the sake of his mother. That little footnote gets expanded in this episode that shows he really does these shady things for the sake of his mother and his older brother, who many people will remember as the guy who tried to steal silver in The Pilot. I predicted that his character was going to be killed off after he completes the mission, but instead it seems that he is just as important as the other main characters in the series. After looking at his little description for the show, it seems his character will become pretty useful in the future. Nothing spoiled me, but it'll be interesting to see his evolution into what his brief character describes what he will become.
Having said all that about Gus, I'm starting to see a trend here. The supporting main characters seem far more interesting than the actual main characters: Eph and Nora. In this episode we are introduced to Vasiliy Fet, an exterminator played by go to tall tough guy Kevin Durand. His small part in this episode was similar to David Bradley's Abraham in The Pilot. It was in small doses but heavily effective in showing him to be an interesting character. It was very obvious that Guillermo Del Toro wanted Ron Perlman to play this role, especially with the cat lover reference. It is pretty clear that there is a slight parallel between the exterminator and the hunter. I'm betting that Vasiliy will become a competent vampire slayer akin to the prowess of Abraham that was hinted in The Pilot. It is so obvious, and I'm not saying that's a bad thing. Because someone has to be the go to badass of the series. And Abraham can only do so much, as far as what we've seen.
We're given more depth around the villains in this episode as well. Thomas Eichorst (who many will remember as that one Nazi that gets killed by the Bear Jew in Inglourious Basterds) is a vampire revealed to be a Nazi...shocker. Who was also responsible for holding Abraham captive in a concentration camp...shocker. And is also responsible for making Abraham's wife the beating heart in a jar that she is today...shocker. It comes off as very cliche, yet a very likable cliche for this type of story. And plus it wouldn't be a Guillermo Del Toro supernatural horror show without Nazis. As another plus it adds something to Bradley's already interesting Abraham Setrakian. We now know who is it that he wants to kill the most and what really drives him to be the vampire hunter he is. It also points out what is really obvious: he's old. This plays in to him becoming the mentor of this series. When that will happen I'm not sure, as he is mostly sitting in a jail cell right now for being crazy...even though he's not.
Just like The Pilot, this show continues to excel in the slow burn horror. There is a lot of tension as well as frustration with the idiocy that the government officials are willing to do in order to cover things up. But with the tension it really comes from the survivors of the plane from The Pilot who are essentially ticking time bombs. We see it on the screen. We know what they will become, and the transformation is slow. From the small hint of the lawyer survivor discovering blood coming from her mouth, to the scene that is required in almost every vampire story: an orgy. To say a scene where the rock star survivor is having a foursome with three incredibly hot women wasn't a turn on but rather a genuine build of terror. I say this because in our cultural environment, having sex with a vampire is now sexy and hot. But in this show and with the type of vampires this show has, it doesn't become sexy. It instead seems like a massacre waiting to go off, and it won't look pretty. Luckily for the three naked ladies in that scene, he doesn't go full vampire and they manage to escape before he does. But the scene was refreshing in a sense that it brings back the terror of vampires as monsters, not these things that people should be fantasizing about having sex with. If a scene with three naked women having sex with a growing vampire can make me forget about the "sexiness" of the scene and instead focus on the ticking time bomb horror aspect, then this show has succeeded in getting vampires right.
Now, people may notice that I haven't really said anything about Eph, Nora and Jim (Sean Astin). Well, that's because I have to be honest that I don't really find their story interesting. Their performances are great, and I feel their frustration of wanting to discover what this thing is. But the story between Eph and his family doesn't do anything for me. The relationship between Eph and Nora is somewhat interesting, and I'm glad that it's not going to turn into a show where Nora is just hoping that Eph accepts that he wants to be with her. But in comparison to everyone else, they're much better as the supporting characters rather than the main. But since they are the main, I can only hope that it gets better. It does get better in this episode, yet still not enough for me to say I love these characters. Well I love Nora, because she's played by Mia Maestro.
All in all this episode can only be described as the beginning of a ticking time bomb now that the survivors are out and about as well as the corpses have risen to wreak havoc. It ends with Eph and Nora discovering that the corpses are gone and a scene involving the cute French girl from The Pilot that really proves that this show excels at disturbing tension filled horror.
SCORE: 7.8 - It is still finding its footing, and the horror is excellent
STATUS: Continue to watch for the secondary characters and the horror
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