Blood Drive
Season 1 Episode 13: “Finish Line” (Season 1 Finale)
Created by James Roland
Directed by David Straiton
Written by James Roland
Starring Alan Ritchson, Christina Ochoa, Thomas Dominique, Marama Corlett, Colin Cunningham, Andrew Hall, Darren Kent, Renee Castle, Alex McGregor
Syfy
Air Date: Wednesday, September 6, 2017, 10pm
Blood Drive on SYFY has gained a cult following since debuting over the Summer. Created by James Roland, the grindhouse series captures the essence of the grit and grainy genre, feeling like a companion piece to the Video Nasty sub-culture of the late ’70s and ’80s. The retro vibe influenced its die hard super fans to adopt the nickname Bleeders on social media. This is the final stretch of the Blood Drive, as the racers are now on course, heading straight toward the evil Heart Enterprises. The unlikely alliance of Grace (Christina Ochoa), Arthur (Alan Ritchson) and Slink (Colin Cunningham) is looking to destroy Heart once and for all.
Last week, Arthur was “Primo,” the Blood Drive King. That was until Grace helped him realize he was being set up to slaughter. Christopher (Thomas Dominique) betrayed him”¦ but it was a Heart-produced robot Christopher, the real one locked away in Heart’s dungeons, along with his cybertronic girlfriend Aki (Marama Corlett). I have to be honest, this is awfully bittersweet. Blood Drive started as pure guilty pleasure, but evolved into a truly unique and memorable viewing experience, each week playing off a different grindhouse sub-genre. It very quickly became my favorite show of 2017. Hopefully, the relentless work of the Bleeders to trend #RenewBloodDrive will get to those in high places and it can somehow gain a second season.
Check out my review for the Season 1 finale of Blood Drive here below.
The trio head in the belly of the beast. Everyone is dead and they quickly find out that a soulless Karma (Alex McGregor) is running the show. Slink wants to destroy the building, but Grace can’t overcome her guilt and wants to confront Karma one more time. Arthur of course goes with her. The back and forth between Slink and the two of them is fantastic. Alex McGregor has been a revelation these past few episodes, stealing the show as the Big Bad. Especially when she blows Arthur away!
Karma actually found a way to get to Slink”¦ destroy his lab and all his clones. Never afraid to die, Slink is now on his last life, and destroying the building would ensure the end of him. As a “reclamated” Arthur runs through the bowels of Heart, a newly cyborg-style Christopher attacks him. Apparently staring at his own death on screen repeatedly made him quite angry at Arthur. Slink approaches the central beam, a beautiful bleeding silhouette. This was a great little scene, as Colin Cunningham quotes Hamlet. Aki surprises him and she’s more human than robot. Another terrific character interaction between them as Corlett continues to be amazing, going from sexy emotionless robot, to newly formed human trying to balance emotions.
Arthur and Christopher have a knockdown drag out brawl, before Grace returns to help her Primo out. They end up locked in with Slink with time running out. Slink gets one more joke on them before leaving him behind to escape. Karma isn’t ready for them to go however leading to one last confrontation between the d’Argento sisters.
Blood Drive succeeded in gaining its fan-base by providing them with the grindhouse-style gore galore and eccentric characters. This was stuff you could not ever imagine seeing on TV outside of premium cable. It’s shocking how well defined and well written the characters became and full credit goes to Roland and his writing team. And the actors involved showed a range that goes far beyond your average grindhouse. Each actor dove head first into the lunacy and thrived. The actor that stood out the most though especially this episode was Colin Cunningham. He never flinched or got as emotionally vexed as other characters and I think that’s what set’s Slink apart. Should Blood Drive get renewed (hopefully), and should he return to this role (hopefully), Slink can very easily become a character akin to The Joker; an agent of chaos, as Heath Ledger once put it. Cunningham has the mannerisms, the sense of humor, and the abilities to pull it off.
Congrats to all involved on an amazing season. James Roland has announced that SYFY has cancelled the show, but he thanked the network for having “the steel to make the show in the first place.” Should there be a miracle, and a second season come about, the Bleeders will be there.
Video
BLOOD DRIVE | Season 1, Episode 13: Sneak Peek | SYFY
On Blood Drive Season 1, Episode 13: Once upon a time Slink tells us a little story about The Scar and how fracked up life can be.
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