List of The Strain episodes

The Strain is an American horror drama television series that premiered on FX on July 13, 2014.^[1] It was created by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan, based on their novel trilogy of the same name. Carlton Cuse serves as executive producer and showrunner.

As of October 4, 2015, 26 episodes of The Strain have aired, concluding its second season. On August 7, 2015, FX renewed The Strain for a third season to premiere in 2016.^[2]

Series overview

Season		Episodes	Originally aired
			First aired	Last aired
	1	13	July 13, 2014	October 5, 2014
	2	13	July 12, 2015	October 4, 2015
	3	10[3]	2016	TBA

Episodes

Season 1 (2014)

No. in series	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Teleplay by	Original air date	Production code	U.S. viewers (millions)
1	1	"Night Zero"	Guillermo del Toro	Guillermo del Toro & Chuck Hogan	July 13, 2014	XSN01001	2.99[4]
A disturbance inside the cargo hold of an inbound jet to JFK International Airport alarms the flight crew. Upon landing, the plane immediately loses all contact with ground control. The CDC Canary team, headed by Dr. Ephraim Goodweather, is called to investigate. Wearing hazmat suits, Goodweather and Dr. Nora Martinez enter the plane, finding all passengers seemingly dead. They also discover strange parasitic worms aboard the plane and fear an Ebola-like plague could break out. Four people are unexpectedly found alive, including the pilot, Doyle Redfern, though none know what happened. At JFK, Goodweather is approached by Abraham Setrakian, an elderly Harlem pawnbroker. He insists the victims' bodies must be destroyed and the elaborately carved, coffin-like cabinet that was removed from the stricken plane's hold not leave the airport. Meanwhile, recently paroled Gus Elizalde is hired by Mr. Eichhorst, a mysterious man connected to Eldritch Palmer, a wealthy and powerful entrepreneur. Gus is to retrieve the cabinet from the airport, and Eichhorst assures him there will be no difficulty in removing it. When Eph and Nora discover the cabinet missing, they are unaware that Jim Kent, their CDC co-worker, has improperly allowed its release from the quarantine area. An airport official is attacked and killed by an enormous human-like creature that uses a throat appendage to suck out blood before smashing his head.
2	2	"The Box"	David Semel	David Weddle & Bradley Thompson	July 20, 2014	XSN01002	2.12[5]
Gus delivers the cabinet to its destination, but is frightened off by strange noises inside it. The four survivors continue exhibiting symptoms, though the CDC releases them over Ephraim's protests and insistence that they are suffering from a viral infection and not carbon monoxide poisoning which is the "official" public explanation for the disaster. Ephraim's CDC boss, Dr. Everett Barnes, removes him from the case, but Eph continues working to expose the worm-driven virus, focusing his attention on the large box he believes is the source of the contagion. Eichhorst visits his old enemy, Abraham Setrakian, who was jailed after being arrested at the airport. Setrakian vows to halt the Master's plan to create a vampire army, though his weak heart has hampered his efforts. Attorney and airplane survivor Joan Luss files a law suit against the airline while another survivor, rock star Gabriel Bolivar, bites a girl's neck, craving blood. Captain Redfern, who has been hospitalized, quickly deteriorates as his body begins transforming. Eph is surprised and confused when Mr. Arnot calls him saying his daughter, Emma, one of the victims, has returned home safely. Eichhorst grants Palmer's request to meet the Master. Eph discovers that Dr. Bennett, the medical examiner autopsying the victims, is missing, along with the victims' bodies. At the Arnot home, Emma attacks her father with a throat appendage.
3	3	"Gone Smooth"	David Semel	Chuck Hogan	July 27, 2014	XSN01003	2.30[6]
Eichhorst's true appearance is revealed when, applying nose, ear, and throat prosthesis, he prepares himself to look more human. The four survivors continue to worsen. Captain Redfern is quarantined, but Eph and Nora are unable to treat him and his condition deteriorates. Jim Kent meets with Eichhorst, refusing to take any more bribes. Eichhorst offers for Jim's terminal wife to be admitted into an experimental cancer treatment trial in exchange for his continued cooperation. Right after Setrakian is released from jail, Nora seeks him out for information. He insists the victims' bodies must be destroyed. Elsewhere, Bolivar remains holed up in his penthouse, showing increasingly erratic behavior and strange physical transformations, including his atrophied genitals falling off. After turning completely, Redfern escapes quarantine and flees to the hospital basement and feeds on stored blood. As Eph, Nora, and Jim approach, Redfern attacks. After a struggle, Eph bludgeons him to death with a fire extinguisher.
4	4	"It's Not for Everyone"	Keith Gordon	Regina Corrado	August 3, 2014	XSN01004	2.27[7]
Eph and Nora, assisted by Jim, perform an autopsy on Redfern's transformed body and are completely baffled by his transformation. Jim confesses to Eph and Nora that he allowed the large box to leave the airport and has been accepting small bribes to help pay for his wife's medical bills. Eph, furious, strikes him. Elsewhere, Eldritch Palmer hires computer hacker Dutch Velders to disrupt the city's entire Internet and telecommunications systems. Meanwhile, Ansel Barbour, another survivor, tries to mask his worsening symptoms from his worried wife, Anne Marie. He insists she take their children to his sister's when he starts lusting for blood. Returning home, she finds the family dog dead and Ansel has chained himself inside the garden shed. He wants to attack her, but, still cognizant, restrains himself and pleads that she leave and never come back. An obnoxious neighbor appears, complaining about noise at the Barbour house. Learning he once struck her dog, Anne Marie tricks him into entering the shed and locks him inside with Ansel, where he is fed upon. Eph and Nora visit the Arnot household to verify Mr. Arnot's claim that Emma was still alive and returned home. They find Emma and her father fully infected. As they attack Eph and Nora, Setrakian arrives and decapitates father and daughter. He urges Eph and Nora to join his quest.
5	5	"Runaways"	Peter Weller	Gennifer Hutchison	August 10, 2014	XSN01005	2.03[8]
After Gabriel Bolivar slaughters the urologist sent to treat him, his agent hires a "cleaner" to remove the body and any residual mess; Bolivar also kills the cleaner. Joan Luss, another survivor, turns more slowly. When her housekeeper, Neeva, sees Joan's inner vertical eyelids, she flees with the Luss children. Nora is repulsed by Setrakian's cold-blooded killing method of the infected, but Eph is more open to joining him. They plan to video record an infected vampire (or strigoi, as Setrakian calls them) which Eph can show his superior, Dr. Everett Barnes, at the CDC. At the Barbour house, Eph and Setrakian find Ann Marie, who has hanged herself, unable to face life without Ansel. The fully turned Ansel and the neighbor are in the garden shed, and Eph video records Setrakian killing them. Eph takes the recording to Everett Barnes at the CDC, but quickly realizes he has been set up to be arrested for murdering Captain Redfern. He escapes with Jim Kent's help. Flashbacks reveal a young Abraham Setrakian arriving at a concentration camp commanded by a still-human Eichhorst. Observing Setrakian's craftsmanship, Eichhorst orders him to build a giant box and carve an intricate design on it. At night, Setrakian witnesses a strange creature feeding on sleeping prisoners and plots to kill it with a stolen silver knife. One night, Abraham's brother is a victim. Nora visits her dementia-impaired mother at the nursing facility. When a strigoi attacks the residents, Nora and her mother flee to Nora's apartment. Vasiliy Fet, a city exterminator, notices city rats behaving strangely and tracks them to the sewers where he encounters subterranean strigoi, barely escaping alive.
6	6	"Occultation"	Peter Weller	Justin Britt-Gibson	August 17, 2014	XSN01006	2.28[9]
The FBI arrest Eph at his estranged wife Kelly's house, after her new boyfriend Matt contacts them. Before being taken away, Eph urges Kelly to take their son Zach and leave the city, telling her it is unsafe. Eichhorst forces Gus and Jim Kent to remove Redfern's body from the hospital morgue and dump it. Knowing that recently turned strigoi return to their loved ones, Setrakian visits a plane victim's home intending to execute any infected he finds there but, physically weakened and outnumbered, he is nearly killed. To evade the FBI, Nora and her mother leave the apartment. With coming nightfall, the streets are unsafe, and Nora seeks refuge at Setrakian's pawnshop. Fet returns to his office and discovers his co-workers have been turned; he kills them, discovering that sunlight destroys the strigoi. He tries persuading his estranged father to flee the strigoi threat, with no success. An eclipse provides an opportunity for the strigoi to feed and infect more victims during daytime. In the ensuring mayhem, Eph escapes while being transported by two FBI agents. Gus and Felix are attacked on the street by Dr. Bennett, now a strigoi, and Felix is infected. Gus kills the strigoi, but he and Felix are arrested. Eph goes to Setrakian's pawnshop where he is reunited with Nora.
7	7	"For Services Rendered"	Charlotte Sieling	David Weddle & Bradley Thompson	August 24, 2014	XSN01007	2.43[10]
Joan Luss' husband, Roger, arrives home from a business trip unaware of the horrors awaiting him. He escapes strigoi on the street, only to be ambushed and fed upon by his newly turned wife inside their house. Meanwhile, Eph and Nora, hiding out at Setrakian's pawnshop, gather weapons and supplies. At their colleague Jim Kent's apartment, they find him attempting to explain to his cancer-stricken wife that his actions (accepting bribes from Eldritch Palmer) were only intended to help her. She is unforgiving and leaves for the airport to take part in an experimental cancer treatment in another state. Jim is steadfast in his desire to make amends for his past misdeeds and vows to help Eph and Nora. They formulate a plan to use Jim as bait to lure Eichhorst into leading them to the Master, but the plan fails, and Eichhorst escapes. Elsewhere, Neeva, frightened by Joan's strange behavior, has kept the Luss children at her home, only to be countermanded by her own daughter, who insists on returning the children to their parents. At the Luss' house, Joan and a deliveryman strigoi attempt to attack the group who barricade themselves in a wine cellar. A rebel band of strigoi led by Vaun arrive, and kill Joan and the deliveryman vampire. They also kill Neeva's daughter, who was infected, but release the others unharmed.
8	8	"Creatures of the Night"	Guy Ferland	Chuck Hogan	August 31, 2014	XSN01008	1.91[11]
Following their unsuccessful encounter with Eichhorst at Grand Central Terminus, Eph, Nora, Jim, and Setrakian regroup while awaiting the Master's retaliation for attacking Eichhorst. Making their way to Brooklyn, they break into a medical supply store to procure ultraviolet lamps to combat the strigoi where they encounter Fet, who had the same idea. The group stocks up at a nearby convenience store but when strigoi attack, they barricade themselves inside the store. The other customers, including computer hacker Dutch Velders, are shocked by the horrific events unfolding. Setrakian explains that the Master is controlling the strigoi to specifically hunt them. During a skirmish outside, Jim is infected. Eph and Nora remove a worm from his face, only to realize it has spread throughout his body. Jim begs to be killed before turning. Setrakian concurs and Fet fatally shoots Jim. As the strigoi are about to overrun the convenience store, the group escapes in a delivery truck parked outside.
9	9	"The Disappeared"	Charlotte Sieling	Regina Corrado	September 7, 2014	XSN01009	1.87[12]
Eph and the others go to the Goodweather house in Queens, arriving just in time to save Zach from an infected Matt. Setrakian, Dutch, Fet, and Zach return to the pawnshop while Eph and Nora stay behind to burn Matt's body and wait for Kelly, who is missing. Dutch's apartment building has been infected, and Fet convinces her to come with them. At the pawnshop, Fet agrees to join Setrakian's mission, and Dutch admits to being responsible for crashing the communication networks for Eldritch Palmer. Elsewhere, Felix has fully turned into a strigoi and, while en route to Rikers Island, attacks the occupants inside the police van, crashing it. Gus kills Felix before escaping. Kelly's friend Diane arrives at the Goodweather house, just after Eph and Nora have been intimate. After a short argument, Eph tells her to contact him if she hears from Kelly, then he and Nora return to the pawnshop. In the WWII flashback, Setrakian, armed with the knife he hid, tries to kill the Master while it feeds on the prisoners. He underestimates the creature's stealth and strength, and it crushes his fingers with its enormous hands. The following day, Eichhorst, after seeing Setrakian's injuries, sends him to the group about to be executed. The prisoners escape, thanks to a surprise Allied attack on the camp. Later, Eichhorst, fleeing the Allies, arrives at a secret bunker in the woods that houses the Master's coffin. There the Master transfuses a worm into his body, triggering Eichhorst's rebirth as a strigoi.
10	10	"Loved Ones"	John Dahl	Gennifer Hutchison	September 14, 2014	XSN01010	2.22[13]
At the pawnshop, Zach tracks Kelly's phone on a laptop, but Eph discovers that a homeless woman found the phone next to Kelly's abandoned car. A bloody tissue is inside. In flashbacks, Kelly is attacked at home by a newly turned Matt. She escapes but has been infected. Over the next 24 hours she gradually turns, and, thirsting for blood, arrives at Diane's house where she attacks Diane and her son. When Eph searches for Kelly there, he is forced to kill the infected. Kelly's necklace in Diane's hand; Eph breaks down, realizing Kelly likely attacked and turned them. Dutch tells Setrakian it may be possible to undo the damage she caused to the city's communication networks but needs to infiltrate Eldritch Palmer's Stoneheart Group headquarters. She and Fet enter under the guise of city exterminators, but security spot Dutch. Palmer's assistant, Fitzwilliam and his team intercept them. Dutch is taken to Palmer, who reveals his plans for immortality, then orders Fitzwilliam to kill them. Fitzwilliam instead releases them, admitting that he now doubts his boss' actions. Fet entreats him to join their cause, but Fitzwilliam, still loyal to Palmer, declines. Eph returns to the pawnshop and insults Dutch, who angrily leaves, preferring to take her chances on the street. Meanwhile, a fully turned Kelly is summoned by the Master, who meets her face-to-face and tells her to "rejoice."
11	11	"The Third Rail"	Deran Sarafian	Justin Britt-Gibson and Chuck Hogan	September 21, 2014	XSN01011	2.28[14]
The group plan to infiltrate the Master's underground lair that Setrakian believes is near the 9/11 attack sites. Eph wants Nora to stay behind with Zach and her mother, who suffers from dementia. Nora refuses, and Eph instead tells Zach to look after Mrs. Martinez, leaving him the keys. Eph, Nora, Fet and Setrakian enter a deserted railway tunnel to search for the Master. Meanwhile, Zach, yielding to Mrs. Martinez's incessant demands for cigarettes, leaves the pawnshop to get her some. He finds a deserted grocery store, but when looters arrive, he hides in a back room and encounters a strigoi. Zach narrowly escapes as Gus enters, armed with an ax. After escaping the police, Gus had returned home and discovered his infected family. He killed his brother and also the turned landlord, but left his mother alive, unable to harm her. Gus sends Zach safely on his way, then destroys the strigoi and its victims. Meanwhile, Eph and the others locate the Master's lair only to find it littered with resting strigoi. Eph hears Kelly's voice crying out for help, but Setrakian knows it is a trap leading them to the Master. The voice leads Eph into a large chamber containing the Master's coffin, only to be surrounded by strigoi. After arriving and finally meeting Eph face-to-face, The Master attempts to kill him, but Fet, Setrakian and Nora arrive and set off a home-made UV light bomb, killing some strigoi and repelling the Master. Setrakian wants to pursue his old nemesis, but is forced to retreat when the group come upon hundreds of newly turned strigoi inside a cavern.
12	12	"Last Rites"	Peter Weller	Carlton Cuse and David Weddle & Bradley Thompson	September 28, 2014	XSN01012	1.97[15]
Setrakian, Eph, Fet, and Nora return to the pawnshop. Zach, reunited with his father, claims nothing happened while they were away. Dutch Velders returns with computer equipment and a plan to use the Emergency Alert System to transmit Eph's warning about the strigoi invasion. Elsewhere, Gus locates Alonso Creem, a former acquaintance he forces at gunpoint to provide him weapons, ammunition, and cash. Gus discovers Creem has unwittingly been transporting cargo containers containing strigoi. After opening a container, Gus battles the strigoi inside (and also Creem). Vaun, a strigoi, and his strigoi-killing team arrive and destroy the remaining vampires. Vaun and his team kidnap Gus, leaving Creem behind unharmed. Meanwhile, Dutch and Eph partially broadcast Eph's announcement before TV stations block the signal. Gabriel Bolivar breaks into the pawnshop and attacks Mrs. Martinez, infecting her, while Eichhorst and his strigoi army storm the shop, forcing Setrakian and the others to escape through a secret passage. Before exiting, Nora decapitates her mother to prevent her turning, while Setrakian abandons his deceased wife Miriam's still-beating strigoi heart. Flashbacks to 1967 reveal how Eichhorst exploited Setrakian's obsession with killing the Master to lure him into a trap, leaving Miriam unprotected; When Setrakian arrives home, he finds her infected, decapitates her, and removes her worm-infested heart as a keepsake. In the present day, Eichhorst taunts Setrakian as he and the others are escaping. Later, the Master rejuvenates a dying Eldritch Palmer by dripping bodily fluid from his finger down Palmer's throat.
13	13	"The Master"	Phil Abraham	Carlton Cuse & Chuck Hogan	October 5, 2014	XSN01013	2.09[16]
Having escaped the pawn shop, Eph, Setrakian and Fet regroup. They deduce that the Master needs his damaged coffin repaired and is nesting nearby. Eph and Fet set out a recon mission leading them to Gabriel Bolivar's renovated theater. Using his exterminator skills and historical knowledge of the area, Fet infiltrates the theater through an underground passage connected by the rain sewers to a nearby building. Inside they discover the Master's coffin and surmise he is close by. Before retreating, Fet removes a street manhole cover, flooding the sewer with sunlight to block any strigoi passing through. Meanwhile, Palmer is angry that the Master only restored his health rather than bestowing immortality. Eichhorst assures Palmer he will be rewarded once he completes the Master's work. Fitzwilliam, convinced Palmer has gone too far, leaves his boss' employ. Later, Palmer and Eichhorst confront Secretary of Health and Human Services Margaret Pierson and CDC Director Everett Barnes, who plan to quarantine the entire city. Palmer tosses Pierson over a balcony, making it look like suicide, then he and Eichhorst coerce Barnes into joining them. Elsewhere, Eph, Fet, Setrakian, Nora, and Dutch Velders prepare to attack the theater. Nora suggests bringing Zach when Eph is reluctant to leave him behind, unprotected from Kelly. In the tunnels beneath the theater, Fet dynamites a mob of strigoi. The group enters the theater, and fights more strigoi, including Bolivar and Eichhorst. Upstairs, Setrakian and Eph confront the Master and drive him into daylight where he is severely burned, but escapes. Eichhorst, wounded, also escapes, along with Bolivar and other strigoi. Setrakian and the others are stunned that sunlight failed to kill the Master. As they retreat, Zach feigns an asthma attack to trick them into stopping at Kelly's house for his medication. Zach instead retrieves a family photo album. Kelly, now a fully turned strigoi, appears, calling Zach. Eph restrains him while shooting at Kelly, wounding her before she escapes. Setrakian warns Eph that the Master will use Kelly to track the group. Meanwhile, Vaun tells Gus that the Master is one of an ancient group of strigoi who has broken a truce amongst them. Needing a human to help slay the Master, the Ancients recruit Gus, who wants to avenge his family.

Season 2 (2015)

No. in series	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Teleplay by	Original air date	Production code	U.S. viewers (millions)
14	1	"BK, NY"	Gregory Hoblit Guillermo del Toro (prologue)	Carlton Cuse & Chuck Hogan	July 12, 2015	XSN02001	1.66[17]
In 1932, a young Abraham Setrakian's grandmother (Kathleen Chalfant) tells him the legend of Jusef Sardu, a kind-hearted nobleman afflicted with gigantism. Believing that the blood of a great wolf will cure him, Sardu's brother and cousins take him on a hunting trip. Seeing a strange creature in the woods, they leave Sardu to investigate. When they fail to return, he follows the party to a nearby cave and finds them slaughtered, with the creature feeding on his brother's blood. Sardu attempts to kill the vampire, but it overpowers him and possesses his body by infesting it with parasitic worms, as the creature's former body dies. Sardu returns to the town and begins feeding on the local children. In present day New York, Setrakian goes to Bolivar's theater to learn where the Master went. He follows a trail of vampire blood and encounters Vaun and his strigoi team. They abduct Setrakian and take him to meet the Ancients. The Ancients, Vaun, and Setrakian strike a deal that once Setrakian finds the Master that he will report his location to them. Setrakian, who keeps his deal with the Ancients a secret, later asks Eph, Nora, and Fet to help him retrieve some items from a storage warehouse. While searching the facility, the group discover a married couple hiding out in a locker. After finding Setrakian's items, they are ambushed by strigoi. They fight their way out, but the couple are infected. Fet wants to euthanize them before they turn, but Eph wants to use their infected bodies to devise a biological weapon against the strigoi. Meanwhile, the Master, whose body is dying after exposure to sunlight, orders Eichhorst to retrieve blind children who are converted into a new type of vampire called Feelers. By the Master and Eichhorst's command, the Feelers are given to Kelly, whose memory has been restored. She is tasked with finding her son, Zach, and with leading the Master to Setrakian.
15	2	"By Any Means"	TJ Scott	Bradley Thompson & David Weddle	July 19, 2015	XSN02002	1.63[18]
Eichhorst and Bolivar prepare for the Master's transfer to a new body. Eph and Nora coerce the infected couple into acting as test subjects for their experiment. The vampire biology initially appears to be invulnerable, but they eventually isolate a microbe that destroys vampire brain tissue and start testing the subjects. Dutch and Fet begin clearing their neighborhood of strigoi and end up becoming intimate. Justine Feraldo, city councilwoman for Staten Island, meets with Mayor Lyle and other officials about the vampire crisis. Disgusted with their ineffectual response, she vows to take matters into her own hands. A frustrated Setrakian pores over his old notes and books for clues to defeat his ancient nemesis. He discovers a copy of a page from the Occido Lumen, a legendary tome which may reveal how to kill the Master. He confronts Eldridge Palmer, who is speaking at the opening of his new food distribution center. Setrakian confirms that Palmer does not have the Lumen and makes his escape with Fet's help, vowing to find the Lumen. In flashbacks to 1965 Vienna, Setrakian meets Palmer for the first time. At Palmer's suggestion, Setrakian finds Sardu's sword in an antique shop owned by Draverhaven, a former Nazi doctor. Setrakian chases Draverhaven, losing him but obtaining the cane. Later, a panicked Draverhaven meets an old acquaintance from his Nazi days: Eichhorst, who offers him the opportunity to enter the Master's service and turns him. Palmer persuades Setrakian to help him search for the Lumen in exchange for an endowed professorship. Kelly fetches Zach's clothing from her Queens home so her "Feelers" can smell his scent. She orders them to find her son.
16	3	"Fort Defiance"	Guy Ferland	Regina Corrado	July 26, 2015	XSN02003	1.47[19]
The team stop Zach as he attempts to return home to search for his mother. To convince him that Kelly is beyond saving, Eph shows Zach the strigoi test subjects at the lab. Following Palmer's confrontation with Setrakian, the Master assigns Bolivar as extra security for Palmer, who grudgingly accepts. Palmer's new assistant, Coco Marchand, tells Palmer that she distrusts Eichhorst. Elsewhere, Palmer's former assistant, Reggie Fitzwilliam, travels to Staten Island and reunites with his brother, Curtis. Councilwoman Feraldo declares Staten Island a vampire-free zone, exhibiting decapitated strigoi to the media to demonstrate her effective tactics. Mayor Lyle wants her to institute the same measures throughout New York City. Setrakian, meanwhile, prepares a concoction using strigoi worms and puts the drops into his eyes. Nora finds him unconscious and revives him; he confesses that his advanced age (94) makes it necessary to use the worm brew to sustain his health and extend his life. Dutch spots a missing person poster for her former roommate, Nikki. She and Fet visit Nikki's mother, hoping for news, but the mother angrily accuses Dutch of ruining her daughter's life. Gus and Vaun lead a strigoi assault team to kidnap Palmer; however, Palmer activates an anti-strigoi UV device in his office, forcing Gus to flee while Vaun and his strigoi team are burned alive. Eph and Nora perfect their anti-strigoi bio-weapon. The neuro-toxin kills one subject too quickly, however, making it ineffective for infecting other strigoi; a weaker dose appears promising, and they decide to field-test it by releasing the surviving test subject. Eph angrily vows to the Master, who is watching through the test subject, that he will kill both Zach and himself before allowing the Master to turn them.
17	4	"The Silver Angel"	J. Miles Dale Guillermo del Toro (Luchador film)	Chuck Hogan	August 2, 2015	XSN02004	1.38[20]
A short, black and white film introduces the Silver Angel, a famous luchador who once starred in a series of low-budget Mexican adventure movies until a crippling injury ended his career. In a flashback to 1966, Setrakian informs Palmer that he has traced the Occido Lumen to an Austrian nunnery. They arrive and discover the occupants are now vampires; a lone survivor, a young boy named Rudyard, tells them that the Mother Superior destroyed the Occido Lumen, believing it was evil. While Setrakian briefly leaves to battle strigoi, Eichhorst arrives and introduces himself to Palmer. It is implied that Eichhorst offers Palmer immortality, as Palmer immediately dissolves his and Setrakian's alliance when he returns. In the present day, Palmer convenes a meeting of the world's top financial leaders under the ruse of restoring financial stability to New York City; he has actually set them up to be slaughtered by strigoi under Bolivar's command, resulting in global financial markets going into free fall. Having escaped the Stoneheart building, Gus returns to his apartment where the Master taunts him by possessing his strigoi mother. Shaken, he goes to a restaurant for solace, but has a confrontation with the dishwasher after flirting with the owners' daughter, Aanya; Gus later recognizes the man as the former Silver Angel, who he idolized as a child. Setrakian and Dutch travel to Staten Island seeking Fitzwilliam's help in fighting Palmer, but he declines. Eph and Nora field-test their bio-weapon and get confirmation that it works when the Master forces infected strigoi to commit suicide to prevent them spreading the disease. Working alone, Fet blows up the Red Hook subway tunnel to block vampires from entering through it; he is captured by one of Feraldo's vigilante goon squads and viciously beaten. Kelly and her Feelers close in on Zach.
18	5	"Quick and Painless"	J. Miles Dale	Liz Phang	August 9, 2015	XSN02005	1.26[21]
NYC increases its efforts to battle the strigoi as frantic citizens attempt to evacuate the city. Meanwhile, Kelly and her Feelers continue searching for Zach. Leaving Zach in Nora's care, Eph, disguised and using a false I.D., travels to Washington, D.C. to inform a government-connected colleague about the anti-strigoi bioweapon that he and Nora developed, hoping to begin mass-producing it. Nora and Dutch meet with Councilwoman Feraldo to negotiate Fet's release from custody in exchange for Nora teaching Feraldo's medical personnel how to quickly diagnose the strigoi infection. She euthanizes Feraldo's infected nephew when Feraldo is unable to do it. Setrakian visits Alonso Creem, wanting to hire him to search for the Occido Lumen. Fet and Dutch accompany Feraldo's police squad to clear a strigoi-infested building, teaching them their vampire-hunting techniques and killing a Feeler. Fitzwilliam finds Setrakian and says he is ready to help fight Palmer. While on the train to Washington, Eph encounters his former boss, Everett Barnes, who intends to have Eph arrested. During the ensuing altercation, Eph throws Barnes off the moving train and ultimately arrives in Washington without being caught. Cardinal McNamara interrupts Palmer and Marchand's romantic dinner to inform Palmer that a "certain item" Palmer is looking for may reappear soon. An unknown strigoi arrives on a private jet that has breached New Jersey's restricted airspace. Before authorities can detain him, he leaves the airport and is picked up by a car.
19	6	"Identity"	Howard Deutch	Justin Britt-Gibson	August 16, 2015	XSN02006	1.44[22]
In Washington, D.C., Eph learns that the Federal government is slowly disintegrating, as Congress prepares to impeach the president for failing to halt the strigoi outbreak. Eph's old friend, Rob Bradley, introduces Eph to a National Guard contact who promises to help. Bradley also arranges for Eph to meet Leigh Thomas, a representative for Kemerall, a pharmaceutical company. Leigh convinces Kemerall to consider mass-producing Eph and Nora's anti-strigoi bioweapon; later, Leigh and Eph celebrate, then spend the night together. Fitzwilliam shares what he knows about Palmer's plans with Setrakian and Fet. The unnamed strigoi who arrived in New Jersey meets with the Ancients and criticizes them for failing to destroy the Master long ago; he agrees to help stop the Master, but for personal reasons. Gus and Angel escort Aanya on a food delivery run, during which they are attacked by strigoi. Gus kills the strigoi with Angel's help. Nora and Zach are ambushed by Kelly and her Feelers. Taking refuge in a church, the duo evade them until Setrakian, Fet, and Fitzwilliam arrive. The group drives off Kelly and kills the Feelers but not before one stings Fitzwilliam. Setrakian kills him to prevent his turning. After Leigh learns that Kemerall is reviewing the bioweapon on a fast-track basis, she and Eph go to Rob's house to tell him, but discover his body, the victim of a Stoneheart assassin sent to eliminate Eph. The assassin kills Leigh and wounds Eph, but Eph fatally shoots him and flees. Eichhorst is shocked and dismayed when the Master transfers his essence into Bolivar's body rather than his. The Master then demands that Eichhorst swear fealty to him in his new form.
20	7	"The Born"	Howard Deutch	Chuck Hogan	August 23, 2015	XSN02007	0.95[23]
Fet and Dutch return to Dutch's apartment where they discover Nikki, Dutch's former roommate, hiding. Dutch brings her back to their hideout, fueling Fet's jealousy and anger over Dutch and Nikki's ambiguous relationship. Based on Fitzwilliam's information, Fet and Setrakian investigate an abandoned factory owned by Palmer and discover the Feelers' nursery. When Feelers attack, the mysterious strigoi arrives and slaughters them. He introduces himself to Fet and Setrakian as Quinlan, and says he is hunting the Master. Flashbacks reveal Quinlan's history as a millennia-old human-vampire hybrid who was a feared and vicious gladiator in Roman times. In the present day, Setrakian and Quinlan confront the Master, who is nesting in the factory, and also Eichhorst. When Fet dynamites the building, the Master escapes in the explosion. Quinlan angrily blames Setrakian and Fet for thwarting his opportunity to destroy the Master, then warns them to abandon the hunt to him. Coco Marchand entices Palmer into bed. Drinking heavily, a wounded and dejected Eph returns from Washington, learning that Zach barely escaped Kelly's clutches. Eph tells Nora that Eldritch Palmer is behind the Master's plan, and later vows to Fet that he plans to kill Palmer.
21	8	"Intruders"	Kevin Dowling	David Weddle & Bradley Thompson	August 30, 2015	XSN02008	1.36[24]
Eichhorst teaches Kelly how to disguise herself as a human using cosmetics, prosthetics, and a wig. Eph and Zach visit Jimmy Wu, a black market dealer that Fet knows, to buy a sniper rifle with which to assassinate Palmer. Wu has been shot, and Eph performs emergency surgery to save Wu's life. In return, Wu's daughter gives Eph a rifle. Eph tells Nora about what happened while he was in Washington, D.C. Dutch helps Nikki, who was uncomfortable with the living arrangements, find a safe place to stay. Elsewhere, Cardinal McNamara engages Palmer and Setrakian in a bidding war for the Occido Lumen. Realizing this, Setrakian decides to steal the Lumen before Palmer can buy it, but Eichhorst reaches McNamara first. When McNamara refuses to reveal who is the tome's owner, Eichhorst infects him, taunting him that once fully turned, the Master can read his mind to locate the Lumen. Setrakian and Fet arrive and drive off Eichhorst. McNamara tells Setrakian that Rudyard Fonescu, the sole survivor of the 1966 massacre in the Austrian nunnery, is the Lumen's owner. Setrakian kills McNamara to prevent his turning. Meanwhile, Marchand and Palmer argue over his secretiveness regarding Eichhorst. Gus and Angel, on a supply run for the Guptas' restaurant, find the warehouse destroyed. They persuade the Guptas to abandon their restaurant and leave the city. While kissing Aanya, Gus is interrupted by Quinlan. He tells Gus he must leave Aanya for her own safety, and recruits him to help hunt the Master. The now human-looking Kelly and several Feelers breach Red Hook's quarantine and track Zach to Fet's hideout. Kelly convinces Zach to let her enter, but Eph and Nora kill the Feelers and fight Kelly off; in the process, Kelly's mask is damaged, revealing her strigoi appearance underneath to Zach.
22	9	"The Battle for Red Hook"	Kevin Dowling	Regina Corrado	September 6, 2015	XSN02009	1.15[25]
After Kelly's incursion, Setrakian suspects another strigoi attack is imminent; he and Eph are rebuffed when they attempt to warn Councilwoman Feraldo and her team. Fet and Nora stop by Nikki's new place and suggest that Dutch and Niki join Setrakian's group for protection, but they decline. Eichhorst and Kelly lead a small party of strigoi across the river from Manhattan and enter a power station, shutting down the power grids. Without UV lamps protecting Red Hook's border, a massive strigoi army invades. Mayor Lyle flees, leaving Feraldo in charge. She initially panics at the hopeless situation, but quickly collects herself and rallies the Red Hook citizens, calling on them to fight in the street to defend their homes. Dutch and Nikki have a vicious argument about their contentious relationship, which culminates in a passionate encounter. Later, Dutch joins the street battle and is nearly stung when Niki arrives and kills the attacking vampire. Fet and Nora restore all the electrical power, causing the UV lamps to annihilate the strigoi army. Kelly makes another attempt to kidnap Zach, but Fet fends her off. Meanwhile, Eichhorst goes to Fet's hideout to settle his and Setrakian's old feud. Setrakian, waiting, is attacked, but Eph intervenes and Eichhorst pursues him instead. He traps Eph on a rooftop, about to turn him, when Setrakian outflanks his old foe, driving him off with silver bullets. The next morning, Feraldo makes a triumphant victory speech to Red Hook citizens, declaring the battle a turning point in the war against the strigoi plague.
23	10	"The Assassin"	Phil Abraham	Liz Phang	September 13, 2015	XSN02010	1.30[26]
Eph and Dutch spy on Palmer to determine an ideal time and place to assassinate him. Searching for Rudyard Fonescu, who possesses the Occido Lumen, Setrakian, Fet, and Nora work to track down every "R. Fonescu" in New York City. Palmer, hoping to reconcile with Marchand, convinces her to return to his employ. Councilwoman Feraldo demands that the Upper East Side's wealthy residents pay a parcel tax in exchange for her protection, angering Mayor Lyle and his rich supporters. Eph and Dutch, learning that Palmer is appearing at a press conference, seize the opportunity to shoot him, but Eph botches his shot and hits Marchand instead, critically wounding her. He and Dutch are arrested, but Dutch is inexplicably taken away from police custody. Palmer threatens Eichhorst, demanding that the Master heal Marchand or else he will dissolve their partnership. He later confronts Eph face-to-face at the jail to show that he is still alive. The Master revives Marchand, and Palmer confesses his involvement with the Master to her. A strigoi mob attacks the police station, slaughtering most of the officers; Fet and Nora arrive in time to rescue Eph. The cop whose partner took Dutch away tells them she is at the Mayfield Hotel. Setrakian tracks down the last R. Fonescu on the list and finds the Lumen hidden in the man's room, but an unknown assailant knocks him out and takes the book. Finally, Dutch finds herself chained inside Eichhorst's dungeon.
24	11	"Dead End"	Phil Abraham	Carlton Cuse & Regina Corrado	September 20, 2015	XSN02011	1.42[27]
Eichhorst tortures Dutch, forcing her to eat pineapple to season her blood before feeding on her. Flashbacks depict Eichhorst's history as an unsuccessful door-to-door radio salesman in 1930s Germany. While on a dinner date with Helga, a pretty coworker, he is captivated by a Nazi recruiting speech. Afterwards, he rails against the Jews to Helga, who reveals she is Jewish and rejects him. Four years later, Eichhorst has risen to the rank of Obersturmführer in the SS, attaining the status and power he had craved. He is summoned by his superiors to explain his past relationship with Helga, who has been arrested and claims to know him. He lies and says she was merely a former office co-worker who was suspected of stealing money. Shortly after, Eichhorst comes upon her and several other Jews' bodies hung in a public area. He feigns indifference as his superior watches him, but after turning and walking away, he is visibly shaken. In the present day, Dutch fends off Eichhorst's attack using mace, frees herself, and attempts to escape down a dead-end stairwell but is quickly subdued. Eph, Nora, and Fet break into Eichhorst's secret lair at the Mayfield Hotel, and, hearing Dutch's screams, blast their way through a brick wall and rescue her as Eichhorst escapes. Meanwhile Gus and Aanya become intimate. After Gus and Angel help the Guptas pass a security checkpoint and leave New York City, they join Quinlan's associate, Eve. Setrakian regains consciousness and finds himself bound to a chair by Rudyard Fonescu. He pleads with Fonescu to release him and give or sell him the Occido Lumen to save humanity; Fonescu abandons him to meet with Alonso Creem, intending to sell him the Lumen.
25	12	"Fallen Light"	Vincenzo Natali	Bradley Thompson & David Weddle	September 27, 2015	XSN02012	1.23[28]
Flashbacks depict Eph and Nora's first meeting at a medical conference and the beginning of their romantic relationship. In the present day, Zach's grandparents have been located in Georgia and Eph and Nora make plans to take him there. Eph confesses he still loves Nora, but she is unresponsive and walks away. Dutch ends her relationship with Fet, choosing to reconcile with Nikki; however, Nikki is leaving the city, saying that Dutch has found her true passion in fighting the strigoi and she cannot take part in that. Gus and Angel break Gus's former fellow-inmates out of Rikers Island prison and recruit them as soldiers for Quinlan. Setrakian meets with Alonso Creem, who schedules a final auction for the Occido Lumen between Setrakian and Palmer. Quinlan tells Setrakian the Ancients will agree to financially back him to obtain the book. In return, Setrakian must hand over the Lumen to the Ancients after he examines it. Eichhorst demands that Palmer give him unlimited financial control at the auction. When Palmer balks, Eichhorst reveals that Palmer will soon die without another dose of the Master's rejuvenating white essence, and Palmer grudgingly accedes. A furious Mayor Lyle threatens to indict Feraldo for extorting money from the Upper East Side's wealthy residents; however, he is promptly killed under suspicious circumstances, making Feraldo a potential suspect. In the aftermath, Palmer offers Feraldo his political support, and the New York city council appoints her as the city's new special director of security. Feraldo vows to combat the strigoi menace by any means necessary, and agrees to help Eph and Nora mass-produce their anti-strigoi bioweapon. Quinlan orders Gus to kill Setrakian and take the Lumen if Setrakian refuses to surrender it to the Ancients.
26	13	"Night Train"	Vincenzo Natali	Carlton Cuse & Chuck Hogan	October 4, 2015	XSN02013	1.17[29]
Eichhorst inspects the "animal processing" facility being built and is pleased with its progress. At the auction, Setrakian and Eichhorst bid against each other for the Occido Lumen. Initially Eichhorst wins, but Palmer double-crosses Eichhorst by freezing his gold funds at the last minute, allowing Setrakian to obtain the book. While returning in the van with the Lumen, Setrakian and Fet are ambushed by Eichhorst and his vampire army. Quinlan and Gus arrive with their own army and battle the vampires, forcing Eichhorst to flee. Setrakian and Fet get away through a pre-planned escape route by way of the rain sewer but are intercepted by Gus, Quinlan, and Angel at the other end. Setrakian convinces Quinlan that the Lumen can be used as bait to lure and kill the Master. In retaliation for Palmer's betrayal, the Master kills Coco Marchand as Palmer helplessly watches. As Setrakian did with his wife, Palmer removes Marchand's worm-infested heart as a keepsake. Meanwhile Eph, Nora, and Zach board the last train allowed to leave New York to deliver Zach to his grandparents in Georgia. Eph and Nora will then travel to Washington D.C. to build the vampire bioweapon. They unknowingly are sitting next to Rudyard Fonescu, who sold the Occido Lumen to Creem. Vampires derail the train as it moves through the tunnel. Nora and Zach, separated from Eph, escape into an adjoining subway tunnel. Kelly appears and infects Nora, after which Kelly takes Zach away with her. Eph finds Nora, and, making peace with him, she then touches her sword to the third rail, electrocuting herself. Meanwhile, Fet, Setrakian, Quinlan, Gus, and Angel escape in a stolen tug boat.

References

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External links

• Official website
• List of The Strain episodes at the Internet Movie Database