The Strain Season 4 Episode 9 Review: The End Is Nigh

Since next week is "The Strain's" series finale, I thought it might be a good time to take a look back. The show had lots of potential but unfortunately never really lived up to it. See my previous reviews here: The Strain Reviews

The writers spent WAY too much time on ancillary missions. This is due to try to fill up too many episodes. Seasons 1-2 had thirteen each. Seasons 3-4 had ten each. This story would have benefits from half the episodes per year. The end result is many viewers got bored and left. Sad.

I really dont care about many of the main characters. Eph spent previous seasons drinking and hooking up with random (soon to be dead) chicks. Zach is the worst. More on him later. Dutch is supposed to be a bad ass hacker but doesnt get much to do. She first has a girlfriend, then hooks up with rat catcher Fet, then Eph. Girl gets around. I do like Fet but he spent much of this season scurrying around in search of a nuke. We don't get to see enough of Gus as he randomly pops in and out. The other characters stay long enough to become strigoi-chow.

There are some standoffs in "The Strain" though. Eichorst and Setrakian are the best. I continued to watch the show because of them. Richard Sammel plays Eichorst with icy calm. These two men/strig have been in mortal combat for some 80 years. Their journey came to an end two episodes ago. Abraham (David Bradley) secretly takes all his blood thinning medication. Eichorst then bites him and croaks. Abraham later dies from his injuries. He asks Quinlan to cut off is head with his trusty cane/sword. Quinlan gives a touching speech at Abe's graveside.

In looking back, one of the best executed story lines was Eichorst's kidnapping and torturing of Dutch. I think that was back in season 2. Excellently done. I'll never think about pineapple the same way again. Too bad we couldnt keep up this level of horror throughout the rest of the series.

It took forever but we finally learn what the Master has planned for humans. The Partnership is all a fraud. The stigoi are using humans as a buffet and draining all their blood. They're also impregnating women to use the babies for the same purpose. They have concentration camps to keep the humans corralled. Sound familiar?

Side Note: I really enjoy Palmer-turned-Master. He's delightfully evil. Much better than the big giant guy or the rock star. I thought Zach was being groomed to be the Master's next body but I guess not.

The feelers are also a standout. I just love those creepy little crab kids. They should have their own spinoff.

Back to the penultimate episode. Dutch captures Sanjay Desai. He tries to justify everything he's done. In Desai's mind he's some kind of a hero-- sacrificing the lives of the "undesirable" humans in order to benefit others. He also rationalizes that it's OK to drain babies for their blood because they're not grown yet. He says "No one has the balls to face the inconvenient little truth-- too many people." The guy is a real humanitarian.

The Master arrives and wants to know who revealed his location. Desai of course tries to save his own skin and blames his wife. Loser! The Master is disgusted with Sanjay's behavior and unceremoniously kills both him (by bashing his head into spaghetti) and his wife (by snapping her neck). Zach was sent in to learn the location of the nuke (but of course he screws that up like everything else he does). At least Eph knows for sure now that his son is beyond redemption.

Going into the final battle we have Eph, Dutch, Fet, Roman, Gus and Quinlan. When we last see Quinlan he is in the Empire State Building surrounded by numerous strigoi. I have no doubt he's escape. Out on the street a bunch of vamps surrounding the humans. Will they have to set off the bomb early? Does anyone really care at this point?

Grade: 4 Monsters (out of 5). "The Strain" has been a mess over the years with it's meandering, non essential stories. On the positive, it manages to pull together a few decent final episodes.

Where will it all end? I thought the Abe vs Eichorst smackdown would be part of the finale but that's over. RIP Professor. Here's what I would like to see next week: 1. Zach needs to die. Yes, I know he's a teenager. No, I dont care. He blew up New York for Christ's sake. He also had his pet feeler kill a girl who "friend zoned" him. Zach could even sacrifice himself for the good guys so he goes out as a sorta-hero... just as long as he D-I-E-S. 2. I'm not sure if I want the good guys or the bad guys to win at this point. Maybe the baddies should win. They've played a better game. They deserve it. Plus if the writers ever want to do a folllow-up, this would be a compelling reason to tune back in. 3. Quinlin needs to live to fight another day. He's too cool to die... plus he's like 2000 years old.