The Strain
Season 4 Episode 2: “The Blood Tax”
Directed by J. Miles Dale
Written by Liz Phang
Created by Chuck Hogan, Guillermo del Toro
Starring Corey Stoll, David Bradley, Kevin Durand, Richard Sammel, Jonathan Hyde, Miguel Gomez, Natalie Brown, Ruta Gedmintas, Max Charles, Rupert Penry-Jones
FX
Air Date: Sunday, July 23rd, 2017, 10pm

Warning! Spoilers below for last night’s episode of The Strain!

Last week on The Strain, it is a new world in New York City after Zach (Max Charles) set off the nuclear bomb in anger at his father, Eph (Corey Stoll). “The Partnership” now rules over their human slaves. Eph does side jobs for survival, but when he is captured, decided to join the cause with the people that rescued him. Fet, Quinlan, and Charlotte (Kevin Durand, Rupert Penry-Jones, Rhona Mitra) were in search of a nuclear missile, and may have found the answer in Roman, a fellow captive (not Quinlan – he showed up after they freed themselves). The Master (Jonathan Hyde) continued to believe in Zach’s potential, despite Eichort’s (Richard Sammel) protests.

Spoilers below.

The Strain
Season 4 Episode 1: “The Worm Turns”
Directed by J. Miles Dale
Written by Carlton Cuse & Chuck Hogan
Created by Chuck Hogan, Guillermo del Toro
Starring Corey Stoll, David Bradley, Kevin Durand, Richard Sammel, Jonathan Hyde, Miguel Gomez, Natalie Brown, Ruta Gedmintas, Max Charles, Rupert Penry-Jones
FX
Air Date: Sunday, July 16th, 2017, 10pm

Warning! Spoilers below for the 4th season premiere of The Strain!

At the end of last season on The Strain, the humans lost the war against the strigoi. They did fight valiantly though. Quinlan (Rupert Penry-Jones) fought his father, The Master, in a breathless confrontation. Even Palmer (Jonathan Hyde) fought on the rebels’ side until The Master “gifted” him with his presence, to Eichorst’s (Richard Sammel) dismay. Eph (Corey Stoll) finally found Zach (Max Charles) with Kelly (Natalie Brown), and killed her, causing Zach to set off the bomb that decimated the city, both with the weapon and by causing nuclear winter, allowing the strigoi to walk in daylight.

Spoilers below.

The time has come for FX’s The Strain to come to its bloody end. This vampire series based on Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan‘s exciting trilogy was always meant to last 3-5 seasons. Sad for the fans who just want more story, but good for the story to end on a quality note. Showrunner Carlton Cuse is used to breaking my heart. He just ended one of my favorite series’ of all time, Bates Motel, with an incredible finale. I was also completely invested in The Returned, and I am a Lostie for life. At least I still have Colony. The Strain is one more notch in my TV heartbreak belt. The story of Ephraim Goodweather (Corey Stoll) and his band of warriors valiantly (and sometimes drunkenly) trying to fight an aggressive vampire virus and equally aggressive vampires, has been my summer go-to for that last 3 years. This “First Look” gives us the cast’s take on what is shaping up to be an explosive final season.

The Strain is also having a lot of fun on Twitter with fake Master propaganda posters. They would be funny if they weren’t so scary, both for the show and our current political climate.

Check out the video and the posters below.

Summer is coming (winter is overrated), and with it the wormy strigoi are poised to triumph over mankind. Will our plucky band of heroes be able to defeat the Master and his worshiping vamps once and for all? One way or another, the end is nigh…

Check out the promo for the final season of FX’s The Strain below.

Bates Motel
Season 5 Episode 10: “The Cord” (Series Finale)
Directed by Tucker Gates
Written by Kerry Ehrin
Created by Anthony Cipriano, Carlton Cuse, Kerry Ehrin
Starring Vera Farmiga, Freddie Highmore, Max Thieriot, Nestor Carbonell, Olivia Cooke, Isabelle McNally
A&E
Air Date: Monday, April 24th, 2017, 10pm

Many of my favorite shows have sputtered to the finish making their final episodes something of a mercy kill. But not Bates Motel. Sometimes TV series hit the climax early and the final season just doesn’t have that special magic it once had. Not Bates Motel. No, Bates Motel is that rare exception: a series that like a fine wine got better with age. That makes tonight’s series finale even more upsetting. Over its five seasons the creators of the show somehow did something unthinkable: they took an untouchable classic (Psycho), by one of the legendary filmmakers of all time, and made it new, fresh, and dare I say”¦ at times, better. At the forefront of the success are the duo of Vera Farmiga and Freddie Highmore as Norma and Norman Bates. Farmiga was perfectly overbearing and overprotective as “Mother”; neurotic to a fault and yet through it all, a loving and devoted matriarch. Highmore is a revelation. This season he has co-written episodes, directed, and delivered an unnerving and consistently moving performance, one that deserves to be recognized with an Emmy nomination. He stepped into perhaps the most iconic role in horror history and created a new and altogether different Norman than Anthony Perkins did for Alfred Hitchcock back in 1960. Tonight, Norma and Norman have a final ride as the Bates Motel shuts down for good.