Blood Drive
Season 1 Episode 7: “The Gentleman’s Agreement”
Created by James Roland
Directed by Lin Oeding
Written by James Roland
Starring Alan Ritchson, Christina Ochoa, Thomas Dominique, Marama Corlett, Colin Cunningham, Andrew Hall, Darren Kent, Renee Castle
Syfy
Air Date: Wednesday, July 26th, 2017, 10pm

Blood Drive on Syfy is television’s weekly foray into grindhouse madness. Last week there were Mad Max-style Amazon biker babes who used men as milk machines, you know the usual. Things came crashing down though for Grace (Christina Ochoa) whose entire motivation for joining the Drive was to rescue and help her sister Karma (Alex McGregor), found out Karma died initiating a rebellion that created the female-dominated society in the desert. The range of of emotions shown by Ochoa was fascinating. Usually such a sarcastic stone-cold badass, the episode ended with her heartbroken to silence as Arthur (Alan Ritchson), ever the steadfast and stoic good guy, tried desperately to reassure her things would get better. Getting better, is staying alive in the Blood Drive and defeating Heart Enterprises.

Check out my review of Blood Drive Episode 1.7 “The Gentleman’s Agreement”:

SPOILERS BELOW…

Raceday 9: Mayhem Party – Slink (Colin Cunningham) was unceremoniously dumped by Heart chief exec (Sean Cameron Michael). He opens with a rousing speech about the importance of Blood Drive and Heart before offering it all to”¦ The Gentleman (Andrew Hall). He seems to like this idea. Andrew Hall is just chewing it up in the most “delightful” way possible. He asserts his authority right away as the final racers head towards the finish line, he pops their tops. “There’s a new sheriff in town, and he’s f*cking gorgeous darling,” I literally LOL’ed. THAT is an epic line!

Slink meanwhile has been reduced to a janitor and is viciously mocked by Heart exec Stacey Fung (The Descent‘s Natalie Mendoza). It’s a paradox how a show this in you face can at the same time be so deliciously subtle. Slink shatters his broom and stabs Fung in the chest and as she bleeds out, we hear “clean up cafeteria level 7.” Hell hath no fury like Julian Slink scorned. Slink forms an unlikely alliance with Christopher (Thomas Dominique) to help him enact his revenge. Their interaction provides another laugh out loud moment. “I’m not p*ssy whipped!” Christopher exclaims. “Of course not, it’s not even a real p*ssy,” Slink responds. A door is open and all hell is about to break loose.

Grace’s plan to use Arthur’s manliness to distract the Gentleman fails, but just then Slink’s plan arrives through the”¦ Blood Hole, is the best name for it. A giant ogre-ish monster interrupts the Gentleman’s dinner and starts literally ripping people apart, including a hilarious scene where he beats a guy with his own arm. Lost in this is the Scholar (Darren Kent), who is stuck between helping Arthur and Grace (who saved his life earlier this season), and the Gentleman, who verbally abuses him at will.

The final 30 minutes of this episode is just balls to the wall action, sex, and gore. The monster runs wild on the Blood Drivers until Old Man Heart relents and gives Slink one more chance. Soon the bizarre combo of Arthur, Grace, The Scholar, and Slink take down the monster leaving Slink and The Gentleman to have a final battle for control. Got to give it to Andrew Hall, if you’re gonna go out, this was certainly a way to go. One thing is for sure at the end here, Slink is in control whether the drivers or the Heart executives like it or not.

Holy hell, this show is just pure energy. Everyone hit their marks perfectly and it seemed each actor was trying to outdo their counterparts. When a show has supporting character who dominate the screen at every level, it makes for such an incredible experience. There is no weak link in the Blood Drive cast. At every minute whoever is on screen is awesome. Whether it’s the the Blood Drivers having mayhem parties, the inner workings at Heart Enterprises, or the psycho sexual cyber love story between Aki (Marama Corlett) and Christopher. Not a minute goes by which isn’t pure entertainment. I would love to see spin offs for all these characters. The Gentleman, the Scholar, Rib Bone, Domi, and Cliff”¦ they’re all such intriguing, well-written characters. And how about Clown Dick”¦ who doesn’t wanna know how Clown Dick became Clown Dick”¦ I can’t believe I just wrote that sentence.

Creator James Roland wrote this episode and he so gets this genre and its fans. Blood Drive has done everything right so far, has not relented to decency at all, and deserves all the credit in the world for providing gorehounds and genre fans with something totally fresh on TV. Roland and his writing and creative team are creating some of the craziest stuff you’ll see and some of the coolest characters to grace cable TV in a long time.

New feature of my Blood Drive reviews: Weekly MVP – I’m copping out right away and giving it to BOTH Colin Cunningham and Andrew Hall for their manic and outwardly hilarious performances this week. Go on social media and hit that hashtag #RenewBloodDrive and tune in next Wednesday night at 10:00 for a new episode only on Syfy.

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BLOOD DRIVE | Season 1, Episode 7: Sneak Peek | SYFY

On Blood Drive season 1 episode 7: Move over Julian Slink, there’s a new High Priest of Heart Industries.

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