Recap and Review
With last week's episode leaving us hanging as Krista submerged into the pool of blood, last night's episode starts off running and never stops.

Though the build up was on the anticipation of Krista's experience with the blood bathing ritual, this episode really brushed right by it. A brief dream type sequence showing Krista Boone's location and poof, she's awake (of course, she apparently was under for more than five hours, which was some sort of House of Liechen record). I was expecting a more long drawn out experience with an even longer after effect. It was a pleasant surprise to see that they didn't dwell on the ordeal, though they definitely took the opportunity to reveal a few key elements.

First, Chase's ex-husband Frederick discovers that being under the blood for as long as Krista was either meant the she didn't want to help kill Boone or that she was having trouble adjusting to the vampire way of life. When he lets Krista know this she tried convincing him that she had some sort of fling with Boone, and that is why she didn't want to kil Boone. However, after Frederick discovered an empty vial of serum, I think it's safe to say he's definitely in the know.

The second thing the blood bath did was to make resisting the vampire lifestyle that much more difficult for Krista. Her urge to feed and be free like Boone increased significantly after the blood connection. She may still be able to resist temptation, but she's definitely finding it harder.

After Krista tells Chase Boone's location, we finally find out Boone's intentions and why he's such a problem for Marcus. As I had mentioned in previous posts, Boone's big weapon is his knowledge of Marcus' plans. Specifically, he knows about Marcus kidnapping vampires from the House of Armaya. Boone tries to use this knowledge as leverage to get into the House of Armaya. Unfortunately for Boone, Chase, Krista, and a group of vampires from the House of Chthon arrive and kill all the Armayan vampires before the secret gets out. Boone, however, escapes even though Chase believes him dead.
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Recap and Review
So, you're probably like me and have been craving more backstory for Blade ever since the first movie. Well, last night's episode, "Bloodlines", delivered.

Before they could get to Blade's backstory, they had to handle the whole business with Marcus' doctor. Well, wham, bam, thank you ma'am they handled it right away with the doctor blowing his head off within the first couple minutes of the show. With that loose end tied up, the story moved right along to the focus of this episode, the Bad Bloods gang.

Apparently Blade did a bit of damage as a young half vampire - feeding on humans and even turning a few into vampires. Some of his first turns were a group of pretty bad guys called the Bad Bloods. Being turned by the Daywalker isn't such a good thing though, as all the vampire Houses not only reject you from joining, many of them seek out and destroy any vampire from Blade's "bloodline" (get the title of the episode yet?).

With Blade's blood being a one way ticket to being ashed, the gang of Bad Blood's decide it's time to try and get into good graces with the House of Chthon by offering up Blade. To get to Blade they use Reverend Carlyle, the man who has been helping out the ash drug addicts cope with the nasty side effects. Unfortunately for Carlyle, the Bad Blood's decided to kill him once they got what they wanted.

With Blade being chained up by the Bad Blood's, we are given a healthy dose of Blade history. The above mentioned Daywalker bloodline information is revealed as well as the fact that Blade's tattoos are signs of belonging to the Bad Blood gang. We also learn about how Whistler (the older man from the movies played by Kris Kristofferson) grabbed Blade from the Bad Bloods gang while killing a few along the way.

The episode couldn't completely revolve around Blade, so Shen comes to the rescue at the end. He pumps Blade full of serum to help Blade's thirst, which then allows Blade to kick some Bad Blood butt. Blade kills them all off, except for the apparent leader Steppin Razor, who is able to run away.
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General Thoughts and Recap
Well, Blade: The Series keeps up the great work in Episode 4: Descent. Building on the foundations established in the last couple episodes, last night's romp through the Blade universe introduced us to even more potentially important groups and characters.

Apparently with Fritz gone the writers decided to add another potentially main character to the plot, an FBI agent named Ray Collins. Collins is introduced to us as an agent working the murder case that looks to lead him to detective turned vampire Boone. Collins does appear to be setup as a recurring role that may have a much more important impact on the story as he is already near discovering Boone's true nature. If Collins discovers the world of vampires, he may prove to be yet another ally for Blade.

Speaking of allies, Blade's run-in with Cain showed the lengths to which Blade is willing to go to stop the vampire threat. By giving Cain the greenlight to continue "ashing" the vampires, Blade established a tentative alliance with an evil drug dealer in an effort to fight the greater evil.
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General Thoughts and Recap
First, let me clarify why the title of this post is Episode 3. While there has really only been one episode so far, Episode 1: Pilot, Spike TV is actually claiming the pilot was two separate episodes that were aired back-to-back. I think that's bullshit, but whatever. As such, last night's episode was technically, the third. Anyway... onto my thoughts on the actual episode...

Oh... hell... yes. This episode was exactly what I was talking about in my write up for the pilot. Remember all those cool plot opportunities I saw and hoped they'd capitalize on? Well, Episode 3 touches on a few of those, but focuses on a whole side plot I didn't even think about - the ashers.

If you recall from the first episode, dead vampires leave ash behind that some humans have refined into a type of drug that temporarily gives them vampire abilities. The substance and the people that crave it seem to be much more integral to the storyline than I had previously thought, and that's definitely a good thing. Last night's episode introduced us to the many aspects of the vampire ash drug trafficking trade.
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General Thoughts and Recap
In an awkward start for a new televisions series, the actual start time was pushed back about 10 minutes due to a UFC fight running late. Once that wrapped up though, the blood and gore could... well.. continue.

Let me first say that I enjoyed this first episode. While it wasn't great, and definitely had its flaws, I saw the potential that could be tapped with a very interesting world that has some very intriguing plot elements. I found that I was getting more and more into the underlying story as the show progressed, and will hopefully see future episodes build on the foundations created by this first episode.

So how do you start a television series starring Blade (Kirk Jones)? With him chasing down a vampire on a motorcycle of course. The opening scene in Moscow was done pretty well. It set the tone of the show as being dark and willing to show some gruesome deaths. The problem was that it also showed how weak the fight scenes would be.

After Blade's done in Moscow, the setting quickly shifted to Detroit where the show spent the next hour or so trying to introduce the audience to the story and new characters. continue reading...

According to Playlist Magazine, the pilot episode for Blade: The Series is available as a free download from iTunes. It's expected to remain available for free until July 11, so make sure you go download if if you haven't seen it yet.

[tags]Blade: The Series pilot, free iTunes download[/tags]

The pilot for Spike TV's Blade: The Series premiered last night and it was pretty good, definitely worthy of my TiVo's season pass. I'll have my full recap and review either later today or tomorrow. If you happened to miss the show, don't worry because it looks like the pilot episode will be airing three more times before the next episode hits.

The below times are PST and I'm not sure if they will be air at different times for different time zones, so make sure you verify yours if you're not on the West Coast.

• Saturday July 1 at 4:00 PM


• Sunday July 2 at 9:00 PM


• Tuesday July 4 at 10:00 PM

And remember, once you have seen the episodes, make sure to come back here with your comments and questions as I'll be doing an episode wrap up (likely tomorrow) and hope that we can get some great discussions going.

[tags]Blade pilot, pilot show times, TiVo[/tags]