The Strain Recap With Spoilers: The Box

The driver who has brought the coffin over the bridge pulls up to a building where he’s allowed in; it’s an underground parking garage. He turns off the truck and gets out, calling out, but nobody else seems to be there. As he readies to leave, he reconsiders and walks back to the van, examining the coffin, which starts to shake and make noises. He runs out the door and into the dawning morning.

At JFK, law enforcement has found the body of Peter Bishop, the man who was killed brutally and had his skull crushed at the end of last episode.  Goodweather takes control of the crime scene, but as he’s getting into looking for more, he gets a phone call and runs.

Back at the holding facility where the four survivors are being kept, they’ve all collectively shrugged off custody and are leaving after somebody leaked documents to the media claiming that it was carbon monoxide poisoning that killed the rest of the people on their flight. None of them will believe Goodweather when he tells them that they’re still a danger to themselves and others if they leave. He tells them that they’re all quarantined under his authority, and the police converge around the group to impress upon them that they aren’t going anywhere. THe lawyer among them threatens and cajoles and when Goodweather leaves, calls the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

At the Stoneheart Group, the two older men are talking about how the CDC is problematic to their plans. The older man says that he has fed the media a story that they will believe more readily than the truth. He asks to see “him” and the other man leaves, promising him soon.

At jail, Abraham is summoned to meet with his “lawyer,” who turns out to be Thomas Eichorst, one of the men from Stoneheart. Abraham says that he hasn’t changed in years; Eichorst tells him that the Master is watching Abraham through him. It seems Eichorst was one of the Nazis at the concentration camp where Abraham was held. Eichorst asks him about his arsenal, artifacts that have names; Abraham says that he will return the sword to Eichorst’s master in due time.

He tells Abraham that “she” struggled at the end but never cried out, only called his name at the end. Abraham tells him that he will avenge her, but Eichorst doesn’t believe him. He tells him that in jail, he will be safer than on the streets soon. Abraham tells Eichorst that an old friend of his wasn’t present to share his glory “because I cut him to shreds with that sword and threw his pieces in the North Sea.” He said that he would reunite the pair soon.

Felix (the driver) comes home as his mother is leaving for mass; his brother has brought her an expensive clock, which he claims he got at a flea market. When she leaves, the two brothers fight over which one of them is worse for their mother and then part ways.

The Secretary of HHS calls in Goodweather and Martinez and tells them that she’s declaring their quarantine invalid because she’s not convinced that his evidence is worth crashing the economy over if they have to stop exports from New York. His boss tells him that he’s suspended for a few days and to go home after Goodweather expresses his frustration by grabbing the man.

Outside, he tells Martinez that he can’t reach the coroner’s office.

In a bar down the street, the pair join the captain, who is sorry that his passengers and crew were not delivered to NYC safely. He wants to know why. He tells Goodweather that the box was loaded onto the plane at the last minute by government officials. He feels sure that box is connected to the deaths and feels bad about it. Goodweather convinces him to go to a local hospital and be admitted so another doctor can examine him in-depth and try to find the truth.

At a lab, Goodweather and Martinez are examining the parasitic worms under microscopes when Goodweather’s son Zak texts him and Martinez convinces Goodweather to go see him. Before he leaves, he kisses her.

The man with the badge from earlier shows up at a restaurant, where he does a health inspection; an ultraviolet light, he claims, reveals rat urine. The restaurant manager objects.

The lawyer and the musician who survived the plane are having dinner with his agent; like the pilot had said in the bar, they’re getting a ringing in their ears and pain with it. The musician tries to proposition her, but before she can take him up on it, her lips start to bleed into her wine and she excuses herself to see her family.

The health inspector finds some dead rats that he uses to close down the restaurant and scare away the clientele.

At Stoneheart, the dying man’s personal aide convinces him to line up some alternatives to what the Germans are offering him, but can’t stop him from going out to see a painting.

Goodweather goes to his ex-wife’s house, where she tells him that she’s glad he’s the one handling the case because he’s good at his job. Zak is in the back, where his old office is being converted into a game room for his wife’s boyfriend.

He tells Zak he can’t stay, but that he wants to talk about the custody hearing. He tells him to speak from his heart and be honest with the judge, so that he can get joint custody. Zak says he doesn’t know whether joint custody can be a reality with his dad’s job. Ephraim promises him that after this case, things will be different.

Ephraim heads to an AA meeting, where his sponsor tells him that he didn’t think he would show up. Eph is the first to speak, and breaks down about his personal life. He tells them that he has to do better for his son, who is all he has left.

Fueled by drugs and sex, we get a look at the rock star from the plane. During the sex, though, one of the girls runs her hands through his hair and clumps of it come out. He fixes on one of the girls’ necks and lunges at her, biting it hard and then kicking her out when she protests. After she leaves, he licks up the trail of blood she left as she ran.

At the hospital, Eph and Martinez are making their way through the building, checking the documents from the pilot’s pathology report. None of them have ever seen anything like it; it’s totally bizarre. The pilot is in bed, and they use a UV light to reveal that he has the slit that all the bodies on the plane did, and that he’s got worms crawling under his skin.

The German man who punched Eph last episode calls him to thank him for sending his daughter home; he misinterprets Eph’s confusion as disbelief and hangs up, but then Goodweather and Martinez decide that it’s not worth debating since they’ll find out in a few minutes anwyay who is and is not in the morgue.

The Stoneheart CEO leaves his aide in the car, saying he needs to “do this alone,” and walks to the van where the coffin had been. The coffin is outside of the van, open. He touches the dirt and the Nazi vampire shows up. He talks with the CEO for a moment, then the Master shows up. He removes his hood to reveal his face to the man, who looks scared.

At the Medical Examiner’s office, the phones are ringing off the hook and Goodweather and Martinez are immediately confused and concerned. Heading to the morgue, they find it full of Dr. Bennett’s findings on X-rays and the like scattered around the room and discover that all of the bodybags are empty. They then see the coroner’s broken glasses.

The German man goes to see his undead daughter, who is sitting in the dark in a bathtub. He tries to console her, but she just says she’s hungry. He strokes her hair and a clump of it comes out. He goes to towel her off and she leaps out of the tub, attacking him like the vampire did to the government man last week and eating his blood until he collapses into the tub, where she can sit in the water and drunk it as it fills with his blood.