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6 episodes in, and this isn't good.
The Strain starts off as an interesting take on the vampire theme - imagine vampirism is a strain of a deadly virus, which turns people into vampiric creatures; and "patient zero" is a malevolent creature aimed at spreading his sickness. Mix in some modern-day 'heroes' in the form of a CDC response team, and add the wisdom of an old protagonist of the chief bad guy, with a sprinkling of sinister bad guys lurking in shadows.
However, this initial interesting premise is let down in a variety of ways. We have a number of clichéd characters (would you believe the hero is an ex-drunk in mid custody battle for his kid? And his ex now has a slimy corporate boyfriend ... well that's not very common); our hero has a young female colleague with the hots for him; and a former hobbit who is in the pay of the bad guys, cos his wife has cancer, and they might be able to help him. So that's a check for characters-we've- seen-before.
Then would you believe that the hero's boss is a pen-pushing ass, who when confronted with evidence of the viral outbreak would prefer to hush it up, rather than ... well, I'm not quite sure what his motivation is for this bizarre stance. But either way, when he sees a video of a vampire attack on hero-doc, he decides to send the FBI after the doc, rather than alert the authorities. Come on ...
Apart from the collection of recycled characters, the biggest problem is that this vampiric virus spreads and infects dozens, hundreds of people, without anyone appearing to notice. As though every week the world is reset again. Just like The Simpsons. For example:
An infected rock star kills a doctor. Yet his assistant hires someone to "clean up the mess", then we never hear from her again.
As early as episode 3 vampires attack a hospital, killing several people (or turning them into vampires - it's a bit hit and miss, and not sure how it works as a long-term plan for the bad guys anyway). The next day, no mention of it anywhere.
Guy arrested for killing a vampire - no-one says "hey, have you seen the body of the dude he just killed?"
City morgue wiped out by vampires ... not a word mentioned.
There's also an embarrassingly bad sequence with hero arrested and interrogated by the stupidest, most 2-dimensional FBI agents you're ever likely to see (yeah ... they don't buy his video of a vampire being killed either), when the only evidence the FBI has for chasing the hero is a clip of video showing hero and pal dragging a vampire corpse. For some reason they're only after him, and not his pal who is free to wonder the city as and when.
We even have a scene where hero-doc returns to his old house to tell his wife and child to get out of Dodge - but slimy new boyfriend sells him out to the feds. So it's not only re-hashed characters, but re-hashed scenes. 'Mom' then sends son off to school ... that's what I'd do if a CDC doctor told me there was a deadly virus and I had to leave town pronto.
Why watch it? Well, it *really* is mindless entertainment, sometimes painful to watch, but it's nicely shot, and thankfully a short season. Also David Bradley is much the best of the cast, and worth watching - throwing himself into the Van Helsing role with gusto.
When so many good programmes are dropped after 1 season, it's a little sad to hear this has been renewed for a 2nd. There has to be better in this genre out there, surely?
***Update***
After 10 episodes things have slightly improved. Reasons:
there are factions in the vampire fraternity;
the various good-guys have now met up to form their 'fellowship';
it's decently unsentimental (people die ... people you think won't);
So, enough to have an interest in Season 2; but they can't persist with the "authorities don't know" line, as we've had cops killed on duty, schools attacked, government agents killed. All things that would bring national agents to the party. Just cos the internet is down wouldn't end communications (landlines; short-wave; fax; satellite; etc.)
score 5/10
mfcoder-imdb 22 September 2014
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3090541/ |
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22-11-2019 09:21:20
