The Strain: Season 3

Directors: Various

First aired: 2016

Contains spoilers

It is true to say that I fell behind with the Strain, having watched Season 1 and Season 2 this season just seemed to slip off radar for some reason.

That has been made up for and I did really enjoy this third outing into the world based on the books by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan. I say based on because, more and more, the seasons slipped away from the exact story – keeping the shape but not the detail. This was a deliberate move to keep those who had read the books engaged, I understand, and it works. No character is safe, no character sacrosanct (though perhaps not to the standard of the Walking Dead).

Fet and Dutch

In looking at Season 2 I complained that things felt too stretched out but the balance was that much better in this season with a real sense that society was crumbling and a ride along with those trying to prevent its decent into chaos by any means necessary (in stories that were new to the reader of the novels). As such this worked well. Further, a sidelining of one of the more annoying characters and some deliberate focusing on better characters (specifically the backstory material for the born strigoï Quinlan (Rupert Penry-Jones)) helped carry the viewer along.

core anatomy

There is little to say about the core lore that hasn't been covered in previous reviews – however this season did introduce us in detail to strigoï anatomy – and we get to see how (physically) they are able to hive mind (through a concentrated ball of blood worms in the brain) though ultimately this is a physical manifestation of the supernatural. With the season ending on a cliffhanging plunge into disaster, the dark hue of the programme’s heart is well and truly on show. 7.5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.