UK Pace Review – Broadcast on digital channel Watch
The Strain: Wednesdays at 10pm
[Header Image Source]
WARNING this review contains SPOILERS.
Synopsis
Eph, Jim, Nora, and Abraham discuss Eichorst and the older vampires after their fight in the subway train station. Nora remarks on how tunnels are the perfect place for vampires to hide. Eph links the UV/sunlight effect on the vampires to the behaviour of virus and other pathogens; maybe making their own sunlight is the answer.
Eichorst limps through the tunnel. Not so quick on his feet now. He looks really pissed off!
The medical supply store/office is closed. Well, it is the middle of the night. The taxi doesn’t wait for them to go anywhere else, so they break in. In the store room they bump into Vasily (Hooray!). He’s already got the lights they’re looking for. There’s also no alarm because Vasily turned it off. Someone has well-executed plan for a change! He talks about “exterminating” the vampires. Abraham remarks on this (LOL moment! Abraham, played by David Bradley, also played William Hartnell as the first Doctor in “An Adventure in Space And Time” the story of how Doctor Who came to our screens – EXTERMINATE… Dalek reference!). They agree to split the UV lights, 6 each – well – six for Vasily, six between the other four. Eph and Co decide to stock up on food and supplies. Abraham talks to Vasily.
Credit cards won’t go through. ATMs aren’t working. Our hacker girl and friend are also buying snacks. She admits to her friend that she’s the one who slowed the internet and phones.
Abraham asks Vasily to join the group. But he “works alone”. Our rat catcher calls the vampires “rat people” – makes a change. Abraham spots one across the street.
The wandering vampire runs to the convenience store and everyone inside watches as Abraham decapitates it swiftly. There’s another one. He mutters in another language, the vampire transmits some psychic words about “prophecy”. One more decapitation. A third one appears, Vasily bashes this one on the head, but it doesn’t quite go down. More and more show up as the group leave the store.
Jim goes back inside to plug in a UV light. The group start to band together. Suddenly Nora is a crack shot! They back up and lock themselves in the store. Did Jim get injured?
The store cashier isn’t happy they’re staying. Vasily yells at him, jokingly calls him “Apu” (Simpsons reference – Ah, cultural stereotypes again). Jim has been scratched, goes to wash it off, he finds some random chemical on a shelf and uses that. UV won’t be as effective through the glass. Hacker girl is still there, and doesn’t believe in vampires, for now. Abraham and Vasily discuss the rules of killing vampires. Eph plays the CDC card to try and get people to work together. Hacker girl’s friend makes a run for it. The vampires let her go, they want Abraham and his group specifically. Hacker girl and worker guy try and run for the truck. He gets eaten, she runs back. Abraham is expecting a much larger swarm of vampires.
Vasily passes the time buying scratch cards. Jim offers Eph some milk (usually that’s his thing, right?), Eph ignores him. Nora sees that Jim is infected. Eph wants to cut the worm out of him, assuming there’s only one.
Whiskey, the ultimate anaesthetic for emergency surgery! Eph makes a start removing the worm. Vasily notices the vampires are trying to get in via the roof, and elsewhere. Hacker girl comes up with an idea to fix up one of the cars in the garage. Eph’s digging around in Jim’s face and successfully pulls out the worm. They burn it with UV.
The vampires are breaking in through the front windows. They seem to be acting more intelligently. The power goes out – the UV lights still work though. Hassan, the cashier is still in his box. The vampires are also breaking in through the garage. They abandon the car.
They go back to the first plan of using the truck outside. Except the dead guy has the key! Vasily’s vermin knowledge becomes useful. Whilst gathering more supplies, they still have time to chat. Abraham describes how the vampires will “mature” in a month, but only a few get granted special powers by The Master, like Eichorst. Hassan doesn’t want to come out of his box.
Hacker girl, Dutch, is drinking booze whilst sitting on a filthy floor next to a toilet. Hygiene really isn’t their strong point, is it?
Jim’s super grateful that Eph saved his life. That is until he notices more worms under his skin. The UV light reveals how screwed he is. Jim begs for them to kill him. Eph is outraged. Abraham goes to kill him, but Eph stops him. So Vasily steps in and shoots him in the head.
Nora and Eph get mad. Abraham recites a prayer. The swarm breaks in. Hassan still won’t leave his box. The group make a break for the van. They stop at the petrol pump and fill buckets with premium fuel, after waiting for the credit card to be authorised. They chuck the fuel around, but their Molotov cocktails seem more effective. Eph gets the keys from the guy on the ground, who’s not quite dead yet. This time he put him out of his misery. They get in the van and drive away. The convenience store/petrol station burst into flame.
Unanswered questions
- What happened to Nora’s mother? Is she still on her own at the pawn shop? Doesn’t she have dementia?
- Eph’s weird thing with milk was referenced again in this episode. Either that’s really relevant, or it’s just bizarre!
- No sign of the “good” monster army this episode?
My Favourite Bit
All-out attack on the vigilante group. They’ll have to work together now..
Overall Rating
4 out of 5 stars
Now this is a much more fun episode! Finally, some action. OK, so the cops are still nowhere to be found, the battle is entirely being fought by our vigilante group. But now we’ve got some action on screen, you can forgive the rash actions of a group of people because there’s no time to think clearly. And Vasily has joined the gang, at last!
It’s the end of the line for Jim – possibly – did they “sever his spinal column” like they were supposed to? We didn’t see that.
Crown Jules Presents 