"Pop quiz, hotshot. There's a bomb on a bus. Once the bus goes 50 miles an hour, the bomb is armed. If it drops below 50, it blows up. What do you do? What do you do?"

Sound familiar? No, this quote isn't from The X-Files. It's from the 1994 action movie Speed. Kind of reminds you of Drive, though, doesn't it? I was a little shocked when I first heard the plot of this episode. The great Vince actually stooped to the level of copying the plot of a movie starring Keanu Reeves? Then I saw it. Then I discovered just how many differences there were between Drive and Speed. The bomb used in Speed was pretty ordinary - just take a few explosives, strap them to the bottom of a bus, and you've got a movie! In Drive, the bomb was a person's brain, and there was no way to de-arm it. This allowed Drive to attain a level of suspense, and a level of scariness never realized in Speed. The fact that the script was a lot more intelligent and the actors were a thousand times better didn't hurt either. All this managed to avert any stereotypes, and turn Drive into a true X-File.

"I think I saw this movie."

Drive may not have been the finest X-File ever made, but for the sheer entertainment value, it was one of the best. The thing I liked most about this episode was that it was fun. It didn't have a heavy plot bogged down with a mythology six years old (not that there's anything wrong with that. . .), or intricate dialogue filled with words more likely to be seen on Jeopardy than in the real world. Instead, it was a fast paced, suspenseful story, with lots of cute little one liners to keep us entertained. One of my favourite parts was the teaser. The X-Files certainly knows how to make fun of FOX, and the FOX 11 News Flash was one of their best imitations yet. It looked incredibly real - I almost thought it was an actual news break for a second! - and was a great way to grab the audience's attention. Though I would have loved to have seen Vince's initial concept for the teaser of Drive (a hostage situation on a Tilt-a-Whirl where a man won't let the ride stop for fear his head will explode), the one that was actually used with worked just as well. It was an exciting opening for what turned would become an exciting episode.

"This is the FBI equivalent of wearing an orange jump suit and picking up garbage by the side of the road."

In Drive, we finally got a chance to examine Mulder and Scully's new working arrangement. The Beginning was filled with too many conspiracy threads to really deal with this issue, so I was glad to see it come up in Drive. A predicament like the one Mulder and Scully are in is just too good to be forgotten. Unlike past reassignments, Mulder and Scully are still working together. Though they may be stuck on joe-jobs, investigating fertilizer rather than fluke worms, they're still together. They still have each other as friends, and they still have each other as allies. And when these two work together, they can accomplish anything, whether it be solving the international cover-up of the existence of extraterrestrials, or getting their old jobs back. The former may prove easier than the latter with Kersh around, but I know they'll try.

"You two obviously relish the role of martyr."

Kersh may be an anal, uptight, and generally mean boss, but truth be known, I like him. He seems to truly understand Mulder and Scully, and is the one person on the show who's ever called ‘em like they are. Let's face it - Mulder and Scully are out to save the world, and when you've got goals as high as that, you're obviously going to think of yourself as a martyr. And in many ways they are martyrs. Both Mulder and Scully have lost more than their share of family members, and have made countless sacrifices in the years they've been investigating the X-Files. I don't doubt that they're martyrs. I'm just glad somebody finally admitted it. Kersh also managed to clarify something I've noticed for a long time - Scully's incessant apologies for Mulder. Perhaps it is because she feels the need to "mother" him, or perhaps it is the result of Skinners' requests for her to answer for him, but Scully is always apologizing for Mulder's behavior. I think it's coming to the point where this behavior has become unconscious, and I'm glad Kersh pointed it out. Another thing I was happy to see brought up was Mulder and Scully's expenses. I've always wondered how those two got around without ever having to explain their expenses for business trips. You would think after five years of jet-setting around the country with no explanation of why they're doing what they're doing, someone would get suspicious. There must have been some serious bribing going on. . . ;)

"Big piles of manure. . ."

To quote Peggy Hill, "Hoo ya!" For all you Scully fans out there, Drive proved to be an opportunity for her to shine. Once she knew exactly what was happening in that car, it was Scully-in-charge, and nothing or nobody was going to keep her from solving this case and saving her partner. In the process, she got to bark orders at the commoners ("Hey you! Out! This area's under quarantine."), wear a cool bio-hazard suit, lie to naval officials, and perform the first Mulder ditch in the history of the X-Files (and for an autopsy no less!). Of course, Mulder showed he was no slacker either. He had some of the best lines in the episode ("It's MR. Mulder, you peanut picking bastard."), got to steal a car, imitate Keanu Reeves, and had the chance to play hero again. Oh, and now it looks like he's going to need a new cell phone. I'll bet he's happy about that. It'll be a good reward after suffering through "terminal cell phone withdrawal." :) As for the relationship between these two mighty forces, well, that seems to be in good shape as well. Drive may not have been one of Vince's ‘shippiest episodes, but it did manage to Mulder and Scully a lot closer than they were at The Beginning of this season. And since Mulder and Scully's relationship is without a doubt the backbone of the series, I am very thankful.

"That is SO stupid."

Okay, Drive wasn't perfect. In fact, some of it was downright stupid. For one, there was the plot. You could drive Mulder's rental car through some of the plot holes. Why did Crump need to drive west? Even Scully admitted she didn't know. (Perhaps it has something to do with the rotation of the earth?) The science behind these brain bombs was a little shaky too, and not as well explained as I would have liked it to be. (Though I was glad it was science that explained this case instead of one of Mulder's wild theories.) Is this the result of The X-Files dumbing down to appeal to the mass media? I hope not. I didn't really understand the point behind Crump's incessant referrals to the "international Jewish conspiracy" either. Other than to show that he was a red neck and skirt the issue of Mulder's religion again, I didn't see any reason to include that plot thread. Why does Mulder's religion matter, anyway? Unlike Scully, conventional religion has never been a big part of his life. Even if he is Jewish, I've always considered Mulder's religion to be the search for the truth. Spirituality doesn't have to take place in a church or a synagogue to be real. Belief is the only important matter. Anyway, I'll step down from my soap box now. . .and get right back up on my pulpit regarding the move to LA. I'm sorry, but the new look of The X-Files is all wrong. It's bright, and cheerful, and as a result, not that scary. (Though the big flashlights and fog at Crump's trailer were, admittedly, pretty cool.) I just really hate what this move has done to the show. And until I see an episode where these facts are not true, I'll continue my appeal to move it back to Vancouver.

So, I come to my conclusion. Drive was good. It wasn't great, but it was good. It was an entertaining romp through the desert, filled with action, interesting characters, clever dialogue, and a definite gross-out factor. But it also had sunshine, smog, sand, and Mulder in sunglasses. It was the epitome of The Hollywood X-Files, a genre of the series I'm still getting used to. Only time will tell if this style will work, but for now I'm happy to simply sit back and enjoy the ride.

"Drive."