[Cable TV] FX Presents Guillermo Del Toro's 'The Strain'

I thought it was awesome. I loved the dark and gruesome feel to it. This is the first series premiere I have watched in about 2 years. I will definitely watch next week.

 

Solid opener.

 

It was really really good in my opinion. This may be the next big show. God I hope they don't mess it up.

 

Anyone catch the episode last night?

 

Very well done like the premiere. The "feel" of this show is very good and it looks like a winner.

My concern is the episode moved way too slow. They definitely need to hit the gas and advance the plot faster.

 

Agreed. I liked the pace though, it felt a little more realistic and creepy. That scene with the rock star and those girls was brilliantly edited to be incredibly graphic but still hide the nudity. The visuals in this show are incredible for cable. I can't wait for next week.

 

I think they're taking the Game of Thrones approach in that the show is based on a series of books and the first season is the first book. So I'm sure that they've got it planned so that book is spread out over 13 episodes. You should expect some slower episodes, but it should heat up soon enough.

Del Toro originally pitched the idea as a show in 2006 but couldn't find any real takers so he turned it into a series of novels instead. When he and his co-writer were finished, they fielded offers from different networks and went with FX which was OK with a close ended series. It should only last 3-5 seasons (if it makes it that far). Del Toro has said that the first 2 books could each be covered in a season and the 3rd could possibly cover 2 or 3 more.

So it sounds like they have a plan and an endpoint to work towards. There really shouldn't be too much filler going on.

 

Looks good! I am enjoying it.
I will look for the books
THen I can be a book reader and spoiler it
<Insert Malicious Laugh>

Just kidding but if the show gets slow then it will be off to the book on CD

Rocket River

 

Now it makes sense why this is less of a virus/outbreak story. I like it, but I was a disappointed that it was another vampire show. I think people are getting tired of vampires. If this come out years ago probably would have been more of a hit. I'm sticking with it though.

 

Spoiler

I am trying to figure out the three versions of vampires

1. MASTER Vampire - who is running around super fast and stomping heads
2. Non Breathing Vampire Admins - walkign around with free will
3. Zombie Vampires - like the little girl

I am trying to figure if there is a difference between being indoctrination through worms or bite or what have you

wondering how ugly ole boy is so dude could not look at him
after he did all that isht to get to him . .

Rocket River

 

Now that I've watched the first two eps, I have to say that I like the show so far.

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Pros:

While vampires are entirely played out, it takes a different angle for a Vampire TV show and it's a nice contrast to recent Vampire culture with cuddly good guy Vampires running around everywhere. The show is also well cast with no truly unlikable characters.

I'm honestly pulling for the gangsta vato Felix to be a regular cast member. How the heck does old creepy vampire henchman find this guy in the first place?

The whole Jew Van Helsing/Holocaust Survivor vs Vampires who ran the WWII concentration camps angle is interesting, too.

There's a guy with the last name Fet...and it's Kevin Durand, who is a great character actor. He speaks French. There has to be a French...connection.

The Goth rock-star. Hilarious.

Neutral/Questionable:

Sean Astin: I'm sure there are big things in store for Rudy, but so far he's been pretty lame.

The whole French girl angle is weird, but different...I'm not sure where it's going. Again with the French.

Cons:

I don't care at all about Eff's divorce or his alcoholism...way too much screen time devoted to this so far. A few blurbs and a 30-second b****y ex-wife scene would be sufficient. This angle makes me leery that the network is trying to cater to too many demographics. You see it time and again that trying bend a dude show to the wife demographic ends up backfiring.

The morgue scene was straight up textbook horror movie. Can the weird mortician playing the creepy old music get away from the monsters for once?

While I do like the entire bad vampire premise, it's very reminiscent of Blade II, which Del Toro directed. I guess it's impossible to get an entirely new angle on vampires. On that note, Twilight had the most innovative take on Vampires in a long time with it's sparkly-daylight vamps.

*******

I'll keep watching.

 

Not all innovation is good innovation

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Far too much time on the wife and kid
Waiting for them to be 'captured and dangled' as bait

Rocket River

 

I saw him last night and went "Oh crap! It's Keamy from LOST!" Of course, Carlton Cuse, who was the other creative mind behind LOST with Abrams and Lindelof, is one of the executive producers on this so there's a connection there.

 

I dunno about this show. The whole "old dude with the sword cane" thing...I just can't picture grandpa taking on the main vamp. One swing and...whiff...grandpa needs a wheelchair with a broken hip and a head injury.

Also, that thing with the kid in the tub. Now, I'm not a father but, for you fathers out there, are you gonna take in your ghost-looking vamp child who is acting like a zombie that was just dropped off at the door out of nowhere with no one accompanying her after being told she was dead originally as...she's alive and well and just showed up. Umm...no. Epic fail. I might have been more inclined to let it go if I buried her in the Indian burial grounds myself and then she came back like the old dude said she would but...that kid still ain't right.

 

The general art direction and premise so far has caught my attention but some of the acting is just out of place especially the Latino family. Another thing that bugs me is that the main character is just riddled with cliches.

 

Well, old guy:

Spoiler

Old guy was clearly fixated on being a vampire hunter. He surrounded himself with silver (owned a silver shop).

Anyone get the feeling that they're going to make Felix (gangsta vato) into a

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vampire hunter? He's got motive (wants to do right by his extremely religious mother) and he's got a reason to talk to the old vampire hunter- his brother stole the clock from old vamp Hunter's shop, gave it to their mother and now Felix is going to return it.

French father was clearly beside himself with grief; he slapped Eff at the impromptu press conference. There's no way that a Frenchman in his right mind would ever resort to such violence.

Spoiler

 

I feel the same way. The writing is just terribly lazy - situations & actions that would never, ever occur if people were acting like actual people. I know you have to suspend a certain level of disbelief when watching shows like this, but I'd rather not turn my brain completely off, ya know?

 

I hope you are right about Felix
I would be nice. . . . I would hate to see him as 'just a another throwaway thug'

Rocket River

 

I agree with everyone's take on the show - it's really good! Plus, it's on FX and not TNT / TBS / USA or whatever, so it can afford to be slightly more adult in its content.

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I understand the Master Vampire / Big Bawss vampire sucking that guy's blood and killing him, but why did Big Bawss snap his neck and then stomp his head into oblivion? Seemed needless.

Agreed with the poster saying that it was weird that the father didn't think anything of his daughter randomly appearing and looking freaky as hell. I get that one would be absolutely ecstatic to have your kid come home to you, but one should wonder about the circumstances behind the return.

It'll be interesting to see how they explain the 4 survivors vs the rest of the passengers. The Rock Star / Lawyer / Pilot / one other person are all coherent and responsive, but the rest of the passengers seem like mindless zombies. Would love to see the reasoning behind that.

Anyway, there's a lot more story to tell. The vampiric "ringing of the ears," what made the 4 survivors "survive" faster than the other passengers, how they can make a "cure" for the disease, etc.

In an IGN review, the reviewer also lamented how much they didn't care about the rest of Eph's family. And I agree. His family is just a waste of time. It's nice that they try to flesh out Eph's character, and develop it a bit, but I could not care less if the soon to be ex-wife, son and wife's new squeeze were all written out by the next episode.

Plus, no one cares about character development that much. This isn't the Walking Dead where you're fairly sure you're the only survivors left in the world. Walking Dead is more about the characters than the supernatural - The Strain should be more about the supernatural than the characters.