BLOOD DRIVE is Balls to the Wall Madness in the Best of Ways
HO-LY SHIT. Have you ever gone into something thinking, this'll probably suck, but I'm game to sit through it, and then it blows your fucking MIND? Well, that's what I just experienced watching the first episode of Syfy Channel's original series Blood Drive.
What started out as research for an article about whether or not Blood Drive is a prequel to Pixar's Cars, (Maybe it is. Check out this article on Jalopnik for more), turned out to be an hour or so of me enraptured by a ridiculous, yet thrilling concept. It's Wacky Racers meets Soylent Green with a whole helping of Mad Max. SyFy has really shown that if you crank crazy up to a high enough level, you don't need a huge budget to come up with something special.
I'll start with the cons and get those out of the way. Cheesy? In some parts, yes. I'm not gonna say this show has any actors that are winning an Oscar anytime soon, but in the Immortal words of Russell Crowe in Gladiator, AM I NOT ENTERTAINED? Hell yes, I am! Sorry, focus on the negatives... ok... ok... I'm sorry, maybe I should like take a break and come back, because, for what this show is aiming to be, it does SO right in my mind. The dialogue is just the right amount of satire and parody of what the less over the top shows it mocks. You have the cop who just wants to do good, who has a tragic backstory, the beautiful yet murderous femme fatale he's paired with who also has a tragic and mysterious backstory. These moments when they get all serious are funny to me. Maybe it's not supposed to be funny, but it is. It's hilarious. It nails the exact tone required to mock blockbusters and serious tv shows that try to play these tragic backstories seriously.
But just because it's cheesy, doesn't mean the show doesn't have a plot. It oozes with an undertone of corporate business controlling the world. There is a moment near the end which reminds me so much of Charlton Heston in Soylent Green, that I won't ruin, but I didn't expect societal commentary like that in a Grindhouse style show.
I could go on about the concept, and the crazy amounts of blood and my respect for its ability to understand restraint. Yeah. I can't believe I'm saying that either. Everything that happens in the episode that is gory or sexual or over the top, happens for a reason so that at no moment I'm getting bored or saying, "OK I get it, you're edgy." But that's all well and good. My favorite bit is the characters. Earlier I referred to the show as part Wacky Racers, and I mean that in the best way. By no means have I seen all the characters this show has to offer, but what I have seen is diverse, silly, and entertaining. There's the Gentleman and the Scholar, Captain Clowndick, Domi and Cliff, Fat Elvis, and the ever so wonderful Julian Slink who's voice and presence is an iconic figure in the making. No two characters seem like just boring old racers. Everyone is a character, even if they haven't said anything as of yet. Even our two main characters Grace and Arthur are so interesting in their own rights. Grace's sucker that she has is so simple yet a design addition that adds something no matter how small, and Arthur being so outside of the world is so interesting to see contrasted against everyone else.
There are questions that popped up in my head as I watched the first episode. Such as, are the cars purchased by the drivers beforehand or are they part of the race deal? Otherwise, where do you find the blood drive cars? They are obviously not common because our hero, Arthur, has never heard of nor seen them before, and is obviously terrified of the thought of them. Also, each car has a different monster engine. Some swirl others gnash. Are these different models of monster cars? Even under the understanding that a company makes them all, have there been updates that make some human eating engines better than others? And why human blood? Why doesn't animal blood work? Also, there has got to be a better way of feeding the blood to the cars. I mean there is more blood on the outside of the car than on the inside. There's a huge splatter of blood that gets shot out that completely goes to waste. Does the car only use a certain part of the blood, like plasma or does it take the bones and brain matter and organs and use it all?
Blood Drive goes to show it's not about how good you are, or how much money you spend, but rather how you present yourself that makes a good show. I can't wait to watch more. They might have a cult phenomenon on their hands. Check out the first episode at least, if nothing else, and then make up your mind. It may just surprise you