S01.E02: The Box

[Tara Ariano]

Strange symptoms begin to show in the four survivors. Meanwhile, Setrakian gets a surprise visitor.

[AimingforYoko]

Man, Eichorst leaves no doubt who the bad guys are, does he? He needs to be intimately reacquainted with Sgt. Donowitz's Louisville Slugger.

[Valny]

OMG, enough of the Ephraim family crap. Is it somehow going to come into play later on because it's bor-ing.

 

I was really hoping the little girl's tongue was going to whip out and get her father and it actually happened! That was pretty awesome. That was some huge tongue she had there, wasn't expecting that thick.

Edited July 21, 2014 by Valny

[Primetimer]

With so many characters, we could only rank the top 20.

Read the story

[Valny]

With so many characters, we could only rank the top 20.

http://previously.tv/the-strain/whos-winning-the-first-innings-of-the-vampire-war/"> Read the story

Holy crap, I hardly know any of those names. Thanks for naming them! Not that I'm going actually remember them.

[Rhetorica]

Vambies I can put with. Stupid people, no so much. And this show has more than enough stupid people. It's like the writers are just checking boxes. Nazis, check. Bitch lawyer, check. Wimpy step-dad, check. Clueless Dad, check. Alcoholic, check. Shady politician, check... I had high hopes so I'll give it one more episode. 

[Gregg247]

The situation with the coroner from last week's episode:

 

He's the Chief Medical Examiner for New York (maybe "just" Manhattan?), who's given all 200+ dead bodies from a possible disease outbreak; at the very least, from a massive, world-wide news story.

 

For one ENTIRE day, no one goes down to the Morgue for any reason whatsoever.  No employees show up.  No one from the police or DA show up, looking for autopsy findings on current (non-plane related) cases.  No other people in all of Manhattan die that day, so there are no "deliveries" from ambulance drivers.  Nobody finds it odd that no one answers the telephone down there.  None of the families of the 200+ victims from the plane call about having the bodies of loved ones released for burial.  No news reporters call about the autopsy findings (to confirm that they all dies from "smoke inhalation").

 

Thank goodness "Ef" decided to show up and take a look around!

 

I love the premise of this show, but, man, they're killing me with these massive plot holes and sloppy writing!

[Omar G.]

Holy crap, I hardly know any of those names. Thanks for naming them! Not that I'm going actually remember them.

We'll make sure to keep the story online for future reference.

[beedub]

"Papa, j'ai froid. Et aussi... je veux boire votre sang." (Translation: "Can I show you how sick to death I am of the Lion King?")

 

Wimpy step-dad, check. Clueless Dad, check. Alcoholic, check.

 

Those are all the same guy, right?

Edited July 21, 2014 by beedub

[thuganomics85]

Dammit, show!  Only one scene with Abraham?  If I'm going to stick with this show, I expect plenty of scenery chewing from David Bradley!  That better be fixed by next week!

 

So, Kevin Durand's character shows up this time.  I get that he's a pest control guy of some kind, but was he suppose to be Russian or something?  I couldn't figure out his accent.  But, I guess he'll somehow get involved in this story'; maybe the rats start freaking out when shit goes down?

 

Christ, I really do like Corey Stoll, but Ephraim is still such an underwhelming lead.  I can take characters who act like dicks, but I just find all his stuff involving his family a bore, and, that, I don't like.  Also could care less about his relationship with Dr. Martinez.  I wonder if there will be any more to her, besides love interest.  Dr. Sean Astin is still around at least, but he didn't do too much.

 

Basically, it looks like the four "survivors" have some of those bugs in them, and have acquired the taste for bloods.  Vampires! Meanwhile, I'm guessing those who die end up like that girl, and acquire badass tongues, that drain their victims or something. Either way, Zombies!  Sort of...

 

Shady Jonathan Hyde meeting up with Head Vampire, whose apparently bald and ugly, judging from Hyde's face.  Not too surprising.

[mizminnie]

I really don't get WHY they are bothering with this ridiculous wig. WHY? That is Corey Stoll, he is hot. That is the man who managed to pull off that horrible Pornstache in Law & Order: L.A. ...and was the ONLY reason I bothered to watch that mess. He does not NEED the wig. Does it explicitely state that his character HAS to have hair in the books? Does the fact that he has hair save his live or somebody elses later on? Is his hair the cure? If not .... dear producer: Get rid off that wig, nobody takes it seriously. Let Eph shave his head and let Stoll just be the hairless hottie that he is. It's gonna improve your show about 50%

Rant over.

[LeighAnne]

"Holy crap, I hardly know any of those names. Thanks for naming them! Not that I'm going actually remember them."

 

I'm just going to start calling the Russian guy with all the weapons "Buffy Fet."

Edited July 21, 2014 by LeighAnne

[Eildosa]

I find the people in that show very dumb.

Can't the father see that it's daughter is super pale and has her eyes injected with blood? and that before she was in a plane where the CDC was called?

And the lawyer dining with the black metal guy. she can see that the eyes of the metal guy are full of blood, their both earing ringing and she has hallucinations and all she can think of it's :

 

Hey lets go back see my kids and my husband.....so that I can get them sick too and they will die.

 

They always make people behave like that in tv shows when their is an outbreak situation.

Would actually any of us behave like that? would you "just want to go back to your family" when you are sick with a deadly illness and contagious?

[vibeology]

I really don't get WHY they are bothering with this ridiculous wig. WHY? That is Corey Stoll, he is hot. That is the man who managed to pull off that horrible Pornstache in Law & Order: L.A. ...and was the ONLY reason I bothered to watch that mess. He does not NEED the wig. Does it explicitely state that his character HAS to have hair in the books? Does the fact that he has hair save his live or somebody elses later on? Is his hair the cure? If not .... dear producer: Get rid off that wig, nobody takes it seriously. Let Eph shave his head and let Stoll just be the hairless hottie that he is. It's gonna improve your show about 50%

Rant over.

 

I've never read the books, but I'm guessing based on the rocker and the daughter both loosing their hair that the toupee of awful is an actual plot point. I cheered when the rocker lost a chunk of hair because it meant the wig has a purpose. As long as Ef's hair isn't falling out he's still human, if it starts to fall out, vampire. Basically I've stopped cheering for humanity because non-awful toupee Corey Stoll is hot but now I understand why its there. 

[bosawks]

I would just like to say that this proves that when I was a little girl I was right to hate both shiny red dresses and baths.

[SimoneS]

I find the people in that show very dumb.

Can't the father see that it's daughter is super pale and has her eyes injected with blood? and that before she was in a plane where the CDC was called?

And the lawyer dining with the black metal guy. she can see that the eyes of the metal guy are full of blood, their both earing ringing and she has hallucinations and all she can think of it's :

 

Hey lets go back see my kids and my husband.....so that I can get them sick too and they will die.

 

They always make people behave like that in tv shows when their is an outbreak situation.

Would actually any of us behave like that? would you "just want to go back to your family" when you are sick with a deadly illness and contagious?

 

It was ridiculous and turned me off the show a bit. I was glad to see Regina King, but it was hard to believe that she did not notice how ill both her client and lawyer were looking. You would think she would insist that they call a private doctor even if he would not go to the hospital.

 

The pilot was the only one is acting like a real life person with a brain. He was concerned about the death of the passengers in his charge and realizing that something was wrong, he was willing to get medical treatment if it would help find out the truth.

 

I was surprised that they let the Latino guy be smart enough to run when he heard the noises coming from the box and did not open it up instead. 

Edited July 21, 2014 by SimoneS

[scarynikki12]

 

Does it explicitely state that his character HAS to have hair in the books?

Not to my recollection.  However,

the above spec is correct: these vampires lose their hair, unessential limbs (ears, nose, gender parts-all unnecessary for them), grow very pale, gain a six foot long tongue, and basically cease to look human beyond the basic outline.  I agree that Stoll shouldn't be wearing a wig (closely cropped hair would do just fine-see Gus) but, for now, it's likely meant to differentiate him from the hairless monsters he'll be facing.

[shrewd.buddha]

Wow. That was a really slow episode. I can seen now why this was dumped into the death valley of summer viewing.

 

Keeping my interest up is becoming quite the strain ..

 

And at the end of the hour they are only just getting around to finding out what happened to the coroner. All that wasted time with What-the-Eph visiting his son, the Russian health inspector cop pulling rats out of bags, and the dinner conversation with two of the survivors... If this is going to be the weekly routine, I will probably just record it all and fast forward though a lot of it. (If there is an actual custody hearing with What-the-Eph, then I am totally out of watching live.)

 

Come on show, get on with it already.

Edited July 21, 2014 by shrewd.buddha

[questionfear]

Does anyone else think the name "Eldritch Palmer" is a shout out to the Philip K Dick book "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch"? It's too odd of a name not to be on purpose.

[beedub]

 Dr. Sean Astin is still around at least, but he didn't do too much.

Actually, he was quite productive. He brought up some interesting... points.

The other three survivors might normally be forgiven for brushing off some annoying symptoms and going back to their loved ones (or in the case of the rock star, his loved ones for that night), if it weren't for the facts that a) everyone else on their flight was (declared) dead, b) the CDC had wanted them quarantined, and c) two of them were discussing having the exact same symptoms! You could put that down to the fact that they are shown to be self-absorbed assholes. But more likely the virus is demonstrating its will to survive and spread by influencing their behaviour accordingly. At least that better be the reason!

[Bruinsfan]

Would actually any of us behave like that? would you "just want to go back to your family" when you are sick with a deadly illness and contagious?

I normally avoid visiting my family when I have a sore throat or cold to keep them from catching it, so I'm thinking a big fat no to seeing them just after arriving on a quarrantined flight that killed 98% of my fellow passengers and gave me tinnitus, unexpected bleeding, and the complexion of modeling clay.

[DrLar]

So I imagined the rest of the "Vombies" went back home like the little girl, right?

The scene with the little girl so cringe worthy, not many things make me squirm that much..

[Iamsweetdee]

Damn Hollywood, this is what you give Regina King? 

[Latverian Diplomat]

The pilot was the only one is acting like a real life person with a brain. He was concerned about the death of the passengers in his charge and realizing that something was wrong, he was willing to get medical treatment if it would help find out the truth.

 

I was surprised that they let the Latino guy be smart enough to run when he heard the noises coming from the box and did not open it up instead. 

Yes. In the first episode, they went from making small mistakes because they didn't know what they were dealing with to, in this episode, the sudden emergence of widespread criminal negligence from everyone except the pilot and Eph and lovely assistant. For example, there is no way the NTSB would declare a finding on the cause that quickly with with no evidence other than the company's mea culpa. Even the pilot, with his, "they had suits and badges, but I didn't get the name of their agency" was hilariously dumb about that. If the vompire master plan requires such convenient idiocy on the part of the humans, it wasn't much of a plan.

Edited July 23, 2014 by Latverian Diplomat

[DrLar]

Why the Eph is he driving an SVU with a right side steering wheel? aren't those SUV's available with left side?

 

Is this Del Toro's doing or the main actor?

[AuntiePam]

I don't know why, but I'm okay with all the stupid in this show, and the cliches.  I really think it's the production values -- the places all look like real places, lived in, used.  (I think I said the same thing last week.)  It also helps that the actors aren't winking -- they're taking it seriously. 

 

The best part of apocalypse shows is usually the set-up anyway -- the initial mystery, the spread of whatever it is, the panic, the reactions.

 

It does make me wonder how high up the conspiracy goes.  The HHS secretary has to know her life is in danger, and the lives of everyone she knows.  Has she been promised immortality too?

[PaperTiger]

Damn Hollywood, this is what you give Regina King?

This, so much this.

I was surprised that they let the Latino guy be smart enough to run when he heard the noises coming from the box and did not open it up instead.

I loved that.

[vibeology]

So I imagined the rest of the "Vombies" went back home like the little girl, right?

 

The thing I'm trying to figure out is where did the tourists go after they left the morgue? There's no way everyone on that plane was travelling home to NYC, lots of people would have been going on a trip. So where did they go? Are they just wandering around the city with their chest cavities open? How has no one seen them? They they show up at their hotels to keep their reservations? I'm guessing the show is never going to address this, but its bugging me.

[Rickster]

Supposedly it was del Toro's idea for the hairpiece, because "that was the way he pictured the character"

Right hand drive on the car? Probably to show us the lead is a quirky independent guy who doesn't follow the rules and buys his cars from the UK.

[bosawks]

Supposedly it was del Toro's idea for the hairpiece, because "that was the way he pictured the character"

Right hand drive on the car? Probably to show us the lead is a quirky independent guy who doesn't follow the rules and buys his cars from the UK.

 

Or that he's a pretentious dick......

[DrLar]

No wonder he got his arse divorced... 

[Bruinsfan]

Supposedly it was del Toro's idea for the hairpiece, because "that was the way he pictured the character"

Being ridden by a porcupine?

[Tippi Blevins]

I read somewhere there's a reason for the "hair," but there can't be a (good) reason for why it has to look so awful. Surely wig technology has advanced to the point where Corey Stoll doesn't have to look like his scalp is being humped by a mongoose.

 

Eph's custody stuff, his AA meeting... I would almost rather be infested by vampire worms.

 

I didn't really have a problem with Snitty Lawyer and Pretentious Rocker wanting to go home or bang some groupies. The parasites could be driving them to infect others and overriding their common sense, if they had any to begin with. 

 

Did Pretentious Rocker fail to get a boner because he no longer has a functioning circulatory system?

[DrLar]

Yeah unlike other vampires from other series/movies that seem to have unlimited sex potency, at least a bit more "realistic" LOL

[Hanahope]

Yeah, I figured out the reason Corey Stall had hair right after they showed both the rocker and the girl losing theirs.

It looked like the "tongue" that came out of the girls mouth was like a big worm. So I guess the "dead" passengers 'tongue' their victims, the "survivors" bite theirs? It still looks like the survivors are different from the non-survivors, at least in brain functioning. I wonder if their victims will become whatever it was that infected them (and if the one girl will now be a vampire).

I thought Gus gained points for running when the box shook, rather than act like a stupid moron by opening the scary scary box in a dark garage all by himself. He keeps acting smart, he may end up being one of the real survivors.

I can't believe the pilot just let some unknown agency put a huge scary looking box on his plane. At a minimum, you'd think he'd say, "well, I contacted my supervisor/manager and was specifically instructed to allow it."

Agreed that it was stupidly incredible that no one over an entire day would realize there was a problem with the morgue. I mean really?

[Nutjob]

So I guess the "dead" passengers 'tongue' their victims, the "survivors" bite theirs? It still looks like the survivors are different from the non-survivors, at least in brain functioning.

That, or the survivors are slowly turning and just haven't developed the tongue yet, but are getting the bloodlust. The appendage in question reminds me of the Aswang from Filipino folklore.

 

Man, the Commodore was working overtime in this episode to try and steal scenes from Corey Stoll. It looked different in each one... while it is applied well, whoever is wrangling it isn't doing a consistent job.

[90PercentGravity]

Despite the problems, I find it thoroughly entertaining. I'm engaged enough that I don't even notice the stupid stuff until it's over and by then I don't care. The only thing that really bothered me in this episode was the horrible dialogue in the jail scenes.

[MrsRafaelBarba]

I want Mia Maestro to go FAR FAR AWAY!

[shapeshifter]

I've never read the books, but I'm guessing based on the rocker and the daughter both loosing their hair that the toupee of awful is an actual plot point. I cheered when the rocker lost a chunk of hair because it meant the wig has a purpose. As long as Ef's hair isn't falling out he's still human, if it starts to fall out, vampire. Basically I've stopped cheering for humanity because non-awful toupee Corey Stoll is hot but now I understand why its there.

Okay, but...

I was surprised that they let the Latino guy be smart enough to run when he heard the noises coming from the box and did not open it up instead.I loved that.

This guy was the highlight of the show. I loved the way he quickly opened the door, rolled under it, and ran away fast enough that we believed he escaped. And he loves his mommy.

And...he had almost shaved hair. Can't Eph do that? The shaved head that shows he still has hair, I mean.

[Bruinsfan]

I imagine it'd be a lot harder to fake stubble or a buzzcut on someone who's actually bald than just giving them a full hairpiece. We could be making fun of hair drawn on with a sharpie instead of a bad wig...

[NyteEverto]

I find the people in that show very dumb.

Can't the father see that it's daughter is super pale and has her eyes injected with blood? and that before she was in a plane where the CDC was called?

And the lawyer dining with the black metal guy. she can see that the eyes of the metal guy are full of blood, their both earing ringing and she has hallucinations and all she can think of it's :

 

Hey lets go back see my kids and my husband.....so that I can get them sick too and they will die.

 

They always make people behave like that in tv shows when their is an outbreak situation.

Would actually any of us behave like that? would you "just want to go back to your family" when you are sick with a deadly illness and contagious?

Her aggravating behavior, well part of it, will come into the plot eventually. Should in the next episode or two,

 

But even having read the books and now watching the show.. I really have to wonder if del Toro or Hogan has something against women. Kelly is the epitome of an ungrateful wife with a self-absorbed complex.. a teacher that doesn't make nearly as much money as her husband, yet wants to keep the house, and the son, and is doing whatever she wants with it while Eph is still doing all he can to please her and PAYING on the house. A whole year of seperation and she's already having a new guy move in, while givin Eph mixed signals. Aside from having a job that's important, he obviously cares about his son, and his son respects and looks up to his father. He wasn't controlling of her, or to the point of an abusive drinker.. but still not good enough. Then there's her friend Debra, another narcissist with a petty, not really that important axe to grind with Eph. The lawyer is just a headstrong beech, without an ounce of common sense, trying to threaten others into getting her way when obviously, the best thing to do would be a quarantine. And then there's the one character not in the book but basically said "We're letting them go, we made up this cover story". ...really hoping they die and horrifically. Even Nora, the one likeable female character, is still blemished because she was all for having an affair with a married man while she knew he was hoping to work things out with Kelly. Not that that makes Eph any better but its just the female formula going on.

Edited July 26, 2014 by NyteEverto

[Arynm]

Ephs wife really gets on my nerves. I can't believe that she has not only let that man move into the house that her (still) husband is paying for, He is turning Ephs study into a media room! I have to say, I don't think she is going to come back to him under any circumstances. I hope he understands that.  Is she just going to kick her new sidepiece to the curb, and let Eph move back in? So strange. The friend was pretty nasty, you never talk badly about a separated friends spouse, when they get back together, you look like an ass. Love the rest of the show, but I think we are stuck with this plotline, I was reading an interview and the writer? made a point to mention that it was a season long plot device. Sigh.

[meep.meep]

I watched this late so....I find that I'm enjoying the show (if not thinking about it so as to miss the plot contrivances), but every time the big bad in the hooded brown bathrobe shows up, I can't stop laughing.  Really? A big brown velour bathrobe?

[Mor]

I find the people in that show very dumb.

Can't the father see that it's daughter is super pale and has her eyes injected with blood? and that before she was in a plane where the CDC was called?

[..]

If you are watching a show about vampires, you have to allow certain details to go un-noticed. Its not that the father didn't noticed its that he didn't want too i.e. we are motivated by love line, and his scene at the air-port consumed by the thought of his daughter just wanting to see her dead or alive.

What I did find ridicules, is the old man who is smart enough to skip a security check at the airport, to get to talk with the person in charge but offered nothing but mad ramblings. Then in this episodes he again offers NOTHING intelligible, telling them that they are not read.

Of course they are not ready! no one sane will entertain the idea of vampires, but he don't need to say vampires, just want them that there are parasites which inhibit a human host and thus everyone( dead or alive) on board that plane had to be quarantined and watched.(drop in few clues about their reaction to blood) It would have helped focus the investigation (especially once they found the parasites on board) and the existence of foreign bodies would have required quarantine...

[korinogaro]

This show is retarded in so many ways... "Don't you know? They said on TV that reason why 200 people died was CO poisoning, we are going home". Guy from CDC who saw probably more dead people than average graveyard says: "Do you believe in everything on TV?". Really? This is his first response? He saw hatch bent and burst open from the inside, some weird sh*t all over the place, guy with smashed head and this weird sh*t on him, weird coffin that was not on the flight list "flying" from warehouse. He learned that all bodies have weird cuts and holes that look like nothing that coroner ever saw.