The Strain Episode 1

To say that I have been eagerly awaiting the TV premiere of The Strain is an understatement.  From the very first inkling of it being announced, through every little teaser that FX released, I was completely on board.  After having read the novels, I’ve had an exceptionally high level of hope for it.  It’s not often I’m so eager to turn the TV on, but this was one new show I was right on the edge of my seat waiting in anticipation for.

The fact that this is something out of the creative mind of Guillermo del Toro undoubtedly added to my faith in it being good.  I for one will happily say I enjoyed Pacific Rim, even though it wasn’t the blockbuster in theatres I’d expected it to have been.  And even if you didn’t appreciate that, you can’t deny his work with The Hobbit grants him some major geek points.  But I digress; let’s move onto the show itself eh?

For those with absolutely no knowledge of the premise, The Strain is a vampire horror, but unlike any of the usual mythos.  Rather than biting their victims and turning them, it is closer to that of a parasitic infection.  This is accomplished by the vampire itself passing a worm through an extremely long tongue stinger, or worms entering the body through open wounds or even orifices.  This huge detachment from the typical vampire tale is what originally attracted me so much to the story.  Originality with anything, especially age old subjects like vampires, is hard to come by these days and I greatly appreciate this change from the norm.

Without going into details and risking spoilers, I have to say Episode 1 has started off very strong and very true to its source material.  They’ve kept the original setting as New York, which honestly, would have been ridiculous to change.  And just think about how frightening it is for something like this to happen in a place like New York.  As a successful pilot episode should, they’ve set the stage for this gripping story with just the right amount of information to put you in the know, but still leave you wondering.  I’m also liking the casting so far, whose main character choices include an actor who played a certain caretaker from the Harry Potter films and Corey Stoll from another of my favorites, House of Cards.

I can’t judge just from the first episode how gross and graphic it will to get, but I will say they are pushing boundaries already.  I think even some of the promotional material was a bit too much for some of the public.  But they are going right to the edge with the level of violence and even a little nudity shown thus far, so who knows what they’ll get away with.  For those that are a little squeamish or prudish even, you’ve been warned.  Particularly those potential viewers who don’t like creepy crawlies, remember that the infection spreads by nasty little worms.

As with anything new I get into, I do my best to not jump to conclusions right away.  This is especially true of anything being adapted into another format, as all kinds of things can go wrong.  It could certainly happen here, but I have a feeling that they’ll continue to do everything they can right.  We shall just have to see how this pilot season goes, but I definitely think this is one you should be watching.