What Drives Blood Drive

By: Alex Elias

For many years, network television has employed content that could easily be considered as having the potential to be…emotionally traumatic for many audiences. It has long since matched cable TV in terms of “darkness of content” and a penchant to “go there.” However, network television has always been subject to the rulings of the FCC, and thus, while their content often possesses the same feel as networks like HBO and Showtime, they simply were not legally allowed to include the profanity and explicit sexual content that has become the proverbial face of cable TV. Enter Syfy’s new series “Blood Drive.”

Syfy, while historically branded as network TV, is actually technically a cable network. It is not considered one of the 5 channels under the bracket of “network television,” which are ABC, CBS, CW, FOX and NBC.  Therefore, it does not actually have to adhere to the FCC rulings. For a few years now, Syfy has been gradually working its way up to profanity. First, we had the legendary “frak” of “Battlestar Galactica” and followed by the “fu..” of “Wynonna Earp.”

In fact, Syfy has always been the go-to station for all things science-fiction or should I say, all science-fiction that wants to have more than one season before being canceled. It has brought us fun gems like “Eureka” and “Warehouse 13,” hardcore science fiction like “Defiance” and “Killjoys” and in the last few years, provided us with a return to the classic deep-space drama with “Dark Matter” and “The Expanse.” Enter “Blood Drive.”

What is Blood Drive and how does it work? Fourth wall breaking host of “Blood Drive,” Julian Slink (Colin Cunningham) would tell you that the series is an entertaining and deadly race for sport featuring cars that run on human blood. He may stop short of telling you it takes place in a dystopian future where the world has fallen into depravity and become a host for psychos, androids, zombies, cannibals and a conglomerate that gives new meaning to the word evil…But that’s only because he works for that conglomerate and he’s just doing his job.  But “Blood Drive” is so much more than just its silly plot. The show represents the future of Syfy and, more broadly, the future of all gray-area “cable” TV.

Created by showrunner James Roland, in his first official capacity as lead writer, “Blood Drive” brings the genre of grindhouse to Syfy containing HBO levels of violence, profanity and, yes, even sex. But whereas HBO has long since embraced these features as core elements in the framework of their shows, “Blood Drive” is…more “on the nose.” As a grindhouse series, “Blood Drive” oozes violence, profanity and sex in a manner that even transcends fan-service. It takes it to the point of a parody, that takes itself seriously. In other words, “Blood Drive” is for a very specific audience – crazy people with a lust for mayhem and absolute carnage. For so called “normal folks,” the show will feel very extreme – and THAT is the point of grindhouse. Unless you’re a bit psycho, “Blood Drive” is extreme and that’s not an opinion.

So, now that we’ve established what Blood Drive is, how is it? Well, if my description of the show has not yet turned you off to seeing it, then I insist you actually go and watch it yourself. If not for entertainment, or even for curiosity, then you at least owe it to Syfy for going out on a limb and bringing us this utterly obscene show that may possibly reshape the future of what is allowed on TV.  But really; how is it? At risk of sounding like a crazy person with a lust for mayhem and absolute carnage, it really isn’t bad. I actually kind of even, dare I say…like it. It’s fun, in a…very grotesque way. Think of it like going to Sea World, only instead of cute dolphins splashing you with water you see possessed dolphins eating other dolphins, splashing you with their blood and entrails. So, gross. But you’re still seeing something cool and getting splashed?

“Blood Drive” follows Arthur Bailey (Alan Richardson), a cop and possibly the last “good guy” left in America. While on assignment Officer Bailey witnesses something he can never un-see, a gang of Madmax carney psychos feeding alive people to their cars whose engines grind them up and use their blood for fuel. Officer Bailey, who is not an idiot, realizes that calling for backup is perhaps his best plan of action, but as luck would have it things don’t always work out how you want them to. And so Officer Bailey is discovered and forced to become a racer in the Blood Drive, which is an annual race across the country with a $10 Million prize hosted by Julian Slink, representative of the magnanimous Heart Corporation.  Bailey is paired with Grace (Christina Ochoa), the owner of a not ironically Blood-Red Camaro who seeks to win Blood Drive to save her sister. Grace is perhaps the least psychotic (albeit still psychotic) of all the racers, which feel very much like if you took the cast of all the Death Race movies and had them go to a culinary school run by Hannibal Lector.

When you have a plot like this and a show built around the core principals of maximum violence, maximum profanity and maximum sex, it’s understandably very easy to lose control of your monster and let it go savage. But the surprisingly strong acting provided by Richardson and Ochoa as the protagonists actually ground the show, keeping it just sane-enough to follow along and enjoy. Whereas similar retro-style, campy B-Movie horror shows like “Ash Vs. the Evil Dead” are just too goofy to watch for a lot of modern audiences who didn’t grow up loving campy B-movies. “Blood Drive,” I feel, does a much better job bridging that gap. In other words, while it is going hard toward a retro, 80’s version of the future the effects and overall production don’t feel dated at all. Personally, as someone who is not a fan of campiness or even 80s movies, I find that “Blood Drive” is doing a good job to possibly get me more interested in those things by using the retro tropes in the perfect volume and manner.

Two examples of this, which I think are really fun, are the phony Heart Corporation commercials that “Blood Drive” airs in place of actual commercials and the previews for next week’s episode are as if they are trying to sell us a VHS.  Heart is a comically evil corporation so seeing their commercials in all their glorious 80’s style fashion, trying to sell us horrific and grotesque things, is quite a wonderful little reprieve from the show while not so different that we forget what we’re watching.

Another aspect of “Blood Drive” that I particularly enjoy is the ongoing side story of Julian Slink having to adhere to the management at Heart Corporation. Julian is your typical Post-Apocalyptic flamboyant ringleader mastermind, but he has a boss and works for a “legitimate” company. So, even as the host of the Blood Drive, he must go through the mundane process of discussing marketing and narrative with the mysterious folks at over at Heart. This whole storyline is drenched in hysterical fourth wall breaking, as Julian sort of functions as the screenwriter of “Blood Drive” since he is the one controlling what happens to the characters in each episode. Therefore, watching him having to deal with corporate about the crazy things that happen in each episode is wonderful. Chock it up to another ground-breaking aspect of “Blood Drive.”

At of the time of writing this piece three episodes of “Blood Drive” have aired and I am still sticking with it. Critics, as well as fans on Twitter, seem to be really enjoying the no-holds-barred approach of the show. It’s not often you see hardcore fans take a break from their live-tweeting to send a bracket tweet to everyone that says something along the lines of “BLOOD DRIVE ROCKS!” or “I LOVE THIS SHOW!” But that’s the sort of thing I’ve been seeing all over the Twitterverse. Alternatively, my dad, who typically loves action and overly violent shows (i.e. “Banshee” is his favorite) has dejected “Blood Drive” before even giving it a shot. So, whose lead will you follow? Will you be a crazy person and tune in? Or will you be a dad and give us crazy’s a look of disappointment and disapproval?

Catch “Blood Drive” on Wednesdays at 10:00pm on Syfy and make sure there are no children or normal-adults in the room. And keep all limbs inside the vehicle at all times or they are fair game for fuel.