Blood Drive: Welcome to Pixie Swallow Recap

Synopsis of 1×02: Blood Drive heads to Pixie Swallow, giving Grindhouse fans the typical diner experience – right up until you realize the meat is people. The meat is people!

Julian Slink is conspicuously absent from the finish line, revealing instead that he’s headed to a meeting with Heart Enterprises. In the waiting room, he comes across a nervous man who is there to replace someone who has “royally fucked up.” Slink starts to think the man might be gleefully talking about his job.

At the diner, Grace and Arthur order burgers before Arthur sneaks away to use the payphone for Chris. He leaves a message about Heart Enterprises for his partner, who won’t be getting that message any time soon because he’s tied up with Aki. At Heart Enterprises, Chris is shown a refreshingly honest recruitment video, complete with some explanation of the state of the world and then left to explore the grounds where he’s being held.

When the burgers finally do come to them, Arthur’s is taken away quickly by Fat Elvis. In retaliation, Grace elbows him in the groin and knocks him down. Just kidding, she did it to steal his keys and use his hotel room to shower. Which Fat Elvis should have done, instead of using the diner bathroom, where he was hit on the head and captured by the cook and methodically butchered.

An interesting aspect of the relationship between The Gentleman and The Scholar is revealed as they discuss what’s going to happen after they win the Blood Drive. The Gentleman reveals he won’t be bringing the Scholar on any adventures with him after they win the race, which seems to upset and surprise the other man.

Arthur makes an excuse to get back to the diner, where he finds The Scholar drinking away his sorrows. He seems to enjoy bonding with Arthur more than Arthur does when they discuss the state of their “complicated” relationships. After he excuses himself, Arthur steals a bit of his food – only to spit out a painted fingernail. He inspects the kitchen and discovers the secret, which he promptly shares with Grace and they both throw up. As they should.

Unfortunately, they can’t leave without knowing where to head next and Slink is still tied up in the bureaucratic waiting room. Not that they can leave, once Grace gets a look at her car’s engine. It’s been sabotaged just in time for the cannibal cavalry to make its appearance.

Exploring the basement of Heart Enterprises, Christopher comes across the Confiscated Items room and heads inside. He walks through the room full of boxes until he finds his own and listens to Arthur’s message. There’s no service when he goes to call Arthur back.

Meanwhile, Grace and Arthur go in search of The Scholar in The Gentleman’s room. They let him on the secret, but find no Scholar and when they go to search for him they find the place is crawling with hillbilly cannibals and it’s a madhouse outside.

The man who had been waiting with Slink returns from his interview, excited that the job was offered to him on the spot. As he celebrates, it serves to upset Slink and he bludgeons the man to death – only to find out he was the new head of maintenance. Another version of Aki is there to welcome Slink to his meeting.

After recruiting The Gentleman to serve as lookout, Arthur makes a mad dash for the diner. One of the racers, Caligula, greets him at the door, but is distracted by giving someone a lesson about leaving dogs in cars without the windows cracked and doesn’t bother with Arthur. It might be the most important lesson of the episode, right after don’t eat the burgers.

Narrowly avoiding a cannibal inside the diner, Arthur’s found when the phone rings. Chris is calling him back as he tries to strangle the man with the phone cord. At the same time, the kitchen is packing up and ready to head out of Pixie Swallow. The Scholar isn’t dead yet, but he’s cling wrapped and ready for transport to the next town. The Gentleman nobly allows Grace to deal with the problem.

Christopher and Arthur compare notes about what they know about Heart Enterprises. Arthur has him find information on Grace’s sister, but runs out of time before they can make any concrete plans to do something about their respective predicaments.

This version of Aki brings Slink into a meeting room to berate him about allowing a Contra-Crime guard onto the Blood Drive. Slink is proud of that twist in the game though and asking for “the old man” above Aki’s rank. After shutting him down, she reveals that they’re considering broadcasting Blood Drive to the masses and Slink’s tepid reaction shows that he’s not thrilled with the idea. She also reveals they were going to kill him and keep him off of the world stage before he killed the head of maintenance in the lobby. Instead, she leaves him with Heart Enterprises’ notes on the race.

With the fight underway, Grace gets thrown into the back of the meat truck and the distance between her and Arthur begins causing problems as the cook makes his escape. The Scholar helps Arthur get the car set back up, though it’s really the brain bomb’s electricity that jumpstarts the engine. He speeds off after Grace while The Gentleman and the Scholar argue in the parking lot.

Carl the cook is arrested when Arthur finally catches up to him. Despite his sob story about the price of meat, Grace sees an opportunity to top off her tank and he’s too stunned to stop her. While she cleans up, he tells her about the connection between Heart Enterprises and the asylum that her sister is in and she decides that they’re close enough on their next pit stop to make a detour.

Finished exploring, Christopher returns to Aki and tells her that he will stay with Heart Enterprises. She tells him that Heart can heal his eye in return for his loyalty and has him lay down on the table, but first he needs his behavior modified after contacting his former partner while wandering…