The Strain: Season 1, Episode 13

The Strain
Episode Title: "The Master"
Channel: FX
Director: Phil Abraham
Writers: Carlton Cruse and Chuck Hogan
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi, Horror
Runtime: 60 min
Rated: TV-MA
Original Air Date: October 5, 2014

All right, this is still not great television. Most of the characters are just cardboard cutouts for what the audience expects in such a situation. They do all of the things that they're supposed to do to keep the story going forward. Unfortunately for the audience, most of the time there's very little reasoning put into those actions by the characters, so everything feels like something you've seen before. Oh, you need an inhaler, lets go to the one place that someone hunting us would try to find us; instead of stopping at any of the dozens of pharmacies along the way. Why? Because, drama!

So, a prerequisite to enjoying an episode of The Strain is not just to suspend disbelief; take disbelief down to the basement and tie it to the furnace. I know it seems a little harsh, but doing so will allow you to at least mindlessly enjoy the finale. This episode is entitled “The Master” so it should come as no surprise that there's a confrontation with him at the end. Honestly, I enjoyed the lead up to that face to face. Sure you had some of the silliness we've come to expect from The Strain, such as characters scoring headshot after headshot, only to be confronted with a bad guy six feet away, who the heroes proceed to shoot in both shoulders, completely losing their previously exemplary marksmanship.

(Disbelief! I told you, the basement! Don't make me get the duct tape.)

Of course, we knew that the Master couldn't fall at the end of season one, I don't consider that a spoiler, but if you do, don't read the rest of this paragraph. The way to make sure he didn't should have been to build a choice into the showdown, some way to exploit the humanity of the humans. The heroes very stupidly brough Zach into the fray, perhaps the Master could engineer a way to force a choice between ending the threat and saving the boy. I know it's cliché, but it would have been better than what happened. The Master flees, Setrakian has him at his mercy, stops to talk (I bet you though that was something only villains do) and then...The Master breaks one of the most basic rules that the show had set up for its vampires and scurries away.

Conclusion: Brain-off: Some decent action and it allows for the next season. Brain-on: Why is most every character so stupid, and even the previously intelligent ones so prone to moments of absolute idiocy? I hate delivering ultimatums here, but I can't see myself continuing very far into season two if some changes aren't made.

Rating: 6/10