#Fet the strain series
#Fet the strain free

That said, there is no path so dark, no deed so dastardly that a fictional character can't be redeemed from it.

#Fet the strain series

At a certain point, I stopped being annoyed at the character and started being impressed by what a contemptible antagonist the series had created. He went from an unlikable kid to a true monster, letting his mommy issues transform him into the worst kind of strigoi collaborator, and ultimately, um, committing a war crime. Tiresome and petulant, foolishly devoted to his mother even after she becomes a monster, even after he sees her kill, Zach was just consummately hateable and the writers found new ways to make him more evil and unlikeable with impressive regularity.В Rarely has an audience been so united in their hatred for a character as The Strain viewers were in their unrelenting rage toward Zach. He started as the woeful winy apocalypse kid, everybody's least favorite character in the genre, but at a certain point, his path became distinctly darker. The Strain has spent the last four years charting a path for Zach to villainy. In practice, however, it doesn't work because it feels wholly unearned.

The boy who nuked New York out of rage at his father now saves humanity out of love for his father. I'm sorry, but what the shit? Look, I get it. вЂњBecause if you are, I love you.вЂќ He presses the button, launching the bomb and saving the day. вЂњDad, are you still in there?вЂќ asks Zach, hugging the monster that was once his father. The Master controls Eph now, gloating that he and Zach can finally rule together now. вЂњBecause of you.вЂќ Not really, but OK.В вЂњI wish I could spare you this,вЂќ he says as he arms the bomb, but before he can trigger it, the transition completes. Before the transfer is complete, as the worms work their way through him, Eph awakes and shares a bonding moment with his son.В вЂњWe won, Zach,вЂќ Eph says. The Master moves to attack Zach, and Eph's paternal instincts take over, charging on the Master to save his son (even though he knows he has to blow them all up - don't ask.) That ends with Eph getting the ol' mouth-full of worms from the Master, who transfers his consciousness once again, this time into the body of our weary anti-hero. It was satisfying and it teed up an exciting final battle. When the team finally reunited, they felt like whole characters again. And Setrakian's long war with Eichhorst ended in spectacular fashion with a heartbreaking but gratifying final showdown that took them both out. With Jonathan Hyde in the role, the Master was the most charismatic and frightening he's ever been.

#Fet the strain free

Dutch was freed of the reductive, regressive bisexual tropes and allowed to become the hero of her own story free of romantic entanglements. Fet left behind the emotional drama of his prickly emotional relationships with Dutch and Setrakian and teamed up with Quinlan to become the unleashed, Strigoi-hunting badass we always wanted to see. Eph finally saw through his delusions of grandeur and righteousness, learned humility and what it meant to be the hero rather than just grandstanding as one.

The Strain was not only infused with new energy and urgency, characters were allowed to shake loose from the shackles that kept them roaming in tiresome narrative circles from the beginning.