The Strain Episode 5 Recap: Neeva Is The Smartest Person In New York City

teamprocreate.tumblr.com

Evil Descends Upon New York City

This week's episode entitled "Runaways" was aptly named since many of characters were fleeing from the vampires as quickly as possible. Abraham's first encounter with the creature is revealed (and it's pretty disturbing).

We once again check in on unisex Gab and Mean Lawyer Lady. Gab chomps down both on the urologist that visits him (and the guy that comes to dispose of the urologist's body). Run Regina King. Run for your life! Looks like you'll need to reschedule your mani-pedi.

Mean Lawyer Lady is at home with her kids. Maybe she's not so mean after all. Neeva (who I assume is the housekeeper) is one of the few people on this show with any smarts. When she sees what's happening she grabs the kids and leaves ASAP. Neeva is the smartest person in NYC. Why cant she be the star of the show?

Abraham schools up Eph on the "Master". He calls the creature a "stigoi" (a vampire like creature from Romanian folklore that feeds on the living). See Wikipedia entry Strigoi Vampires apparently dont like silver. Their reflections wobble in mirrors? I didnt really understand that one. They dont like sunlight. That's usually good news but an eclipse is coming. And haven't we seen Echorst during the day? The virus affects different people at different rates (which explains why Lawyer Lady still hasnt turned yet).

And what's the Master's end game? He let four passengers survive on the plane in order to distract the public while the undead all heading home to infect their loved ones. He plans to eat all the humans (or at least eat a LOT of them). Then he'll join Weight Watchers and take off a few pounds.

movieplot.com

My Retirement Plans Did Not Include Vampire Hunting With An Emotionally Needy Alcoholic Scientist

We see a flashback to Abe in a concentration camp in WWII. Echorst is the head of the camp. Abe sees the stigoi feeding on the sick at night. The special effects with him scurrying about snapping necks were very effective.

Nora goes to visit her mother who apparently has Alzheimer's. Uh oh. The vampires have arrived at the nursing home. Nora and Mom run out into the street. Will the outbreak finally be covered on the news?

Fet tries to figure out why all the rats are exiting in mass.He descends into the subway tunnels where he narrowly escapes a nest of vampires (who look a lot like zombies). Instead of "nest", I vote we refer to them as a "chowder" or vampires or perhaps a "murder" of vampires. Who's with me?

Abe and Eph go vampire hunting. They find Ann Marie who has hung herself. Ansel is still locked up in the shed but not for long. He and the rude neighbor are quickly dispatched.

vulture.com

How Do You Like My New Necklace?

Eph tries to take his video of the vampires to his CDC boss Everett. But it's too late. They think Eph killed Captain Redfern. Uh oh. That's not good.

Eldritch finally gets his transplant. I'm not sure where his story line is going. It seems like there's plenty enough else going on to spend any time on this ancillary character.

Favorite Quotes:

"It's Gabe. I think he hurt somebody bad...permanently bad"- Regina King.
"The Master excels at the manipulation of disinformation"- Abraham.
"The Master, is that a proper name?"- Eph. Why yes it is. First name "The" and last name "Master". Just like "The Rock".
"Stop looking for monsters. We are already surrounded by them."- friend to Abe in the concentration camp.
"Do you believe it now... the evil we're facing?"- Abe to Eph.

Grade: 4 1/2 Monsters (out of 5). The vampire at the concentration camp was particularly frightening. Like those poor people didnt have enough to deal with without him showing up.