Blood Drive recap: Season 1, Episode 9, “The Chopsocky Special”, Aired Aug 9, 2017
Things got a little trippy on this week’s Blood Drive. Sure, each episode has been a little out there, but The Chopsocky Special took us down a new road. Strangeness and questions engulfed this episode, but we also got hints at a few things that have been lingering in the background. Namely, the Scar. We finally get a glimpse of it only to hear what is coming out of its depths. Just what is making those noises anyhow? The Scar is much more than what we have been lead to believe.
Dreamland
Once the Chopsocky Special touched Arthur’s lips, he checked out of reality and began his journey in the dreamscape. With all the strange things going on at the Tasty Dragon, it is safe to assume the soup might have been spiked. As we tagged along for the journey through Arthur’s subconscious, many things were revealed during the search for the key. Arthur blames himself for quite a few things that have happened in his life, but he also wants more from life. The sequence with Grace is quite telling. The fairytale life that Arthur had envisioned with Grace was his for a brief moment. Then things started to fall apart.
The bizarreness of Arthur’s mind didn’t stop there. Jessica the goldfish because of course, Arthur had a goldfish. The Last Supper moment at Pixie Swallows is something I feel we could all just look at and tear apart, but in the end, it most likely doesn’t tie into anything else. To quote Aki in this scene, “Not everything has to mean something.”
Still, that placement of Rib Bone and the rest of the racers… well, it is just a wonderfully strange scene. There is one thing to take away from this scene though — The Bleeders need a poster of this made available to us. Hear that Syfy? Make it happen!
Through it all, Arthur still works to do the right thing. He still tries to save Aki in Pixie Swallows until she turns into Christopher. The idea that Arthur wants punishment for his crime evolves with Christopher and Slink before escaping. After that, he ends up crucified by the Sheriff. In the end, Arthur listens to Sutherland, the man he has been trying to do right by all these years. Then, he shoots himself in the chest. Since he died in his dream, does this mean he is dead? Probably not. Plus, there is no body.
Was Grace in a dream also?
Miraculously, the Tasty Dragon appeared after Grace was furiously searching for the town Terri told her about in the last episode. Now if only Terri could have said if it was to the left or right, she might have found it earlier. There is no telling how long Grace was driving, but if Red River was in Oklahoma and the Tasty Dragon was in Springfield, Missouri, that is quite a drive. That said though, the Tasty Dragon likes to move around just a bit.
While tending to Arthur’s wounds, the restaurateur tells Grace to head out front to get towels. It is at this point where I think Grace began her spiritual journey as well. The customers in the restaurant had gone still with white eyes when she went out front. The same white eyes that Arthur had. When Grace goes to challenge the woman, she says, “That’s not who you are anymore.” Just how did she know that Grace wouldn’t kill her. Well, if you tie that scene in with the woman knowing about Karma, it is easy to suspect that Grace isn’t actually awake. That isn’t to say the Scar doesn’t play a role in all this. It totally does.
While in her dream Grace is forced to reveal her feeling about Karma as well as for Arthur. Thrust together some 11 days ago, these two have bonded through all of the torture they have encountered. Her feelings for him have come to the surface. In spite of being warned that she would die giving Arthur the blood he needs, she does it anyhow. Arthur succumbs to ending his life; Grace succumbs to saving his at the possible cost of her own. In the end, she wakes up alone, and then the Tasty Dragon disappears.
Now, I’m not saying the Tasty Dragon wasn’t there, I am just suggesting there was a dream journey that both of them went on. The Scar has its own agenda.
“There is no greater prison than the one in which we trap ourselves.”
The Aki situation
In this episode, we discovered something rather shocking. Aki was once a human. That is, if we can believe what happened in this episode. According to her mother, Aki was lost — not killed, lost — when the Scar opened up. Her mother said she operated on her daughter Aki once before. So that leaves us with the lingering question of just what happened to the human version of Aki. I have a theory regarding Christopher’s Aki. We will call her Aki Prime. Prepare yourself.
Aki Prime is and always has been human. Not 100% human anymore. Like Christopher and Slink, she has gone through a variety of body modifications. She was built into what we know as the Aki Prime. That is why there was a glitch in her programming that they could not put into other models. Somehow, Heart was able to replicate this into other Aki models. My guess is this uses some sort of organic component from Aki Prime they can recreate or clone. Aki Prime has always been human, but because of Heart, she has been devoid of attachment… until Christopher. The interaction with him caused her human emotions to regain control of the programming that had taken over her brain, allowing Aki to become human again.
Will this theory on Aki Prime hold up? Who knows, but based on what we found out in this episode and what happened in the last episode, it does make some sense. The Scar can do many things. Changing Aki, could have been one of them. We can only wait to see.
What did you think of this week’s Blood Drive? What do you think 1031 means? Also, if you have any theories on Aki, I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. Be sure to check out our Blood Drive podcast recap, and for more Syfy fandom news, head here!
Watch Blood Drive on Syfy Wednesdays at 10/9c
(Featured image: Syfy)
