Last week the Master was “killed”. And yes, we’re all
very very very very very sure the Master is not dead because it’s far too early
in the season for us to have killed the big bad
But everyone is kind of hopeful – the Master is
apparently dead and all the Strigoi are still round but they’re also acting
rather unco-ordinated and more like individual animals than evil monsters
controlled by a single powerful force. Both Kelly (who now has to protect Zach
from uncontrolled Strigoi) and Eichorst are rather panicky about how everything
has fallen apart
Things are looking up for team good guy. In theory.
Of course to bring us down we still have Ephraim the
mopey because hey maybe the world has been saved but he still doesn’t have his
very annoying son. To be grudgingly fair to his grouchiness, he’s also not
certain that the Master is dead so the whole Lumen debacle may have achieved
nothing. Certainly Vasiliy and Abe are not happy with him – though Abe understands
why he did what he did.
Dutch also rejoins the group, basically drinking with
Ephraim and being mopey together. But she does have a very excellent depiction
of trauma after Eichorst kidnapping her last season. She’s vulnerable, hurting
and not dealing well. I’m glad to have her back – even if she and Vasiliy are…
tense.
Quinlan recovers – which worries him because he was
totally prophesised to die when the Master did – more evidence that they didn’t
get the job done. They go to the three remaining Masters and ask them about it
and they ask if they killed the red worm. Red worm? Yup, Masters have a special
red worm you have to kill – they totally forgot to mention that. Quinlan is not
amused. Of course the Red Worm got away so it’s only a matter of time before it
passes on to a new body
Meanwhile Gus is drafted with the other prisoners into the
new gangs to sweep the tunnels. Angel and Gus do well – especially since the
Strigoi are so unco-ordnated – but their fellow prisoners are just walking
meat. Especially since “criminals” now can include “looting” for food and water
or staying out past curfew. But I like that we’re seeing this through Gus’s
eyes – yes he’s definitely not deserving of this and this is the point: he has
criminal connections and a criminal past and he still definitely doesn’t
deserve this.
Christine Ferraldo is informed of the press gangs but the
last remaining journalists in New York – who aren’t super nice and don’t do a
great job of endearing themselves to Ferraldo. They ambush her with their
questions and she decides to follow up to see what atrocity is being committed
in her name… and when she interviews Gus it’s clear she’s very disturbed and
horrified by what is happening.
Until Eichorst makes his move – he sews bombs into the
bodies of members of her staff that have been turned: they’re not very
organised or intelligent – but they don’t need to be. They need to lurk into Christine’s
headquarters (what happened to the security they used to have? Is it their day
off?) and explode. It’s not the bodies that do the damage – it’s the rain of
white worms that are the problem since they can infect anyone. And nearly
infects Christine
We have a wonderful, deep, traumatised moment with
Christine dealing with the worry and fretting – it’s an excellent scene and
helps inform her following actions
Which are terrible – she apparently does nothing at all about the conscripted prisoners and she shuts down and arrests the journalists asking awkward questions. She’s refocused on killing the vampires, never mind the consequences. It’s a shame because I really really really want to explore and expand the whole destruction of human rights that is happening in New York as they fight the vampires.
