It's a shame del Toro used so much of the vampire biology stuff in Blade II or it'd feel much more fresh this time out. And that sideways blinking looks exactly like Men in Black. How long does it take for the vampires' allergy to light to set in? And I wouldn't want a house-call from a urologist no matter how secretive I needed to be. I would want top-quality care for that particular, um, equipment! Even if I never do use it . Didn't know Peter Weller had started directing, apparently he's a fairly experienced TV director at this point, I looks like he's built up a fair resume. High production values, particularly digital cinematography, atmosphere, and makeup FX, and movie-level set pieces continue. So do moronic characters and bad dialogue.

"Evil lurks in this world and I fear we are soon to meet it!"
"What we're dealing with here is the fate of the human race!"
I'd say "Is this the writing staff from Power Rangers," but that'd insult the good work of Judd Lynn and Jackie Marquand. There seriously needs to be a screenwriting software which flags a line like that with a big-ass flashing warning which says "READ THIS OUT LOUD!"

"I need film." Video. You need video. I know that's what it's going to be colloquially called, but it's digital, and the distinction bothers me.

"The concert is cancelled!" Don't you think that it you saw someone drinking human blood with a giant phallus coming out of his mouth you'd contact, oh, I don't know, maybe the authorities? And WTF is with the sucker?! Is there a colloquial term for the evil crime-scene cleaner with no conscience?

That concentration camp set is a little sparse, I'm guessing it's because we'll see less of it. You know, I get the obvious metaphorical lines they're trying to draw, but Nazi Vampires pale in comparison to the real evil of what happened. I don't know, I don't mean to suggest that they're trivializing it, just that putting the Holocaust in any kind of genre fiction light feels a little uncomfortable.

I don't know if it's the accents or my weird SRS sound on my HDTV, but I keep having to wind back and put the captions on to understand lines. I sure wish John Hurt hadn't bailed, he can sell any dialogue. Harper Audio say there was never a CD version of the second book, so where did my library get it?!

I'm guessing Nora's dementia-ridden mother will be as interesting as the divorce storyline? For some reason, when I read the book, I imagined The Master's walking stick which became Setrakian's sword as being much taller than he was, and being a sort of broadsword. Why do colored light sources bleed on my HDTV, what setting to I have on which over-saturates? You know, Sean Astin just saved your life, you could try being grateful. The show is FINALLY gaining some narrative momentum, but the bad writing is still dragging it down. Hopefully it'll hit full gear soon once its completely dispensed with the exposition, and then it can focus on the FX and action, which are clearly its strong suits.

What the hell is with the Batman: The Animated Series music in the preview for next week? And who's the guy on the chain getting tortured. Don't remember that at all.

This was the first good episode of the season with a nice mix of action and story progression. I wouldn't expect brilliant writing on this series, the budget went to the sprawling cast and make-up crews. It looks like del Toro was a pretty big fan of 30 Days of Night.

Here's a great shortcut for viewers wondering how to maximize their enjoyment of The Strain's early episodes. If there isn't an older white guy in the scene, you can safely skip it without losing much of anything. Try it, The Strain turns into a much crisper viewing experience.

You may be onto something. The more you see of him, the better the episode. He's a great character.

I really enjoyed this one. Of course, I watch it after True Blood so maybe it just lowers the bar....

I'm just wondering why that last ship is out looking for a cure for this strain sickness when it's pretty clear that Vampire Eric Northman already found it. I just hope those Asian dudes release it to those New Yorker vampires soon, those look pretty bad.

Damn good episode directed by Peter Weller! I really liked the scenes in the concentration camp and The Master just picking off sick prisoners. Although, I believe he spoke in those scenes in the book. He knew that Setrakian was watching him feed and just taunts him. This, in essence, was the Blade II episode and it worked.

Yeah, really good episode this week (about time). I got my hopes up when I saw it was written by Gennifer Hutchison (she wrote several Breaking Bad episodes).

http://globalnews.ca/news/1495307/to...second-season/

Renewed for a second season. They start filming in November. FX hasn't announced it yet, but this is a credible Canadian news agency and the show is shot in Toronto.

Finally, an episode besides the pilot that delivered. Great episode.

Has HanShotFirst been hanging out with Duff Beer?

Who's that?

Just got caught up with this today

Damn good episode. Some really good kills. Oh the poor urologist and cleaner.

It's a good thing that Nanny had some common sense to get Joan's kids out of the house before they turned into vampire food.

The flashbacks to the WWII prison camp with Setrakian as a youngster was an interesting touch to this.

She is easily the smartest character to appear on the show thus far.

I really like this show.

Being so careless around such a lethal virus is my biggest peeve. Also, how much time has gone by? Not sure if they're handling the whole "telecom attack" angle very well. Imagine if there were an internet and cell phone outage in real-life NYC. Shit would go downhill fast. So much rape.

With the attack at the old folks home, I think things will start to become a little more apocalyptic. I think that's what everyone is waiting for.

At least the CDC guy has gone rogue with the old man and it makes more sense now.

I look forward to things progressing and becoming more apocalyptic. I've (we've) been really spoiled by how quick some of these shows go by (i.e. American Horror Story). This one is going through episodes without progressing too much.

Did this show get signed on for a few years? I would be sooo disappointed if they bail after a season or two. This is a story that needs to be told through to the end. Even if the show turns to crap. In comparison, The Walking Dead could be wrapped up with a few episodes and a hopeful ending. I've read The Strain's synopsis and would be disappointed if it ends without finishing.

I think the biggest issue for a viewer who is not familiar with the source material is in the expectations ... We have no freaking idea what to expect. We don't know where this is going so it feels as if we are meandering pointlessly. The pre-show marketing told us virtually nothing. Hell, I didn't even know it was about vampires! I actually wish that reveal had been an even slower burn, but I know the general viewing audience wouldn't have stood for it.

Having "cheated" by reading spoilers here, I found out where we are heading and am excited by the prospect. I don't know what happens or how it ends, but I know where we are going. The storytelling technique is interesting -- starting on a micro level with stories that will boil into one macro-story. I don't know that they are doing the best job on TV with this (the stories seem to be moving at different paces which is confusing, the stories seem more divergent than convergent, etc.) but I am more willing to cut them some slack based on the expected payoff.

That said, this episode was probably the one most people were waiting for.

Without having read the books, this was FX's attempt at emulating The Walking Dead. So that should tell you where they think it's going in the long run.

Unlike TWD, the books upon which this series are based have a finite beginning, middle, and end. How satisfactory an ending is another matter entirely, however.

I don't understand how this is emulating The Walking Dead in any manner other than it is based in supernatural/monster lore.

The Walking Dead gave us no build up or introduction to characters beyond Rick and Shane. Looking back, that feels out of place now. It's only been recently that TWD has felt the need to start incorporating some limited flashbacks to try to make characters more endearing.

The Strain is spending its opening sages rooting itself in what the characters are doing "today" and moving forward as it builds to the story. As I said before, the structure is more akin to the original "V" miniseries.

The Walking Dead dumped us into the apocalypse with Rick waking up from a coma. The Strain is working through the early days of the apocalypse and into the event itself.

As HanShotFirst pointed out, The Strain has a very definitive roadmap from its source material while The Walking Dead is not only completely open ended, but is also straying wildly from the source material. I suppose the only similarity I see is that both feel as if the are wandering with no plan. The difference though is that The Strain does have a plan whereas The Walking Dead has never even claimed to have an endgame in mind.

The entire structure and storytelling methodology of Hughes's shows are about as far apart as you could get. I don't think either one is necessarily right or wrong, but they are certainly not copies.

It's a character-driven, ensemble genre series with no big acting names, exactly like The Walking Dead. You don't attempt to copy every single plot point.

I ... see ... not really. Friends was a character-driven, ensemble genre series with no big acting names (when it started). Does that mean The Walking Dead copied Friends?

It does remind me of Walking Dead in that it's not all that well written but has a cool premise that draws you in. I don't think it's that good so far but I have a couple of friends at work that I discuss it with.

I've caught up to this episode, this this week's to watch now

This show has huge potential and lots going for it. You still get characters acting beyond stupidly. At least we haven't seen the custody rubbish for a few episodes.

Already there would have been mass sightings of the vamps in action. I'll definitely stick this show out for the season

Friends was a sitcom, it's a totally different thing as opposed to a horror-bent genre piece .

I didn't say it was horror ... comedy is a genre. It was driven by the characters (not the storylines or events); it was made up of an ensemble cast (the show did not focus on one or two main characters); and I don't believe any of the cast was relatively well-known before it started.