The Strain

:

Season 3
  • Network: FX
  • Series Premiere Date: Jul 13, 2014
Season #: 4, 3, 2, 1
Metascore
62

Generally favorable reviews - based on 5 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 5
  3. Negative: 0 out of 5
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Critic Reviews

  1. Yahoo TV
    Reviewed by: Ken Tucker
    Aug 27, 2016
    80
    Even the third episode, which is loaded with a lot of backstory origin material about Quinlan’s past, doesn’t get bogged down. When it’s good, The Strain moves as quickly as those long, creepy tongues that burst out of the strigoi’s mouths to suck your blood.
  2. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Darren Franich
    Aug 15, 2016
    67
    Out of the corner of your eye, The Strain almost looks like a real show. [19/26 Aug 2016 p.106]
    All this critic's reviews
  3. We Got This Covered
    Reviewed by: Isaac Feldberg
    Aug 28, 2016
    60
    Still very much the thrill-a-minute lovechild of a macabre master and a novelist with a pronounced knack for the nasty, The Strain remains a juicy, pulpy, often delectable piece of summer programming in season 3.
  5. TV Guide Magazine
    Reviewed by: Matt Roush
    Aug 18, 2016
    60
    The show is now basically a giddily graphic war-zone melodrama, with a quarantined Manhattan a new Ground Zero as embattled humans face an ancient evil. [22 Aug - 4 Sep 2016, p.16]
    All this critic's reviews
  6. Collider
    Reviewed by: Haleigh Foutch
    Aug 27, 2016
    40
    Ultimately, instead of finding our characters at the start of a new chapter, we find them somehow regressed back to what is essentially same old, same old and the first three episodes are spent catching up instead of moving forward. The rest of the gang is diverted by cumbersome subplots.

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
7.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 47 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 35 out of 47
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 47
  3. Negative: 3 out of 47
  1. Thirdrail
    Aug 30, 2016
    4
    This is a tough show. On one hand, by season three, you've invested a considerable amount of time in things, and the show does maintainThis is a tough show. On one hand, by season three, you've invested a considerable amount of time in things, and the show does maintain continuity, so the ending is in sight. On the other hand, since season two, The Strain has gotten a little less interesting with every passing episode. The characters are not particularly enjoyable to spend time with, and nothing new or surprising happens, or is likely to happen again before the show is over. I think there's a real possibility that by the final episode, I will have gone from watching The Strain, to hate-watching The Strain.

    Under normal circumstances, I'd lodge a complaint about the fact that the show has turned into a major sausage festival, and is now basically a story about a bunch of stressed white guys who run around yelling and fighting at and about things - a concept we've pretty much done to death over the course of recent human history. Except there's no point, in this case, because The Strain's female characters are just as boring and unlikable as the male characters. But, you know, if you're so strident of a feminist that you'll even champion the right of women to suck equally, then you might be a little bugged with where this show has gone with its lady parts.

    TL;DR: The Strain has gone from being a show you actually watch, attentively, to being the kind of thing you put on screen two in the background, while you're playing video games.    … Full Review »
  2. ozymandias79
    Oct 31, 2016
    4
    This has been the weakest season of 'The Strain'. Most of it was filler. The latino subplot was pointless (fast forwarded through after ep.This has been the weakest season of 'The Strain'. Most of it was filler. The latino subplot was pointless (fast forwarded through after ep. 4). The storyline with Ef and the woman was practically pointless, stretched out, and predicable. The flashbacks - all pointless. Fast forwarding through all the pointless filler made it a little better but the last episode was the only one worth watching in its entirety. Almost nothing happened this season. This show has two episodes in season 4 to prove its back on track. Otherwise, I'm tuning out...… Full Review »
  3. Bitmouse
    Jul 3, 2017
    5
    So yeah, my original review of this show still stands, would be better without the whole Zach and Kelly non-sense. Did Guillermo Del Toro goSo yeah, my original review of this show still stands, would be better without the whole Zach and Kelly non-sense. Did Guillermo Del Toro go through a painful divorce or something?… Full Review »
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