UK Pace Review – Broadcast on digital channel Watch
The Strain: Wednesdays at 10pm
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WARNING this review contains SPOILERS.
Synopsis
We rejoin Eph, Nora and Jim after having “dealt with” Captain Redfern. Instead of destroying the infected body, they decide to do a secret autopsy.
Ansel is still not feeling 100%. His wife, Annie, takes the children to stay elsewhere. Despite looking like death warmed up, Ansel insists he’s fine, and won’t go to see a doctor. He does want to keep the dog around, however. For “company”.
Gus wakes up to find his brother Felix visiting and cooking breakfast. His other brother is looking a little off-colour: drug withdrawal, perhaps. Felix talks to Gus about a “sure thing” – i.e. someone who can pay top dollar for stolen cars.
Eichorst and Palmer interview a woman (although they are surprised to discover that she is in fact a woman – misogyny is alive and well!) for the job of hacking into and slowing down all internet traffic. Blaming the event on an online group called Citizens for Liberty.
Redfern’s autopsy is under way. Cutting open the hospital gown, they’re surprised to find him to be sans genitals, leaving only a cloaca. His internal organs have all changed dramatically. The “stinger” that propels out of his mouth turns out to be a huge parasitic worm thing. The body then excretes an ammonia discharge from its’ new cloaca!
Gus’ family’s landlord has a few problems with the rent and recycling. He didn’t get the rent, which was the brother’s responsibility to hand over. Gus doesn’t take kindly to having someone speak aggressively to his mama.
Annie comes back from dropping the kids off. Ansel is however no longer in the house. She stops to pray before noticing the shed hair all over Ansel’s pillow. Going outside, she finds a bloody dog collar, but initially no dog. The blood trail leads behind the shed, where she finds the dog cut open and dead. Inside the shed, Ansel has chained himself up, and runs snarling towards Annie before warning her off. The voices in his head, just tell him to kill!
Abraham is back in his shop. Gus appears to return the clock that his brother stole.
Eph remarks how they should have listened to the old man, Abraham. Jim confesses that he let the box through the road block, and why. The release of the epidemic was likely planned and intentional. Eph and Nora are really not happy with Jim! He gets a punch in the face for good measure. In the car, they decide to (finally) find some of the other victims and run further tests. They remember the young girl Emma Arnot (well it’s about time!), and hope to get video evidence of what this virus can do.
Gus and Felix steal a particularly nice car from a car park.
Annie buries her dead dog. Their neighbour complains about the growling “dog” in the shed. This neighbour seems to enjoy hitting dogs, and takes his belt off when she invites him into the shed to do what she “doesn’t have the heart” to do. Annie locks him in the shed with Ansel, and then the screaming starts. For someone who stopped everything to pray earlier on, she seems totally fine with sending a man to his death – good Christian values at work there?!
Gus and Felix try and sell their stolen car, but only after some negotiations do they get a “fair” price for it.
Palmer at Stoneheart has a meeting with Secretary Pierson. His assistant reports that internet traffic has slowed to a crawl, following their employment of the hacker. He tells the Secretary that he received a call from the White House and that the military took the bodies away because it was the result of the release of a chemical agent to be used in war. Apparently the Secretary owes her career to Palmer, corruption abounds. Palmer passes out.
Palmer awakes in a medical bed still in his office/home, luckily his new liver has arrived!
Eph and Nora arrive back at the Arnot’s house. Little Emma is standing in her room listening to music. Covered in blood, she turns and attacks them both. Abraham appears and slices her head off! Daddy Arnot attacks from behind, and Abraham decapitates him swiftly. He instructs Eph to get gasoline and burn them. Nora hasn’t got the stomach to properly deal with the vampire menace, so she leaves them to it.
Unanswered Questions:
- Still no appearance of the big bad this week, where has he gone?
- Is Palmer replacing organs that are being converted by the virus over time? Does that slow its’ progress?
- Eph and co know exactly where the remaining survivors are, why aren’t they running over there to check on them?
My Favourite Bit:
Abraham to the rescue! He’s the only one who seems to have his head on straight throughout.
Overall Rating:
2 out of 5 stars
A very “middling” episode in my opinion. All the of CDC characters still seem to be figuring things out, instead of getting on with controlling the outbreak, finding the remaining survivors and the missing 200-odd dead people!
Crown Jules Presents 