The Strain, Season 1, Episode 12, “Last Rites”
Written by Carlton Cuse, David Weddle & Bradley Thompson
Directed by Peter Weller
Airs Sundays at 10pm EST on FX
The penultimate episode of The Strain‘s first season reminds us most of “Across the Sea”, the third-last episode of Lost‘s final season. That episode came very near the end of Lost‘s run, but left the present action to show the origins of Island inhabitants Jacob and the Man in Black. Choosing to halt the action and go back into the past to tell a story that only revealed a small amount and to do so that late in the season felt misguided and a little pointless. “Last Rites” is not quite as much of a side-step, but the return of Setrakian’s flashbacks was certainly a surprising development.
The lucky thing is that these generally work better than the Holocaust flashbacks earlier in the season. The first couple are awfully slow, but by the time we reach the shadowy image of Setrakian’s vampiric wife, Miriam, and two turned surrogate children, standing in the door, it all feels worth it. This is an acutely chilling moment, aided once again by the show’s great sound design for the vampires. The flashbacks also serve to further show what makes Setrakian so intensely devoted to this cause, and leads to a surprisingly effective emotional moment when he must leave Miriam behind, so to speak. All that said, these flashbacks are still awkwardly placed within the season’s narrative, and it’s also the most obvious example of how the writers rarely follow the age-old advice of, “Show, don’t tell.”
This is a simple criticism to make, and its been an issue with the show since the beginning, but it seemed particularly prevalent this week, and not only because they showed us flashbacks whose content was largely telegraphed. It came in the scene where Dutch (yay Dutch is back!) asks if the group has heard of the emergency alert system, and Fet says, “The thing that always interrupts the radio and television. ‘This is only a test’, right?” It is the worst and laziest kind of exposition, especially with Kevin Durand’s uncharacteristically hollow line reading. There are also many moments of characters saying exactly what they or others are thinking and feeling. After Dutch opens up about her past to Fet (this is one ship to be on board with) and says she lost her way when she helped Eldrich disable the internet, Fet responds, “That’s why you came back. To fix things.” The writers need to put a little more trust in their audience – show, don’t tell.
On the bright side, there are some exciting developments. Eichorst finally takes the fight to Setrakian by invading their safehouse and forcing our heroes to flee, right after their small victory of getting on TV to warn the country about what’s going on in New York City (we’ll suspend our disbelief that it would still be such a contained crisis, with or without internet). Seconds later, Eichorst and his minions arrive and Gabriel(!) is on hand to kill Nora’s mother, which is really doing us and them a favor. It’s also nice to see Eichorst getting something substantive to do, since he’s been sidelined in the last few episodes. He is a much more interesting villain than The Master, which makes next week’s finale a little troubling since it’s named for the latter.
This also brings us the scene of Nora finally taking some initiative and cutting off her own mother’s head. It’s a scene quite reminiscent of what you might see on any given episode of The Walking Dead, the kind of emotional-horror porn that show is so fond of. It works here because it shows Nora finally taking control and not letting Eph do the dirty work for her, suggesting some until-now hidden strength.
Oh, Gus is still around. The fact that his purpose remains unclear with one episode left is laughable, but the way his storyline ends is the most intriguing its been all season. The hooded vampire assassins are back, and they show up to specifically save and kidnap Gus. These guys remain an utter mystery, so who knows what they could possibly want with Gus, but at least something happened in his storyline, and we’re eager to see where it brings us next week.
As for Eph, his issues persist, but he appeared to be a little more self-aware this week, and even showed some real vulnerability and nervousness before the broadcast. This was the most identifiable and likeable he’s ever been, so hopefully that continues next week. Speaking of which, there is perhaps an unfair amount of pressure riding on the finale. Without putting too much weight on one episode, it’s clear that The Strain needs to show that there is some kind of plan in place, some promising tides for the second season. “Last Rites” is an episode of regrouping and fleeing, and there will surely be some kind of showdown in “The Master”, but the way they bring the season to a close will color how we feel leaving this uneven season behind. It could go either way. Fingers crossed.