Although later than most midseason premieres, and more of a summer show in the end, FOX is premiering Drive on Sunday, April 15th with a two-hour event designed to mirror 24’s premiere structure. It moves into the 8pm Monday Prison Break timeslot the following night, and I think it’s a far more fitting comparison. In the end, ‘Drive’ is what Prison Break used to be: entertaining television that draws you in with a diverse cast of characters and a premise that keeps you guessing.
The show’s premise is deceptively simple, at its most basic level. 32 teams of two people participate in a cross-country road race from Key West, Florida to an undisclosed location designed in a form of checkpoints, with the winner receiving $32 Million. At each checkpoint, you get a message on a provided phone which sends you in a new direction. This is all of the detail we’re really provided with, as our main character Alex Tully misses the orientation session and the race’s version of Phil Keoghan (Who has a much more dire version of Philimination at the end of the 1st Hour) has already put away his PowerPoint and closed his satchel, robbing us of visual aids. The show, then, follows a rather impressive number of these teams on the race.
It’s a diverse group of characters, and it features enough diversity to promise some interesting things moving forward. For the purpose of organization, I’m going to separate them into distinct teams.
Team Kidnapped
Alex Tully and Corinna Wiles
Alex (Nathan Fillion) is the star here, in the race to rescue his recently Kidnapped wife. Early on in the first episode, Corinna makes her first appearance, and through the two-hour Pilot you will get a sense as to her shady past. Her connection to the race, and to the team name I’ve selected, will be revealed in the show’s second hour. Their biggest challenge is someone connected to the race organizers who seems intent on a) running them off the road, and b) killing Corinna. That would be a problem, no?
Team Mother
Wendy Patrakas
It’s a team with only one official member, as Wendy is all on her lonesome. She gives birth in the episode’s opening act, and is in Key West with a Bjorn strapped to her just a week later. She is the only racer we see who has a run-in with the cops, thanks to some issues with her abusive husband, and she’s provided with the most diverse race experience thus far in the show’s second hour.
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