Blood Drive “Steel City Nightfall” (S1; E3)

Bringing a whole new meaning to the term “workflow.”

Creator: James Roland
Stars: Alan Ritchson, Christina Ochoa, Thomas Dominique, Marama Corlett, Colin Cunningham

This week our fearless racers set their sights on conquering the dangerous, the deadly…

Utah.

Don’t let the setting fool you, this is a savage place filled with unhinged industrialists and fiendish freaks ready to tear our heroes apart.

But first we’re introduced to a new set of racers. Domi and Cliff are the typical “middle” couple: middle-class, middle-age, in fact, “middle” just kinda describes their overall vibe. She wears an eye mask while taking turns dozing and berating her husband for trying to cop a feel. He drives and fumes because they just had to have a Prius, which is less than ideal in a life-or-death race.

Even with all of their quirks, it’s clear that they love each other dearly. In fact, they are prone to reminisce about the good old days of torture, maiming, and murder they’ve shared through the years.

Meanwhile.

Our heroes, Grace and Arthur, are having car trouble once again. The only way they’ll catch up to the race is to haul ass through Steel City–a nightmare place where two troops of soldiers disappeared before the government finally said nvm and gave up. Grace is less than thrilled about taking the shortcut, but Arthur is confident that they’ll make it through.

Shocker. They don’t.

They escape into the shadows as the Camaro is set upon by a pack of people. These are not any old set of steel mill savages. Oh no! These were once the white collar creatures who set synergy in motion; the the go-getters that worked to move the needle; yes, these were the good men and women who–at the end of the day–kept their focus on actionable items with follow-through.

Yikes.

Their leader, the supervisor, guides her team through semi-spiritual rituals, hoping to keep danger at bay. You see, there is another set of citizens in Steel City. The once-human, now cannibal Glimmers ingested a toxic gas additive after it leaked into the groundwater.

Oops.

When the Glimmers show up our heroes and their captors must set aside their “differences” to survive, but can they?

Meanwhile, at HEART HQ Officer Carpenter is still imprisoned by the increasingly creepy robot Aki. She wants obedience. Why she wants it, and what her plan is once she has it are still anyone’s guess. All we can say so far is that she reeeeaaaallllly likes keeping her captives naked.

We don’t get much Julian Slink this episode, and I hope it doesn’t become a pattern. Colin Cunningham is fantastic as the gravel-voiced Blood Drive creator. It would be a waste to continue to use him as an easy “creatives versus the system” joke.

Rating: 3.5/5