Steve’s Opinion: The Strain

Bioterror meets Vampire and they have an apocalypse baby.

For those of you who’ve stopped by my blog before, this may seem like a departure from my norm, and you’d be right. Often I use this forum as a place to share thoughts and perspectives about life, and in that regard this is much the same. I do most of my media absorption through a screen rather than the pages of a book, as such, I have a number of opinions about movies, TV series, anime, and various games. This is the first of my ‘Steve’s Opinion’ aka ‘SO: insert topic’ blog, but hopefully you’ll enjoy. Be aware, there may be some spoilers.

I’ll give most anything vampire related a look over, and while I haven’t finished the series yet, I’d wager I’m only missing the last half of the final book turned TV series. I’m waiting on Hulu to acquire that last portion at this point, rather than standing on this cliff by choice (and no, I’m not motivated enough to hunt it down elsewhere). The series could’ve ended at the moment I’m currently stuck on, and I’m not sure if the remainder is going to change my opinion much from where it’s taken root.

Let’s start at the beginning, shall we? CDC and other authority agencies put ego on display during a suspicious event, vampiric influences allow corruption and greed to work to their advantage and slip through whatever supposed security humanity might have to offer. Principle characters have their own motivations and personalities, but the only characters that resonated with me in the first season were Vasiliy (the rat catcher) and Zack (the son of a couple going through a divorce). I thought the opening scene with Abraham was cool, and they didn’t need to do much after he sits down next to a disembodied heart, it was clear he lost someone he loved to the plague that had returned to his doorstep.

The cannon fodder dregs of the vampire apocalypse make fair extras in any zombie story, although most are a bit faster and more lethal, since getting their blood on you can propagate infection. Most of the infected are feral monsters, young and savage, but some are given greater mental capacity at the will of the progenitor of the plague. I like this angle, making vampires all about the thirst, and having only a precious few retain cunning and guile. In time, the antagonists evolve, attaining more human qualities, yet still seeming enslaved by the sickness. Those given more autonomy, however, made me wonder who the real monsters were.

As the story progressed, my connection to the humans rapidly waned. I found myself begging the author to murder some of the protagonists for various reasons, but I stuck with it and still intend to. I might be rooting for the ‘wrong team’ at this point, but both sides of the conflict are genocidal maniacs. I hope there is more information about the origin of the ancients and their Strain, and the remainder of the show isn’t just a sequence of pitched battles as humanity tries to hold on, but time will tell. Kudos for reimagining the vampire lore and twisting it up together with modern fears of corporate corruption and biological terrorism, and further accolades for keeping the vampires full on monsters, yet making me hope they win.