The Strain - Season 2 So Far!

Dear readers, 

Hope you don't mind a little procrastination.  I have a guest blog post published on another blog that should be live right now.  Please click here, and have a little look if you get chance - it discusses the first sex after childbirth.

I must admit I was a little a gutted when I realised season 2 of The Strain began when I was away on holiday.  Of course, I meant to set it to record on 26th August, but it slipped my mind.  Luckily, Sky had it On Demand, so I downloaded it and set the recorder for the following episodes (long live Sky and it's new-fangled record and On Demand system).  

Season 1 of the strain introduced the main characters who come together and form a group of humans that is against a virus that is infecting the human race.  It basically turns them into a cross between a zombie, and the vampire strain from Blade 2.  Obviously, vampires, zombie, gore, and gothicism means this program is just what I like!  It turns out that an ancient creature called the master is responsible for initially starting the spread of the infection, but there are flash-backs to each person's story who are part of the gang.  People are forced to kill their loved ones as the infection is incurable, however, like in Blade 3 and some later sequels to Dawn of the Dead, there are a couple of scientists working on a cure.  Their are higher beings as well as lower beings, and politics of the city are infiltrated too.  Some of the characters link back to Nazi's and prisoner of war camps of World War II so there are also historical and ancient artifacts and stories that the story links back to which is more interesting than the bog-standard zombie/vampire apocalypse type of program.  

I must admit, after the excitement of season 1 I was concerned about how season 2 would develop, as often you watch programs and series like this that can't really take the story any further and I wondered if it would be successful, or just disappointing.

Season 2 began hard and fast.  The morals of the scientists are put in question when they keep an old couple in quarantine for experimentation purposes who have been infected by the virus, and the master chooses to restore some life-like qualities to a zombie/vampire creature, like speech for instance, to the wife of one of the scientists, whose son has not forgiven him for shooting at his infected Mother and refuses to believe she is a lost cause.  Two men in particular appear fully human and are able to string along gullible humans. One leads a class of blind children to their doom and they are infected, with heightened smelling senses and are led by the scientists wife - she sets them on their first task to find her son through the sense of smell.  These are frightening characters because nobody wants to start assassinating children, but their heightened senses give them a more animalistic and horrifying existence.  The children were carefully targeted for this specific role for the bad guys, and the mother, pining for her own son was chosen to lead them.  Not all of the children were blind from from birth and she carefully inspects each one and breaks the neck of those not fitting into this criteria.  The act of a mother killing a child (her own or not) is monstrous within itself but it cleverly suggests the idea that the selection process is severe, and any sign of weakness is not tolerated for tasks that the master sets his army.  The master has mind control over all of the infected creatures too and they can communicate in a telepathic way too so the fight against him is risky and difficult.  

This is just the story so far, and it's safe to say that I am definitely looking forward to the next episode and to see what the rest of the season brings.  It's definitely worth a watch if you enjoy that sort of thing.

The Strain is on Wednesday, on Watch, at 10:15pm (in the UK)

If you are watching it already, or have watched it, comment and let me know your views.  Maybe you liked it, maybe you didn't!  Either way, I would love to hear your views.  

Oh, and if you haven't checked out this week's linky yet click Funny Family Friday Week 1

Laters, Janet :)