The Strain - S4E8 - Extraction

Previously on The Strain, “Ouroboros” 

I give The Strain a lot of shit. A lot. But if you listen to the podcast, you know more often than not, I am thoroughly entertained by this show. It has been genuinely scary, laugh out loud funny, and I actually care about what happens to the characters.

Well, not New Zach. Fuck that kid.

I shouldn’t have been surprised that The Strain would finally make me cry, but I was when I did. This is in large part to the performances by David Bradley and Kevin Durand. They’ve spent this entire season apart, but the relationship they’ve developed over the past three seasons was evident when Fet says, “This can’t be happening,” upon seeing that Abraham Setrakian has been infected by Eichorst. The fact that Abe killed Eichorst, finally, in the process isn’t really a consolation when their general, the man who has been the driving force behind stopping the Master, is dying.

In his final moments, Abe tells his team to separate the Master from his collaborators.

“The power of the beast lies not within itself, but in its limbs. Those that do its bidding and provide its sustenance.” 

This, Abe believes, is the true key to defeating him and will require an act of self sacrifice. After they promise to carry on, Abe gets on his knees before Quinlan and offers the half-breed his sword. Without a word, Quinlan beheads Abraham Setrakian.

After they lament all that they’ve lost, the team wastes no time disagreeing on how to move forward. Quinlan is totally #TeamBlowShitUp, while Eph and the others hesitate to set off yet another nuclear bomb. I mean, two in nine months is a bit excessive. In the end, they decide to follow Dutch’s plan to kidnap Sanjay Desai and force him to reveal the Master’s location. Not quite sure how this solves their problem: they’ll have the Master’s location, but what then? They still need to decide whether they’re willing to nuke an entire city to kill him. Meanwhile, Gus convinces his and Creem’s team to join the fight. Sitting it out as they have been has actually helped the Master. They’ve been collaborators in their own way.

With his top lieutenant gone, the Master tasks Zach with a secret mission. Unfortunately, it’s not to get a haircut.

The group infiltrates the medical facility where Dutch was held easily enough, but extracting Sanjay takes a bit of work once he’s tipped off to their presence. Sanjay has completely embraced his ain’t shitness. Collaborating may have been an act of survival in the beginning, but he’s taken a shine to the power he now wields. He’s quite savage in his attempts to keep Dutch and company from destroying his operations. It’s fitting Dutch is ultimately the one who takes him down since he spent the better part of this season making her life hell.

Back at Gus’ crew’s headquarters, while they wait for Sanjay to wake so the torture can begin, Eph gets word that a kid fitting Zach’s description was outside asking for him. Against Fet’s and Dutch’s advice, Eph takes off and actually looks pleased when he finds Zach outside. Huh.