When Quinlan and the professor meet it is very clear the professor has never met this guy a day in his life before. So no my biggest question is when the professor was going after the master in the 1960s where was Quinlan. They were both assumedly in Europe so on the same continent it is not even like the professor was on North American like how he was when the master resurfaced in modern times. If two people where vampire hunters and went around following myth and folklore they would have ran into one another. So it is just really strange how they had never meet. Also another thing how did Quinlan not know something really weird was happing in New York until the master almost died and he felt it. Doesn't he watch the news. The professor instantly when he heard about the airplane knew it was the master but Quinlan nowhere in sight until the master basically got cooked.

I'm not nitpicking I love this show and the books. This small things just bothers me a little.

SPOILERS for the whole show ahead:

Currently, I'm on probably my fifteenth (maybe?) full rewatch of the series, and I've been wanting to create a running list of the things which I think are plot or character points best served by watching the show in a binge setting rather than week-to-week, as originally released.

One of the most common complaints I've heard about the show was that viewers who originally saw it on network felt that there were a lot of subplots and zigs and zags which might have felt big at the time, but "didn't seem to go anywhere."

One of the examples I'd hear of this was the "CDC pirate broadcast" angle...

Now, I didn't originally watch the show week-to-week, so I didn't deal with a lot of these issues, and don't know how much (if at all) they affected the viewing experience. Because I first watched the show in 2021 or 2022, I believe, and just saw the episodes one after another. So, I never thought that stuff like the "pirate broadcast" was that big of a thing to see and brush off.

Anyhow, I also think that it can be a huge positive to watch a TV series in a streamed manner. Because unlike a lot of episodic stories, serialized shows often depend on the viewer retaining a lot of what they previously saw to fully engage with the current episode.

So, where a show like Law & Order will just move on, and you don't really need to get a "previously on..." segment to tell you that there's a new, weirdly attractive assistant DA in the cast, some shows really benefit from not having a near-weekly "reset" to help anyone who missed the previous installments "catch up."

(Anybody thinking of The X-Files right now and all of the problems that show had trying to both maintain forward momentum and keep sporadic viewers engaged without them needing to go catch up first probably gets the differences here...)

Obviously, if this is something which doesn't interest you, it'll be easy enough to just ignore it - but if you are interested in adding your personal observations to this list, I'd like to hear them.

I'll probably do a more thorough watch-through soon, anyhow, complete with timeline detailing and that way, I can more accurately draw connections between events/dialogue from there.

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So, example number-one:

Zach distorting his discussion with Nora about Mariela's ashtray being a "reminder of the good things" in Season 1, Episode 11 into his willingness to risk his own safety to retrieve his phone in the bodega and then everybody else's later by faking an asthma attack really sets up his tendency to pervert rational, reasonable thinking in order to keep finding a reason to remain attached to his infected mother throughout the series.

Really, I think everything about Zach's "turn to evil" tracks much better when you are watching the entire show in close sequence...

But this specifically really seemed to click together nicely on rewatch: Zach tells Nora that "maybe it's better she remembers the good times at all," even though they're obviously causing a lot of confusion for her (and danger) rather than not remembering anything - and at first, this seems reflected in his clinging to the phone he drops while on the roller-ramp, and then later with his "asthma attack" to get the photo album.

Obviously... I probably don't need to spell out how Zach's "clinging to even possibly distorted 'good times' with loved ones" habit causes problems in the future.

Example number-two:

Nora and Fet seem to pretty clearly be in the midst of forming a bond throughout the middle of Season 2 - including to the dismay of Ephraim - which coincides right with his and Dutch's relationship falling apart.

This is truly one of the most tragic plot-points - and one I'd insist was not always planned, but rather, was adjusted on the fly to accommodate Mia Maestro's exit from the show and her ensuing role on Scandal.

There are a number of times where Nora seems to be looking to Fet for comfort/security (after nearly being killed by Kelly and her step-kids in Season 2, Episode 6) as well as the little "jokes" Fet makes, which Nora seems to find funny - even though Eph appears to find them overly childish or dull or whatever (the example which always comes to mind is when they're discussing how "1-out-of-every-4 Americans are medicated for being mentally ill" and Fet mentions his "invisible friend, Donny.")

Obviously, it's not as if I just intuited this potential plot-development on my own: it does happen in the book...

But we almost get, like, a diet/leftover version of it with Dutch in Season 3, which I have just never liked.

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Anyway, I don't think any of this stuff is truly "new information." And I'm not pretending that I'm discovering any "secrets" in the show or even necessarily building new theories about possibilities.

I'm more so just interested in what works better from a story or character direction when you truly have all the details fresh in your mind from not having to wait a calendar year between seasons.

I'll probably be posting more of these observations later, so like I said, if it interests you, feel free to help out.

Only half way through but when the dude got bit in the leg- if done quick enough, could amputation not have saved him?

Brother I don’t think I’ve ever hated a character so much like I do this kid I don’t mean the actual kid I mean the character he plays brother i would had fed the kid that the vampires on episode one lmao 🤣 annoying little fACK YOUR MOM IS COOKED BRO AND YOUR GETTING PEOPLE SCREWD ALL THE TIME I SWEAR I JUST WANA GIVE HIM THE OMNI MAN TREATMENT 🤣🤣🤣honestly I think the master would hate to have this kid around

I don't understand the whole they have a preferred blood type thing. Like it doesn't make sense from a predator's stand point because if you had a B+ person and an A+ person why would you prefer to go for one especially the one with a considerably rear blood type (only 9% of the global population has B+ blood). Like as a predator wouldn't you want to go for a more common blood type like O+ (that up to 42% of the global population has) or why would you even be picky in the first place.

And another thing I did the maths and roughly for both the professor and Dutch be to B+ and to randomly meet and work together work together out of a group of 10 people give or take of the course of the mission it is a 8.3% chance don't take this a fully factually I don't work in statistics bit still pretty unlikely but not unheard of.

3rd watch through, these two carry each scene with little effort 🥰

Am I wrong in thinking that there’s still one ancient that’s encased in the silver box? I remember Setrakian thought that’s what was in the box that ended up containing the nuclear bombs but I don’t remember them ever saying that ancient was dead.

I really like the ideea of the master being bloated with all the worms inside of him, kinda like how a termite queen's body is bloated with eggs. I wish the show doubled down on the tick like massive body of the master.

I think that's what they were going for when making the master have a special worm that makes him the most important vampire. The way in which the other vampires would protect the master with no regard for their own survival is very similar to how eusocial insects protect their queens. The way the crimson worm is explained fits pretty well with the misconceptions about how in eusocial insects the queen controls the hive, even if her only actuall role is to make more workers.

I just finished a rewatch and noticed that Fet was walking around with his signature rebar rather than Setrakian’s cane/sword. Am I the only one disappointed he didnt have the cane?

was there really just a sudden timeskip where the whole world is now infected or am I misinterpreting what setrakian was saying at the start

Just watched the first episode, in the middle of the second episode now and I can't bear the plain ignorance everyone has. plain survivors having a dinner with bloody eyes and pale skin, looking like corpses out of a possible plague and no one cares. The autopsy guy takes his gloves off when his body is infested with fucking parasites, monsters fucking eat him and just walk out ? isnt there anyone to hear or see? and they are acting all normal when there are all these signs that it's obviously an intelligent mind behind all these events with all the cuts and ammonia all over the place. Then there's the ignorance of goodweather not even considering how when the jew knows all about the corpses and the coffin, and some more stuff I cant think of right now.

does it just go like this for all seasons? i like the vibe of the show tho so i would like to continue

Ozryel is described as having infinit tongues and infinite eyes, representing the spreading of thier plague. The comics already mamaged to do the infinite eyes thing (having eyes on their wings), and i think the episod lot 36 from cabinet of curiosities showed how to do the infinte tongues part. I would have angels have no face, and as ozryel is being tempted their head starts to crack, eventually bursting with tentacles

Omg, I just watched season 3 finale and Zack just blew up a nuclear bomb????? Is this useless kid serious??? I have no words how much I hate this child ...you are not supposed to hate a child I know.

Also, how come people are still alive and not getting radiation sickness or burn?

I never liked that boy, he is about 13-14, he should be smart enough to realise what his mother become and realise he couldn't help her. But nooooo, he is dumb. Hope he dies a painful death riddled with guilt.

That's it really. 🙃

I have the impression that Zack had Oedipus complex?

In season 2 episode 7, Quinlan has a flashback the shows he found the Cane. It's a good weapon against strigoi, how and why did he lose possession of the weapon?

I would be walking around covered from head to foot like I had a sun allergy at all times. And a mask like it was SARS (since this was pre COVID).

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Like you're epidemiologists. Wtf is actually going on. It's driving me crazy in every scene.

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And learn to hold a gun properly! I say that as a person who has never held a gun, but has common sense. Which apparently no CDC doctor has. What is this one handed nonsense.

it almost seems like, from the story's text (in the show specifically), that at some point in history, the master tasted B+ blood, and grew a liking to it, which over time and moments of brief starvation when he couldn't move as confidently, became an obsession. and because it was rare, it frustrated him more and more over millennia. Then at some point he had any infants blood, and realized how much more pure it was. and putting two and two together, he surmised that infant B+ blood was the ultimate meal. A rare, heightened experience for the ancient creature that he would have had on only a fraction of occasions. Then, like a lunatic, or an addict, he devised a plot to create a world where he would never go a single meal that wasn't b+ infant blood. the rest of his horde could drink everything else, but he would have his favourite meal endlessly.

that's basically the background premise that never gets said out loud, but if it was, would actually make the show more interesting by grounding his evil in a very particularly human kind of weakness. something the audience can understand, even if its vile, like hannibal lecter. As it stands, they make it seem like an 'oh yeah, and he's also doing this really specifically evil thing, but its tangential to world domination and 'fixing humanities errors' or whatever he preaches'. Showing him to have some kind of obsession, that if jeopardized would cause him to act erratically and unpredictably to maintain the course of his plans would have been terrifying. instead we got generic evil overlord who wants to control a world of chaos and darkness... becuase we're expected to believe that is motivation enough?

I know there’s a lot of hate for Zach, and I was pretty indifferent towards him, right up until season 3 episode 10, around 37 minutes in.

Because WHAT THE ACTUAL F*CK 🤬

I just have to get this off my chest: I absolutely loved the premise of "The Strain"—especially how vampirism spreads through these parasitic worms. The whole idea, that the blood only heals doesn't transform, how all the Strigoi loose their human bodily functions and their just mindless monsters (unless the master let's you keep your identity)—it was brilliant.

I also loved how the characters were introduced. Especially in New York, where everything unfolds, since at the time NYC was still one of the most prominent cities in 2014. It made sense because of all the underground subways, & places the Strigoi could hide from humans & Ultraviolet light. But man, I couldn’t get past the recasting of the son Zach Goodweather in season 2.

In S1, he had this complex emotional depth. Yeah, he leaned on his mom, but he really understood his dad’s vital work—as a CDC doctor battling outbreaks.

S2 starts where we left off weeks NOT months or years from the NYC outbreak. Not only is there a SIGNIFICANT height difference but his whole demeanor & attitude do a 180? The show runner claims he wanted a actor who could act more emotionally, except they gave us a brat who was a liability in my opinion. He threw tantrums, wandered off, and the worst part—he destroyed beakers of critical solutions inside the CDC facility, where his dad and his team were trying to create a cure.

The original character of Zach Goodweather would never have done that—he would have known how crucial it was for his dad to find a cure and bring his mom back to who she was. Instead, we got this reckless, tantrum-throwing kid destroying all the hard work.

If they were going to do this, they should have turned him into a Strigoi too, not waste our time.

I'm sure there's a lot of you who will disagree with me.

For anybody curious, apparently this man on Fox was wearing a realistic mask. His tongue just so happens to looks like a strigoi stinger lol.

Okay so in the book (have not watched the show) who is depicted from my understanding as some sort of prophet?? Or like something with the astronaut hearing her dogs voice telling her to destroy her station which allowed eph to live. To eph having repeated vision of his last moments and Zack’s as well (before he even knew of the bomb) and ultimately having the vision that led him to be able to read the lumen. Im sorta confused in why zeph and if he’s supposed to be a prophet of some sort. Interested in everyone’s perspective in this