There's too much to comment on from the last time I posted in this thread, so I'll just make some general statements instead to save me time and effort. I loved everything about this series leading up to the finale except Zack -- worst character ever -- and Zack's change of heart at the very last second. I just didn't buy it whatsoever, he had just betrayed his father some moments prior to the grand climax, why would he change his mind at that point? His character was so poorly written from beginning to end and it sucks that the show wasn't gutsy enough to have Eph kill Zack when he had the chance, because as brutal as that would have been it would have honestly made a lot more sense and also feel ten times more rewarding.

Another thing I didn't particularly like was Dutch letting her feelings for Fet interfere with her judgement so much. I know Dutch IS incredibly emotional -- she's always been that way and I've loved her for that -- but it was do or die at that point and I wasn't very keen on any romantic development between ANYBODY to happen. It just didn't feel right given the circumstances.

But even with a few small critiques here and there I'd still classify the finale as being quite satisfactory. And in general the series was fantastic. I wish we could have one more season so that the last few knots didn't feel so loosely tied, but at the same time it would be ridiculous for the Master to get away yet again. So overall I'm happy with what we got.

Eph's sacrifice was a bit predictable, but I liked it nevertheless, even if seeing him getting possessed was very unsatisfying.
Same goes for Quinlan's defeat, like WTH... He was superior to the Master before, yet here he sneak attack and still loses the fight. I didn't think his bone sword would've changed the outcome like that.

Also I feel like it would take more than 5 years for nuclear winter to disappear, but I'm no expert on the matter, this just all seemed pretty rushed.

"When the rats returned, I knew the city was gonna be okay."

That kinda simplifies the show in a way, or at least parts of it such as the ending.

I agree with you Straw, Eph should've killed Zack a long time ago, but I wouldn't say he took away any of the greatness of the show, he was just one of the few bad things about it, that's all. I also agree with Dutch being a bit too emotional, especially since she's had plenty of love interests across the series.

I don't mind Dutch having multiple love interests throughout the series because with the exception of her last minute reconnection with Fet all her other storylines with the different people she was intimate with were spread out in time, made sense from a character development perspective and were generally well-built without ever taking away or distracting from the bigger and more important picture at hand -- which is how things like that should pan out on a series like The Strain, really. But again, that last bit of romance with Fet was just too untimely and completely unnecessary. I'm sure Eph could have found a different reason to want to sacrifice himself other than seeing how much Dutch cared for Fet and wanted him to live -- I mean, he had just realized he had lost his son to the Master for good, they could have just gone more in that direction to underline his internal turmoil and I'm sure it would have been more than enough.

This is definitely nitpicking, but what else are we supposed to do now that the series has ended anyway?

Eph and Dutch were my favorite characters in the series though, so I'm glad they at least got to kick some major a*** from beginning to end.