The Strain Season 2 Episode 2: No, Kelly And The Feelers Is Not A New Rock Band

"By Any Means" gives us a better look at "the feelers"-- a gang of blind, crab walking, strigoi children. They are lead by Kelly and apparently communicate by clicking and smell. Mother Goodweather is not above snapping a neck or two if the need arises. Their mission (should they chose to accept it) is to sniff out Zach. That kid gets on my nerves so I'm personally happy about this development. The Master is looking for a new body (since his old one got a little fried). Could Zach be the ticket? Elsewhere Eichort and goth vamp Bolivar prepare the Master's coffin for his transformation.

Flashback to when a young Professor Setrakian is in Europe lecturing. In rolls young Palmer. Remember he has been sickly since childhood. Eldritch wants Abe to dig up some goodies for him. One is Jusef Sardu's cane which doubles as a sword (Abe is in possession of that in present day). The other is the Occido Lumen (the book referenced last week). Yep things are starting to come together. I had no idea those two had a past. Later Abe traces the cane to a shop. The shopkeeper is a real jerk (insert Nazi doctor here). Setrakian finally ends up with the cane but the guy gets away. Dont worry. He's later visited by Eichorst (and most people dont survive those encounters).

This Is Some Pretty Nasty Stuff

Eph and Nora experiment on the unfortunate couple they met in the U-Store-It. Does the end justify the means? I personally think so. As Eph said, these already dead anyway. The survivors must use any means necessary to stop the vampire epidemic. Eph continues to drink. Nora has a breakdown about what they've done.

Sleepy Strigoi

Fet and Dutch break into a fitness center and end up doing a little "exercising" of their own. First they knock off a number of strigoi with their patented silver grenades. One of the best scenes of the episode was the slow mo head slicing. Way cool. More of this please! Next Dutch and Fet skinny dip in the indoor pool and have sexy times. It's always important to take a little R&R time during the vampire apocalypse. Bonus points for Fet's butt.

Uh, We're Going to Fight Stigoi... Naked

Palmer continues to be the man of the hour by starting food distribution centers all over time. Yep he's still lusting after his new assistant Coco. At the centers opening, Abe calls him out and barely escapes with his life (thanks to Fet).

I Cant Wait For This Guy To Get Eaten

We're also introduced to Councilwoman Feraldo. She's not messing around when it comes to vamps. She wants to nuke em. I'm 100% behind ya. I'm also still perplexed about how for some people its business as usual in New York while strigoi are running the streets elsewhere.

Grade: 4 Monsters (out of 5). The episode was a bit slow in places but the super creepy feelers and Fet/Dutch's slow mo vamp fight pushed it over the top. On the negative side, young Abe's wig and makeup were atrocious. That really distracted from his scenes IMHO. Many of the special effects on this show are awesome so I'm not sure why they have such a hard time with the basics.