The Strain: The Battle for Central Park

First Aired October 2nd, 2016.

Justine (played by Samantha Mathis) organizes battle plans to take out the large numbers of Strigoi in Central Park. Meanwhile, Vasiliy (played by Kevin Durand) prepares to go underground and take out the nest he found.

Zack (played by Max Charles) is given a Feeler for protection by Kelly (played by Natalie Brown) and Eichhorst (played by Richard Sammel). When Vasiliy gets supplies, Dutch (played by Ruta Gedmintas) and Ephraim (played by Corey Stoll) learn about the assault and think their method of disrupting Strigoi communications could be helpful. Prison chain gangs are enlisted for the fight including Agustin (played by Miguel Gomez) and Angel (played by Joaquin Cosio) and promised to be released afterward. Vasiliy leads a small team underground as Ephraim and Dutch monitor Strigoi communication patterns above ground. The team is quickly killed by Strigoi, leaving only Vasiliy and Kate (played by America Olivo), a woman he picked up at a bar in an earlier episode. Agustin, Angel, and other inmates are sent into tunnels to clear out Strigoi, and Agustin and Angel kill the supervising officers and escape with the other inmates.

From the beginning of the episode, a large-scale battle was promised but never delivered. All the fighting that took place in Central Park happened off-screen in favor of scenes with Justine in her command center or Dutch and Ephraim messing with their equipment. That’s not to say the episode was lacking too much in action, but a large scale battle like that is much more effective if we can see it. And really Ephraim’s machine seemed pretty useless; all he was picking up was Strigoi shrieking. He wasn’t getting information, and from what I could tell didn’t make any useful progress. Seeing Agustin finally give those cops what they deserved was great, but it’s a shame the character is always so far removed from the main storylines. If he doesn’t have a purpose in the main narrative, it becomes questionable as to why he’s still around.

While bonding with his new Feeler, Kelly and Eichhorst tell Zack that they aren’t safe anymore and they have to leave. Agustin and Angel fight off Strigoi in the tunnels and get assistance from Vasiliy and Kate. Then Angel leads the others to safety while Agustin helps Vasiliy and Kate. They find the room where Zack was being kept and Vasiliy calls Ephraim, who goes down to see for himself. Vasiliy prepares bombs made out of silver to take them out while the others hold off the Strigoi advancing on them and then kill all the Strigoi in the cavern. Ephraim finds a note written from Zack and is overjoyed he’s still alive, but is confronted by Eichhorst. Eichhorst taunts Ephraim that he will never see Zack again and attacks, but runs after Dutch cuts off his hand.

That Feeler was like a demented looking pet; also it’s getting repetitive and slightly annoying to keep hearing how “special” Zack is. What makes him so special? Now that Vasiliy and Agustin have been reunited, Agustin will finally be integrated with the rest of the main characters. Although it was weird seeing how friendly the two of them were, since I can’t recall them ever sharing any scenes before now. Eichhorst always seemed untouchable; escaping anytime he’s pinned down and always being one step ahead. Dutch literally cut him down to size, and after the torture he put her through: that was sweet revenge.

Justine learns that thousands of Strigoi have overrun checkpoints all across Central Park. She realizes it was a set-up to have her forced out after dark so the Strigoi could kill a lot of them. She orders her remaining officers to run after thousands of Strigoi flood the park. Once again, the action takes place off-screen. When it comes to television, it’s better to show rather than tell. The loss of Central Park represents just how bad the tide has turned against Justine and her efforts to save the city. It’s foreshadowing that today they lost Central Park, tomorrow: the rest of the city.

Quotes/Thoughts

“I’m pretty sure this is police brutality. You going to at least say ‘please’ this time?”

That Feeler looks gross, but it was better trained than most dogs.

“Some women, they meet a guy, find out he’s a rat catcher, they get caught up in all the glamor.”

This is that time where people realize the end is near and start running for the hills.

If you enjoyed Manny’s review, you can find the rest of his work right HERE on Sci-Fi Bloggers. You can also follow him on Twitter @KN_Manny.

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