April 15, 2007: The Starting Line and Partners
"For as long as there have been cars, there has been 'The Race.'"
- Mr. Bright
Drive is the latest project from Tim Minear. Who exactly is Tim Minear? He was a coproducer and writer for
Angel and
Firefly. He also was the creative force behind the series
Wonderfalls and
The Inside. With the exception of
Angel, all have aired on the Fox network and all were cancelled before their time. Cancelled? Sadly, yes. Yet, even though they were only broadcast for a short period of time, fan communities for his shows developed, later to be heartbroken over their cancellation.
So here we have Tim creating yet another show for the network that likes to cancel his series. Is Tim a glutton for punishment? Is this show even worth your time? How will it appeal to the fans of his other series?
At first I thought the concept behind
Drive wouldn't, well, drive - take
The Gumball Rally and
The Amazing Race, sprinkle some
Deathrace 2000 and
Season 7 into the mix and voila!
Huh?
This was the same reaction I had when I heard what the
Firefly and
Wonderfalls concepts would be (cowboys in space and talking wax animals). What are the creators of these shows smoking? Of course, much to my pleasant surprise, the two shows I mentioned turned out to be among the most original series on TV at the time. After watching the pilot, I have the same opinion about
Drive.
Although there is an ensemble cast, the show seems to concentrate on Alex Tully, played by Nathan Fillion, who discovers that his wife has gone missing or has possibly been kidnapped. He receives a cryptic message on a cell phone to immediately head to Florida (he lives in Nebraska) in regards to his wife. Of course, he arrives late for the meeting, held in, of all places, a conference room in a hotel. As all the attendees file out, Tully confronts the speaker of the conference, Mr. Bright, and discovers the reason why he has driven all the way there: He has been selected to participate in an illegal, secret cross-country road race with the winning prize being $32 million. It's also suggested that some (maybe all) participants may have special incentives for getting to the end: in this case, Tully finding his wife. From there the race is on, and the participants speed off.
What made the pilot interesting were the interactions between the various contestants and the reasons why they are in the race. Besides Tully's, the story lines that stand out to me (so far) are the ones involving Corinna Wiles, the stowaway on Tully's truck who is on the run from a thug working for the race organizers, and Wendy Patrakas, the quirky mother who just gave birth five days earlier and seems to be running from her husband. At the end of the first hour, I wasn't too wrapped up in the plots involving the two Salazar brothers, the three Hurricane Katrina survivors (note: this fact isn't exactly made clear in the first two hours), the AWOL Army dude and his girlfriend, or the father and daughter duo. Based on what happened in the second hour and what was shown in the preview for the next episode, it looks as if all of these story lines may intermingle throughout the series, helping with the character development.
At the end of the first hour, I was struggling with the concept of the "race" and how's it's officiated. A few examples: Wendy is released from jail by someone impersonating her husband and working for the race organizers; Corrina stole a flash drive with data about the race; and when Tully reaches the end of the first leg, he isn't disqualified. By the end of the second hour, it did make more sense and yet there was just enough mystery surrounding it to keep me questioning.
Some lingering questions, ruminations and observations that I still have (in no particular order):
- The race organizers seem to have insiders everywhere, and I can imagine (based on the quote at the beginning) a weird, fictional, secret society (think Illuminati) actually runs the race. Instead of trying to take over the world (or whatever the secret society's goal), their real secret is to run this race ever since the concept of racing for competition was thought up. Heh.
- Where is Wendy's baby? Did she hide it on purpose or do the race organizers kidnap it like Tully's wife? What is the deal with her husband? Maybe she is hiding the baby from him? From her attempting to get away from the cop that pulled her over, to her being arrested and in the police station, Wendy is just adorable.
- I wasn't quite sure if the race folks did actually kidnap Tully's wife, Alex. She was seen leaving with a man, not in distress, but then again, there appeared to be a struggle in his house. At one point I thought that Corrina was the one responsible in some sort of plot twist. As it turns out, the race powers-that-be are behind the kidnapping. Tully must have been kicking himself for not realizing that Alex was in the freaking truck that he got a ride in.
- Penalties? Wendy got a nice surprise when she arrived in last place at the end of the first leg. One wonders what would have happened if she did, in fact, kill the other contestant. Also, in Corrina's flashback, we discover that she was kidnapped and her parents were killed trying to win the race (sort of the same sitch that Tully is in). Does Tully have to actually win the race or just get to the finish line? Yes, the missing flyer Mr. Bright shows Tully has "win" printed on it. But is that just incentive to get him to participate?
- Not sure about anyone else, but when I heard the father reasoning out what the clue "Jupiter" meant, I could not help but think of
Lost fans (myself included) trying to reason out all the hidden meanings within that show.
- Ugh! The rollover car crash and deaths of Corrina's parents was probably one of the most vivid and original displays that I've witnessed on broadcast TV.
- Besides a picture of Tully and his wife, did anyone else see a picture of Tully posing in front of a race/sports car? A classic bit of Nathan (aka Captain Reynolds) humor when he attempts to steal the car and, after an impressive start, it breaks down. Hey! How to the heck do they keep their phones charged? Purists may cringe, but I loved the remixed version of The Doors' "Roadhouse Blues."
As you can see, I really loved the two-hour pilot and can't wait to see the next episode. Thankfully we only have to wait one day. Hopefully, Tim Minear will be able to break with tradition and have a series that isn't cancelled. Here's hoping! Go break a leg, Tim. Errr. Go get a flat tire?
Some humorous dialogue spoken by Nathan Fillion, whose delivery is dead-on:
(Tully on the phone)
"Where the hell are you?"
"Uhh, I'm driving."
(Tully, again on the phone and after his car gets bumped/rear-ended)
"'K, got to go. Kisses!"
"How do cheat in a game that has no rules?"
"I don't know. I missed the orientation."
Finally,
Angel,
Firefly, and
Wondefalls fans have not been forgotten! Besides the creative talent working behind the scenes (example: the company, Zoic, is responsible for the special effects), the two-hour pilot had at least five appearances of former cast members from these series that I personally spotted. Here are the main ones: Nathan Fillion; Amy Acker; and Richard Brooks, the actor who played our favorite bounty hunter, Mr. Jubal Early (if you close your eyes, his dialogue sounded 100 percent like Early's in fact, his character's name is Detective Ehrle). Can you list the other two actors and which shows they appeared in? There was also one obvious visual reference to one of those shows. What was it? Hint: a similar reference was included in the pilot episode of
The Inside. Anyone else notice something that I missed?
