Drive (The X-Files)
"Drive" | |
---|---|
Rob Bowman | |
Written by | Vince Gilligan |
Production code | 6ABX02 |
Original air date | November 15, 1998 |
Running time | 45 minutes |
Guest appearances | |
| |
"Drive" is the second episode of the sixth season of the science fiction television series The X-Files. It premiered on the Fox network in the United States on November 15, 1998. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, unconnected to the series' wider mythology. "Drive" earned a Nielsen household rating of 11.0, being watched by 18.5 million people in its initial broadcast. The episode received largely positive reviews from television critics.
The show centers on
The episode was written by
Plot
In a live news report, a high-speed car chase comes to an end in the Nevada desert. Assuming it to be a kidnapping, police pull the female passenger from the car and place her into the protective custody of a police vehicle. The driver, Patrick Crump (Bryan Cranston), is pushed to the asphalt and handcuffed. The woman, his wife, begins violently banging her head against the police car window. As the news chopper catches all of this on film, the woman's head explodes, sending a spray of blood across the window.
Mulder and Scully get wind of this bizarre car chase as they're doing work in
Mulder realizes that Crump is suffering from a painful sensation of pressure building in his head and that the only way to alleviate this pressure is to drive west. At first, Scully believes that Crump is suffering from some sort of
Initially, thinking that the FBI agent is part of a government conspiracy, Crump forces Mulder at gunpoint to drive, infuriating him along the way with antisemitic slurs. Eventually, Mulder and Crump make amends and attempt to work out a solution before it is too late. Mulder explains to Crump that Scully will meet them at the Pacific Coast, the end of the highway. There she will insert a needle into Crump's inner ear, hopefully relieving the pressure. However, by the time Mulder meets Scully and the police at a beach in California, Crump has already died from his condition. Mulder and Scully return to Washington D.C. and are reprimanded by AD Kersh for straying from their original assignment and amassing large debts during the Crump investigation, and are warned that they are forbidden from investigating any further X-Files cases.[1]
Production
Conception, writing, and filming
Gilligan admitted that the episode was partially an homage to the action film
Casting
Gilligan wanted Bryan Cranston to be the episode's antagonist because, "[The series] needed a guy who could be scary and kind of loathsome but at the same time had a deep, resounding humanity."[7] In an interview with The New York Times, Gilligan stated, "We had this villain, and we needed the audience to feel bad for him when he died. Bryan alone was the only actor who could do that, who could pull off that trick. And it is a trick. I have no idea how he does it."[8] Rick Millikan, the casting director for The X-Files very nearly did not cast Cranston; in fact, a different actor had already been cast when Cranston arrived to try out for the part. Despite the part having already been cast, Millikan allowed Cranston to audition and was very pleased with his performance, eventually choosing him for the part.[5]
Cranston's work on this episode would later have a major impact on his career, as it led to Gilligan casting him as the central character Walter White in the AMC series Breaking Bad. Initially, AMC executives were unsure of this decision as they were familiar only with Cranston's work on the sitcom Malcolm in the Middle. However, they were convinced after viewing his performance in "Drive".[7]
Gilligan, a fan of country musician Junior Brown, cast Brown as Virgil Nokes, the farmer who Mulder and Scully investigate at the beginning of the episode. Brown was flown in at the request and personal expense of Gilligan.[3]
Reception
Ratings
"Drive" first aired in the United States on November 15, 1998.
Reviews
"Drive" received largely positive reviews from critics. Zack Handlen from The A.V. Club wrote positively of the episode, awarding it an A, and writing that the entry was "a great example of the engine that keeps great television moving."[13] Handlen noted that the climax of the episode was "as moving as it is suspenseful" and drew parallels between Bryan Cranston's portrayal of Mr. Crump and his eventual portrayal of Walter White from Breaking Bad, noting that both illustrate the idea that "you have to keep moving. If you stop, you die."[13] Review website IGN named it the ninth best standalone X-Files episode of the entire series and complimented the interaction between Crump and Mulder, writing "it's the interplay between Mulder and Crump that makes this episode a standout. [...] Crump here is an antagonistic yet heartbreaking character, and as he and Mulder become unlikely allies in their 'drive,' 'Drive' in turn becomes a memorably scary X-Files episode [...] because of the perhaps most frightening element of the show's world ever: mankind itself, and the governments that supposedly protect us."[6]
Colin Ellis from The Dashing Fellows called "Drive," "arguably one of the best episodes post-Fight the Future of [The X-Files]."[14] Tom Kessenich, in his book Examination: An Unauthorized Look at Seasons 6–9 of the X-Files wrote positively of the episode, saying "[T]hank God for 'Drive', which taps into the idea of Speed, the hit movie starring [Keanu] Reeves, but pushes it in an excitingly different direction."[15] He further went on to praise Gilligan's writing, noting that the writer took the premise of Speed and added "a wonderful X-Files twist".[15] Paula Vitaris from Cinefantastique gave the episode a largely positive review and awarded it three stars out of four.[16] Although she slightly criticized the case being investigated as "pure hokum", Vitaris praised Mulder and Scully's teamwork, and their ability to work together despite being separated.[16]
Awards
"Drive" earned an ASC Award by the American Society of Cinematographers for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography – Regular Series.[17][18]
Footnotes
- ^ a b Meisler, pp. 20–26
- ^ a b Meisler, p. 27
- ^ a b c Meisler, p. 29
- ^ "HAARP Fact Sheet". HAARP. June 15, 2007. Archived from the original on October 7, 2009. Retrieved September 27, 2009.
- ^ a b Meisler, p. 28
- ^ News Corporation. Archived from the originalon January 6, 2012. Retrieved February 24, 2012.
- ^ a b Rosenblum, Emma (March 13, 2009). "Bleak House". New York. Archived from the original on March 20, 2009. Retrieved June 18, 2021.
- ^ Segal, David (July 6, 2011). "The Dark Art of 'Breaking Bad'". The New York Times. Retrieved June 18, 2021.
- Fox. 1998–1999.)
{{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link - ^ Meisler, p. 294
- ^ "BARB's multichannel top 10 programmes". barb.co.uk. Retrieved January 1, 2012. Note: Information is in the section titled "w/e March 8–14, 1999", listed under Sky 1
- Los Angeles, California: Fox Broadcasting Company. 1998. Archived from the originalon February 3, 2014.
- ^ a b Handlen, Zack (June 9, 2012). "'Drive'/'Exegesis'". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Retrieved June 10, 2012.
- ^ Ellis, Colin (August 10, 2011). "Bryan Cranston in... The X-Files ("Drive")". The Dashing Fellows. Archived from the original on January 10, 2012. Retrieved December 26, 2011.
- ^ a b Kessenich, p. 15
- ^ a b Vitaris, Paula (October 1999). "Sixth Season Episode Guide". Cinefantastique. 31 (8): 26–42.
- IMDb. Archived from the originalon April 14, 2013.
- ^ "ASC 13th Annual Awards -- 1998". American Society of Cinematographers. Archived from the original on April 14, 2008. Retrieved December 26, 2011.
Bibliography
- Kessenich, Tom (2002). Examination: An Unauthorized Look at Seasons 6–9 of the X-Files. ISBN 1-55369-812-6.
- Meisler, Andy (2000). The End and the Beginning: The Official Guide to the X-Files Season 6. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-107595-7.
External links
- "Drive" at IMDb