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'The Strain' season 3 update, recap: Eph, Palmer to steal the Lumen; Dutch struggles to survive on her own

Emmanuelle Espiritu Wednesday, September 07, 2016

"The Strain" is a sci-fi thriller series based on the book series of the same name written by Guillermo del Toro and Carlton Cuse. It airs on Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on FX. | Facebook/TheStrainFX

"The Strain" season 2 is yet to pick up its pace, but the first two episodes have already presented some promising tension-filled story arcs down the line.

The second episode of "The Strain" season 2 titled, "Bad White" saw the half-vampire Mr. Quinlan (Rupert Penry-Jones) offering Eph Goodweather (Corey Stoll) a way to better handle his situation. In the previous episode, Eph's estranged wife Kelly (Natalie Brown), who is now a strigoi serving The Master (Jack Kesy), told Eph that the only way he could ever see their son, Zach (Max Charles), again was if he stole the Occido Lumen from Abraham Setrakian (David Bradley) and delivered it to The Master.

And while Eph was trying to decide if he should betray his group, and ultimately, the world, for the sake of his son, Quinlan approached him with a plan to form an alliance with the Born, steal the old and mystical book, and then use it himself to save the world.

But Eph is not the only one that The Master has sent out to retrieve the book. The Nazi, Thomas Eichhorst (Richard Sammel), speaking on behalf of The Master, told Eldritch Palmer (Jonathan Hyde) to get the Occido Lumen from Setrakian and bring it to The Master in exchange for the White that he's been thirsting for.

Palmer then went to see Setrakian so that he could try to negotiate his way into acquiring the book, but Setrakian flat-out refused to give in. He later told Vasiliy Fet (Kevin Durand) that it was not true that the White could give immortality, like what Palmer believed. It did, however, provided some leverage that might come in handy.

The second episode was also Dutch Velders' (Ruta Gedmintas) first appearance in the season. The internet hacker got separated from the group after a food foraging mission went wrong, and she was left to fend for herself against a strigoi.

Co-creator Chuck Hogan told IGN in an interview that Eph will be in a very dark place this season after losing both Nora and his son in the season 2 finale. His decisions may be tainted by his personal need to save his son from The Master. Could he really sacrifice the greater good in exchange for Zach's life?

The next episode of "The Strain" season 3, titled "First Born," airs on Sunday, Sept. 11, at 10 p.m. EDT on FX.