The Strain (S1E10) -- "Loved Ones" -- 9/14/14
09-14-14, 04:50 PM
#1
DVD Talk God
Thread Starter
The Strain (S1E10) -- "Loved Ones" -- 9/14/14
Episode 10 / Production #110 - "Loved Ones" (Airs September 14, 10:00 pm e/p) - Eph investigates Kelly's disappearance and struggles with what he finds. Dutch pursues a plan to retaliate against Palmer, and Fitzwilliam makes a surprising choice. Teleplay by Gennifer Hutchison; directed by John Dahl.
Episode 10 of 13
09-14-14, 11:10 PM
#5
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
John Dahl? Damn. I heard he does little besides TV nowadays, but he did some fairly noteworthy features back in the day.
Find iPhone? I have seen some blatant product placement in my day, but that's near the top of the heap. Can you really do that? And even if you could, could you do it with the network down? The wifi is mystically working because the screenwriters will it to, and then they promptly disregard it when the need them not to work again.
God, another DOP? Are they going to have a new one for each episode? Was the production chaotic or something. Looks like a new production designer too.
"That was fun day."
Fet's droll humor actually works.
"And you helped him?!"
"I never wanted to hurt people!"
Your assumption was what, that knockout communications in the most urban city in the world wouldn't hurt anyone, just inconvenience them? Because after all, no one uses cell phones or the Internet for anything besides pleasure. And you must fight for "the people," surely?
The sociopolitical underpinnings here and the obvious attempts to align the vampires with the plight of the underclass are interesting, but between the books and what we've seen so far, Hogan is hardly David Simon. Whether it was realistic or not, I absolutely believed in the naturalism of The Wire. This doesn't convince me that it's anything besides a fictitious construct created by people who've frankly not spent a lot of time there.
Digital cinematography looks as nice as ever, though I'm still not getting what's up with the oranges, reds, and greens everything is saturated with.
"Eph was right."
No, he risked coming to his place of previous reside to warn you as part of a joke.
What did she stab his face with? I get that it's a TV budget, but is it too much to ask for spatial coherence?
There's that eyeball shot that been on all of the promotional stuff. Nicely gross, ugh!
So he can't go outside because of the sun. Do houses in New York City not have windows? No daylight gets in the house AT ALL? Because where I live, when the sun goes down, you need artificial light, but when it's up, it illuminates most of the house.
And although it obviously registered with her that he couldn't go outside, she still should've hauled ass out of there. Though to be fair, if a worm had just gotten into my eye, I'd check that too.
And she calls the hospital! An intelligent person! Of course, the phones miraculously don't work again.
That Jaguar commercial had a much more high profile cast than this
.
"I wouldn't dream of wasting your time!"
What in the nine hells does that mean?
"Come on, let me through without an appointment!"
"Oh, OK!"
Then security is waiting upstairs, maybe the receptionist actually had a brain! Did they seriously think no one would recognize her?
That mega-phallic looking stinger effect, though odd, is kind of interesting. Kelly mowing down the little kid was definitely ballsy for cable, and seeing her expression while she was using the stinger was weird as hell. They did it a little differently this time. Being as vomit-phobic and body-horror sensitive as I am, the transformation sequences and the expelling of the stinger are kind of creepy to me. And Palmer's age and disease riddled body makes me shudder a bit too. A vampire show isn't the best for a morality crisis.
"You lied to me."
Um, yes. You assumed that a guy who payed you a massive amount of money to do something illegal was telling you the truth?
"You feel insignificant. That's why you did it."
More than a little on the nose, but nice all the same. Subtly isn't del Toro's strongest suit, but it's a nice little touch. Resonates too, God damn.
"Embrace your glorious fate!"
Have the screenwriters on this show never had an actual conversation with a sentient human and only understand the English language through paperback pulps or something? And what makes her so special? Dozens of vampires are connected to his hive mind by now, why is he singling her out?
"Relax. I'm letting you go. I don't agree with what he's doing."
And the guy next to you whom he pays significant amounts of money are just going to let you? They're "loyal to you" why? There is a certain poignancy in his feelings for Palmer, I have to admit. But sending Fet and Velders to a high security building owned by a billionaire was kind of asinine too begin with. Unless they were armed superheroes, what hell did they hope to accomplish?
Damn, he shot the kid! Offscreen, but still. You know, I feel the same way films which endanger children or use them to manipulate the audience as many people do about pets. It must've been my TV, it keeps pixelating and bleeding solid colors, but it looks like the shot of Eph after that was grainy. Since they aren't shooting film, obviously it couldn't be. Looked kind of like dot crawl.
"I would rather take my chances out there then be stuck in here with you assholes!"
You'd rather be outside. In the dark. With vampires. Instead of inside, in Van Helsing's residence, surrounded by silver, garlic, and UV lights? With the only person who has the slightest idea what the hell is going on?
Velders comment was definitely bitchy, but I don't see why Eph would want her to go, it really wouldn't serve much purpose for her to leave. Then agaIn, he doesn't know what she did yet. Why is Fet so intent on her staying apart from the obvious and inevitable romance subplot? She hasn't exactly been useful to him either. Her flippancy is reprehensible. How about "Find out anything about your wife?" And "I'm sorry about that?" Would that be hard, bitch?
"Who put you in charge?"
"The CDC."
Yes, because treating this the way you have so far has payed big dividends. Setrakian is in charge. End of story. Why do you want to send Fet away? He's the only one who's proven useful so far. I understand you're upset to face the truth, but destroying what little you've managed to build since this started probably isn't the best idea.
Great. Tight spaces next week. Just what I need, for this show to feed into more of my fears.
"That's a lot of necks to chop."
Durand's delivery actually make his one-liners work.
Not a bad episode, but again, the story isn't moving forward. We spent half of it on a split time structure telling the audience what happened to Kelly, which we'd figured out anyway. It basically ends with everyone at the shop, having accomplished nothing other than figured out what we already knew, it was basically a holding pattern, and therefore kind of pointless.
Find iPhone? I have seen some blatant product placement in my day, but that's near the top of the heap. Can you really do that? And even if you could, could you do it with the network down? The wifi is mystically working because the screenwriters will it to, and then they promptly disregard it when the need them not to work again.
God, another DOP? Are they going to have a new one for each episode? Was the production chaotic or something. Looks like a new production designer too.
"That was fun day."
Fet's droll humor actually works.
"And you helped him?!"
"I never wanted to hurt people!"
Your assumption was what, that knockout communications in the most urban city in the world wouldn't hurt anyone, just inconvenience them? Because after all, no one uses cell phones or the Internet for anything besides pleasure. And you must fight for "the people," surely?
The sociopolitical underpinnings here and the obvious attempts to align the vampires with the plight of the underclass are interesting, but between the books and what we've seen so far, Hogan is hardly David Simon. Whether it was realistic or not, I absolutely believed in the naturalism of The Wire. This doesn't convince me that it's anything besides a fictitious construct created by people who've frankly not spent a lot of time there.
Digital cinematography looks as nice as ever, though I'm still not getting what's up with the oranges, reds, and greens everything is saturated with.
"Eph was right."
No, he risked coming to his place of previous reside to warn you as part of a joke.
What did she stab his face with? I get that it's a TV budget, but is it too much to ask for spatial coherence?
There's that eyeball shot that been on all of the promotional stuff. Nicely gross, ugh!
So he can't go outside because of the sun. Do houses in New York City not have windows? No daylight gets in the house AT ALL? Because where I live, when the sun goes down, you need artificial light, but when it's up, it illuminates most of the house.
And although it obviously registered with her that he couldn't go outside, she still should've hauled ass out of there. Though to be fair, if a worm had just gotten into my eye, I'd check that too.
And she calls the hospital! An intelligent person! Of course, the phones miraculously don't work again.
That Jaguar commercial had a much more high profile cast than this
."I wouldn't dream of wasting your time!"
What in the nine hells does that mean?
"Come on, let me through without an appointment!"
"Oh, OK!"
Then security is waiting upstairs, maybe the receptionist actually had a brain! Did they seriously think no one would recognize her?
That mega-phallic looking stinger effect, though odd, is kind of interesting. Kelly mowing down the little kid was definitely ballsy for cable, and seeing her expression while she was using the stinger was weird as hell. They did it a little differently this time. Being as vomit-phobic and body-horror sensitive as I am, the transformation sequences and the expelling of the stinger are kind of creepy to me. And Palmer's age and disease riddled body makes me shudder a bit too. A vampire show isn't the best for a morality crisis
."You lied to me."
Um, yes. You assumed that a guy who payed you a massive amount of money to do something illegal was telling you the truth?
"You feel insignificant. That's why you did it."
More than a little on the nose, but nice all the same. Subtly isn't del Toro's strongest suit, but it's a nice little touch. Resonates too, God damn.
"Embrace your glorious fate!"
Have the screenwriters on this show never had an actual conversation with a sentient human and only understand the English language through paperback pulps or something? And what makes her so special? Dozens of vampires are connected to his hive mind by now, why is he singling her out?
"Relax. I'm letting you go. I don't agree with what he's doing."
And the guy next to you whom he pays significant amounts of money are just going to let you? They're "loyal to you" why? There is a certain poignancy in his feelings for Palmer, I have to admit. But sending Fet and Velders to a high security building owned by a billionaire was kind of asinine too begin with. Unless they were armed superheroes, what hell did they hope to accomplish?
Damn, he shot the kid! Offscreen, but still. You know, I feel the same way films which endanger children or use them to manipulate the audience as many people do about pets. It must've been my TV, it keeps pixelating and bleeding solid colors, but it looks like the shot of Eph after that was grainy. Since they aren't shooting film, obviously it couldn't be. Looked kind of like dot crawl.
"I would rather take my chances out there then be stuck in here with you assholes!"
You'd rather be outside. In the dark. With vampires. Instead of inside, in Van Helsing's residence, surrounded by silver, garlic, and UV lights? With the only person who has the slightest idea what the hell is going on?
Velders comment was definitely bitchy, but I don't see why Eph would want her to go, it really wouldn't serve much purpose for her to leave. Then agaIn, he doesn't know what she did yet. Why is Fet so intent on her staying apart from the obvious and inevitable romance subplot? She hasn't exactly been useful to him either. Her flippancy is reprehensible. How about "Find out anything about your wife?" And "I'm sorry about that?" Would that be hard, bitch?
"Who put you in charge?"
"The CDC."
Yes, because treating this the way you have so far has payed big dividends. Setrakian is in charge. End of story. Why do you want to send Fet away? He's the only one who's proven useful so far. I understand you're upset to face the truth, but destroying what little you've managed to build since this started probably isn't the best idea.
Great. Tight spaces next week. Just what I need, for this show to feed into more of my fears
."That's a lot of necks to chop."
Durand's delivery actually make his one-liners work.
Not a bad episode, but again, the story isn't moving forward. We spent half of it on a split time structure telling the audience what happened to Kelly, which we'd figured out anyway. It basically ends with everyone at the shop, having accomplished nothing other than figured out what we already knew, it was basically a holding pattern, and therefore kind of pointless.
09-15-14, 01:37 AM
#6
DVD Talk Godfather
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: City of the lakers.. riots.. and drug dealing cops.. los(t) Angel(e)s. ca.
Posts: 54,199
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like
on
1 Post
Re: The Strain (S1E10) -- "Loved Ones" -- 9/14/14
Well, I guess this resolves the custody issue that we spent so much time in early episodes focused on....
:insert some observations on why this was a let down and waste of time episode:
:YsoBlu comes back with some reference to the book that clearly we're missing:
:Pointing that the internet is for shit for looking at maps, but we just saw an iPhone on a computer map... Seriously?:
:YsoBlue mentions how GDT is clearly on top of this shit, yo:
:insert more comment about how stupid the writers just don't give a shit about their own world building:
:YsoBlu comes back with we all just h8rs here:
There, I saved us like a page and a half of this thread.
:insert some observations on why this was a let down and waste of time episode:
:YsoBlu comes back with some reference to the book that clearly we're missing:
:Pointing that the internet is for shit for looking at maps, but we just saw an iPhone on a computer map... Seriously?:
:YsoBlue mentions how GDT is clearly on top of this shit, yo:
:insert more comment about how stupid the writers just don't give a shit about their own world building:
:YsoBlu comes back with we all just h8rs here:
There, I saved us like a page and a half of this thread.
09-15-14, 02:07 AM
#7
DVD Talk God
Thread Starter
Re: The Strain (S1E10) -- "Loved Ones" -- 9/14/14
Well, interesting episode. The non-linear storytelling was an interesting narrative. However, the overall story didn't really move forward.
I think the ex-wife turning into a vamp was pretty much a no-brainer once we saw Matt fully turned in a previous episode.
to worm going into her eye. That was cool. I know a lot will say that was a waste of an hour because it was devoted mostly to Kelly turning into a vampire.
So I guess in the next few weeks Eph will be torn whether or not to put a bullet in Kelly's head with the son saying No Daddy please don't kill Mommy!
I think the ex-wife turning into a vamp was pretty much a no-brainer once we saw Matt fully turned in a previous episode.
to worm going into her eye. That was cool. I know a lot will say that was a waste of an hour because it was devoted mostly to Kelly turning into a vampire. So I guess in the next few weeks Eph will be torn whether or not to put a bullet in Kelly's head with the son saying No Daddy please don't kill Mommy!
09-15-14, 08:39 AM
#8
DVD Talk Hero
09-15-14, 01:29 PM
#9
DVD Talk Hero
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Somewhere between Heaven and Hell
Posts: 34,090
Received 723 Likes
on
528 Posts
Re: The Strain (S1E10) -- "Loved Ones" -- 9/14/14
The earlier custody stuff pays off (which I thought it would). Will be interesting to see how Kelly is used by the Master. Still love the Fet. Just not much this episode with Setrakian. No Eichhorst. Interesting to know Fitz is cautious about the old geezer.
I love how most of the normals walk around and never notice the infected. Not even to flinch or avoid.
I love how most of the normals walk around and never notice the infected. Not even to flinch or avoid.
09-15-14, 01:35 PM
#10
DVD Talk Godfather
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: City of the lakers.. riots.. and drug dealing cops.. los(t) Angel(e)s. ca.
Posts: 54,199
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like
on
1 Post
Re: The Strain (S1E10) -- "Loved Ones" -- 9/14/14
It pays off in the way that no one is left to take custody of him. But hey, he at least has his massive iPhone hacking skills that transcend internet blockage.
The key is using it through the big clunky old cell phone.
The key is using it through the big clunky old cell phone.
09-16-14, 01:38 AM
#12
DVD Talk Platinum Edition
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: The Pacific Northwest
Posts: 3,422
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Re: The Strain (S1E10) -- "Loved Ones" -- 9/14/14
Oddly enough, this has been my biggest point of contention too. There appear to be thousands of vamps running around the city killing people on the streets at night, the phone lines and internet have been offline for two days, emergency services are overwhelmed, at least half the city is out sick from work, but there are still all these New Yorkers going about their day seemingly without a care in the world. There is no way it wouldn't be complete bedlam by now.
09-16-14, 01:52 AM
#13
DVD Talk Hero
Re: The Strain (S1E10) -- "Loved Ones" -- 9/14/14
Another cool episode. Funny enough - this episode had parts of
in there.
I also think Ruta Gedmintas is smoking hot. She's got a Molly Sims thing on and her nose piercing is a trademark - she's had it for years.
Spoiler:
I also think Ruta Gedmintas is smoking hot. She's got a Molly Sims thing on and her nose piercing is a trademark - she's had it for years.
09-16-14, 01:53 AM
#14
DVD Talk Hero
Re: The Strain (S1E10) -- "Loved Ones" -- 9/14/14
Well, I guess this resolves the custody issue that we spent so much time in early episodes focused on....
:insert some observations on why this was a let down and waste of time episode:
:YsoBlu comes back with some reference to the book that clearly we're missing:
:Pointing that the internet is for shit for looking at maps, but we just saw an iPhone on a computer map... Seriously?:
:YsoBlue mentions how GDT is clearly on top of this shit, yo:
:insert more comment about how stupid the writers just don't give a shit about their own world building:
:YsoBlu comes back with we all just h8rs here:
There, I saved us like a page and a half of this thread.
:insert some observations on why this was a let down and waste of time episode:
:YsoBlu comes back with some reference to the book that clearly we're missing:
:Pointing that the internet is for shit for looking at maps, but we just saw an iPhone on a computer map... Seriously?:
:YsoBlue mentions how GDT is clearly on top of this shit, yo:
:insert more comment about how stupid the writers just don't give a shit about their own world building:
:YsoBlu comes back with we all just h8rs here:
There, I saved us like a page and a half of this thread.
Pretty much, holmes.
09-16-14, 05:07 AM
#15
DVD Talk Godfather
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: City of the lakers.. riots.. and drug dealing cops.. los(t) Angel(e)s. ca.
Posts: 54,199
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like
on
1 Post
Re: The Strain (S1E10) -- "Loved Ones" -- 9/14/14
I mean, It's something to look forward in the master using Eph's ex-wife to fuck with him, but I'm 100% convinced that this show will find a way to make even that boring. I'm still confused why they are even putting the ADR streets in chaos noise when no on the show seems to be noticing any thing happening.
Maybe those in the know who have read the books could tell me why people seem to be carrying on with their normal day to day shit when all you hear is windows breaking in the background and looting happening, but then they act as if they're in GTA and return to normal walking a few minutes after all hell has gone down. Screams of bad production control and an attempt to fix it in post when they saw rough cuts of the edited scenes and realized how boring they were.
It really does feel like everyone wakes up the next morning, sees the broken windows, burned cars and chaos of the night and then just forgets about all of it and wonders why people aren't showing up to work. It's really the most boring apocalypse around.
Maybe those in the know who have read the books could tell me why people seem to be carrying on with their normal day to day shit when all you hear is windows breaking in the background and looting happening, but then they act as if they're in GTA and return to normal walking a few minutes after all hell has gone down. Screams of bad production control and an attempt to fix it in post when they saw rough cuts of the edited scenes and realized how boring they were.
It really does feel like everyone wakes up the next morning, sees the broken windows, burned cars and chaos of the night and then just forgets about all of it and wonders why people aren't showing up to work. It's really the most boring apocalypse around.
09-16-14, 08:47 AM
#16
DVD Talk Legend
Re: The Strain (S1E10) -- "Loved Ones" -- 9/14/14
We often give our daughter her gifts from us seperate form the party.
I liked the eispode. Enjoyed seeing the events of the day that ended with mommy becomng the bride of dracula. Looking forward to how she will be used in the future.
I liked the eispode. Enjoyed seeing the events of the day that ended with mommy becomng the bride of dracula. Looking forward to how she will be used in the future.
09-16-14, 01:16 PM
#17
DVD Talk God
Re: The Strain (S1E10) -- "Loved Ones" -- 9/14/14
damn, we didn't get to see the kid with his head blown off. 
09-17-14, 08:21 PM
#18
Suspended; also need updated email
Re: The Strain (S1E10) -- "Loved Ones" -- 9/14/14
Jesus christ, you go back to a building where you know they know who you are, at least try a bit of a disguise ! a cap and glasses on the blonde chick would have probably done the trick.
Very sloppy
Curtis so far is a totally pointless character
Wouldn't care less if Eph or the latino chick dies, Eph was a dick to hacker girl
Only care about old dude and Fet
didn't care about the wife stuff
Overall weakest episode to date
Very sloppy
Curtis so far is a totally pointless character
Wouldn't care less if Eph or the latino chick dies, Eph was a dick to hacker girl
Only care about old dude and Fet
didn't care about the wife stuff
Overall weakest episode to date
09-17-14, 09:57 PM
#20
DVD Talk Legend
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Formerly known as Groucho AND Bandoman/Death Moans, Iowa
Posts: 18,295
Received 372 Likes
on
266 Posts
Re: The Strain (S1E10) -- "Loved Ones" -- 9/14/14
But she's cute and Eph looks like Paul Scheer and Toby Maguire had a baby, so boo him.
09-17-14, 10:04 PM
#21
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Sachse, TX
Posts: 4,514
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Re: The Strain (S1E10) -- "Loved Ones" -- 9/14/14
Eph saying the director of the CDC put him in charge, bwahahahahah
He's in charge of two things: 1) jack and 2) shit
He's in charge of two things: 1) jack and 2) shit
09-17-14, 10:50 PM
#22
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
And Jack is not in town. So far, the only people who've done anything useful are Setrakian and Fet, so my vote to those in charge goes to the ones who have so far avoided getting me killed.
Yes, she's partially responsible for half of what's happening, if not more, so maybe the words out of her mouth should be "Thank you for letting me stay with you protected from the evil creatures outside" instead of being a smartass.
Yes, she's partially responsible for half of what's happening, if not more, so maybe the words out of her mouth should be "Thank you for letting me stay with you protected from the evil creatures outside" instead of being a smartass.
09-17-14, 10:58 PM
#23
Re: The Strain (S1E10) -- "Loved Ones" -- 9/14/14
I'm sure she'll get a big scare and come crawling back to them.
09-18-14, 03:11 AM
#24
DVD Talk Godfather
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: City of the lakers.. riots.. and drug dealing cops.. los(t) Angel(e)s. ca.
Posts: 54,199
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like
on
1 Post
Re: The Strain (S1E10) -- "Loved Ones" -- 9/14/14
That shit is really getting annoying. The writer keep on remembering shit when it's convenient but then shut it off when it's suddenly not convenient.
09-18-14, 09:15 AM
#25
DVD Talk Legend
Re: The Strain (S1E10) -- "Loved Ones" -- 9/14/14
I too am struggling with this show. I just found it painfully slow. I do understand that they have to drag the narrative out to fit the five season model but the way they keep rotating good episodes and bad ones is alarming. There was some very, very, very bad writing there. Even as a fan of the books this is looking less and less likely to get a season pass renewal on my DVR.