TV Review: THE STRAIN: Season 1, Episode 6: Occultation [FX]

FX’s The Strain Occultation TV Show Review. The Strain: Season 1, Episode 6: Occultation featured padded walls, a strange Lunar Eclipse and the stench of the undead…well kind of. Episode 6 lands upon us like an out of control storm. Things are moving fast and the body count is rising.

Thomas Eichorst (Richard Sammel) enters a room with wall-to-wall padding and an interesting feeding alter in the center of the space. He is also no longer hiding who he really is and looks very thirsty. Across from him in shackles, a panicked male awaits his fate. The poor fellow, stares in helpless bewilderment at his estranged host. This Acolyte has many tricks up his sleeves and in this brief scene he shows us he can calmly deliver deadly dialogue and suck with style. The makeup and tone in this scene really sets this episode off.

Meanwhile, Two FBI agents drop in on Ephraim’s ex wife. Kelly Goodweather (Natalie Brown), deals with them accordingly till her boyfriend Matt Sayles (Drew Nelson) sticks his nose in and takes their business card. After they leave, Ephraim Goodweather (Corey Stoll) slips in the house and begs Kelly to take their son and leave town. Not fully buying his story they go back and forth just long enough for the FBI to return. Matt gets to play hero briefly as Ephraim is carted off in handcuffs.

Vasilly Fet (Kevin Durand), still shaken from his encounter with the infected folks down in the sewer, takes time to do some sketches. He returns to work to find his co-workers have been infected forcing him to pull a sunshine move on them. This one hurts and prompts him to pay a visit to his parents. Apparently he hasn’t seen his father in a long time and he is still a disappointment in his eyes. After an informative dialogue about their past, Vasilly warns his father to leave town. He exits on a somber note, one that suggests this may be the last time they see one another.

Augustin “Gus” Elizalde (Miguel Gomez) finds out the hard way some people can’t take no for an answer. While in a sparring session, a well-dressed man arrives with a firearm to persuade Gus to meet with Eichorst to discuss another job. Gus brings his heavyset friend assuming he will strong arm Eichorst. An altercation quickly spins out of control and Gus finds out…Eichorst is something else. Needless to say, he quickly agrees to do the job.

Abraham Setrakian (David Bradley) arrives at another home armed with his list and sword. This gritty man has no “rewind” or “stop” button. He proceeds to enter the home and after a brief stroll through the Dining Room, he finds the basement and the fight of his life! A group of infected folks are huddled down in the darkness and Abraham crashes their party. After smoothly beheading one of them, things take a quick turn for the worse as Abraham’s heart rate increases and he drops his pills. He scuttles back up the stairs and the Sun covers his tracks. The close call causes him to burn down the house!

After getting roughed up by the FBI agents, Ephraim tells the men he will take them to the bodies. The three hit the road and land smack dab in the middle of the Lunar Eclipse. Chaos has hit the streets and both agents lose their lives while getting caught up in it. Ephraim uses this opportunity to make a mad dash to Abraham’s Pawn Shop. To his surprise Abraham, Dr. Nora Martinez (Mia Maestro) and her mother are all there. With his team fully assembled, Abraham looks at them and announces he has a new plan.

Actor / Director Peter Weller, is truly turning out some fantastic work on this series. He is the perfect director for this show. Notice the pacing and seriousness of the tone the actors are setting.

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