TV Show review: The Strain

I loved the The Strain Trilogy books and was very excited when I saw they were making a TV show out of them. The books are really good and I'm a huge fan of Guillermo del Toro. We all know how book-to-movie/show adaptations generally end up (ie. badly!)...but since del Toro was to be so involved with the making of the show - screen writing, producing and even directing a few episodes himself - I was less worried about the quality/interpretation than I otherwise would have been. Once I'd heard about its existence, my biggest concern was how to find a way to watch the show, since it's on FX. Thankful they have it on Amazon Instant Streaming, so I've been buying it an episode at a time. So far 9 out of 13 episodes have aired and not only have they been good, but they make me really want to go back and read the books again. Once I finish Shutter Island, I may just go do that! :)

I'm going to steal IMDB's synopsis: 
A thriller that tells the story of Dr. Ephraim Goodweather, the head of the Center for Disease Control Canary Team in New York City. He and his team are called upon to investigate a mysterious viral outbreak with hallmarks of an ancient and evil strain of vampirism. As the strain spreads, Eph, his team, and an assembly of everyday New Yorkers, wage war for the fate of humanity itself. 

I know, I know...it's a vampire show (well, mostly)...but it's a really good, story-driven one. It's like Daybreakers, in the sense that vampires are dark, scary and not at all romantic. Dang, now I want to watch Daybreakers...might have to do that this weekend. 

The oddest part about the show for me so far is its cast, which is made up of several actors I'm used to seeing play jerks/bad guys. For example, the main protagonist Ephraim ("Ef") is played by Corey Stoll (Push, NCIS and Midnight in Paris - he played Hemingway). Abraham Setrakian, a Holocaust survivor and seasoned vampire hunter, is played by David Bradley (The World's End, Hot Fuzz, Doctor Who, Harry Potter: Goblet of Fire, Order of the Phoenix, Half Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows Pt. 2, Nicholas Nickleby). Kevin Durand always plays a massive jerk (3:10 to Yuma, Devil's Knot, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones) and so it's weird to see him playing Vasiliy Fet, the rat exterminator. I was happy to see Sean Astin cast as Jim Kent, though he's not in the story as much as I would like. And I'm going to admit to having a bit of a character crush on Augustin "Gus" Elizade, played by Miguel Gomez...I feel about him the way I do about Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) in The Walking Dead...which is favorably, to say the least. :)   

From what I remember of the books, the show is sticking pretty closely to the original storyline. There were a couple minor plot points I were hoping they'd hit and they have gotten them all so far. I was worried that since the show was airing on FX that it would be way sketchier than it needed to be, but so far so pretty good. SPOILER ALERT: While in quarantine, one of the patients turns around while wearing a hospital dressing down and you see his butt. Later in a morgue, some of the bodies that "wake up" are unclothed, so you get some back and side shots, there for the creepy factor and not as sketch. One of the survivors is a heavy metal rocker, Gabriel Bolivar (Jack Kesy)...after his near death experience, he asks his manager to find him some hot chicks to help him unwind. You end up seeing them in various stages of undress, one of them clearly topless without showing any explicit nudity...although they don't wait for Gabriel to get the party started. Later Gabriel is peeing in the restroom and you hear a plunk...and when Gabriel turns around, he looks like a Ken doll. Again, weird and creepy...and no offense to Ken, but it ain't an attractive look. 

My only complaint so far would be the depiction of The Master. The strigoi (vampires) are all sufficiently terrifying in a very del Toro fashion (I would expect no less)...but The Master is a bit clunky and slow moving in my opinion. He's not particularly dexterous and, while he does glide about moving faster than a normal person, it's not particularly intimidating. At the moment Thomas Eichhorst (Richard Sammel), former Nazi and the Master's #1 strigoi sidekick, is more formidable than he is. Granted we hadn't seen his face until episode 9, but I don't really expect his general bulk and lack of fluidity to change. I'm sure part of that is because they have an actual actor (Robert Maillet) playing the roll, which can be a bit limiting. I appreciate not overdoing it on special effects...the more real stuff the better, in my opinion...so I guess I can't have everything. There's a pretty good little interview with Robert Maillet about playing The Master, if you're interested in checking it out.

Overall the show is pretty gritty and a bit gory, though not excessively more than other thriller or even cop shows. But to get the story across, it needs to be. The world is in a bad way and it's only going to get worse. A PG version of the show would not convey that sense of looming desperation properly. 


Fun Facts: 
- Vasiliy Fet was written with Guillermo del Toro regular 'Ron Perlman' in mind.
- John Hurt portrayed Abraham Setrakian in the original pilot. Due to other commitments, he was unable to continue in the role.
- Both of the actors that portrayed Abraham Setrakian (John Hurt in the original pilot and David Bradley in the series) also portrayed the title character in the series Doctor Who (2005). Hurt portrayed an incarnation of the Doctor in two episodes. Bradley portrayed the original actor 'William Hartnell' as well as the first incarnation of the Doctor in An Adventure in Space and Time (2013)
- For production reasons, Guillermo del Toro managed to have the full first season written before shooting the pilot.
- Corey Stoll was cast in the series based on his performance in Midnight in Paris (2011)


Enjoy and happy Tuesday! 


~Katie