The Strain Recap: Are the 'Feelers' the Creepiest Thing on TV Right Now? 

Segueing from Comic-Con to vacation last week, I was not able to recap

‘s Season 2 opener — but I’m delighted to report that the strengths and improvements I saw when (carefully!) screening that episode on my flight to San Diego (with my 12-year-old son sitting next to me*) were still on display this Sunday.

In fact, thus far Season 2 has made only one misstep, which if you follow me on Twitter, you’ve seen me comment on. More on that/him in a moment.

This week, we learned much more about the first major thrust in Setrakian’s journey/quest, flashing back to 1965, where as an untenured professor he first made the acquaintance of a young Edlritch Palmer. At the time, Setrakian was playing his “Vampires are among us” card to the vest, but Palmer knew his true leanings and thus charged him with seeking out the silver-handled cane — which Setrakian had to finagle from Nazi Dr. Dreverhaven, who is now posing as shopkeeper and had promised it to Eichorst — and then the elusive

tome, which possesses the Strigoi’s deepest most damning secrets, including the key to the Master’s undoing.

In trade for embarking on this lark, Palmer promised to endow Setrakian with a full professorship (as well as a lucrative stipend). Though his wife Miriam was iffy on the agreement, Setrakian believed it was he who would come out ahead on the deal. (But at what ultimate cost?)

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Back in the present day, objectives were brought into focus and some relationships were embellished. For starters, Eph and Nora nearly gave up on experimenting on the McGeevers, until they arrived at an “a-ha” moment — something about amino acids being able to “munch on vampire brain juice.” Meanwhile, Fet and Dutch went to rid neighboring buildings of Strigoi, leading first to a fierce face-off inside a cramped locker room, and then a much lighter moment when Dutch invited the “rat man” to skinny dip with her in a pool. Fun fact: Fet can’t swim. Funner fact: Dutch is a quite convincing teacher.

I’m still warming up to Dutch — they seem to have transitioned her overnight from uberhacker to all-around badass — but in doing so she is much less the Euro-cipher she was in Season 1. Also, she and Fet have some highly entertaining banter.

Palmer presided over the opening of a “freedom center”/food pantry he funded to help his fellow New Yorkers. In doing so, he delivered a rousing speech penned by his new assistant, Coco. His celebration would be interrupted, though, by his old friend Abraham, who warned the Master’s pawn not to claim victory just yet. (They traded threats a bit

, given the subject matter, no?) Palmer keeps a stiff upper lip, threatens to one day display Setrakian’s heart next to Miriam’s, and then orders his guards not to let the old man get away — and yet Setrakian does, with help from Fet.

It was a small scene, yet one that made an impression on me: Samantha Mathis (forever of

) made her debut as a pretty damn impressive city councilwoman who 1) scoffs at the National Guards’s efforts to date, 2) would gladly choose euthanizing the infected over “warehousing” them, and 3) plans to “take Staten Island back one block at a time,” while the Mayor et al “carry on with their mental jerk-off.” Oh, we

The new Zach continues to confound, aged up for Season 2 to, what, forever scowl at his dad? Do his best Carl Grimes impression? I dont know what the story was behind this recast, but thus far its purpose eludes me. I’m not saying the original kid was irreplaceable, but neither do I see what this

Last but far from least: We laid witness to what has to be one of TV’s most unsettling, disturbing, ookie visuals, the army of “feelers” that Kelly is now mother to. Is it their clickety-clacky/gurgly communicating that weirds me out so? is it the crouched, sideways scampering? Kelly’s indifference in snapping the neck of an unworthy ward? The stringy hair, the veiny eye sockets…? Whatever the case, they are a frightful bunch, and now Kelly has put them on son Zach’s scent. [

* I need to share this anecdote with someone…. So, I’m watching

movies playing on his Kindle. At one point, he taps me on the arm and points to his screen, where David Bradley is playing Hogwarts caretaker Argus Filch, and then he points to my MacBook Air, where Bradley is on screen as Setrakian. He smiled at the coincidence. As did I.

I really wanted that amino acid science to be simplified a bit more and explained more thoroughly. Im not a dum-dum, but I could have sworn Eph and Nora were mumbling and speaking too fast in those scenes. What a great time for my subtitles not to be working.

And while it was a treat to see Kevin Durand naked, Dutch could die next episode and I wouldn’t care. She’s a fanboy bait character if there ever was one, and those never do anything for me. And wasn’t she a lesbian? And what’s with the use of the name Dutch these days? There’s this girl over here, and then there’s one over on Killjoys too.

The original Zach was a lot sweeter. So my guess would be that Zach’s headed for tragedy, and perhaps the show wants us less sympathetic for the outcome.

plowed through that amino acid babble, and my screeners don’t even have the option of CC! As for Dutch, they certainly suggested she and her female roommate had had a thing, but….

And I agree about Zach, they must want us to not like him, maybe Kelly will “recruit” him or something.

They had no problem breaking my heart with what happened to Kelly last season, so it must be because Zach’s a child.

This new Zach kid is really, really ruining this show for me. I mean, much of this show falls in the ridiculous realm, but I can deal with it. But whenever Zach is on screen, I honestly want to just stop watching altogether. Not only is he completely insufferable, but the kid who plays him is a terrible actor–and I feel like ‘terrible’ is being generous. It’s practically unwatchable.

Am I the only one that powered through the first season, only to be completely turned off by this season premiere? I don’t think the long break has helped this show at all because I’ve stopped watching it now after the premiere only felt mind-numbingly stupid to me.

I think the premiere was just as stupid as the first season. Hopefully they’ll manage to keep the writing a little tighter this time around, sometimes during season 1 it was really hard to follow the logical sequence of events.

Yeah my disdain for this New Zach is getting close to how I felt about the son on the 2009 version of V where he ruined every scene and I wished for him to die. Hopefully the Strain does us the same favor V did when they let his gf eat his neck.

oh man, I forgot how much I hated Tyler in V! He was the worst character

Zach’s gonna be around until the SERIES Finale. He’s annoying but you’d better get used to him.

I donìt know how it has handled in the books, but the way they are presenting Stoneheart and the government dealing with this is really idiotic. So everybody knows about the vampires and they are just totally cool with that, like it’s a bedbugs outbreak? Some areas of the cities have descended into Walking Dead level of every man for himself but in others people are still going to work like a regular Tuesday

I thought I saw the 1st episode, but It sure seems I missed some things. Did I not record the whole show? I’m reading the recap and I don’t remember these things happening. (Experimenting on the couple, Miriam, the swimming pool)

Sorry – Never mind. I see that this recap was posted pacific time. (after the 2nd episode aired, not eastern time. I thought the recap was for the first episode.)

I couldn’t really get into the first ep of this season for some reason. I know the long break didn’t help. This ep wasn’t too bad, but I don’t like Dutch and Zach is most definitely annoying. Didn’t think he could get anymore annoying or anymore like TWD Carl till now. I thought he looked different this season tho. :P Dutch on the other hand is messing with one of my favorite characters besides Eph and I don’t like it! Leave the bug man alone! I’m also getting sick of the flashbacks. And why the heck IS everyone going to work and going about their lives during a vampire apocalypse? Like really?! Hopefully things get better. The Master is suppose to be transforming/changing? Good if so. Maybe they’ll improve on his looks and make him scarier.

Love the little anecdote by the way. So cute. I didnt even realize Setrakian and Filch were played by the same person. 0_o

Ahh. I mean rat man! Leave the rat man alone! Sorry. >_<

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