The Strain Recap S01E04 It’s Not For Everyone

St. Sebastian’s Hospital. Redfern is dead. Nora tells them that Abraham said to remove the head and burn the bodies. Jim is not on board for that plan. Ephraim wants to do a quick little on spot autopsy before the rest of the hospital can see what happened. Nora goes in search of a room, while Eph has Jim help him move the body. For the record Jim doesn’t think this is a good idea, but Eph points out that a monster just attacked them, there are no records.

Ephraim leaves Jim with the body so that he can go look for supplies for the autopsy. He tells him that if the body gets up to run. Nora wonders if Redfern knew what was happening to him. Eph tells her that she doesn’t have to do this, but she needs to know as well. Eph is relieved, because he needs her by his side for this.

Ann Marie tells her husband that she plans to take the kids to his sisters. He thinks that it’s a good idea, that she should take them as soon as she can. Ansel tells the kids that daddy is not feeling well, to just go with mommy. Ann Marie asks that he go to their family physician, that he loves their family unlike the government doctor but he refuses. She asks again if there’s anything that she can do for him, but he tries to put on a brave face. She offers to put the dog in the shed before leaving, but he tells her that she can keep him company. Ann Marie leaves with the kids as Ansel watches from the window.

Gus awakens and his brother asks where his gun is. He tells him to shut up, as he sits down for some breakfast. His friend, Felix, tells him about a “sure thing,” and Gus worries if this sure thing will get him locked up too. His brother doesn’t look so good though. Gus’s mother arrives home, all smiles with a bag of pasteries. She tells Gus how his friend called her everyday to check on her. Gus’s brother all but refuses to partake in the breakfast. He looks like he’s coming down with something.

At the StoneHeart Group, Thomas joins Eldritch and now they can greet their guest, Miss Dutch Velders, a self-described freedom fighter. She’s a hacker with a specialized talent. They want her to basically slow down the internet, so they can spin their cover story to their liking. After all those people dying on the plane, the CEO of the airline committing suicide, and the stock market crashing, people are against corporate greed and plan to crash the websites of large corporation. Luckily she’s good enough that she can do just what they’re asking for a price and fame she desires. They thank her for coming.

Ephraim has Jim record video with his phone as they start the autopsy. The worms seem to have vanished, as have his genitals, he’s barbie doll smooth. The body has gotten a makeover to become more efficient. Eph slices open Redfern. The lungs have dried up. Why is no one wearing a faceshield, oh the spores. The heart is shriveled, and a new circulatory system has formed. There’s new flesh, not cancerous but forming new organs. Eph pulls on the stinger and keeps pulling, and pulling. Goodness, that thing is long. Jim tries to tap out, he’s had enough, with the ammonia discharge and wants them to call it in. Eph is excited and horrified by the discovery that the thing is rewriting human biology so that it can reproduce and consume its host.

The super gives Gus’s momma a hard time about her recyclables in the hallway, and he’s come to collect the rent, which Gus’s brother was supposed to bring down. He swears he did. Gus goes to speak in private to the super. He has issue with the way that he’s been speaking to his mother. He warns him to speak to her with respect, or he’ll find his body in the trash. He pays the man the rent, and Gus and Felix go to see about that job and the Super takes down the recycling.

Ann Marie returns home. She looks for Ansel, hoping that he’s feeling good enough to get out of his pajamas. A sweaty Ann Marie changes her shirt, she notices that Gertie isn’t underfoot, and she’s hoping he took the dog for a walk. Ann Marie gives a prayer, before she notices a pile of hair on the pillow. From the window she spies something in the back yard. She rushes down, the dog collar is bloodied and torn in two. She says a prayer, trying to calm herself as she continues investigating, seeing traces of blood here and there in the snow. Ann Marie finds their dog dead with her throat ripped out. There’s a noise in the shed, and Ann Marie calls out to Ansel, asking if he’s alright, if he’s hiding from her. She opens the door and walks into the darkened shed. If you have to say a hail mary before entering, you probably shouldn’t enter. She wants to help her husband, but thankfully he’s taken preventative measures to save his wife. He’s chained himself up. He begs her to leave him, to not come back no matter what he tells her as he snarls at her. The voice in his head wants to rip out her throat and kill her. He begs her to run away and never return. He scares her enough that she runs from the shed.

Abraham goes to close up shop when Gus walks in. He wishes to give back the clock that his brother stole. Abraham isn’t in the business to buy back his property, but Gus isn’t selling it, and he’s less than pleased with Abraham’s lack of gratitude.

Ephraim, Nora and Jim clean up after their little autopsy. Eph thinks that they should have listened to the old man, taken and destroyed the cabinet when they had the chance. Ah, hindsight. This outbreak could have been avoided. Jim admits that its all his fault, he’s the one that waved through the van that carried the cabinet away, that he was paid to do so. Eph and Nora can not believe their ears. Jim was flat broke. Craig Nelson approached him, with claims that he just wanted to sell the CDC some medical equipment. Jim was broke before, but with his wife’s cancer, he was desperate. Eph asks if the epidemic was intentional, but Jim isn’t sure. It started with a small favor and just grew from there. They asked him to clear a box, which seemed harmless. He had new clue as to the danger in releasing the box. Eph hits him, and still Jim says that there was nothing he could do. Nora takes the phone, and autopsy evidence.

Ephraim doesn’t know Jim anymore. Nora tells him to think of what he’s going through, how desperate he must be, but they can’t focus on Jim right now, there’s an epidemic to be stopped. Abraham said that the bodies would return to their families. Ephraim and Nora decide to go find Emma, they know she returned home to her father, and then they’ll have her evidence and Redfern’s, if Eph can get his car started.

 Felix strolls past the parking attendant, like some dark hulking shadow, going completely unnoticed. He uses his bottom to set off a car alarm. When the attendant goes to check out the noise, Gus walks over and takes a set of keys. A new set of wheels is obtained, all too easily.

Ann Marie buries Gertie, hoping the dog didn’t suffer. Of course she suffered, her zombie-like husband ate the dog. Ann Marie talks to herself, pondering the horrors Ansel must have seen on the plane. Her neighbor, Tripp comes over with a laundry list of complaints. He wants her to quiet the dog, to teach her not to growl when she’s in the shed and is upset over the press camped out, like she has any control over them and where they decide to use the bathroom. Ann Marie takes the abuse, until he mentions having hit her dog, which explains the dog’s mysterious injury, and she offers to let him be the one to deal with the growling animal, to teach it a lesson. Tripp is all too glad for the opportunity, and Ann Marie shoves him in the shed. It’s a win/win. Ansel gets a meal, and Ann Marie gets peace.

In Queens, Felix and Gus bring a car but the four men at the garage don’t seem all that interested in doing business. Felix rouses their interest with the luxury SUV. One of the guy’s check it out, and offers a measly $400. Gus is less than pleased with the offer, but Felix suggests that they take it. Gus decides to walk away, and the offer goes up to $800. That he can accept.

All the social networks have gone dark, the internet has slowed to a crawl. The girl down what she’s claimed she could. Eldritch looks like hell, but he thinks that he’ll be better soon. He tells Maggie what “happened” on that flight. The US military removed the bodies from the morgue last night he tells her. A highly classified biological patient got loose on the plane, a mistake of epic proportions. Now they must do what needs to be done, without hesitation. Eldritch talks up her ego. Maggie owes Eldritch her career, but asks about the agent. He tells her that although deadly, it dissipates quickly, so it has great military applications. Maggie plans to stand with Eldritch on this, and give him any support he needs, which he appreciates before he passes out.

Eldritch’s health is worse. His liver is ready to go, but they need to proceed with the surgery now. Thomas is no where to be found, and they cannot reach him. How quickly he’s been forgotten when he was promised a miracle. Eldritch agrees to the surgery.

Ephraim and Nora arrive back at the Arnell home. The home still seems empty as Eph announces himself, and takes another look around. There’s music coming from one of the rooms. Eph and Nora head towards the playing of “This Old Man.” They find Emma standing before the music player. Eph calls out to the child, and the rabid little beast turns to them. A bloody, horrific mess, she shoots her stinger at them, which they dodge but they have no weapons to combat her. Luckily, Abraham is there, with his sword, and he cuts the head off the child as Nora screams. Abraham tells them to move, that he will need to find shelter from the son. The father appears behind them, and Abraham dispatches him just as easily, warning them to keep away from the worms. They need to burn the bodies. Nora cannot do this, they cannot run around and exterminate their patients. It may be the only thing that they can do. It’s a breath away from being out of control. He asks her where she thinks that blood came from. Arnell was out killing innocent people. Emma was just a child though, but Eph tells her that there was something inside her body controlling her. Nora tells him that she would rather die than to kill innocent people. Abraham plans to kill everyone on the list, but Nora isn’t ready for that. Eph tells her to be safe, Nora believes there has to be another way. Some brains cannot adjust, not everyone is cut out to be a hunter.