‘The Strain’ Season 3 Recap: What Happened In Episode 3? ‘First Born’ Showed A Shocking Death

“The Strain” certainly upped the shock factor in Season 3 in episode 3. Suitably titled “First Born,” the FX horror series picked up right where episode 2 left off with Dr. Ephraim Goodweather/Eph having the coveted Occido Lumen in his hands and contemplating an exchange of the silver-bound book for his son Zack’s life.

Below is a summary of what happened in the latest episode of “The Strain”:

Eph Makes A Phone Call

Realizing that the only way to see Zack (Max Charles) again is to trade the Lumen for him, Eph (Corey Stoll) locates a strigoi in order to communicate with The Master (Jack Kesy). He locates one in a convenient store and tells him the time and location for the exchange. He also states his terms for the exchange which includes seeing his son is unharmed and a human before the trade. Moreover, instead of giving an exact location, the doctor tells The Master that it’s a spot only Zack knows, a place where they used to go fishing together.

A Page From Quinlan’s Past

While Quinlan (Rupert Penry-Jones) and Eph are busy planning to get his son back and take down The Master, “The Strain” Season 3 reveals that Quinlan was actually a slave in Rome in 58 AD. He was caged and people paid his kidnappers to watch him feed. The half-human, half-strigoi was treated more like a circus animals and less as a formidable strigoi-killing weapon.

Until one day an old lady named Ancharia rescued him. She told him that he bears The Master’s mark, but not all who have horns are demons. She lived with him for two years. She also told him that his destiny is to end The Master once and for all. He is the savior of humanity.

However, The Master’s strigoi located Quinlan and almost fed on Ancharia. Fortunately, Quinlan fought them off. Still, they needed to move quickly since he is aware of their location.

Finally, the mother-son duo travel across snow-covered mountains to an isolated location. Still, The Master finds Quinlan (then called Quintus). He puts him to the ultimate test by trapping both of him and Ancharia inside a cave.

A starving Ancharia soon finds herself on the brink of death. She urges a reluctant Quintus to feed on her so that he can face The Master who waits for him on the other side of the cave. She tells him she loves him like a son. It’s a heart-warming scene to watch.

Quinlan drinks from Ancharia and soon frees himself. He tries to hit The Master, but cannot deliver a single blow. There’s no doubt that the half-human isn’t ready to fight the strigoi leader.

Back in the present, on the journey to the meeting point, Quinlan tells Eph how he was born – he was made a half strigoi when his pregnant mother was fed on by The Master. He was conceived from two humans but became a half strigoi when The Master fed on his pregnant mother. Although The Master could clearly hear his beating heart, he somehow didn’t kill him.

Furthermore, killing The Master would mean Quintus’ death. He dies when his father dies.

Angel And Gus Protect Gus’ Mom

“The Strain” Season 3, episode 3 also saw Gus (Miguel Gomez) getting help from a reluctant Angel (Joaquín Cosio) in hiding his strigoi mother from members of the Safe Streets Initiative. While conducting a sweep of the Mexican’s building, Gus puts his mother on a wheelchair and duct tapes her. He sneaks her past some members of the initiative, but it’s not long before they find her.

Even unleashing Gus’ blood-sucking mother doesn’t help – The initiative catches them. However, instead of putting them in jail, the Safe Streets Initiative enlists them to their cause because they have lost a lot of able-bodied men. They will be conducting building sweeps of their own.

It’s Quinlan Vs. The Master

Back in Coney Island, Eph is ready to meet The Master and do the exchange. At sundown, Kelly (Natalie Brown), The Master and what seems like a hooded Zack arrive at the meeting point.

The CDC doctor asks Kelly to bring Zack to him. When they are close enough, he asks to remove his hood. Of course, The Master never keeps his word. The hooded figure is actually a strigoi and he quickly attacks Eph. Fortunately, using the Lumen, he is able to thwart both Kelly and the strigoi. Eventually, the book is in The Master’s hands.

Just when it looked like things got from bad to worse, Fet (Kevin Durand) and Setrakian (David Bradley) arrive at the meeting point to retrieve the Lumen. Turns out that Fet had put a GPS tracking device on the book.

However, before Setrakian can intervene, Quinlan arrives to kill The Master. Setrakian throws a silver grenade at The Master and a couple of Navy SEAL strigois. This temporarily weakens him and is the perfect opportunity for Quinlan to decapitate him. And just like that, he does, and it seems like Quinlan is dead too.

Although the half-strigoi seemed to have died (but it isn’t clear if he did), The Master didn’t. A large worm (presumably The Master) slithered down a drain, most likely in the search of a new host.

So the questions to ask now are: Is Quinlan really dead? (The Master didn’t exactly die) and is Eichhorst (Richard Sammel) going to be his new host?

“The Strain” Season 3 airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on FX.