Blood Drive
Season 1 Episode 10: “Scar Tissue”
Created by James Roland
Directed by Meera Menon
Written by Alex Ebel
Starring Alan Ritchson, Christina Ochoa, Thomas Dominique, Marama Corlett, Colin Cunningham, Andrew Hall, Darren Kent, Renee Castle
Syfy
Air Date: Wednesday, August 16th, 2017, 10pm

Last week on SYFY’s Blood Drive Grace (Christina Ochoa) drove a wounded and dying Arthur (Alan Ritchson) to the edge of the Scar. The only place around was a bizarre Chinese restaurant, a sort of purgatory for it’s owner. Meanwhile, poor Arthur went on the vision quest from Hell, being tortured physically and mentally, before ending up crucified by his personal demons. The ghosts of Blood Drive past all showed to torment him, and while he languished, Grace made a choice that could save Arthur and possibly put her life on the line. Such is life in the Scar.

Check out my review of tonight’s Blood Drive below.

The cop in black fled across the desert… and the Blood Driver followed (message from editor: “Yeeeesssss!!!!!”). Arthur winds up in Cronenburgh (nyuk, nyuk… I’m now expecting body-horror). The town is angelic, serene, inviting… just don’t mind the altar in church filled with skulls and bones. He’s shown around by JW (Tumisho Masha). He offers Arthur a fresh start, just don’t mind the gas leak. Grace and the Camaro are stuck in the endless sands, but she’s got Arthur’s trail of breadcrumbs to follow.

Back at Heart Enterprises, Slink (Colin Cunningham) is excited about the possibilities, until he’s fired… again. Old Man Heart (Sean Michael Cameron), who wears pink nail polish to match his tie, blames Slink for losing the audience’s favorite drivers, and threatens him with some truly Clockwork Orange-y torture should they die in the Scar. Back in Cronenburgh, Grace finds Barbie and he seems brainwashed. Soon, the gas leak has Grace feeling all dreamy. That is until she peeks in the mirror and see’s the reality… and it’s very ugly.

Arthur refuses to believe Grace, high on the gas the town keeps emitting. “I’m the cobbler now, my new wife is beautiful, she is named Melanie, and the old cobbler gave her to me as a present because he’s killing himself.” I lost it. Bless you Alan Ritchson for that epic line read. That whole interaction had some of the most ludicrous dialogue I’ve ever heard, and it was perfect. The gas hides the truth. The beautiful town with all its luxuries is really a wasteland filled with grotesque, faceless morlocks.

Christopher (Thomas Dominique) and Aki (Marama Corlett), aka the best couple on TV, are figuring out their next move. She is developing more and more human emotions, and wants revenge against her creators at Heart for forcing her to hurt him. Knowing the ins and outs of Heart is helpful as they set out to find Arthur uses an arcade game style “create a car” machine. As they get farther from Heart, Aki begins getting “sick”, spewing an array of colorful liquids. God they are adorable together, “taste my rainbow.”

Before Christopher can arrive, Slink shows up looking like a steampunk version of the miner from My Bloody Valentine. He plugs the gas leaks, and soon everyone sees the truth, or as Slink’s calls it, Cleveland (HAH). Arthur and Grace end up literally covered in shit, but like Andy DuFresne they come out clean on the other side, seemingly realizing once and for that Arthur is gay… no wait, that they love and need each other. The most unlikeliest of alliances see them drive off with Slink. At least he has a mix tape!

This type of material in the wrong hands with the wrong actors would make for an embarrassing watch. Luckily, creator James Roland assembled a crew of writers, directors, costume designers, and actors who willingly and willfully throw themselves into the genre aspects of this show, and indulge on the concept. Writer Alex Ebel wrote one of the craziest episodes of one of the craziest shows on TV, and I was laughing out loud and choking on my drinks throughout. Ritchson and Ochoa make a perfect couple in every sense. They each look like God’s intention for man and woman, and they back it up by totally becoming these characters, to the point where you root for their passionate kiss, oblivious to the fact they’re chin deep in refuse. Colin Cunningham chews every inch of scenery as Slink, and has created a character I think that can become a cult-classic legend of TV. Marama Corlett has now given three totally different performances in three straight episodes, and her and Thomas Dominique truly feel like they’re the perfect couple.

I absolutely adore this show. Every week, it captivates social media because this feels like a show made specifically for genre fans, the fans who perused video stores for hours on end, can riddle off grindhouse horror trivia, and who are bored by the generic 21st century genre stuff already circulating cable TV. ONly three episodes left in the season, and hopefully the folks at SYFY realize they need to #renewBloodDrive. My MVP for the week is Alex Ebel, the writer of this episode for giving every character memorable and laugh out loud dialogue.

Blood Drive returns next Wednesday night at 10 only on SYFY.

Video

BLOOD DRIVE | Season 1, Episode 10: Sneak Peek | SYFY

On Blood Drive Season 1, Episode 10: If you thought his last trip was trippy, picture this: Arthur stumbles upon a super weird safe Haven called Cronenburgh.

Follow me on Twitter.