The second season of The Strain kicks off with Agent Ephraim investigating new cases about Master in NY City. It misses no beats, continuing a dreaded build… to something. It’s unknown how much the series will deviate from the books or comics, so there’s still something hanging out there as far as where it’ll all go.

What’s interesting to me in the first episode that the focus is mainly on the characters and their personalities. It isn’t a reintroduction so much as an enhancement of what was in last season, where the characters themselves were a little bland. Interesting, but bland.

The other thing that stood out in the first episode is the building of the tension and setting of the atmosphere. This is the start of a vampire outbreak, and people still don’t quite know what’s happening, only something isn’t quite rite. Much like some of the character’s quirks (think a conversation about baseball as an example) the scenery and small details have been amped up as well. The settings, the lighting, there’s much more of a focus on the small details. That helps up the ick factor. While the episode (and series as a whole) is never scary to me, there was always a sense of unease. That unease is very much present in the first episode, and hopefully continues.

While the first season of the series was enjoyable, you could tell there was still a bit of a learning curve. The first episode of the second season has shown they’ve clearly learned a lot and are applying those lessons. It’s noticeable in every way.

While there’s still quite a while to go until the end of the second season, but this first episode is a solid return that’ll keep the rest of the summer pretty cool.

Overall rating: 8