In the ninth episode of the second season of The Strain, Justine takes drastic measures to counter a surprise invasion. Nora and Fet perform a useful mission while Eph and Setrakian face off against an old foe.

This episode had some very good, and some very bad at the same time. The acting was very flat, but the action was solid. It’s a bit weird like that. The action, the story, it all feels very amped up with confrontations we haven’t seen yet in the series.

The infected are getting pretty bold and have their eyes set on Red Hook, which leads to an invasion, and some questions as to where the hell the waves came from. Yes, there’s holes in the plot, but still, to see the cops blasting away, and some folks attempting to stand up is all entertaining. There’s a lot of confrontations here, many coming for a while.

All that good is unfortunately hampered by rather poor acting. Some of it’s good, but it’s also not any just one character or actor who has moments where they come off rather dull. Something’s up with this one, it’s just very odd. The series has never been one with fantastic acting, but it’s pretty bad here.

The episode is full of action, and interesting developments, but with that good comes a whole lot of bad too.

Overall rating: 7