The Strain
Season 1 Episode 3: “Gone Smooth”
Directed by David Semel
Written by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan
Starring Corey Stoll, David Bradley, Mia Maestro, Sean Astin, Kevin Durand, Richard Sammel, Jonathan Hyde, Miguel Gomez, Natalie Brown, Jack Kesy, Ben Hyland, and Robin Atkin Downes
FX
Air Date: Sunday July 27, 2014, 10pm

Before we get to my review of episode three of The Strain, the new FX series from Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan, first here’s a recap of last week’s episode.

Before continuing, be aware that a spoiler alert warning is of course in effect!

The Strain
Season 1 Episode 2: “The Box”
Directed by David Semel
Written by Guillermo del Toro, Chuck Hogan, Bradley Thompson, and David Weddle
Starring Corey Stoll, David Bradley, Mia Maestro, Sean Astin, Kevin Durand, Richard Sammel, Jonathan Hyde, Miguel Gomez, Natalie Brown, Jack Kesy, and Ben Hyland
FX
Air Date: Sunday July 20, 2014, 10pm

Last week’s recap: If you haven’t seen the pilot episode, stop reading now!

Last week found Dr. Ephraim Goodweather (Corey Stoll) of the CDC, a man on the verge of losing his wife and son, called to the scene of a cold, dark plane. He and his partner, Dr. Nora Martinez (Mia Maestro), find everyone (except 4) on board dead, seemingly at once and with no pain. A 9-foot soil-filled coffin disappears from a warehouse by being lifted up. A mysterious old man (David Bradley) with a sword and a pet heart appears at the airport with dire warnings of things he has seen before. Another mysterious old man shows up to pay off Gus (Miguel Gomez), a thug who worships his mother, to drive some precious cargo that must be over the bridge before daybreak. We see a monster suck on a guy’s neck and then smash his head like he was Oberyn Martell. And the medical examiner has a close call when a worm-like virus (or virus-like worm) almost gets under his skin. He pulls in out in the nick of time (whew!), only to be felled by the zombie-like vampires (to the tune of “Sweet Caroline”), formerly known as the dead passengers of the doomed flight from Berlin. One dead little girl returns home to her father’s embrace.

The popular comic book series Fables from DC Comics and writer Bill Willingham is now looking to find a new home at ABC, who has ordered up a pilot episode to test the waters with.

The pilot will be written by Stu Zicherman and Raven Metzner, who wrote Elektra and episodes of Six Degrees. TV mega-director David Semel will do the directing. His resume is riddled with well-known products such as Buffy, Angel, Heroes, House, 90210 (old), Dawson’s Creek, and 7th Heaven among many others. The man seems to have a tag for directing pilot episodes and as you can see, whether it’s the realm of sci-fi/fantasy or teeny dramas, he’s captained some really popular shows.

For those who aren’t familiar with the comic, Fables takes pretty much every single cherished fairy tale character ever concocted and puts them in our world. They live and work among us, residing in a special section of the city (unless they’re a creature or talking animal, in which case they have to live at “The Farm”). The two main characters used in the comics are Big Bad Wolf and Snow White, and it seems that this will be the formula used for the TV show as well.