Nerds love a good scare too, right? Good, because season two of The Strain is almost here. Famed film director Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan’s horror drama is the perfect mix of science fiction and mythology, and it just so happens to be based on a novel trilogy of the same name. Since us nerds love a good TV show based on a comic or novel, its all the more reason to check it out. But before the new season arrives July 12th on FX, here is everything you need to know about the first season so you can dive right in with the rest of us.
The Premise
There’s a mysterious grounding of a plane at John F. Kennedy International Airport, which causes air traffic control and a host of other government agencies to investigate. Among those looking into the matter are Dr. Ephraim “Eph” Goodweather and his colleagues Dr. Nora Martinez and Jim Kent from the Center for Disease Control. During their investigation of the lifeless bodies on the airplane, they discover that four of the passengers—a feisty lawyer, a nymphomaniac/drug abusing rocker musician, a docile husband/father and the calm pilot—are still alive and presumably unfazed by whatever took the lives of the other passengers. Well, not for long. Needless to say, their being alive wasn’t by mistake and that’s when all hell breaks loose.
Convinced that something potentially pandemic is unfolding, Eph then makes it his mission to get to the bottom of what’s going on. Luckily for him, he meets an older pawn shop owner/hunter whose mission coincides with his. Against incredible odds, Eph then ends up leading a small group of badass survivors—well, at least they eventually end up that way—and his son on a quest to try and put a stop to whatever is causing this unusual viral strain. Get it, The Strain? Sounds cool, right?
Season One Highlights
Just in case you want to check it out, there are four things that you should probably know before you watch the second season of The Strain. Well, at least four. Eph is the leader of the group, but make no mistake, Professor Abraham Setrakian—the older pawn shop owner/hunter that I mentioned—is really the expert throughout the season regarding this viral strain, which brings me to the second point. The viral strain causes humans to turn into hairless, genital-less, bloodsucking ghouls. So, spoiler alert, it’s another apocalypse show. It’s totally worth it though.
You should definitely know who Augustin “Gus” Elizalde is. Gus is a Mexican gangbanger/boxer/ex convict who becomes an unlikely hero of sorts when he is abducted and offered a crap load of money (undisclosed amount) to hunt vampires for another faction of vampires who are presumably good, or at least better than the ones spreading the viral strain. On a minor note, you should probably know that Eph and Nora hooked up, and Vasiliy Fet (the professional exterminator turned vampire hunting badass) has the hots for Dutch Velders (the impressive Internet hacker who flip flops from helping the villains to helping the heroes).
As far as the “big bad” of the first season aka the “master” is concerned, you should probably know that he’s essentially a rogue Nosferatu-esque creature that wants to infect the world, starting with Manhattan. He has one long time dutiful servant, a Nazi-German by the name of Thomas Eichorst, and the most recently recruited Eldritch Palmer, who aid him in his converting the entire city into vampires. Not if Abraham, his long time nemesis, can help it. Unfortunately for Abraham, everything he thought he knew would destroy the “master” went literally out the window during their season finale confrontation. And from the looks of things, it seems like season two will be just as good, if not even better. Check out the official trailer for the new season.
The second season of The Strain premieres July 12th on FX at 10:00pm EST. In the meantime, you can still catch up on the first season now streaming on Hulu Plus.