(S01E04) Brett and I are sharing reviewing duties of Drive and I have to tell you right away that I am not as in love with this show as Brett is. I adore Tim Minear and almost everything he does, but I'm not completely sold on this series. Too many of the characters bother me. I find blondie Ivy extremely annoying, and I find Ellie (the soldier's wife) and Violet (the so-called high school Junior) to be over-actors. The reason I'm holding on is simple: Alex Tully. I was intrigued following the last five minutes of last week's episode when we found out that Tully used to be a bad ass bank robber.
This week, unfortunately, we don't see much of the bad ass Tully that we got a glimpse of last week. That's a bummer, because that is a good storyline. Instead, we saw Tully retreat back to his shy gardener persona as he faced the challenge of robbing a bank in order to jump ahead in the race (kind-of like a Fast Forward in The Amazing Race). Then, Bank Robber Tully emerged again only when he had to- when a security guard caught his partners robbing the bank. From the previews for next week, it looks like Tully is in his old stomping grounds and still has some contacts in the underworld to care for Sean Salazar, who was shot in the robbery. I wonder how much more of this Godfather-style story we're going to see from Tully before he finally adopts one persona or another permanently.
Leigh and Susan's storyline got more interesting this week. We kind-of forgot about them after Ivy ditched them for crazy Wendy and her minivan. They were eliminated from the race for not arriving at the drive-thru in time, but Susan refused to accept her fate. She gave a great, impassioned speech to the race organizer about how she talks to God (including the great line about her woes, "...and the Preston's drive-thru where they left the meat out of my double-meat burger!") We learned that she's about as nutty as Wendy-- she talks to God, and has done so since Hurricane Katrina.
Too bad we're not going to explore her character any further, though, because she got killed this week. The crash scene was pretty damn rad, though, as we rode around in the Ford Focus with the women while the car spun in circles. During his Twitter extras last week, director Greg Yaitanes said they were striving to shoot action scenes like you've never seen them before. I'd say this one qualifies. My question is: who killed Susan? Was the driver of that giant truck that hit them (multiple times) part of the race? If so, that's pretty brutal.
I am very disappointed in the Ellie-Rob/A.W.O.L. storyline. I'd like to see a little more motivation on the part of Ellie. Her bids to keep her husband out of Iraq are understandable and emotionally charged- yet, that's not enough for me. I don't trust this chick and I don't think it's just her husband that she is worried about. Hopefully there's more to her because so far she's a one-dimensional character.
And as far as Wendy goes, I think that storyline was just a set-up for more excitement next week. Wendy found out that her son's "safe house" was being watched and she was told to come pick him up, so she turned around and started heading for Ohio. Her new (and annoying) race partner, Ivy, was a little peeved about not winning $32 million, so she pointed the gun at Wendy. We also learned that Ivy cannot drive. What is she doing in this race, exactly?
I'm giving this episode a '5' rating because I didn't feel like anything really exciting or revealing happened. Sure, Susan was killed off, but we barely knew her before she died. I didn't feel any real loss for her, except that I would've liked to have seen more of a character in a race who thought she was being driven by God. Maybe Leigh will pick up that mentality. I can't be sure yet whether she is racing for Susan or God.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-24-2007 @ 6:58AM
szucsitg said...
i hate the wendy/susan storyline... the characters are terrible, and i think they're awful actors... for the first time when they've arrived i wait for a headshot... when they "got back" in the race i hope the car will explode, but not... when they pulled down the road, i knew there is no way to at least one of them no continue the race... and unfortunately, i'm right...
the other kinda thing that's fully stupid for me: ehy it's hard to find out what means "surrender america"? i'm not american, but i figure it out instantly... okay, i don't know the name of the town(cause we've never learned), but i know where the finish line will be teoretically...
tully's character is annoying... it seems like the writers don't know what do to with him to keep up the love of the viewers for him... i can like a bad guy too...
so, i'm disappointed after the episode, the previous one is so much better... got 3/7
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4-24-2007 @ 7:17AM
Bill said...
I have the same sort of feeling about the show... some good elements and trust in the talent, but even though it's done some interesting stuff, it hasn't wow-ed me. Especially the Elle-Rob team, who seemed to be in the first two episodes for Elle eye-candy, then he found out her secret and tossed the phone out the window. So... they could just never come back as far as I'm concerned, and I don't think we'd miss them.
But the one thing that the format has going for it is that if the story or characters don't carry an episode here or there, it's not like they're standing around on an island being dull, there's still car chases and wrecks and stuff. So Drive will never be boring. It just might not be the great show I'd hoped for.
http://popculturejunk.blogspot.com/
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4-24-2007 @ 7:57AM
Heather said...
The only reason I started watching this show was because Nathan Fillion was on it. Now I'm starting to think that the fact that he is on this show isn't going to be enough to keep it afloat. Yes the car chase scenes are good but i'm going to need more than that to keep me tuned in. Perhaps making some of the characters a little more interesting and a lot less annoying would be a good start.
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4-24-2007 @ 8:22AM
Giza_Breck said...
I enjoy this show, hope it stays on. I'm not a nitpicker just like to be entertained and this is entertaining.
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4-24-2007 @ 8:41AM
Hugeliver said...
Well, it was up against Heroes here. No contest. I didn't even miss it either!!!
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4-24-2007 @ 9:03AM
KateG said...
I'm hoping the Ellie/Rob storyline is over.
I thought Nathan Fillion had some nice comic moments last night. And I'll keep watching for Nathan Fillion.
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4-24-2007 @ 9:46AM
Kyle Beasley said...
I keep watching for Nathan Fillion as well. The man is charisma personified. One very cool Canadian. The show is still pretty good. You have to give Tim Minear five episodes to really warm up. So let's hope Drive makes it that far.
Anyway I knew Susan was going to die. She wasn't in the main credits.
http://kylebeabo.blogspot.com/
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4-24-2007 @ 9:41AM
CJ said...
I liked how the car for Alex changed in the opening... very cool. Although the Dad's not in the opening, just like Susan never was, does that mean he will die soon? (Yeas, I know he already has a death sentence from his doc)
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4-24-2007 @ 9:52AM
Discosis said...
What was the music playing in the last couple of minutes, as they pulled into the motel?
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4-24-2007 @ 10:26AM
David said...
Oops I forgot to watch. Oh well, so the show isn't canceled yet? Amazing.
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4-24-2007 @ 10:53AM
Sam said...
I would have killed the pretty one and left the one who talked to God alive.
Also, I predict (based, perhaps on the opening credits) that Ivy ditches mommy for "the pretty one."
Also, is cancer Dad going to die soon? I like him a lot, but he's only a guest star... God, I hope not, I like him.
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4-24-2007 @ 11:26AM
Danny Cohen said...
My favorite part:
"That's where Lee surrendered"
"Not this time"
uh..... what?
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4-24-2007 @ 11:28AM
Brett said...
I think I probably do like the show a little more than you Anna, but I agree with your review. I was, and still am, hoping that there was something more to why Ellie was forcing Rob AWOL. While that was a bit of a let down, I did really enjoy the Alex stuff, and the action scenes remain fresh and inventive.
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4-24-2007 @ 5:05PM
William said...
I've been waiting actually for Susan to get killed off becasue I haven't seen her in the opening credits... My guess is that everyone who isn't in the credits is going to get out of the picture one way or another in the next episodes...
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4-24-2007 @ 3:04PM
blee27 said...
Danny Cohen:
Her friend who died in the car crash was named Leigh, hence Leigh (not Lee) will not surrender this time because she said that Wendy was supposed to win the race and now she's gonna go do it for her.
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4-24-2007 @ 3:10PM
vacelts said...
I still say Drive has a lot of potential. Yes there are some slow moments, but it takes time to build characters.
http://redlightnaps.wordpress.com/2007/04/17/drive-review/
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4-25-2007 @ 6:44AM
Mike said...
Who's to say the race officals don't pull some strings and prevent the court marshal.
And I agree..some shows just need to provide an escape...and i enjoy this show.
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4-25-2007 @ 10:45AM
Gordy said...
Interesting...
The star of this show is the same guy from Vanished. On Vanished, you guys constantly bitched about his bad acting. Am I to assume he's had classes, since no one seems to be bothered this time around? Or, has the bar lowered? The dual persona acting was exceptionally annoying.
I see this show not completing its first season, a la Vanished. Too many damned tangents. It is entertaining, and a great prelude to 24, but, what happens when 24 goes off? This show doesn't have a chance.
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4-25-2007 @ 12:34PM
Ceolmhor said...
The star of "Vanished" was John Allen Nelson (24's Walt Cummings from season 4 and 5), not Nathan Fillion.
DONG-luh-MAH? Gorram it.
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5-02-2007 @ 9:04AM
Gordy said...
Sir, he was the star of the show, as the troubled FBI agent with the haunted past.
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