Dutch and Fet Confront Eldritch
The episode of The Strain saw Eph head out to find his ex-wife Kelly while Dutch and Fet headed to Eldritch Palmer’s tower to try to stop the blocking of the cell phone and Internet access. Dutch and Fet went to Palmer’s office building under the guise of an exterminator and his assistant. Ruth explained that this is the only way that she could try to figure out how to reverse what she did when it comes to the shutting down of the Internet and phone lines. That makes little sense because she didn’t do it there, she did it with her hacker team. But, this allowed Dutch and Palmer to meet face to face again.
The duo didn’t get very far thanks to the security team, and armed guards ushered them into a room, led by Palmer’s right hand man. Fet was ordered to remain behind because Palmer wanted to see Ruth. This was just so Palmer could explain to Dutch that the downfall of society meant nothing if it earned him immortality.
Then there was the twist. It seemed that Palmer was sending Dutch and Fet to their deaths but the right hand man let them go, saying that his boss was not thinking straight. He also mentioned that the guards were loyal to him, making it look like there is an ally within the walls of the evil corporation.
The Sad Fate of Kelly
The best part of this episode was the flashback scenes, showing what happened to Eph’s ex-wife Kelly. Zach found a way to track his mom’s cell phone and Eph promised to head out to find her. He didn’t find her, because a homeless woman found the cell phone, but this allowed the show to flashback while Eph followed Kelly’s tracks.
If anyone saw the gruesome promotional image of the worm going in through the eyeball, this is the scene where that image came from. Matt the boyfriend attacked Kelly, and while he never cut her, she cut him and blood splattered her face, which was followed by a worm, which then went in through her eye.
At this point, The Strain showed the audience something it had not shown before. Kelly became a vampire and the change was from her point of view. She went to try to get Zach, but when told he was picked up by a friend of the family, she went after him. It was at this point that the way vampires see humans compared to other vampires was shown, almost as x-ray styled vision. After killing her friend and her friend’s young son, she heard a voice calling her. This turned out to be The Master, who seems to have big plans for Kelly.
Eph
Everything in Kelly’s story rotated back to Eph, as he was following her footsteps. The show started with Eph at his most likeable, as he actually listened to his son and allowed his son to play a role in finding Kelly. It was the first time that Eph seemed like a real hero. He also helped the homeless woman before she led him to Kelly’s car.
After he had to kill the newly turned vampire mother and son, he realized that Kelly was changed as well. After he returned to the pawn shop, it was back to the old Eph as he lashed out at Ruth, and basically sent her out to possibly die. The Strain almost turned Eph into a good protagonist, but then by the end, he was back to being one of the most unlikeable characters on the show.
