Dr. Eph Goodweather (Corey Stoll) is having trouble convincing his son Zach (Max Charles) that his wife is already among the vampires hunting humans.
In the latest "The Strain" season 2 episode, Eph had no choice but to put in his son's face how dangerous his mom can be, literally. The doctor had to shove Zach's face into the cage where a vampire is being held, saying that if not for the barrier, the monster could have eaten him.
The mild-mannered Dr. Goodweather is slowly departing the show. To make sure everyone around him is safe including his son, he has to resort to violent ways.
In the following "The Strain" season 2 episodes, what fans will see is a darker Eph. Showrunner Carlton Cuse and "The Strain" author Guillermo del Toro told Comick Book Resources Stoll's character is set for a massive transformation this season.
"He grows darker and it's very much a result of what's happened to him. He's lost his wife, first through divorce and then to vampirism," Cuse said.
"He's struggling to forge a relationship to his kid and his relationship with Nora is kind of on the rocks. There's a lot of stress and I think this is both a way to show him being both functional, but to also show the cost and consequences of everything that's going on, on a character level."
Guillermo del Toro added Eph is meant to be someone fans will hate even in his books where the FX network show was based from.
"Even in the books we made the decision, and this has grown into the series, to not make Eph likable at all," he said.
"I mean, when we did the first book and we did the press tour, we said you're going to see the hero do things you don't like and you're going to hopefully see the bad guys do things that you like. And I think in the series Eph takes a really questionable ethical path in the second season and it's going to continue and to show him to be, not only to be fallible, but actually, you know, you understand the complaints that are articulated about him in the first season. "You're distant, you're never there, all you care about is the results," and they were right! So, you know, at the end of the day, I can kind of see Kelly's point perfectly."
The next "The Strain" season 2 episode is called "Silver Angel." Read synopsis here.
