Episode Recap: Welcome to Pixie Swallow

Welcome back to the Blood Drive. Hang on a minute because before we get back to the driving, let’s talk about a little place called Pixie Swallow. It’s a place in Arizona with a motel and a diner that serves…HUMAN FLESH! That was supposed to be a shock, but this is Blood Drive, so…mainly, we’re just talking ground up humans made into burgers. Any guesses who’s hungry and barreling their way toward that diner? Yes, it’s Grace and Arthur. He’s figured out that Heart Industries is behind WAY more than anyone previously thought, and she’s insistent that they win this race so she can get her sister the emotional and mental health help that she needs. When they arrive at the finish line, it’s much more subdued than usual. Yes, that dude named Clown Dick is around and people are generally rowdy, but you know who’s missing?

Julian Slink. It turns out; he's been summoned to Heart Industries for a mysterious meeting. The receptionist won’t tell him and once he arrives, it dawns on him that that this may be the day he gets fired. He is, after all, sitting with someone who's interviewing for a new position to “clean up a real mess.” The suspicion mounts.

Back in Pixie Swallow, Arthur takes a risk and leaves a message for Christopher to call him back at the payphone in the diner. Even though Grace says he needs to be careful about who he gets in contact with, Arthur believes they might be able to take down Heart Industries. Christopher is busy, though. Dominatrix Aki has him on the table in her lair. It turns out that Aki has been replicated over and over and you’ll see her in all kinds of places around Heart Industries. She tells Christopher that he’s free to go, but that they’d like to offer him a job at Heart. After an orientation video, he takes off to explore the grounds. And it’s a weird place.

So, after there was a giant earthquake in the middle of the country (thanks to fracking), Heart went to work discovering new technologies to save humanity. And, well, it’s a weird place. But as he explores, Christopher does find his cellphone in a room of records.

Now, here’s what’s going on with some of the other racers: As Arthur and Grace eat burgers made of people and find them delicious, Fat Elvis runs afoul of the wait staff and becomes their next shipment of meat. And The Gentleman and the Scholar? Turns out they're (only sort of) a couple. The Gentleman is relying on The Scholar to keep the car in working order so he can win the race. He plans to dump The Scholar when he wins. And what’s sad is - the Scholar is definitely hung up on him, and also a clearly better person.

While going to see if perhaps Christopher had called him back on that payphone, Arthur has a heart-to-heart with The Scholar about it, but also learns that the diner is serving people and he and Grace barf their faces off over it. More bad news? Some hillbilly cannibals are en route to eat most of the racers, so Grace and Arthur decide to take off. That’s when Arthur hears the phone ringing. It’s Christopher! After fighting off some cannibal hillbillies, Arthur finally gets to connect with Christopher, who's in the file room at Heart Industries. The two piece together that Grace's sister Karma (who she joined the Blood Drive in order to win money to care for her) is in a Heart Industry mental facility. They really do control everything!

It turns out that Heart Industries also controls a good deal of entertainment. A TV Executive version of Aki tells Julian Slink that they actually were going to fire him, but now that the Blood Drive seems entertaining, (and because he killed that other dude in the lobby, who was actually there for a maintenance job btw), they want him to develop Blood Drive into a television show.  

While Grace and Arthur try to escape and find that their car doesn’t work, they set off on a search for The Scholar to fix the car. Arthur finds out that the people who run the diner are looking to flee, and because he's obsessed with justice, he gets into a fight in the kitchen that ends with Grace getting hauled off in the meat truck. Arthur and the Scholar work together to fix the car so he can go after Grace. The Gentleman is, of course, furious that The Scholar helped another team, but The Scholar kisses him and says that it’s clear that they’re in a symbiotic relationship.

After a high-speed chase, Arthur is able to free Grace and confront the cannibal chef. Grace isn't playing around though. She kills the chef and feeds him to the car and they’re back on the road. Meanwhile, now that Christopher and Arthur have decided they can take down Heart Industries, Christopher goes back to Aki. She says the time has come to see what he's all about, and ties him to the table so she can start his "orientation." Which is somehow sex and body fluid related.  When Arthur tells Grace that her sister is in a Heart Industries asylum, she's furious. And now, more than ever, the two have a common plan. Their next move? To veer off the race and save Grace's sister.