Synopsis of 1×10: Arthur’s totally trying to do his own thing now, guys. It doesn’t involve Heart Enterprises or the Blood Drive… or Grace? Something stinks about this situation.
Grace is forced to abandon her car in the sand, but she finds pages and pages of Arthur’s notebook laid out like breadcrumbs in the sand. While Arthur learns about the town from Jeff, and is invited to a town party, Grace meets the same girls that Arthur did just before he entered Cronenburgh.
At Heart Enterprises, Slink is ready to pitch spin-offs, comic books, and more when he learns that they’ve discovered a loophole in his contract that allow them to fire him. They want Grace and Arthur back in the race, even though Slink insists that they disappeared into the Scar and are dead. Thankfully, we know they’re not, but any happy reunion is short-lived when Grace sucker punches Arthur upon seeing him laid out on someone’s lawn.
That bit of business done, Arthur tells her that he’s “kind of doing his own thing” now. When Grace tries to give him back his notebook, he tells her that he’s done with Heart Enterprises. He’s found a nice place to settle, but she’s not convinced and he ends up inviting her to the town party. She also notices the strange smell of the town, which Arthur explains away with the explanation he was given: construction.
While Arthur’s easily charmed, Jeff speaks with Grace and the smell of the town seems to affect her behavior. She’s giggling, friendly, and social suddenly. Meanwhile, Arthur is offered the position of the town’s cobbler, but admits that he doesn’t know how to make shoes. The man he is talking to was actually the cobbler and the party, as it turns out, is his wake. When he is dead, Arthur is not only expected to take his job, but his wife as well.
Christopher is yelling at get Aki’s attention while she’s terrified and yelling. He asks her if she had a nightmare, but she reveals that she wasn’t asleep, she was just remembering the things she’s done. Aki is increasingly angry about what Heart Enterprises made her do to Christopher, but he insists that they stick to the plan of finding Arthur.
Confused, but still positively gleeful, Grace checks her makeup in a hand mirror and sees one of the town’s girls looking dead in the reflection. Inside, Arthur’s having fun at the party and Grace tries to show him what she’s discovered. Jeff takes the mirror from her before they storm out of the party. Arthur argues with her over how he’s enjoying himself and his new life and Grace eventually has enough. She shoves him and storms off.
Inside the party, Jeff shows Arthur the catacomb from earlier – which turns out to be the scar that the cobbler is being dumped into in order to sacrifice himself for the rest of the town. At the same time, Grace is investigating their home. When the new wife, Melanie, confronts her, she’s suffering the withdrawals of the gas and easily incapacitated.
Slink is handcuffed and getting his paperwork squared away when the poor desk jockey reveals that he’s got a load of other paperwork to do. Among it is the mileage reimbursements for the Blood Drive, though he has trouble with math. Slink talks his way out of his confinements and learns how far Grace and Arthur have gotten before killing the Heart employee and escaping.
Arthur is settling into his new life with his fiance when he sees her reflection in one of his polished shoes. It startles him, but not enough to be shaken from the spell yet. Grace is tied to a chair and confronted by Jeff, who insists that he’s saving everyone in the town from their pain. He’s offering Grace happiness, but she declines.
Aki and Christopher design a Blood Drive car and it’s definitely more modern than Grace and Arthur’s car. She’s momentarily concerned about leaving Heart Enterprises, but he assures her that they’ll make new memories and everything will be okay. Unfortunately, on their road trip, Aki gets carsick and starts vomiting. She urges Christopher to leave her in case Heart security protocols track her down and he has no choice but to do it.
Before the wedding and Grace’s end, Slink shows up in town with a gas mask – making him able to see the girls and the lemonade for what it really is. Honestly, I could have done without the gas mask POV, but it is what it is. Seeing the source of the gas, Slink makes quick work of pouring cement into the Scar. Which is good for Grace, since they toss her into the catacomb and Arthur hallucinates that she chose to jump in.
As the scar fills up and the gas stops leaking out, Arthur starts to see the damage in the hallucination. Slink crashes the party and Arthur is pushed into the hole with Grace by his wife. He’s still confused, but a helpful (not too helpful) Slink explains the situation to him. Before he saves them, Slink wants them to agree to come back to the Blood Drive.
When he’s pulled away from the catacomb that’s quickly filling with cement, Arthur and Grace have a moment. Arthur explains to her that he didn’t want to drag her into anything, but she tells him that she just wants to move on thanks to him. They kiss, assuming these are their last moments before they drown in the cement.
Jeff confronts Slink for blocking the gas and ruining Cronenburgh. When he tries to remove Slink, he gets his hand broken. Instead, Slink preaches to the mutant audience about Jeff, telling them that he has the antidote and he’s holding it for himself. That’s why he looks normal and everyone else is decaying. The townspeople turn on him and Slink pulls Grace and Arthur out of the cement.
Slink gives them their car back, but opts to ride with them on ‘one last detour…’
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