The Strain ended it’s 4 season run on FX this past weekend. While it may have seemed cliché in the end, it did wrap up all the story lines to a satisfying end for it’s fans.

I have been a fan since the beginning. I read the first book in the trilogy series by Chuck Hogan (screenwriter of 13 Hours) and Guillermo Del Toro (Hellboy) before the show started. As far as the show goes, it did meander a little and was able to get 4 seasons out of 3 books. To describe the show in the most basic way, it was an apocalyptic vampire soap opera. We were introduced to a handful of main characters that made it (or most of the way*) to the end of all the horrible stuff that went on. A virus spreads through New York and humans become a version of the vampire lore we all know. So, it becomes a survival show similar to the Walking Dead, while also creating it’s own rules and historic backstories along the way. It actually deals with the holocaust and nazis quite a bit, as a few of the characters have been around that long and were involved. It also featured a nuclear blast and the after effects. So, the show was very heavily serialized and sci-fi/horror driven in it’s plot.

Carlton Cuse (Lost, Bates Motel) did a great job as executive producer/showrunner, making sure they stayed true to the novels and presenting the full story. Ramin Djawadi (Game of Thrones) also made a memorable theme and score. The main cast consisted of Corey Stoll (House of Cards, Ant-Man), Kevin Durand (Lost), David Bradley (Harry Potter, Game of Thrones), Miguel Gomez (Southpaw), Rupert Penry-Jones (Whitechapel), and Ruta Gedmintas as our “good guys.” Richard Sammel (Inglorious Basterds, Casino Royale) and Jonathan Hyde (Titanic, The Mummy) were our villains. If I can give the show credit for one thing it was the expert casting of these main roles. You really got committed to these characters, good and bad, and wanted to see their arcs through to completion.

The last season brought the show back to the high point it had in season 1 in my opinion. Seasons 2 and 3 were a little all over the place, and almost lost me. I’m glad we were able to see the whole story through though, which made the 46 episode commitment seem worth it. If you missed it and are interested, it would not be hard to catch up and binge the whole series, especially if you are into vampires and/or horror/sci-fi stuff.

–Tony