The show is also the project of Tim Minear, who helped develop it and write it. That was enough for me to try it and stick with it for several episodes at least. For those who don’t know, Minear was one of the creative forces behind ‘Firefly’, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Wonderfalls”. I’ve yet to see anything he’s done that I didn’t love.
The reviewers who panned it because the premise is ‘silly’ just don’t get it. Is it any sillier than a high school girl who fights vampires? Or cowboys in space? Or a worker in a gift shop where the figurines start talking to her?
It’s not the premise that matters - the premise is just the backdrop for telling interesting stories and painting interesting characters. ‘Drive’ has a premise that allows the writers to be extremely creative. It’s basically a road picture - each week, the contestants will be visiting a new place, solving a new puzzle, and interacting with each other. It’s a very loose structure. They can do stories about the people they meet along the way. Because there’s a big mystery behind it all, they can explore that. Because many of the characters are mysterious, they can do backstory episodes. The race just pulls it all together.
There’s a similarity to ‘Lost’ in that regard. Lost has the big mystery, but a big part of the show is the backstory behind the characters - who they really are, what they did in their ‘other’ life, etc.
Anyway, I watched the first two episodes and liked them. Some good wit, some likeable characters, an interesting premise.
Here’s a non-spoilered summary of what the show is about: Nathan Fillion is a gardener who’s wife has been mysteriiously abducted. He finds a cell phone which rings, and he’s told that he must drive to a certain location if he wants to ‘get back what he lost’. So he gets there, and finds all kinds of other people there. Turns out, they’re all in a secret race across the country. The winner gets 32 million dollars. Losers get…something else. Some of the people are coerced to be there, others are in it for the adventure or the money. But all were specifically chosen for the race. We don’t know why. There are hints that Nathan Fillion’s character is perhaps something a little more interesting than a gardener - he has a past that’s only hinted at. Other characters also seem to have issues.
Anyway, they have to race to a certain place based on clues that are text-messaged to them. When they get there, they are given the next clue and have to head to the next place. The race isn’t just speed, although it’s advantageous to get to each checkpoint before others do. But it’s also a battle of wits and strategy. Directives can be misleading. Simple clues turn out to be more complex. You have to think.
That’s the setup. The first two episodes focus on the mechanics of the race, the introduction of the characters, enough backstory for the characters to get you caring a bit about them, etc.
