Warning: Spoilers for the episode on the way! You have been warned!
The episode opens up with Thomas standing over Eldrich Palmer, who is on his deathbed. He wants the Master to keep his part of their agreement.
Abraham, Eph, and company head back to the pawn shop after failing at their mission. Abraham takes some meds and has a seat next to the vamp heart he has in a jar and asks it to give him some strength.
We cut to Albania in 1967 where a young Abraham is asking about a local castle. He's trying to buy a horse and eventually gets it. Abraham goes back to his wife and she wants him to stay safe and doesn't want his judgement clouded. Abraham tells her that when he gets back they'll adopt a child.
Back in present day, Nora sees the vamp heart and asks Abraham about it. He gets angry.
On the other side of the city, Gus carjacks "Lazlo Cream?" That's a weird name. He tells Lazlo to drive.
Eph discusses the fact Abraham wanted to take on 1,000 vampires back in the tunnels. As they talk, there's a pounding at the front of the pawnshop, on the gate. It's Dutch. Vasiliy lets her back in. Also, why are they all upstairs talking where the vamps can see them? Wouldn't it be better to hide out in the basement when it's dark out? Dutch says she brought them a plan. Dutch lets everyone they need her, and Eph reminds her that she was the one who broke the Internet. She wants Eph to use his infamy to talk to the nation using the emergency broadcast system.
Gus talks to Lazlo while driving and Gus says he needs weapons.
Back in the 60s, Abraham rides his horse next to a steam, in search of the castle where the Master may or may not be. He finds the area he is looking for. There's a pile of random possessions on the ground, like watches and glasses, which came from numerous people, next to a well. Abraham lowers himself into the well and finds a tunnel, much like last week's episode, leading into another room. Abraham searches this room, sword drawn, and finds it is gated. He opens the gate and continues walking. Outside, it is getting darker. The sun is setting. Abraham discovers a nest of vamps. One of them talks to him and says the sun is setting and he's far from home. Abraham rushes back to the well and sees his rope is gone. At the top of the well is Thomas, who leaves him there to "ponder his mistakes."
On the roof of the pawn shop, Vasiliy and Dutch chat. Dutch talks about her past and her father's connection to hacking. Vasiliy hits on her because he's smooth and classy.
Back in the pawnshop/apartment, Nora's mother talks to Eph about his upcoming speech. Nora comes in and puts her to bed.
Gus and Lazlo end up at a shipping yard. Lazlo gives Gus some guns, but a car pulls up outside. Gus is nervous. A man walks in and drops a bag off. After he leaves, Gus wants to know what's in the bag and sees it's a lot of money. Lazlo is shipping out something for someone, and now Gus wants to see what is in the container that is being shipped.
Abraham tells the story to the others about how he tried to hunt down the Master when he was younger. He apologizes for the way he acted in the last episode.
Back in the 60s, Abraham climbs up the well, without the use of a rope. There is little to hold onto, so it is a slow climb. He doesn't get out until the next morning, his hands bloodied from the climb. His horse has been disemboweled. Abraham runs home to find his house has been ransacked and his wife is gone.
Dutch has set up her EBS thing. Eph appears on the tv and tells the people of America that there is a plague going through New York and it's changing people. He gets the message out, but there's a crash upstairs. The team runs up and sees Bolivar sucking the life out of Nora's mother. Thomas is at the front gate and has two vamps open the door. Everyone makes it to the basement. Thomas tells Abraham his time is up.
Back at the shipping yard, Gus asks Lazlo to open the container. It's filled with vamps. They both shoot at them, but then Lazlo shoots at Gus. They start to get overwhelmed, but Quinlan comes in! The bag Gus and take him away, after killing all the vamps in the container.
At the pawnshop, the vamps try to get into the basement, but it's pretty tough. In the basement, Abraham wants to leave through a secret passage in the meat locker. Nora doesn't want to leave her mother, but she's infected. Abraham tells Nora to go, but Nora says she wants to be the one to do it. With a scream, she does it.
Back in the 60s, Abraham is crouched in his house. The door opens and his turned wife and two turned random children come in. Abraham remembers what he had to do, while looking at Nora. He tells Nora that it had to be done. Abraham walks over to the heart and stares at it. Young Abraham cuts the heart out of his turned wife. It's finally revealed that the heart in the pawn shop was his wife's. Abraham says goodbye to the heart, then leaves the pawnshop through a meatlocker, just as Thomas enters. Thomas sees the heart.
Eldrich is laying in the bed and The Master enters the room. Eldrich asks to be saved. The Master cuts his own finger and drips some of his white blood into his mouth. Eldrich's assistant enters and Eldirch is out of bed. He is outside laughing in the rain.
I am getting to the point where I hate, with tv in general, not just this show, when characters tell their whole live stories to another character in a moment of weakness, much like the scene here between Dutch and Vasiliy. It does add a lot to Dutch's character, but I'd rather see it than be told it.
The Strain hasn't really given the viewers much of a feeling of being overwhelmed. Sure, there are vamps everywhere, but at no point does this threat feel like it could destroy the world, until this episode. We have vamps being transported in shipping containers. The plague is secretly being spread. We also start to see more of a hierarchy here. We all know the Master is the leader and that Thomas is the second in command. However, the final scenes of this episode reveal Bolivar as the first vamp in the door. He's their champion. These vamps have more to them.
As you can probably tell from the recap, the show jumps between characters quite a bit, but that's what makes this show work extremely well. It keeps the viewer on their toes and the show is great at building tension. On its own, the story of Gus and Lazlo is good, but when it's sprinkled throughout the episode, back-to-back with other stories, it's fantastic. While moments may come off as slow, the build and pacing are incredible.
We want more Quinlan! I'm speaking for everyone. The show differs a bit from the books in how certain characters get to certain points, much like Quinlan meeting Gus, but for those who have read the graphic novel or the novels. However, that's what makes this a great show though. It keeps everyone on their toes. Seriously though, we need more Quinlan and fast.
This was a pretty great episode. I loved seeing Abraham on his hunt and the turning point for him after what happened to his wife. Each of these stories was interesting and while there were moments where this episode dragged, overall, I was really impressed ad can't wait for next week's season finale.
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