S02.E13: Night Train

[MrsRafaelBarba]

Nora and Fet would've loved each other, the way both deserved.

Both good hearted and loyal to whom they care about.

Equally committed to the fight, to save humanity.

Neither one needing to be the smartest person in the room, at all times.

:looking at you Eph:

FUCK YOU Carlton Cuse.

[diebartdie]

So Eichorst easily moves around during the day (see for instance the auction, that was broad daylight and Eichorst strolled right in the front door) so that makes it even more nonsensical for "The Master" (putting quotes there because what is he the master of really?) to not just go on and turn Palmer. 

[CletusMusashi]

I also don't see, if Abraham is allowed to show up with Fet, why Eichorst couldn't just show up with his business associate Simon Bolivar. The two of them could easily use super-speed to kill all the mooks, then make Creem tell them where the book is. A few episodes ago, they knew how to do that trick. Now, they just think.. what? That if someday somebody makes a TV show about their adventures, that doing the same thing twice might be boring? I wish they'd decided that about the Zach-napping.

[Tara Ariano]

In case you missed it, here's the Previously.TV post on the episode!

 

The Strain Finally Arrives At The Vampire Fireworks Factory
Maybe The Strain should have spread some of those bottle rockets out earlier in the season.

[tennisgurl]

I hope you get eaten by your stupid vampire mom, Zach. You little super shit. 

 

Poor poor Nora. You deserved so much better. 

[Canada]

I feel like we could have cut out 90% of the season and this episode could have been episode number 3 or 4.  Really, that's how much happened this season, or didn't happen.  I really hope next season starts out good or I won't be able to watch.

[ratgirlagogo]

 

I feel like we could have cut out 90% of the season and this episode could have been episode number 3 or 4.

Precisely.  Everything dragging on forever, so many story lines undeveloped.

 

I'd also add that one thing I did like a lot about this season were the flashback sequences.  But in almost every case they had so little to do with what ended up happening in the present day storylines.  Silver Angel stalled out completely, I have bitched about this at length.  We already have a great backstory for Eichorst/Setrakian, and Eichorst's Betrayal of his Jewish Love Interest added a little fillip of characterization.  But - while I wasn't offended by the attempted rape storyline I see now that it was another timewaster episode in terms of moving things along - it shouldn't have been an entire episode, just a storyline within one.  

 

Worst in a lot of ways were Quinlan and Sardu.  Quinlan has just been popping up here and there without actually getting anything done - and I am disappointed we didn't see more of Sardu since this is the Master's origin story.  I would have been happy to see more flashbacks of Quinlan and Sardu.

Edited October 11, 2015 by ratgirlagogo

[Anela]

That was disappointing. I'd read spoilers about the books, last year, and knew that something would happen with Zach, but didn't pay attention as to how it happened. I only read the first book.

 

I wasn't really putting people together in my mind, but Nora and Fet would have been good together. I wasn't expecting them to kill Nora.

I also wondered where Dutch was.

[paramitch]

Did anyone else have trouble seeing what was actually happening when Kelly bit Nora? To be honest, I thought she'd simply broken her wrist. I saw the tongue triple-wrap Nora's wrist (which I found a bit over the top in terms of believability), and Nora kind of acting in pain, but there was none of the glug-glug sound effect we usually get when the vamps drink, nor did the tongue do that stuff that it does when they drink.

So when Eph found Nora, I was utterly perplexed that she was infected. And then perplexed again when she killed herself (because it looked to me at first like she was attempting to decapitate herself (which -- not gonna happen).

 

So that was weird.

 

Which made it even worse when I realized that Zach had caused Nora to die, knew that Kelly was killing Nora, and then walked off with vamp Mom without even looking that regretful or conflicted. It doesn't help that Zach is the Worst, but the kid who played him this season also just seemed to choose to play everything with this mean, smirky expression. Like others commented, I don't know if he's being directed that way, but -- ugh.

 

Although I do want to give Natalie Brown, the actress who plays Kelly props. I always feel like she's one of the best and most subtle actors on the show (and to this day one of the strongest for me was the surprisingly subtle and moving episode in which Kelly was infected).

 

It had some strong moments (as well as its usual WTF moments, like Nora leading Zach AWAY from the crowds of train passengers), but the female aspects of this episode were really disappointing. I agree with the PTV recap that the arguably two strongest female characters of the season (Dutch and Justine) were conspicuously absent, Nora and Coco get killed for manpain moments (although Coco was so badly written it was good riddance), Abe spent half a season with a case of the stupids, and even Quinlan continued to feel like a series of cameos to me.

I'll probably still watch next season, but if it disintegrates into endless scenes of Eph screaming WAAAAALT! -- I mean -- ZAAAAAACH! -- I'm out.

[Vodka]

Nora died?!? Cool. I never liked the character and characters I hate tend to survive.

(I stopped watching several episodes ago and just scan the forums.)

[maczero]

I wonder what would happen if someone were to watch only the first episode of this season and the last.  Would they be lost?  Feel like they missed anything?  The plot 'movement' here seems worse than a daytime soap.

I'm pretty sure they would be lost.  A lot has happened over two seasons.  Several regulars have died, the vamp apocalypse has started, new characters have joined the fight, there's a new master etc.

Nora, you were always the nice one, but it was very cruel of you to lie to Eph before you died. Kelly did not "take Zach away" at all. You should've gone out shouting the truth to Eph. You, know.....something more along the lines of, "I had Kelly dead-to-rites and told Zach to run, but he tried to get me to stop and that's when KELLY INFECTED ME because I was distracted. Then, as I laid here slowly dying I watched your little shit of a kid (who I was trying to protect) actively speak to and then embrace Kelly. Then, they walked away holding hands as I pleaded with him to stop. So, you know what you can do to make this ok, Eph? Find your idiot wife and your waste of a child, who constantly put our group in danger, and kill those assholes."

Too funny!  I wish more characters would stop being noble in their dying moments and express this kind of bitterness.

 

I also don't understand why The Master doesn't just kill Palmer and take his money, but whatever.

Unless Palmer keeps his money in a Scrooge McDuck money bin, there's no way they're taking his money.  Although, it does beg the question of why doesn't the Master just turn Palmer and make him do his bidding.  I'm wondering if it's because a turned Palmer wouldn't be intelligent enough to be of use to him.  Kelly doesn't seem to be much more than childlike in her reasoning.  Although that doesn't explain why Eichorst seems to have retained all of his intelligence and personality.  

[xaxat]

Unless Palmer keeps his money in a Scrooge McDuck money bin. . . 

 

There is a passing resemblance. . . . 

[SimoneS]

The actress who played Nora was on Scandal last night. For a moment, I was confused and did not get why Nora was in a completely different universe. Ha.

[alina]

I hate what the writers did with Coco and Palmer in the final! They made them total fools with no survival instinct! -_-

 

And, oh my God, what happened to Coco? She was a sweet, kind, cheerful and altruistic girl all season, but in the end she without any reason to become selfish bitch. 0___0 !!! What a waste of a good character potential and what a waste of a great Lizzie's acting! I love that her feelings to Palmer were sincere  (she is not a golddigger, calm down haters), but the rest of her storyline disappoints.

They could do with her character, anything!

-She could be a secret agent
-or reporter
-She could get away from Palmer and join the good guys
-Or she could try to lure Palmer to the "light side". After all she made him more human than he ever was
-In the end, they could give her a truly tragic death! But no!
I hate the writers for their laziness!

 

I very much hope that Coco will appear in the third season as a ghost / memories / hallucination / dream, and we will get the answer, what happened to her after Master gave her his blood.

Edited November 2, 2015 by alina