The Strain Recap S1E1: Night Zero

It’s the series we’ve been anticipating since the announcement, and its finally here. Will it live up to the hype and do the books justice is yet to be seen!

There is a hunger in the world that is rising, an unquenchable one, and it’s not human. A plane is preparing to land and everything seems quiet. And everything is relatively normal as the stewardess tells various passengers to turn off their electronics or put their chairs back in their upright positions. In the back of the plane, it’s a mess. The other steward is freaking out because he thinks he heard something moving in the cargo hold of the plane. He makes the woman investigate. She doesn’t see anything, but when she closes the hold, there’s clearly something inside, and it breaks out. What the hell is that?

On the ground the plane, they notice the plane has shut down, completely still on the runway, and Bishop goes to investigate before the first responders arrive. The plane is cold to the touch, like a dead animal. All of the window blinds are closed but one. The CDC is called. They’ve got a dead airplane.

In Astoria Queens. Ephraim from the CDC heads into the Family Counseling Center. His son, Zach is glad to see him and wishes him luck. He’s late. He’s been busy with the latest outbreak, but they aren’t cutting him any slack. He’s great at his job, Kelly tells him but he’s failing at everything else, not for lack of trying. He’s making changes, he’s quit drinking. His ex points out that her current excels at his job too, but he’s there for them all the time. Ephraim is willing to quit his job anything or his family. His phone rings off the hook, and she points out that that is the problem. He has to take it though, it’s about the plane. And to make matters worse, he’s gotten a parking ticket.

Ephraim arrives onsite. Over two hundred people have been sitting on that plane in complete silence for an hour. Ephraim cannot believe it. The landing took six minutes, and the onsite team thinks that the CDC should take a back seat to the investigation. Ephraim makes the men think about the fast spread of a virus, and makes them rethink being the first ones through the door.

Manhattan. A man comes into a pawn shop. He want to know if the man will buy something without a receipt, and pawn shop owner, Abraham Setrakian tells him that he’s always looking for good silver. He looks at the watch, and the man tries to steal from his cash box. Abraham grabs him through the glass and holds him by knifepoint. He makes the man rethink his life decisions, and his friend is forced to hand over his gun. The man steal something on his way out, but Abraham has a new gun. On the TV he hears about the dead plane, and he slides into his hidden room. Down the steps he goes, inside he has some nifty trinkets, including a pretty nice can sword. He knows something is back as he looks at a dead heart in chloroform. He’s unsure if he has the strength to do this again, but This time he vows not to fail. He opens the jar, and spills a few drops into the water. Little tentacles come out of the heart, and go crazy for the spilt blood.

Ephraim and Nora suit up and head into the plane. She tries to give him words of encouragement about his family situation, and realizes that he really knows little about women. Ephraim and Nora had inside. The plane is beyond dead. It looks as if every passenger, everyone on the plane is dead. There are no signs of struggle, agents or bruising. They check the readings, trying to finds some cause of death. Everyone looks to be asleep, all but the little girl. She has her eyes open. Ephraim checks her to find some clues, but it only leads to more questions. They use some UV lights, which shows some substance splattered throughout the cabin. One of the passengers twitch, not everyone is dead after all, but Ephraim and Nora don’t see the movement. Ephraim finds the cargo compartment open. It looks to be where the substance leads from. Inside, the substance is everywhere. Nora finds the cockpit open. She enters, and from her radio Jim tells her that she should not be inside, to get out of there, but she doesn’t listen. Jim notifies Ephraim. One of the pilot awakes, startling her, and as Ephraim rushes to her side, there are others awake. Jim prepares to call SWAT, but Ephraim orders paramedics for the survivors. He should have called SWAT, the survivors are gonna be a problem!

At the StoneHeart Group, Thomas Eichorst goes to the top lab and Eldritch Palmer. A line has been crossed that cannot be uncrossed Eldritch tells him, and Thomas likes the sound of that.

Ephraim shows Everett just how bad it is. The bodies are being bagged, tagged, and will be autopsied. The four survivors will be quarantined, but Everett wants to make certain that Ephraim is prepared to meet with the families. Everett is more concerned with public scare, than with potential outbreak.

Mrs. Lester is being less cooperative. She ‘s sealed into her own room, as all of the survivors are being kept separately. Ephraim and Nora question the survivors, trying to get any clues they can. They ask if there was a distinct smell or anything. The survivors want answers, but they have none. Ephraim gets called to look at something they found.

In the cargo hold there was an oddly carved box, its not on the manifest though. Standing it’s nine feet tall. Tony has it turned onto its side, and they open it. The chances of it loaded unchecked and unlisted are next to impossible. Nora sees that it has a latch on the inside. Ephraim wants to know who put this on the Plane.

The news continues to report about the airplane. Kelly and Zach watch the news unfold, while her boyfriend tries to get her attention elsewhere. Zach heads off to bed, but not before texting his father to check on him. He tries to assure his son that he’s fine. Nora prepares him to speak with the quarantined people’s families.

There’s no record of the box, and the air port where it originated from makes excuses why they can’t try to look into its origins. An Airport employee   hears some odd noises, and he goes to investigate. Passing through doors he finds a heap, and blood everywhere. The thing grabs him, draining the body, before violently smashing his head. In the cheesiest effect yet it runs out screeching into the night. The episode has been fantastic right up until that retreat.

Harlem, Manhattan. Thomas enlists the help of a gang to retrieve the box. The thugs big talk doesn’t faze him, and he gives the man his walking orders. He gives the man everything he needs to pull off the job. He’s used thug power before, but he needs to make sure that all instructions are followed, and to that end, he puts the man’s family on the line. He tries to walk away, and Thomas isn’t what he seems with an odd twitch of the eyes. Thomas convinces the man otherwise, and issues three rules. No opening the cargo, drive fast, and deliver before sunrise.

JFK airport. Abraham arrives to the chaotic scene. Families are fantic, Bolivar’s fan are chanting for him. Abraham zeroes in on Jim who is trying to coordinate security. From his pocket he pulls a medication vial to get close to Jim. The ruse works.

Everett gives Ephraim the passenger manifest and throws him into the lion’s den. The press close in hungry for any news. Ephraim begins the press conference. Kelly watches from home. The press all yell trying to get a question in, but he silences them. He’s not there for reassurances, but to deliver what he knows. 203 passengers are dead, and 4 are alive. They have no clue how they died, but that it looks like they died peacefully. One of the men punches Ephraim, he’s a distraught father. He wants to see his daughter. In 48 hours, more answers will be available.

Ephraim and Nora call the morgue for answers. The bodies haven’t been processed yet, but he’s found an incision in one of the necks, deep enough to puncture the carotid artery. Spot check of six others, show the exact same wound in the exact same place. The other intriguing finding is what looks like milk in the bodies. There are no blood in the bodies at all.

Jim tells Ephraim that he’ll want to talk to Abraham.  Ephraim tries to brush him off, but Abraham will not be silenced. He tells him that he has faced this virus before, and he must be contained. Abraham announces that the bodies are not decomposing normally, and that gets their attention. He tells them that all the bodies dead or alive they must be destroyed. The heads severed, bodies burned. Ephraim lets security restrain him as he yells about the coffin, asking if they have it. Nora listens as he tells them that it isn’t too late if they have the coffin, to destroy it, and not let it cross the river.

At the morgue, one of the bodies is examined under UV light. There’s a weird webbing that can be seen under the skin.

Nora wonders how the man could have known about the coffin. Ephraim thinks its all crazy talk. He finds a thin worm that tries to pierce their gloves. It’s desperate for a host. He boxes his specimen. Good news is that it isn’t airborne. Nora finds more of them, and now they’re panicked. They run to find the cabinet/coffin and it’s gone. Looking over the security footage, its there, and then there’s a glitch and its gone. Nora thinks back over Abraham’s words. The footage when it disappeared isn’t too old, which means the box is still in the airport. He goes to find it.

The thug has a CDC placard in his car, and the box inside. He’s not sure what the hell is in the van, but he takes it. Ephraim seals off the parameter of the airport. He wants all vehicles stopped, and Jim gives the orders to stop everything. The van pulls out of the garage, but is stopped. He has all the right ID, and when he hands over the card that Thomas gave him the cop doesn’t know what to do with it. The K-9 unit goes nuts, and the cop asks him to step out of the vehicle. He bristles at the order, and Jim comes to see what the commotion is. He sees the card, and okays the vehicle to go past, but not before he gives the thug a message. He’s done. Bad move Jim.

The autopsies continue. There are growths on some of the organs. When the heart is weighed, the coroner hears a noise. The heart is full of worms. They crawl out and into his hands. As he tries to get rid of the worms, the dead rise and eat him. Lesson one, never investigate a strange noise, it does not end well.

It’s a decent first outing for the Strain, but I just wonder. What the hell is with Ephraim and his milk drinking?