The Strain
Season 3 Episode 9: “Do or Die”
Directed by Ken Girotti
Written by 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, Joaquín Cosio, Rupert Penry-Jones, Samantha Mathis
FX
Air Date: Sunday October 23rd, 2016, 10pm

Last week on The Strain, we get Gus’s (Miguel Gomez) backstory on why he wants to save his strigoi mother (other than boys and their moms). His uncles took out his father after he abused their sister once too often. He became the man of the house early. In the present day, he ended up having to put her down after she almost got Angel (Joaquín Cosio). Setrakian and Fet (David Bradley and Kevin Durand) interrogated a few key people, thanks to Palmer (Jonathan Hyde), but they missed out on getting Eichorst (Richard Sammel), who had just given us a nasty little demonstration of the blood factory. Eph (Corey Stoll) and Dutch (Ruta Gedmintas) recovered the original JFK black box, but the Master’s sound waves made Dutch really sick. When she recovered, her and Eph had sex. Quinlan (Rupert Penry-Jones) told the ancients to get off their asses. As they do, Eichhorst invaded the ancients lair with lots of bloodthirsty friends, which caused them to fight, and they were pretty good for some desiccated husks. That is, until they explode.

Spoilers below.

The Strain
Season 3 Episode 2: “Bad White”
Directed by J. Miles Dale
Written by David Weddle & Bradley Thompson
Created by Chuck Hogan, Guillermo del Toro
Starring Corey Stoll, David Bradley, Kevin Durand, Richard Sammel, Jonathan Hyde, Miguel Gomez, Natalie Brown, Ruta Gedmintas, Jack Kesy, Max Charles, Joaquín Cosio, Rupert Penry-Jones, Samantha Mathis
FX
Air Date: Sunday September 4th, 2016, 10pm

Last week’s The Strain started off crazy as expected. Eph (Corey Stoll) is waiting for his vampire son to return, trading in what he thinks are useless asthma meds for liquor and a taser. Kelly (Natalie Brown) shows up with a deal for Eph – Zach (Max Charles) for The Lumen. Setrakian (David Bradley) studies it voraciously, only stopping to referee Fet and Quinlan (Kevin Durand and Rupert Penry-Jones). Gus (Miguel Gomez) keeps his strigoi mom as a pet. Fet tries in vain to save the Navy Seals from a gruesome fate at the hands of The Master (Jack Kesy).

Spoilers below.

The Strain
Season 3 Episode 1: “New York Strong”
Directed by J. Miles Dale
Written by Carlton Cuse
Created by Chuck Hogan, Guillermo del Toro
Starring Corey Stoll, David Bradley, Kevin Durand, Richard Sammel, Jonathan Hyde, Miguel Gomez, Natalie Brown, Ruta Gedmintas, Jack Kesy, Max Charles, Joaquín Cosio, Rupert Penry-Jones, Samantha Mathis
FX
Air Date: Sunday August 28th, 2016, 10pm

Spoilers if you are not all caught up…

At the end of season 2 of The Strain, our gang had split in various heartbreaking ways. Setrakian (David Bradley) had succeeded in obtaining the Lumen from Eichorst (Richard Sammel), after Palmer (Jonathan Hyde) pulled the funding. As punishment, The Master (Jack Kesy) took Coco’s (Lizzie Brocheré) eternal life, destroying Palmer. Quinlan, Gus, Setrakian, and Fet (Rupert Penry-Jones, Miguel Gomez, Bradley, and Kevin Durand) joined forces. Nora (Mia Maestro) got infected by Kelly (Natalie Brown) while defending Zach, who ended up leaving with his mom. Eph (Corey Stoll) showed up heartbroken, and Nora decided to end it instead of letting the Master use her.

More spoilers ahead for episode 3.1 “New York Strong.”

Buried
Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo
DIRECTED BY: Rodrigo Cortés
WRITTEN BY: Chris Sparling
STARRING: Ryan Reynolds, Samantha Mathis, José Luis García Pérez, Robert Paterson, Stephen Tobolowsky
Lionsgate Home Entertainment
RELEASE DATE: January 18, 2011

What would you do if you awoke to total blackness, barely able to move or breathe, and completely unaware of your location? What would you do if you soon realized that you’re not only unaware of your location, but that you’re actually in a wooden coffin, buried within the earth, set to ponder your horrific fate until the moment the last bit of life drifts away from your tormented body?

If you’re anything like me, you’d likely slip into an uncontrollable panic wishing only that death would come as quickly as humanly possible. But for Paul Conroy (Ryan Reynolds), who finds himself in this very position in director Rodrigo Cortés‘s new thriller, Buried, giving up is not an option…at first.

Paul is an American truck driver, who was working a contract job in Iraq delivering supplies to community centers and the like. But as he recalls soon after regaining consciousness, the convoy of trucks he was traveling with was attacked, first by children throwing rocks and then by much more deadly men with guns, who shoot most of the other drivers.