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2 • August 30 - September 5, 2015 • Brainerd Dispatch By Rory MacDonald- Gauthier TV Media T he 2010s decade has been a bloody entertaining one so far, that's for certain. In the past few years, we've seen AMC's jugger- naut "The Walking Dead" domi- nate the zombie-apocalypse-sur- vival genre and HBO's "True Blood" sink its teeth into the vam- pire drama scene. Enter FX's "The Strain," which blends the best of both catastro- phes — undead vampires have taken over New York City, and in the midst of surviving, a select few are looking to cure the epidemic through medicine or flat-out elimi- nating the night walkers. With sea- son 2 now underway, catch an all- new episode of "The Strain" airing Sunday, Aug. 30, on FX. "The Strain" began as a horror novel trilogy created by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan and was originally imagined as a tele- vision series. After countless un- successful attempts to pitch it to networks, though, del Toro decid- ed to adapt the idea into a series of books, and in 2011, graphic novel publisher Dark Horse Comics began "The Strain's" transition into comic book form, with the se- ries running for 32 issues. It premiered on FX last summer, and the premise is pretty straight- forward: a genetic disease takes hold of New Yorkers and turns them into vampires. Hundreds of thousands of citizens run amok crying for help, but no one outside NYC is willing to lend a hand. As with most shows, the first season focused on introducing characters, including epidemiolo- gist Dr. Ephraim Goodweather (Corey Stoll, "House of Cards"), looking to save the world through medicine; Eph's close ally, Dr. Nora Martinez (Mía Maestro, "Alias"); Holocaust survivor Prof. Abraham Setrakian (David Bradley, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," 2001); and nail gun-wielding rat exterminator Vasiliy Fet (Kevin Du- rand, "Vikings"). "A lot of the first season we spent following each character and learning about the biology of the virus and how it completely changes hu- man beings into something completely different, grotesque and scary, but odd- ly kind of beautiful at the same time," said Durand in an interview with "Collider." "That's what Guillermo [del Toro] does. I feel like everything in the second sea- son is just turned up, which might include that fear of losing your fa- vorite character. It's so damn scary. We don't want to lose anybody." Turned up indeed, as this sea- son not only builds on previously established characters through additional timelines and flash- backs, but it also introduces new vampire hunters. What's the most ridiculous character you could in- sert into a horror-adventure show about a vampire epidemic? If you guessed a muscle-bound luchador, you're absolutely correct. A masked crusader named Angel (Joaquín Cosío, "Quantum of Solace," 2008) appears in the fray and decides that he's going to relive his glory years as a wres- tler — but this time his oppo- nents are the living dead. "What I like is the idea that a real Mexican wrestler is fighting real vampires," said del Toro, as report- ed by "Collider." "It's not tongue- in-cheek. It's not wink-wink. These are real monsters and a guy that used to be a wrestler but now works as a waiter in an Indian res- taurant in New York. So it's a really down-to-earth reality to the Mexi- can wrestler genre, and it's a char- acter I've been thinking about for ages." Del Toro isn't the only one thinking about the characters. Due to the scheduling of season 1's air date and the beginning of filming for season 2, many actors from the show were able to dissect their own characters' performances, which gave them the opportunity to hyper-analyze and dig deeper for anything that would boost their performance. "I was really grateful that I had that opportunity to sit back, as a spectator, and watch it. I did a ton of homework on trying to figure out who he is, and the books were very informative, but I had to fill in a lot of blanks too," said Durand to "Collider." "I just felt like I was really heavily armed with a lot of knowledge about who I thought this guy is now. I felt like I knew him a lot more, going into the sec- ond season. I feel really settled in him." And by the looks of it, this sort of scheduling could happen for a few more years. Earlier this month, "The Strain" was renewed for a third season set to air next sum- mer, and executive producer Carl- ton Cuse explained at the Televi- sion Critics Association press tour how he's mapped out subsequent seasons. "From the very beginning, we had really talked about the first book being the first season, the second book being the next two seasons and the third book the last two seasons," he said. "We've stuck to that game plan." With a total of five seasons a possibility, viewers will have no shortage of the villainous vam- pires for years to come. Can't wait for the next season? Pick up the book series! If that doesn't suit your taste, try out the graphic nov- els — which, of course, are quite graphic. Catch an all-new episode of "The Strain" airing Sunday, Aug. 30, on FX. Mía Maestro as seen in "The Strain" Thse thirst is real 'The Strain' sinks its teeth into character development Cover Story this week Like us on Facebook to receive info and specials at Baxter Country Kitchen www.BAXTERcountrykitchen.com 7788 Fairview Rd, Baxter 218-829-1739 Guest Check on guest checks totaling $18.00 or more (Before Tax) Coupon Exp. 9/13/15 Not valid with any other offers or discounts. One coupon per table, per person, per visit. No cash value. Customer pays all applicable sales tax. Valid at Baxter location only. Off $ 3.00 One coupon per table, per person, per visit. 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