The Strain is a TV show based of the book of the same title that was written by Guillermo del Toro. It involves vampires who are also known as Strigoi and someone called “The Master” who inhabits the body of Jusef Sardu. The show is about Dr. Ephraim Goodweather and Professor Abraham Setrakian along with a band of fighters who are trying to stop this from happening.

The Master and these other vampires lack noses, and have clawed fingers with grayed and hairless skin. The Master is one of seven Ancient vampires and is the reason for bringing the “virus” that turns people into these vampires. The virus is spread through these worm-like creatures, which are shown in the first picture. These worm-like creatures seep their way into your body through any entrance they can find, it also includes forcing their way through your skin without creating any holes or while being fed upon by another vampire. Once inside your body, you are done. It is a fast acting disease that is incurable and it manipulates your genes to cause rapid physical changes. Some of the helpers that The Master recruits only have physical alterations, but still seem “normal” to the eye.

For the vampires to “feed” a stinger will extend out of the mouth for up to six feet. In the case of The Master, his jaw also widens to something like the capability of a snake. The stinger will come out of the mouth and it creates a small incision in the throat or thigh of its victim, this incision is not visible to the naked eye. This stinger also acts as the reproductive system, by transferring these worms that infect the bloodstream while feeding.

To kill these creatures, the traditional weaknesses apply. The vampires are extremely vulnerable to sunlight, due to the ultraviolet light in the UVC range. One can also use a fluorescent lamp to repel a vampire. Other things that work are the class silver weapons, or silver based sprays. Conventional weapons will still cause physical damage. A third way to kill these vampires is to decapitate it or break the spinal column.

While I watch this show I come to wonder why the traditional methods don’t work, as crosses, holy water and garlic show no effect on the vampires. Another thing I wondered about was, if The Master was encountered before during the Holocaust by Professor Setrakian, why was he not killed then?