TV Show Review

TV Review: THE STRAIN: Season 2, Episode 4: The Silver Angel [FX]

Augustin Elizalde The Strain

FX’s The Strain The Silver Angel TV Show Review. The Strain: Season 2, Episode 4: The Silver Angel, offers vintage luchador action and a possible new crew structure. Stock reporter discovers how The Master (Robert Maillet) plans to use WiFi to recruit conspiracy theorists to his horde of minions.

I have followed Guillermo del Toro’s career for some years now and I knew it would only be a matter of time before he brought out all his closet machinations. Angel de Plata vs. The Vampires? Though the 5 minute black and white intro was a play out of left field, I enjoyed it. This is also another signal that viewers may get a lot more from Guillermo’s creative side. Season one appears to be just a launching pad.

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The field trip with Ephraim Goodweather (Corey Stoll), Dr. Nora Martinez (Mia Maestro) and Vasilly Fet (Kevin Durand), will long be remembered as the first major blow to the virus. Using the infected couple and coming up with a possible effective bio-weapon, was dark and brilliant! Getting Vasilly to roll with them while they follow the test subject was a great play. Even Vasilly finds this plan of action to be extreme. The new season brings into play another level of gore. The Master’s way of dealing with infected strigoi was pretty blunt but effective as well. It will be very interesting to see how this plays out. He will know when his creatures are infected and will kill them to put a stop to it. The team will need another delivery system that can affect more than a handful at a time.

I was wondering how the luchador vs vampires opening would play into all of this and now I have my answer. Augustin Elizalde (Miguel Gomez), seems to be lost after watching his crew get vaporized. He is a lost man without an instruction sheet. The good thing is he was trained and has a better idea of what is going on. Stumbling into a restaurant Angel Hurtado (Joaquin Coslo) is employed at and making him as the actor who played Angel del Plata, was solid. Gus needs to put together a new crew and a seasoned luchador who used to kill vampires is a good start. His bad knee could pose a problem but there is other conflict that will keep the two from teaming up. Aanya Gupta (Parvenu Kuar) seems to fall for Gus the moment he enters the restaurant. The possibility of Gus getting some action is good when you consider he lost his family and is trying to make things right. Angel has appointed himself watchdog over Aanya and this will prove to be good tension as this new angel develops. Could be a fun team up but Angel does have a bad knee, that won’t play well in a big fight.

The relationship between Abraham Setrakian (David Bradley) and Dutch Velders (Ruta Gedmintas) seems to be taking the high road. When Abraham takes her suggestion and they get a face to face with Mr. Fitzwilliam (Roger Cross), the playing field becomes one step closer to being leveled. Fitzwilliam is still holding back for some odd reason. We may have to wait and see his back-story to understand why he won’t help defeat Eldritch Palmer (Jonathan Hyde) and The Master. He is no longer employed by the man…maybe he still has his medical and dental plan in place and doesn’t want to ruin it. Either way, he looks like he is about to join their ranks and get involved. The guilt is going to kill the poor bloke otherwise.

I get the feeling we may be seeing the last few episodes where Ephraim will get to spend time with his son. He is a brilliant man when it comes to handling matters in his field. When it comes to being a father…he is clueless. Zach (Max Charles) is showing that he is really being affected by the situation with his mother. His anger towards his father is growing…he is even listening to Gabriel Bolivar (Jack Kesy) music. Ephraim has missed many opportunities to try and get this child to understand what they are facing. By taking short cuts and getting frustrated, he has created a gap between them. The scene at the batting cage was brilliant. He is losing his son and Kelly Goodweather (Natalie Brown) is hot on their trail. It’s hard to tell what will happen when they all hook up but you can bet it will not be nice. The Master is making a solid attempt to get back at Ephraim and Abraham. Such a great play and Ephraim is already drinking again. The next episode should open with a bang!

Leave your thoughts on this review and this episode of The Strain below in the comments section. For more The Strain reviews, photos, videos, and information, visit our The Strain Page, subscribe to us by Email, “follow” us on Twitter, Tumblr, Google+, or “like” us on Facebook.

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Brian Fire

Brian is a screenwriter and visual fx Artist who loves science fiction, drama and follows many TV shows. He is a versatile writer who is published and has written copy for: CompUsa, The California State Lottery and Princess Cruise lines. Every year he attends The Sundance Film Festival and the San Diego Comic Con filling up on his other passions…indie films, comic books and video games.
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