Kevin Alejandro in Drive
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Mania Grade: B-
Episode: No Turning Back
Stars: Nathan Fillion, Kristin Lehman, Melanie Lynskey, Emma Stone, Kevin Alejandro
Created By: Tim Minear

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"Drive: No Turning Back"

Last week Alex Tully (Fillion) evolved, or maybe devolved depending on your perspective, into the skilled wheelman he had once been as part of a bank robbery team.  In the last few minutes of the episode he was able to pass all the other racers.  At the beginning of this episode he is rewarded for his advance in position.  He is given the opportunity for an even greater lead on his opponents; all he ahs to do is rob a back!  Being a fan of The Amazing Race I blurted out “It’s a Fast Forward!”  So he and his partner along with the brothers make a plan to rob the bank.  All goes well until a man dressed like a security guard (but not a security guard) holds the racers at gun point.  A fight follows and ends with Sean shooting and killing the guard and taking a bullet himself.  Tully drops his partner and the undamaged brother at a hotel and barrels off down the road saying he will take care of Sean.  Tully is conflicted, his instincts as well a criminal have kicked in, but given a moment to rest he returns to the more mild mannered man he’s been with his wife for the last several years.  In a scene that I’m really on the fence about Tully has a conversation with an apparition of his missing wife about why he’s doing what he’s doing.  Now he never believes he’s actually talking to her even saying that he shouldn’t be talking to himself while on the job but I just found the scene out of place in this series. 

Speaking of out of place the Leigh and Susan storyline went really crazy.  They arrived at the checkpoint last and were told that they were eliminated from the race.  Susa refuses to quit though, swearing that she’s been talking to God and that he’s telling her that they are supposed to win.  So, she and Leigh continue driving trying to determine where the next checkpoint is.  Then suddenly a giant truck appears and runs them off the road, slamming into them several times.  Leigh awakens only to find Susan breathing her last breast.  Susan tells Leigh that God actually told her that Leigh would win the race.  So, Leigh walks away from her dead friend and hitchhikes to the next checkpoint.  I know this whole series is fantasy but I think having one friend walk away from another who’s just died is a little extreme.  I never cared much for these characters to start with and now I like Leigh even less. 

Other changes are afoot as well.  Wendy gets a call from the safe house where her baby is stashed and is told that the house is being watched and she needs to come get her baby.  When she turns around Ivy pulls a gun on her and tells her to keep racing.  Wendy offers Ivy the car and Ivy replies that she can’t drive.  Can’t drive?  Then why is she a part of this race to start with?  Anyway I only find this story interesting because I like how Wendy goes from overly sweet mom type lady to near psychopath in the blink of an eye.  The Ellie and Rob story came off pretty flat to me this week, even though Rob finally found out what Ellie has been up to behind his back.  It’s hard for me to believe that she was so easily able to hide Rob’s recall to service from him and her motivations seem a bit week.  Sure I don’t doubt she wouldn’t want him to go back to Iraq and get killed but she had to know he’d be in trouble with the military if he just didn’t show up for duty.  It seems that her plan was for them to win the race and use the money to get fake ID’s and start new lives.  My question is how could she be married to him and not already know he wouldn’t agree to this plan?  He’s an uber-patriot and he’d rather go to prison than be branded a coward and traitor.  He tosses their phone, their link to the race out the window of the car, and plans to turn himself in at the nearest military base.  Honestly I can’t say that I really care what happens to these two.  I hope the writers can pump their story up soon. 

The Tully character has been carrying this series and he continues to do so in this episode.  Now I will say that I’m starting to like his partner and the brothers too and like I said earlier Wendy is a funny diversion as long as she’s kept to a minimum.  So far, so good, let’s just hope the ratings are there to support the series….