The final showdown!....or not
The moment has come...again. Eph, Abraham, Nora, Fet, Dutch and Zach arm themselves for the final battle that will determine the fate of New York city and possibly the whole world. But lurking in the shadows is another strain of vampire, and it has Gust in their clutches. What does this all mean?
It all means that I don't care anymore. I really don't. Let me just break things down.
While this is one of the better episode of The Strain, it is not the best way to end a first season. This is not the way one should end the finale. Especially from the way the show ended. Don't get me wrong, there are some things that I do enjoy about this episode. But that all happens in the third act. The first two acts mainly consist of Eph and Fet locating where the Master is hiding now. And with sheer intuition, or as I like to call it smart writing that appears lazy because it is the last episode, they find out where the Master is hiding. And so they go off to fight The Master and his legion of vampires. Yes, even Eph's son, Zach, gets in on the action. There was a nice scene of Abraham giving Zach a Roman sword and explaining that it a time honored tradition of sons hunting with their fathers. Vampire hunting does not really seem like the best thing to do with your son, but okay. The battle is actually a lot more interesting than the episode before the previous one. However, Dutch being a skilled shot and Nora being a badass with a sword kind of seemed a little off. You know, given that they had no prior training. Everyone was just being cool in this final battle. No, isn't Martrix or Blade action. But everyone just seems to be really proficient.
Then while this is going on, Gus is being held hostage by someone the fans refer to as Mr. Quinlan. Who is Mr. Quinlan? He is that vampire who hunts vampires. He's the guy in charge of the operation to kill his own kind. Why? Because apparently there are three elder vampires who feel betrayed by another elder vampire who we know is The Master. And so Mr. Quinlan tells Gus that he has been chosen to be the vampires' human weapon against the rogue vampires. Why? Gus is not sure. And oh Gus. But as I've stated that the series has given him more character development than all the other characters in this show, the last episode and this episode devolves his character to a common thug again. He decides to work for Mr. Quinlan and his vampire lords only under the condition that they pay him a crap ton of money to do so. Not under the fact that he initially wants revenge for the death of his family and friends. It really isn't a good way to end his arc. And it really isn't a good way of finally explaining the Vampires who kill other vampires. It was just poor.
This was a poor way to end the first season. It really just isn't. This feels more like another episode rather than the big bang finale that this show needs. And given the structure of this show and what has happened, this show could've been condensed into a movie. Yeah, this show would've worked better as a movie. Because that way we could skip all the bull shit and get straight to the point. This show doesn't know how to properly pace out its horror and drama. And the problem is, the drama is not even that interesting. It becomes clear that the only thing that kept me watching this show was the promise of vampire horror and action. The characters? I don't care. I just don't care. I thought I cared about Gus and maybe Nora because she's played by the alluring Mia Maestro. But I don't care anymore. I really wish this show was good. But overall, it is not. Even if you average out all the scores for the episodes of this series, it may seem above average, but in reality when you look back it is not good.
SCORE: 5/10 - Would've been 8/10 if it wasn't the season finale
STATUS: DROPPED - Not going to bother with season 2
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