Blood Drive: ‘Finish Line’ (S1; E13)

We may have crossed the line, but have we finished the race? #SaveBloodDrive

Director: David Straiton
Stars: Alan Ritchson, Christina Ochoa, Thomas Dominique, Marama Corlett, Colin Cunningham

Taking down a multi-billion dollar corporation seems like it would take a bit of planning, but sometimes you just have to go with the improvisational approach. That’s just what Grace, Arthur, and Slink do when they put the pedal to the medal in this episode to get to HEART HQ with the intention of taking it down.

Whether you improvise or meticulously plan, a mission of this magnitude has to be agreed upon by all involved. Too bad, Silnk has never been good at creative collaboration. They compromise with Slink heading to the basement to set the charge to blow the building sky high, while our heroes head to the boardroom to try to save Karma.

Karma is less than amenable to these plans, informing Slink that she’s destroyed all the other models of him, making him the last of his kind. Now he can’t blow up the building from the inside without triggering the finale of the Slink saga.

But finales are rarely final in grindhouse lore, as we find out when Karma decides to get trigger happy on our heroes.

As things go from bad to worse, our characters’ fight to stay alive reveals how much they’ve changed over the course of this journey. Grace’s compassion has grown to extend beyond her own best interests; Arthur’s black and white belief in absolutes as begun to bleed grey; while Christopher’s time on the inside has altered a lot more than his outlook.

But this character growth is illustrated best in a surprisingly sentimental moment with the sulfurous Slink. His awakening to what it feels like to die is proof that this show is so much more than coarse language, titillating settings, and buckets of blood (not that I think there is anything wrong with tv that is).

In creator James Roland’s announcement that Blood Drive had been cancelled, he requested that his fans continue to dream on what happens next with these characters, to keep them alive through our imaginations. I’m happy to take on the challenge.

Roland expertly set up future storylines for nearly every character in the series. Arthur has washed up on a prison island housing the criminally insane. He’s alone, he’s naked, and he thinks Grace is dead. It’s only a matter of time before he meets the locals. Let’s just hope the locals don’t meat him.

Grace and Slink are slightly harder to resurrect, but it’s not impossible. One of the many clever threads woven into this episode included Slink creating additional versions of Grace, Arthur, and himself to confuse HEART security. Perhaps these versions were more than just figments. Could they be (or become) the real deal? If they survive, it would only be thanks to Slink’s smooth move. This means Karma’s time would be up. Good thing Grace has plenty of practice mourning her little sister.

What about good cop Christopher? Last I heard they had buckets of his DNA some place…

But what to do with Aki? She was a one-of-a-kind model. If her original creator can’t help, perhaps he can point us toward the human template they used as the Aki unit’s inspiration. We know her mother lives near the Scar and packs a powerful punch of potent provisions. Could she help bring her lovely daughter back to this realm?

Blood Drive has a lot of heart (and very good season-length story structure) underneath the grindhouse gore. It’s a shame that SyFy didn’t follow through with a second season, but I thank them for giving us a first.

I hope Roland finds a new home for Blood Drive. If he does, I’ll be the first at the starting line. 

Rating: 5/5

#SaveBloodDrive

Image courtesy of SyFy.