When Jim finally bites the big one, though, it doesn’t feel like a cheap shock. After he’s infected, Eph and Nora try to save him by cutting the worm out before it can reproduce. At first, their impromptu operation appears to have worked, but it’s eventually seen that they were too late, and Jim is being overrun from within. The hopelessness of that revelation – which hits hard visually as well – allows for some great dramatic acting from Corey Stoll, Mia Maestro and Astin, the likes of which we haven’t seen too much so far. And Jim’s declaration that he’d rather die than turn into a strigoi is a genuinely heroic, redeeming moment for him.
I won’t dwell on the weaknesses of this week’s episode. That Velders is still around surprises me, and none of the other people in the convenience store leave the slightest of impressions, which feels like a missed opportunity. Additionally, it’s strange that the vamps didn’t try to break in more quickly, especially with some of their targets distracted by Jim’s infection. And it would have been nice to see those SWAT strigoi again. Next week, I suppose.
We’re now in the second half of The Strain‘s first season, and that Vasiliy has finally landed on the same page as the other main characters should make for some exciting stories to come. His use of Molotov cocktails in the group’s eventual escape from the convenience store is awesome to watch, and his exchanges with Setrakian are just as deliciously cool as you’d expect. Honestly, The Strain could be built just around those two characters, and it would probably be just as enjoyable, if not moreso.
At its best, “Creatures of the Night” evokes The Mist and even Night of the Living Dead in places (the way in which the strigoi stagger around outside the gas station almost makes them seem more zombie-esque than vampiric). It doesn’t always sustain that suspense, and lines of dialogue occasionally fall flat, but there’s nothing on TV right now that’s as much fun to watch as The Strain. It has improved tremendously over the course of the season by embracing its horror roots, and I’m looking forward to watching where it goes next.