And once you accept that, it’s very easy to enjoy tonight’s episode. In fact, its combination of many action-packed sequences, some satisfying character moments and a very charged atmosphere have it up there with “Occultation” and last week’s “For Services Rendered” as one of my favorite episodes of The Strain thus far.
What makes it work so well? What I’d point my finger at are the very high but also personal stakes – Jim is slashed by a strigoi early on, and the threat of losing one of the show’s main players (yes, he’s not as essential as Setrakian or Eph, but I’d put Jim on the same level as Nora in terms of importance to The Strain‘s overall plot) is very real.
A lot can also be attributed to the claustrophobia of the episode. In past installments, the strain has been rapidly spreading across New York City, and though it has been engrossing to watch that process, narrowing the scope really works to impart the grotesquity of what has been befalling so many since the box arrived on American shores. We get to see how the strigoi work in packs to dispatch prey and also how the horrific nature of infection makes the strain, when viewed under a certain lens, a type of terrorism.
What “Creatures of the Night” also offers is an assurance from the showrunners that they won’t let characters outlive their usefulness. The Strain has been rather ruthless in its dispatching of minor characters like Redfern and Ann-Marie Barbour, but the death of Jim in this episode – by Vasiliy’s unwavering hand, after it became clear that Eph and Nora didn’t have the stones to put down their friend – seems to up the ante in that respect. As played by Sean Astin, Jim was a utility player, but he lacked the heroism or expertise of the other protagonists. Kudos to the showrunners for not trying to force in another unnecessary side story for him.
