The Strain: "Night Train" Review
Let the buyer beware.
By Jesse Schedeen Warning: full episode spoilers follow.
The Strain's second season has had its significant ups and downs, and the same held true for the finale episode. "Night Train" brought about the culmination of several long-running storylines and even a couple major deaths in the process. However, several familiar problems remained - unlikable characters, poor storytelling logic and big showdowns that end in stalemates. This episode wasn't quite the epic conclusion The Strain needed to tide viewers over until next summer.
The whole season boiled down to two main conflicts. On one hand, Eph, Nora and Zach boarded the last train out of New York, with the hope that Zach could be deposited safely with his grandparents and Eph could resume work on his bio-weapon. On the other, Setrakian and Fet prepared to enter a high-stakes bidding war for the most valuable book in the world. In both cases, there was an ominous sense that something awful was going to happen to derail the efforts of both groups. That sense of tension helped "Night Train" start off on the right foot.
The early scene where the two groups said their goodbyes and parted ways was especially effective. After two seasons of finding solace and support together, our heroes were finally going their separate ways. Regardless of whether Setrakian and Fet survived the auction or Eph and his son made it out of New York, it was clear this tight-knit group would never again be as it was. The group photograph was a poignant way of marking the end of an era. Plus, Setrakian's inability to smile lent a little touch of humor to an otherwise dour episode.
It wasn't long before the plot hole cracks started to show in these two storylines. As the build-up to the auction unfolded, I found myself wondering why the Master and the Ancients even bothered to go through the motions. If both factions knew where exactly the book was being kept, why didn't they simply lay siege to Roosevelt Island and be done with it? Why put hundreds of millions of dollars on the line for the amusement of one opportunistic gang lord? As for Eph's storyline, if he has more contacts in Washington to help him with his bio-weapon, why didn't he make use of them last time he left the city? Why did he just give up and return home? Not to mention the fact that I still don't understand how he's able to freely move about the city when he was just arrested for attempted murder.
At some point with this show you just have to cast aside questions of logic and accept things as they are. The Setrakian/Fet conflict was otherwise mostly satisfying. There wasn't a lot of tension to the bidding war because it moved so fast and escalated so quickly. However, the real payoff was Palmer's decision to cut off Eichorst's line of credit and openly betray the Master. Seeing the remorseless villain so uncharacteristically stunned and helpless was a welcome moment of payback for his recent misdeeds. And it only further heightened the episode's tension, as it we knew Setrakian and Palmer's respective victories were bound to be short-lived.
True to his threats, it was only a few minutes before Eichorst waged an all-out assault on Setrakian and Fet's truck. Once Quinlan and his "Sunhunters" joined the fray, this scene escalated into what is easily one of the best action sequences in the show's two-year history. You had a group of hardened killers (including a masked Silver Angel) mowing down dozens of strigoi. You had Gus hunting down Setrakian and seeking a little payback for their original encounter back in the pilot. And you had Quinlan facing down Eichorst in a super-powered vampire duel. Unfortunately, the show fell into old habits with this last encounter. I've now lost count of the number of episodes that have ended with Eichorst slithering away from a fight to lick his wounds.
Despite Gus, Setrakian and Fet finding themselves caught in a Mexican standoff, the resolution to this conflict was surprisingly rosy for both factions. It's a little strange that Setrakian would so easily manage to convince Quinlan to betray the Ancients and form a new alliance, but it's not as if Quinlan's disdain for his handlers is any great secret. If any element of Season 3 excites me, it's the idea of Setrakian, Fet, Gus and Quinlan forming a new team t take on the worsening strigoi threat. At the very least, it should end the trend of Gus and Quinlan vanishing from the spotlight for weeks at a time.
Eichorst might not have acquired the Lumen, but he did get his revenge on Palmer when the Master paid another visit to Stoneheart headquarters. The problem with this scene is that it banked on the viewer actually caring about Coco and her romance with Palmer. Whatever interesting qualities she might have possessed died the moment she emerged from her coma and transformed from Palmer's troubled confidant to arm candy. As I feared way back at the beginning of the season, Coco was treated less like a character than a plot device to usher along Palmer's character arc. I'm not sure what purpose she'll serve as a strigoi now, but it can't be any worse than how she's fared so far.
One of the first scenes from the Season 2 premiere involved Kelly's transformation from ordinary strigoi to semi-autonomous agent of the Master. So it was only fitting that the season culminated with another showdown between Kelly and her family. It was nice to see Nora, rather than Eph, take point in this showdown. Especially since, as it turned out, this was her last stand. Her death was disappointing in the sense that Nora has a lot to offer the group dynamic and wasn't always used to her fullest this season. However, at least she died bravely, and the the abrupt, near silent shot of her self-inflicted electrocution certainly made its impact. That death will surely be hanging over Eph's head in Season 3. He's now lost a second lover to the strigoi plague, and with the added guilt that now he'll never be able to atone for the way he mistreated Nora and took her presence for granted.
Zach had a pivotal moment here, as he faced a choice between manning up and killing his mother or abandoning Eph and the others to return to her embrace. Sadly, he made the latter choice. I suppose you can't blame a kid his age for being weak and choosing his actual mother over the mother figure who sacrificed everything to protect him. Still, in a season where Zach's petulant behavior has made him the most obnoxious cast member, the show took what could have been a powerful, redemptive moment and chose instead to make him even more unlikable. Part of me is intrigued at the idea of Zach being a lone human among vampires, but mostly I'm just happy that this probably means he'll be appearing less (if at all) in Season 3.
The impact of Zach's arc, like so much in this episode, really depends on where the show heads in Season 3. And that's where this finale proved somewhat disappointing despite some big, dramatic moments along the way. It didn't feel like a terribly conclusive end to the season. Some characters were left hanging, while others (Dutch, Councilwoman Feraldo) didn't appear at all. Aside from the idea that new alliances are being forged and life in Manhattan is continuing to go down the toilet, there's not a clear sense of what our heroes face going into next year. Whatever is to come, we can only hope the show learns from its mistakes this year.
The Verdict
It's been a rocky road for The Strain this summer, and the finale episode was a fitting encapsulation of that. This episode had some great moments as our heroes made brave stands against overwhelming odds. However, between the sporadic plot holes, the sometimes poor characterization (especially with Coco and Zach) and a conclusion that ended the season on a somewhat murky note, this wasn't the finale this season really needed.
