Blood Drive: ‘The Chopsocky Special’ (S1; E9)

Talk about a day tripper.

Director: Meera Menon
Stars: Alan Ritchson, Christina Ochoa, Thomas Dominique, Marama Corlett, Colin Cunningham

Nothing gets the blood pumping faster than a fatally wounded partner. With Arthur bleeding out after being shot at the end of last episode, Grace has put the pedal to the metal to find a doctor somewhere near the edge of the scar.

When a hospital is not forthcoming, she makes due with the next best thing: a Chinese restaurant.

The Tasty Dragon is a bright spot in an otherwise blinding sea of sand. Pearl, the owner, is happy to help, but first you must order. Grace is more than frustrated, but she choses the special to get the show on the road. But one sip of soup and Arthur is down for the count.

Or is he?

The dashing do-gooder awakens in a world alone–aside from officer Aki that is. Is it a dream? A vision quest? Or maybe, as the petite patrolwoman says, he’s just tripping balls. Either way, he must journey to find the way out of this dream. It seems easy enough at the outset, but Arthur is quickly distracted by a vision in red, and for once it’s not blood.

This crimson clad version of Grace seems like the ideal mid-century mate. In fact, everything about this plastic palace is perfection down to their darling baby Rib Bone. The American dream begins to crack, however, when Arthur realizes this world is none too far from the one he just left. “Everything runs on blood,” Grace reminds him.

Meanwhile, Grace is suspicious of Pearl’s intentions. The two come to blows, but our daring driver is no match for the older woman. With Grace subdued, Pearl tells her that the two racers are at the Tasty Dragon for a purpose. But what purpose?

While Grace struggles to make sense of this mystery, Arthur’s struggle is more personal. He’s moved on to the second level of his subconscious, which happens to be back in Pixie Swallow. The Sheriff from last week is on their tale, and he’s looking for revenge for his untimely murder.

Back in the real world, Grace is learning that Pearl is not stranger to pain. In fact, she lost her daughter Aki not long ago. But the restaurateur took it in stride. “Shit happens.”

Things get torturously surreal when Officer Chris and Slink appear the cannibal diner. They plan to use Arthur as their daily bread. That is until the sheriff comes along to crucify our boy in blue.

The transcendent pain of Christ sends Arthur back in time. It seems that Arthur was once another victim of the scar before he became a cop. And even though he’s fought to cleanse himself, his dirty past still haunts him.

Arthur is dying in the real world, and with nothing left to lose, Grace gives him a blood transfusion. It seems that everything comes back to blood.

Grace awakens to find herself alone. Is she now in the highly saturated dream world? Or has she just been left behind?

There’s only one way to know. Tune in Wednesday night for the next installment of grindhouse goodness.

#RenewBloodDrive

Rating: 4/5

Photo courtesy of SyFy.