Well, you asked for it - a 7 second review of Drive.

It's really very good, so you should definitely watch it!

OK, you probably wanted a bit more than that.

I'm not always a big fan of pilots, and in this case I'm glad they decided to air two episodes back to back. The second is stronger than the first, but I think that's to be expected. The first has a very cool opening credit sequence (lots of shots in this show are zoom-ins from way up - I wonder whose perspective that is supposed to be?) The Starting Line sets up part of the premise, that people are being tricked/forced/coerced into this race (Tully, by the "disappearance" of his wife - played by the lovely Amy Acker; Wendy, trying to escape her controlling and abusive husband; and Winston Salazar apparently by his father after being inexplicably released from jail.) Lots of good conspirarcy stuff here - who's in charge of this race, why and how do people get "picked" for it, and then there are a few that seem to be in it for "fun," but we just know that people are NOT going to be having much fun, 'cuz:

This is not The Amazing Race.

There are no hilarious gay couples, no exotic international locations, and no happy jumping up and down at the "checkpoints." When you come in last on a leg in this race, you have a much bigger task ahead of you than just begging locals for money to get on the bus. There are some excellent twists, enough women in the race that you can tell they want both women and men to watch this show. OK some of them are just stereotypically dumb - there's one at the end of the second episode - at least she's not blonde: we are watching the big schmaltz and some very obvious symbolism - and you might just be about to gag, when she looks up and says "I think I just figured out that clue." So, Tim's poking fun at himself. I do so like it when he does that. And even with the schmaltzy music playing, we see something that is both uplifting and disturbing at the same time (it will evoke disturbing memories for anyone over the age of 20.)

There's a bit too much of the serious Nathan eyes (OK, Corinna (Kristen) a conniving and treacherous woman, is in the car with him, so lots of making with the snippy remarks and looking at each other with "the angry eyes,") but it can be a bit single note. And when she first jumps in his car, she slams the door and says "Drive!" - obvious.  That did remind me of Joss saying one of his favorite movies is "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me" because they say the title of the movie so many times in it. It only happens once here (at least in the first two epis.)

The music is great - everything from The Doors, to X (remember them??) and Bloc Party. The car scenes are fast and well-shot (but the cars - ah, not so great - these people have not had time to get a tune-up!) It's clear we're going to lose some significant characters along the way, so get ready for people dying. The relationships between the partners will be interesting, and there's lots of good back story, so this show has great potential.

Watch tomorrow night and let me know what you think. I'll probably try to post a review, but will wait until it's aired somewhere other than Canada. There was a funny goof in the first ep - I submitted it to Trivia - so you can check that out.

Ok, so that was way more than 7 secs, but was it a good enough tease? - no, I'm not doing any other kind of teasing!! *hands on hips*  

Oh, and yippee, I got two more shows this morning!!  Enjoy the rest of your weekend folks.

Cya.