This was the best episode of The Strain this season and had the biggest OH EM GEE moment of the series! So much happened…
Do you need a recap? OK.. real quick…here’s where everyone is.
Fet, along with Mr. Quinlan (Rupert Penry-Jones), looked for and found a nuclear weapon that the Master was clearly hoping wouldn’t be found. They are on their way back to NYC with the weapon.
Dutch (Ruta Gedmintas) and Setrakian (David Bradley) were captured and used for experimentation because of their blood type. Dutch rescued Setrakian and they are on the run.
Gus teamed up with Alonzo Creem (Jamie Hector) to obtain medicines, weapons, and food to sell on the Black Market. They took over a warehouse previously ran by the NYPD.
Eph (Corey Stoll)was in Philadelphia. He found a way to kill the strigoi by putting rat poison into their blood tankers. He also found a human harvesting facility called New Horizons. It was there that he found out that his son Zach is alive
Zach(Max Charles)…he’s literally in the safest place in the world, with the Master. Zach just had his heart crushed and allowed his pet muncher to kill the girl. He is drifting further and further away from his humanity.
Eichorst (Richard Sammel) has been busy trying to find all of them and bring them to their demise. He almost stopped Fet and Quinlan from taking the nuke to New York…almost.
RECAP THE STRAIN (S04E06) TAINTED LOVE
That’s where we start off. Quinlan and Fet return to New York with their new friend Roman (K.C. Collins) and a nuclear bomb for the Master. They are greeted by the Master’s minions and quickly dispose of them. Quinlan lets the Master know they are in NYC and they are coming for him.
The Master is not happy. He takes out his anger on Eichorst. I mean, it is kind of Eichorst’s fault. He wasn’t able to stop Fet and Quinlan. He can’t find Eph. And he had Setrakian and Dutch and they got away.
Eichorst realizes that he has failed the Master in too many important ways. He says he doesn’t deserve the Master’s mercy. He offers his life for his failures.
The Master challenges Eichorst to find those who oppose him to keep them from destroying them.
Dutch and Setrakian go to their old neighborhood to retrieve the Lumen. While Dutch retrieved the book, Setrakian has some weird episode. He gets dizzy, his hearing is muffled and everything is blurry. Dutch barely gets to him to calm him down.. He snaps at her to show him the book and she does. She says they need to find a new hiding place and they leave.
Eph and his companion Alex Green (Angel Parker) are making their way through the Hudson Port Authority tunnels to Manhattan. Eph knows that Zach is alive. Alex thinks the Master may be using Zach as bait. Eph says he’s doing the only thing he knows how to do. He has to find a Setrakian to end the nightmare.
Dutch takes Setrakian to a new hiding place to recuperate. Setrakian starts tearing out pages of the Lumen so he can see the big picture. Dutch is worried about him and tries to make him rest. He screams that he’s running out of time and passes out.
Dr. Desai (Cas Anvar) reports his facility progress to Eichorst. Eichorst rewards him with a promotion. He is now in charge of finding Setrakian’s team and stop them from smuggling a nuclear bomb into Manhattan.
Dutch hears the door to the hideout open and sees two figures coming down the hall. She yells at them to stop. She hears one of them say her name. It’s Eph! Just in time!
Eph examines Setrakian. He thinks he had a stroke and is severely dehydrated. Dutch tells Eph about what happened to them. Eph questions her about getting captured.
Dutch angrily tells him what happened. She snaps back at Eph for running away to Philadelphia.
Angel calmly asks what they need to do to help Setrakian. Eph says he needs meds. Dutch knows where they can some.
Gus and Alonso are listening to Raul (Michael Reventar) talk about a new Partnership facility that they need to hit. Alonso wants to hit the place ASAP. Gus reminds everyone that they had a hard time with the NYPD place, so they shouldn’t go right away.
Dutch and Eph walk in and tell Gus about Setrakian. He shows him their pharmacy and tells them to take whatever they need…on the house. Alonso doesn’t like that they are getting stuff for free. He questions Gus’ decision, but then backs off saying he was just playing.
Gus walks back with Eph and Dutch. They see a truck drive by with their faces on it. Gus decides to get them off the streets and they head back to the hideout. Unbeknownst to them, Creem is following them.
When they get inside, Setrakian is happy to see Eph, but not Gus. He scolds Gus for not fighting when they needed him the most. Gus says he was just trying to get by. Setrakian says that’s just an excuse. First is the silence, then just getting by, and then he will be turning on his species. Gus looks shook by Setrakian’s words.
Fet, Quinlan and Roman arrive at a Partnership checkpoint. They say they have radioactive materials to help cancer patients. Quinlan scares one of the guards into letting them pass. Just as they are about to open the gate, the main guard gets the pictures of Team Setrakian. He recognizes Fet. Fet hits him and they have to fight to escape.
Eph sits with Setrakian as he rehydrates. Eph gives him a blood thinner to keep Setrakian from having another stroke. Setrakian can only take one pill or he will bleed out.He tells the professor about using rat poison he used to kill the strigoi.
Setrakian gives Eph the formula to make his strigoi worm based serum that prolongs life. He admits to being 95 years old. Eph has a hard time believing him. This makes Setrakian angry. Eph admits to not being reliable but he says he’s there until the end.
Meanwhile, Creem meets with Dr. Desai saying he knows where the vigilantes are. He’s ready to tell the Master, but first, he wants to make a deal.
Desai takes Creem to the Master. Creem threatens everyone with a grenade. He says he will give up the location, but he wants an island with no strigoi and control of the Black Market. He offers to give the Master full use of his crew if he needs it.
The Master declines Creem’s offer, takes the grenade away and extracts the information he needs via strigoi stinger. Creem’s greed got the best of him.
Back at the hideout, Eph tells Setrakian that Zach is the one who blew up Liberty Island. Dutch is outside of the room and hears the story about how Eph killed Kelly and that made Zach detonate the bomb.
Setrakian tells Eph not to let his guilt get the best of him. He cannot let it make him weak. He can’t take responsibility for Zach’s actions.
Fet, Quinlan and Roman get to the bridge into Manhattan. Quinlan is sure the Master will have a trap set up for them. They are preparing for a fight by loading guns and decided to use the Brooklyn Bridge to get on the island.
When they get there, they notice that the checkpoints are deserted on both sides of the bridge. Quinlan says it’s an obvious trap. They start to discuss their next move and the bridge blows up. In fact, all of the bridges leading into Manhattan are blown up.
Desai is holding the detonator. He assures the Master and Eichorst that the warhead will not get into Manhattan. All roads into Manhattan have been cut off.
Gus decides to join the fight. He loads a gun and prepares to leave. Raul says he’s going with him.
Eph goes to an abandoned lab to make Setrakian’s serum. Dutch shows up to tell him that there were explosions around the city. Eph is just finishing up and they decided to get back to the hideout quickly
Dutch says she heard his story about Liberty Island. She apologizes for being out of line. Eph is back and that’s all that matters.
Alex checks on Setrakian. He’s looking at a Romanian prayer robe. He talks to her her about focusing on the act of prayer instead of the end result. Without prayer, they become arrogant and isolate themselves…Setrakian trails off. He looks at the Ouroboros from the Lumen. He has found an answer.
Before he can tell Alex, Eichorst shows up. Alex shoots them and Creem snaps her neck.
Setrakian swings at Eichorst with his sword. Eichorst is amused and taunts Setrakian with more talk about “it” being over.
Setrakian throws the sword at Eichorst. Eichorst turns the tables on him and asks where his god is now. Setrakian remains ever so stubborn and talks about taking down the Master.
Gunshots are fired at the strigoi. Creem and Eichorst run away. It’s Gus and Raul. They get Setrakian to his bed and go to find the other two.
Eichorst begins taunting Gus saying he was paid well for his service to the Master. Gus says Eichorst owes him for his mother, his brother and his friend Angel.
Something drips onto Raul’s head. He looks up and a worm drops onto his eye and enters. Eichorst jumps down and kills Raul.
Creem jumps out and takes Gus’ gun. He holds Gus for Eichorst. Eichorst is about to feed on Gus when he is struck by a sword.
Eichorst pulls the sword out of his back and goes for Setrakian. He pulls Setrakian up and holds him in the air. While Eichorst feeds on him, Setrakian drops the bottle of blood thinners.
Eichorst drops him. He starts to bleed out.
Gus wrangles away from Creem and kills him.
Setrakian takes his sword and tells Eichorst he’s been poisoned with blood thinners. He tells Eichorst to look at him so he can talk to the Master. Setrakian says they will flush out the Master and burn him. It not be Setrakian who kills him, but the Master will see his face when he dies.
He tells Eichorst that he has a name. It’s Abraham Setrakian, and he’s not a number anymore. Setrakian raises his sword and beheads Eichorst.
Thoughts…
I love vampire movies. I am a huge fan of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. That story made me cheer for Count Dracula. I wanted him to to win. That’s how I feel about Eichorst. As awful as he is, Eichorst was entertaining. He has some of the best lines in the show and come on…he looked super cool in that truck shooting that huge gun at Fet and Quinlan last week. I’m gonna miss Eichorst.
As for the rest of the story, does this mean that Setrakian is dying? Can Eph save him with the strigoi serum? And how will Fet and Quinlan get the nuke into Manhattan now.
The Master is so paranoid. Mistakes were bound to be made. He rules by fear and the only person not afraid of him now is Zach. Will the Master transfer to Zach’s body to give him more strength and youth? Or will Zach finally stop moping around, come to his senses and join the resistance?
News Editor, Senior Contributor, and Press Editor. Coordinate breaking news, trailers and press releases. I also contribute reviews, recaps and interviews. Creator of the Indigenerd Wire, a column dedicated to the Indigenous creatives in pop culture.
GGA's resident Indigenerd, a little bit rez, a little bit classy...with a love for all things Star Wars, zombies, science fiction, and Indigenous. My ultimate goal is to start my own podcast.
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