Two very different FX dramas came to a close this past week, let’s take a closer look…
The Strain…Although I’ve begun to grow tired of the supernatural horror television genre, I have to admit that this show got under my skin. [Three points for the pun!] Most sci-fi or fantasy-based TV shows are either trying too hard to be taken seriously or not trying at all. So The Strain strikes just the right balance between The Leftovers and Sharknado—-you won’t find another review that makes that claim—-and remembers a lesson that The Walking Dead forgot a long time ago: people are largely watching fan-boy stuff because it’s fun.
The first season worked by not getting too tangled up in its own mythology (it’s the rare show where I actually want them to dig more into the backstory), creating a unique type of vampire story in a realistic world setting, introducing a slew of lively characters, and featuring a genuinely terrifying head vampire that looks like the clown from IT with a deviated septum. [The one problem with the finale: the more we see him, the less scary he becomes.] The season finale was about as good as can be hoped for, and I’m excited to see what nasty tricks this subtly cerebral, choice horror series gets up to in its second season. Grade for Season One: A-…Grade for Season One Finale: B+
The Bridge…I should never, ever, ever feel like a topical drama dealing with real-world issues isn’t as good as a supernatural-based series. Times aren’t great for the topical drama and it sometimes feels like the world of Comic Con is going to swallow it whole, so I keep watching The Bridge, hoping against hope that it will e-v-e-r live up to its potential. I will admit that this season was a lot better than season one (which was mostly derailed by a whodunnit serial killer plot the series eventually outgrew), but The Bridge never quite pulls all its disparate threads into a compelling, propulsive narrative. One of the main problems is that there were about five times this past season where a good-guy character should have died and they managed to miraculously escape. It undercuts the realism the series so desperately wants. Grade for Season Two: B- …Grade for Season Two Finale: B-
Great review of The Strain, I am glad you enjoyed it. I loved the books.
Cheers,