The Strain (Season 1)

By: Robert Murphy

In this new age of CGI and special effects you would think that the golden age of classic movie monsters is long gone but just because everything is new doesn’t mean that you can't have a terrifying monster pop right out of your screen again. This is the feeling I had when I began to watch the FX original series The Strain where a classic bloodsucking terror attacks a modern world. Vampires! However, these aren’t exactly the fang wielding, cloak wearing and garlic hating creatures we have seen before. No, now they appear in a new form but they’re more terrifying than they have ever been before and they’re trying to take over The Big Apple.

The Strain takes a very modern approach to it’s storytelling behind the coming about of this vampire apocalypse where the smart people believe that this outbreak is just a plague that can be solved while the supposed “crazier” individuals see the writing on the wall and that things are going to get bad real quick. Ephraim Goodweather (Corey Stoll) and his team at the CDC are the first ones to discover the beginning of what would be a disaster for New York City. The survivors and victims of a strange dead plane turning up at an airport reveals that almost all of the passengers on board are now dead from an unknown virus or plague that ended up on board. The few survivors unfortunately return to their regular lives much to the dismay of Eph as it is unclear what happened to them all and thus begins the start of a new vampire race being born.

The vampires themselves and the makeup work behind each and every one of them is perhaps one of the most appealing aspects you will see and believe me, you will see it all. The series shows the few surviving members of the plane return home as normal as can be but they are already showing signs that they’re changing into fearsome bloodsucking creatures. The transformation go into quite a bit of depth at this point, you will see one of the characters head to the bathroom at one point and watch as his manhood simply plops right off. While this is exceedingly disturbing, I did appreciate the level to which viewers were able to see what is happening to the people who are being turned and get up close and personal with this strange new look to the classic vampire. It gets even better when you witness them attacking with their gigantic stingers as well as show off some of the superhuman abilities they gain.

The way the vampires act and behave was also something handled in quite an interesting way. Normally when you’re bitten by a vampire you become one of them but retain your sense of humanity and what makes you the person you are but for the most part all of the vampires here are drones following the orders of The Master. Some of the vampires at The Master’s command are allowed to retain their memories and self-awareness but not all of them are as lucky, as you will see. But, despite this change in the lore these vampires do remember one thing and that is their loved ones and this is a big point that the story shoehorns in for you time and time again.

It makes sense that if you were a mindless blood seeking creature that you would remember what matters most and return to your homes for comfort. Problem is you will end up attacking your loved ones and spreading the vampire gene even further and of course your family will get caught up in the relief of you being alive. Despite how much the point gets driven across though I found that this was a great way to explain how the vampire plague spreads so quickly and effectively to the thousands of people to get turned over this first season.

The human and emotional aspects would prove to be a double edged sword however as the main cast of "badass" vampire hunters are far less impressive than the glory of Van Helsing. Eph is the character who receives the most screen time and he has quite the hero complex to him as he believes he knows best when it comes to combating these new creatures who he refuses to call vampires. This failing aside, The Strain aimed to make Eph’s personal struggles far too intricate to the main story as he loses his wife to someone he views as far inferior to his high ranking doctor status and watches him spend time with his young son Zack (Ben Hyland). This proved to be one of the key points for the pilot of the show and that is fine for establishing Eph as a character and explaining what kind of a man he is but these struggles would last for the entire season and presumably the next as every episode just piled on more and more drama that went nowhere. The height of this mind numbing mellow drama is perhaps the episode that was entirely devoted to finding Eph’s ex wife Kelly (Natalie Madison-Brown) which revealed far too early on what had happened to her making the entire episode a waste of time.

What was a surprise from The Strain was its ability to create great supporting characters. One of the high ranking vampires that was prominently featured throughout the season was Thomas Eichorst (Richard Sammel) who set much of the plans for The Master’s return into motion. His character eerily moved about the story as he did his masters bidding and executed every scene with a cold stare as well as a devilish smirk smeared across his face. Eichorst also played well into the story do to his relationship with Abraham Setrakian (David Bradley) who plays the elderly vampire hunter that has been waiting for the return of The Master and his kind to hopefully ride the world of them for good. Abraham was definitely more of what I was expecting of a vampire hunter and despite his age the actor moved quite well through the action scenes with a silver sword in his hand but he won’t be able to keep up the good fight for long. Enter Vasiliy Fet (Kevin Durand) who started off as by far my least favorite character as his story didn’t seem to fit with everything that was going on. Once he joins up with Eph and Abraham however he hits his stride as the sarcastic and emotionless vampire killer that The Strain desperately needed.

Sadly, while The Strain excels at its horror and created a far more brutal look to vampires that hasn’t been seen in recent years, the rest of the story falls far too short. Much of what happens in each episode centers too much on emotional build up and drama that doesn’t lead anywhere. It was also hard to care about these issues when as a main character Eph isn’t too likeable with his arrogant nature and self righteous attitude. I do feel that there is an interesting build up for the next season as we will see the vampires mature more and delve into a teased aspect to a much larger vampire story with the Ancients and their hooded commando squad but for now viewers are left with a rather lack luster tale that has plenty of room to improve.

Good:

- A terrifying new vampire as well as the dark tone and brutal tone they bring

- Kevin Durand and other supporting actors

Bad:

- Plenty of drama pile up that went nowhere

- Boring main character, Eph was arrogant and all around unlikable

- Dialogue and pacing issues

Scully Rating: 5.5 out of 10

Mulaney

By: Robert Murphy

There is nothing wrong with comedians getting their own sitcoms and trying to make a show where they can display their craft, in fact, it's probably a great sign of your skills if you do end up with a TV show when you're a comedian. But, if The Jeff Dunham Show has taught me anything it's that not all great comedians should have a show of their own each week. Mulaney stars comedian John Mulaney who plays himself, a struggling up in coming comedian that is trying to make it big in New York City but hasn't quite taken off yet. He lives in an apartment with his two friends, Motif (Seaton Smith) who is a comedian as well and Jane (Nasim Pedrad) who is an off centered firecracker character that spends most of her time looking for a good man in a bad city. In an effort to get his career moving, John ends up getting a job as a comedy writer for Lou Cannon (Martin Short) who is a famous comedian himself and is now hosting a made up game show. It all seems like a perfectly fine setup but it is one that tanks right from the get go. 

When your show gives off a familiar feel to it, i.e. Seinfeld, the absolute worst thing you can do for your show is broadcast that fact and Mulaney does this around the 2nd or 3rd episode. One of John's jilted lovers exclaims that he is nothing but a Jerry Seinfeld ripoff and this puts the first nail in the coffin for viewers because if you hadn't noticed the connection before, it is now all you can think about. The similarities are very obvious and that was probably the point of the show, to be just as meta as Seinfeld was with it's jokes about making a show within a show, Mulaney obviously taking that one step further. John opens up each show doing his stand up which by itself is actually pretty good and can be seen as a saving grace but once the curtains open it never translates over into the show. For a sitcom comedy you would think the goal would be to make you laugh and you never get more than a chuckle for the thirteen episode series. You would think that veteran Martin Short or even Elliot Gould who plays Oscar, the effeminate neighbor, would spice things up but neither of them do much good. 

The other factor working against a show like Mulaney is the flatness and otherwise bland presentation it puts forth each episode. The show never really takes itself seriously in anyway and this should be a good thing especially for a comedy but there is a difference between not taking it seriously and just not caring and I think the show steps into that territory. It didn't care that it has the same format that Seinfeld did, it doesn't care that it isn't funny or that deep lull moments occur in each episode with bland dialogue and laugh less jokes, it just wants to be put on screen so everyone can cash their checks and go home. I really felt like they were just throwing things at the wall and seeing if it would turn out being funny.

Great examples of this include the episode, "It's a Wonderful Home Alone" where John faces an old painful memory of his days as a child actor and how he was up for the role of Kevin in Home Alone only to be out shined by Macaulay Culkin. The episode rips much of it's story by spoofing It's a Wonderful Life and trying to make you laugh at John acting like a baby most of the episode and his friends, well, not really caring. A fake Macaulay Culkin finally appears at the very end of the episode with his back to the camera too in a last hail marry effort of laughter. Then, there are episodes like "Patriot Acts" where John feels bad about not doing his military service and tries to perform at a USO show only to flop over and over again in the recruiters office and makes some bad jokes. 

I am at lose when it comes to Mulaney, most 90% of the episodes I spent with an unchanging expression on my face as nothing really feels funny. Moments where I did laugh I immediately felt bad about because I knew it was forced and what had made me laugh was at best chuckle worthy. In a way, I almost feel like actors Martin Short and Elliot Gould were added to the cast to remind you that they're funny so the show must be funny but that itself is the equivalent of spraying air freshener over a turd instead of throwing it away. That may be a bit harsh of a metaphor but truly I cannot see viewers getting much enjoyment from Mulaney and you were better off watching Family Guy or Bob's Burgers every Sunday night instead.

Good:

- John Mulaney's brief stand up at the beginning of the episodes

Bad:

- Episodes are not funny

- Seems like there was no care or effort put forth in the writing

- Despite cast members like John Mulaney and Martin Short who have proven their comedy worth, the show still feels flat and lifeless 

Scully Rating: 2.0 out of 10