Blood Drive
Season 1 Episode 8: “A Fistful of Blood”
Created by James Roland
Directed by Lin Oeding
Written by John Hlavin
Starring Alan Ritchson, Christina Ochoa, Thomas Dominique, Marama Corlett, Colin Cunningham, Andrew Hall, Darren Kent, Renee Castle
Syfy
Air Date: Wednesday, August 2nd, 2017, 10pm

Last week on Syfy’s original series Blood Drive, a giant monster ran amok, slaughtering Blood Drivers. Sadly, we bade farewell to the Gentleman (Andrew Hall) who went out in an orgy of one liners, and sexual innuendos. Julian Slink (Colin Cunningham) is back in control of the Blood Drive, and has Heart Enterprises by the balls. Of course his glorious victory came with the revelation that he lead Karma to her death”¦ and oh that was not what Grace (Christina Ochoa) wanted to hear. Her entire purpose in the Drive was to rescue Karma and use the winnings to start over. Now her motive is revenge and she has a target. This week, the Blood Drive heads to the wild west town of Red River where Slink and Grace will square off Back to the Future Part III-style.

Check out my review for Blood Drive Episode 8 (SPOILERS):

Grace, Arthur (Alan Ritchson) and the Scholar (Darren Kent) trek through the desert before being pulled over by the sheriff of Red River. He needs all the help he can get, after all, gotta be hard controlling the town with no eyes. The town is devoid of electricity and this allows them to ditch their brain bombs. First thing I noticed was the music. The creators perfectly captured the vibe of Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns and Ennio Morricone’s legendary scores. The Scholar hits the nerd jackpot and the reactions from Grace and Arthur to his excitement over new car tech is really funny, as is the Sheriff (Danny Keogh) continually referring to him as “Lady.” The Sheriff by the way is Sheriff “Leon,” I doubt that was an accident.

Red River is concerned with an outsider group hoarding electricity in the desert and enlist Arthur to help sabotage them. He figures out pretty quickly that the outsiders are good people and it’s Leon who is crazy, ready to rebuild the gallows and hang everyone. While Arthur is battling for the little man again, Grace is drinking her way to a final blow off with Slink. Back in California, Christopher (Thomas Dominique) and Aki (Marama Corlett) continue building the sexiest and most adorable relationship on TV.

Slink and Grace split a bottle of whiskey while playing 20 questions, extreme edition. Colin Cunningham just lives it up as Slink. Slink is so deliciously evil, and yet the character remains mysterious with an undefined set of skills and powers. His most defined skill is his gift for gab and I can’t picture anyone else playing this role. Case in point: Grace sets him on fire, his response, totally unfazed, “My hat, this is vintage.” Yet another true LOL moment for the Blood Drive writing team.

Grace finally comes to Arthur’s rescue but he’s left wounded and perhaps broken, breaking one of his cardinal rules. The Scholar stays behind having found love and a new job. This was an episode that ran the gamut of emotions from love to hate. Of all the characters, the Scholar found a love interest, Aki and Christopher had an intense scene, and Marama Corlett shines going from kinky sex-bot to emotional android machine. She’s like Arnold in Terminator 2, except written like 50 Shades of Grey.

I’ve said it before but it bears repeating: Blood Drive is the perfect mixture of originality and homage. Most of my favorite shows on television are adapted from other work. Legion was a Marvel comic character. Preacher is based on acclaimed graphic novels. But Blood Drive is full of original characters born inside the twisted mind of creator James Roland and his team. Sure they pay constant homage to their grindhouse inspirations but in a way that as a loyal viewer, a “bleeder” as we’re known on social media, I feel in on the jokes when I pick up the references.

This was a relatively tame episode of Blood Drive, considering it featured man-on-robot sex, a guy bleed out from a hole in the head, and an eyeless sheriff trying to lynch children. This show, the writing would not work unless the actors bought in and they do in droves. My Blood Drive MVP of the week is Christina Ochoa for showing off some real chops during her bar scenes with Slink, and for showing off her stunningly beautiful assets in the motel with Arthur. Remember the hashtag #RenewBloodDrive and tune in next Wednesday night at 10:00 EST for a brand new Blood Drive, only on Syfy.

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Video

BLOOD DRIVE | Season 1, Episode 8: Sneak Peek | SYFY

On Blood Drive Season 1, Episode 8: While trying to ford through Red River, Arthur, Grace and The Scholar run into a little trouble: 5-0!

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