Blood Drive
Season 1 Episode 3: “Steel City Nightfall”
Directed by James Roday
Written by James Roland
Created by James Roland
Starring Alan Ritchson, Christina Ochoa, Thomas Dominique, Marama Corlett, Colin Cunningham, Andrew Hall, Darren Kent, Renee Castle
Syfy
Air Date: Wednesday, June 28th, 2017, 10pm
Last week, on Syfy’s newest guilty pleasure Blood Drive, the drivers were forced into an uneasy alliance to escape a diner/motel serving as a cannibal chopshop. Cop Arthur (Alan Ritchson) and beautiful Grace Argento (Christina Ochoa) who were forced to get really close just to survive day 1, managed to make it out of day 2, and use the “cook” from the diner as fuel to keep on racing. We also learned more about Heart Enterprise, the global conglomerate that took over after “The Scar” tore the US apart. Arthur’s partner, Christopher (Thomas Dominique), is kidnapped by Heart cyborg Aki (Marama Corlett), while Blood Drive creator Julian Slink (Colin Cunningham) is given ultimatums by the mysterious Heart executives.
Spoilers below.
Raceday 3 – Utah – To save time, Arthur convinces Grace to take a shortcut through Steel City, a former manufacturing town beset by industrial accidents after the Scar opened up. That choice is made easier after their car suffers another issue and needs parts. Soon they hit a booby trap and their car is confiscated by a group of survivors who are sure the drivers won’t survive nightfall. Meanwhile, this group of weirdos pray to “Synergy” using bobble heads as idols. They’re led by Mercedes (Renee Castle) who sits on top a mountain of broken electronic devices as a throne.
There are two hilarious subplots in this episode. The first is Slink suffering through an hour long call with executives about how to improve the Blood Drive, and make it more a corporate ratings getter. Colin Cunningham’s facial expressions alone make these little scenes worthwhile. The other subplot involves a bickering plain as day, married couple who join the Blood Drive to reignite the fire of their relationship, which was based on the fact they’re both serial killers.
Back in Steel City, Arthur and Grace are discovered but there’s a bigger problem, as the “Glimmers” found a way inside. We find out from Mercedes that the new gasoline chemicals poisoned the water, and turned everyone into monstrous sub-human CHUD-like beings that can’t live in light and live off any gasoline. They start picking off the survivors one by one while the heroes figure out how to fight through them to get more gasoline from the storage rooms.
Mercedes turns on them and tries to make a run for it, but that doesn’t go well for her or her group. Grace however, figures out that “Glimmer” blood (since they drink gasoline) is actually much more potent than human blood for her car engine, and soon the pair supercharge the Camaro and hightail it out of there. Poor Christopher is enduring a somehow kinnky torture session meant to recondition him to work at Heart. Again, Marama Corlett steals the show in just her few scenes as the dominatrix cyborg.
Let us not forget this show is about a death race, and Arthur and Grace manage to pull a tortoise and the hare on poor Clown Dick, which leads to his “explosive” exit from the race. This was yet another glorious episode of grindhouse gore. This is a show that fully accepts it has a niche audience, and I’m glad it is on Syfy channel where it will find that audience and hopefully become successful. James Roland continues to capitalize on the appeal of 70s and 80s nostalgia. The episode had elements from Lamberto Bava’s Demons as well as Douglas Cheek’s CHUD. The characters are easy to identify with, the dialogue is fast paced and the gore is in your face… and sometimes all over it.
Next week, they head to the mental ward to find Grace’s sister, and the inmates are running asylum. Tune into Syfy next Wednesday night at 10:00pm ET for more Blood Drive.
Video
Blood Drive 1×03 Promo “Steel City Nightfall” (HD)
Blood Drive 1×03 “Steel City Nightfall” Season 1 Episode 3 Promo – Arthur and Grace race through a mysterious city only to fall prey to its nocturnal inhabitants.
Follow me on Twitter.
No Comments »
No comments yet.
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL
Leave a comment