Drive: Finale: Rear View

I’m not running away. I’m driving. I’m driving towards something, something better.

We begin with a very annoying, and long voiceover by Corinna about how much of a mistake it was to take the jump start. Just say “I told you so” and get it over with! Now Serenity and the Pimpala are in a race to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, and both fear they’ll be last. What they’re forgetting is that they got a note telling them where to go in big block letters, the rest of the competitors just got candy balls. Somehow, that just sounds dirty.

Serenity beats the Pimpala by less than a minute and Corinna makes a shocking discovery about her partner. If she thought opening the box in “The Extra Mile” was a betrayal, Tully pays her back in spades, by selling her to the “Bright Properties” the sponsors of the race, to avoid getting any of the riddle clues in the future.

Winston, upset by his soon to be girlfriend’s Corinna’s abduction, tackles Tully and I get the joy of watching Kevin Alejandro and Nathan Fillion tussle on the lawn. Yes, sometimes I am that shallow.

Corinna’s not surprised, nor upset that Tully sold her out. She understands what he’s in it for. Not only am I surprised by Tully’s betrayal, but also I’m surprised that at about 2 and half minutes in, we get the cool opening credits. I swear, in all the other episodes, Drive had the longest run up to the credits of any show ever. Oh, and in the very last episode of the show, Dylan Baker (John Trimble) finally gets his own credit.

Corinna is being handcuffed to chair in a very industrial looking office and being interviewed by a mysterious woman. This woman, who is a totally Whedonverse nod as it’s Lindsay Crouse, aka Maggie Walsh from Buffy. As the Character isn’t given a name and is only credited as “Ms. Bright,” I’m sticking with calling her Maggie. As for what Maggie wants, it’s the flash drive Corinna had with her at the start of the race.

We get a flashback to 16 hours earlier, and stay in it for most of the episode. Tully is speeding through the roads of Tennessee. He wants out of the South before any of his other friends, like Gil, catch up with him. I’m expecting we’ll get a clue as to how Alex managed to sell out Corinna, without her knowledge, even though they were trapped in a car together. We don’t. In fact, it’s pretty much a useless scene.

At Fort Benning, the Firebird with Rob and Ellie pulls up. He’s here to turn himself in for accidentally going AWOL. I’m sure the army’s heard before that soldiers missed deployment due to the wife, but this would be the one time in history that it’s true. Now I can’t stand Ellie and all my loathing for her is justified. Not only does she threaten Rob that their relationship is over if he turns himself in, but also as soon as he does the honourable thing and faces his punishment, she calls someone saying that everything is bad because Rob is out. She’s in cahoots with someone and we all know, cahoots is a bad thing to be in.

Somehow, John’s found someone to drive him to another gas station. He asks the lady driving if his “hot candies” mean anything to her. “Hot Candies” sounds like either a bad girl group, or some sort of sexual euphemism.

Calling Violet on the phone for what I think must be the hundredth time, John is nearly run over at the gas station at the exact moment Violet nearly runs over Ivy Chitty. Now if only we could get Violet distracted as Ellie’s in the middle of the road, and I’d be a happy recapper.

Ivy Chitty’s more thrilled than Violet about the whole incident as she thinks she’s found a new partner. Violet is now clearly feeling guilty for what she’s done.

Serenity now has a new racing partner – a red car which first rear ends her, then races her across the hilly highways when Alex refuses to pull over. Although, to his credit, pulling over would’ve meant off a cliff, so Alex definitely made the right decision. The chase ends when the red car is driven off the road. Once they discover the driver is “Alan James,” the same name as the last guy who tried to kill them, Tully figures that it must be over the flash drive and wants to give it back. (Although, I’d still like to assert the name Alan still isn’t scary.) There’s a little flaw in the plan, as Corinna can’t find the flash drive. If you’re wondering where it went, the gods of foreshadowing have the Pimpala drive past at that very moment, honking in glee at their predicament.

In the Pimpala, Sean’s in pain and Winston isn’t sure what a flash drive is. What a partnership.

Back in the present, Maggie is promising Corinna that everything will be over once the flash drive is returned. While Corinna insists she doesn’t have it, she doesn’t give up her boyfriend Winston.

16 hours previously, she does tell Tully – which makes the whole selling out his partner thing seem that much more ominous. As “Alan James” asks for help, Tully ignores him and steals his phone. The man’s pleas and Alex’s assertion he never wants to hear the words “flash” and “drive” in a sentence again are hilarious.

In the Pimpala, Sean is reading all the players’ files but has discovered an encrypted file attached to each player – the file about the sponsor. While Winston hopes it’s something like NASCAR but Sean knows it’s something much more sinister and wants out of the race. It’s Winston’s turn to realize an unpleasant truth, as he tells Sean that there’s no way their father will welcome home his youngest, particularly if it ever comes to light that he killed someone.

At a gas station, Violet is telling Ivy Chitty she’ll have to find another ride. She gives up. The problem is she’s stopped at the same station her Dad is sitting in and when she tries to drive off, Ivy Chitty stops her.

Speaking of families that Ivy Chitty managed to screw up, Wendy has arrived at Sam’s safe house in Walton, Ohio. The real question is, since we learned in the last episode that it’s definitely not Richard who is staking out the safe house, who is? As Wendy frantically packs to leave the house, she is approached by a strange man, who I recognize as Brian Krakow from My So-Called Life.

He’s playing Wendy’s brother, Louis, and we get a ton of Wendy back story. Louis has always tried to convince Wendy to leave Richard and the safe house where she hid Sam was the same safe house her mother brought Louis and Wendy to when they were small. She assures him it will not be the same for her, as she recites the quote at the beginning of this recap.

At that moment, Richard and a couple of uniformed officers arrive at the safe house.

Back with the Pimpala, Sean’s cracked the code, and the sponsor is a big company.

Ivy Chitty, desperate to stay in the race, tries a tactic she hasn’t before, being nice and empathetic. It works, as Violet’s worn down and agrees to talk with her Dad. It’s probably more due to the fact she’s calming down a little from her gut reaction than Ivy Chitty’s advice, but Ivy Chitty was there at the right time. Somehow, I think that’s something she’s good at.

Louis begs Wendy not to leave with Richard, but she turns her back on her brother. I know she’s got to be planning something, but this is harsh. He is literally, the only one there who knows the particulars of her situation.

Winston is devastated to find out that it appears his father was the one who sponsored him in the race. He’s also confused about the purpose of the bounty hunter unless it’s to take Sean out of the race. The conclusion I’m surprised they don’t leap to (and I’ve already gone there) is that the father sponsored Winston in a dangerous cross-country illegal road race, hoping he would get killed, or jailed for life.

Further speculation is stopped by the arrival of Serenity into the Pimpala’s back bumper. Neither car shows a dent, which just goes to show you that cars today are pieces of shit. Sean puts his foot on the brakes, not wanting to race Alex and Corinna, and also feeling like he owes the other driver for saving his life. A brief scuffle ensues, and really Winston and Tully fighting is a beautiful thing. (Let me check; yup, still that shallow.) To break up the fight, Sean does the only thing he can; he throws his laptop into the road, where it is promptly run over by a passing vehicle.

While Sean is bleeding again and Corinna and Alex stand there in amazement, we flash forward to the future. Maggie knows someone within the Bright Corporation helped Corinna, but she isn’t talking. Therefore, Maggie leaves Corinna with the original “Alan James."

In the past, Tully is entirely redeemed as Corinna asks him to turn her over to the race authorities. All she ever wanted was a way in, and now is her chance. Alex, my lovely, redeemed, gorgeous Alex, refuses.

In the roadside diner, Violet and John bond again. There are a whole bunch of clichés in there about living life while he’s still alive and the wonders of Violet’s birth but to sum it all up, as brilliant as these two are together, it’s really just the big build up to the punch line; Ivy Chitty has stolen the car.

In case you’re wondering, Ivy Chitty is also the world’s worst driver. She must’ve taken lessons from bad family sitcoms.

As Ivy Chitty makes her way at 2 miles an hour to Appomattox, Alex calls the race authorities on Corinna’s behalf.

In the present, Corinna finds her situation laughable, as we’re told that the original “Alan James” was the one that stole the flash drive in the first place. In order to keep everyone’s cover, Corinna lets him beat her up. Somehow, I don’t think he minds that much. The beating is enough to impress Maggie but she’s got better ideas. Since Corinna created a whole new identity, Maggie’s going to find the old one, and go after whoever it is that Corinna, before she was Corinna, loves.

In a dirty alley somewhere, Ellie awaits for the person with whom she’s conspiring. It’s the first “Alan James” which makes me wonder how this guy can get around so well. So the skank, is cheating on her husband with some guy who works for the race and the pair clearly plan to ditch poor Rob once they win the 32 million. We also find out Leigh is in the lead, since it was Susan and Leigh who picked up the Firebird’s race phone.

We go back to where this episode started, back to the race between Serenity and the Pimpala. What we find out, is that the Salazars, Alex and Sean, hatched a plan against the race. Everything, from the supposed surprise of Corinna to the fight between Winston and Alex, was staged.

Using the information from the flash drive, Sean will play his father, and Winston will continue driving to the next checkpoint, using the information given at the trade for Corinna. He’ll have both race phones in his car, to ensure that they all remain in the race.

We find out that the voiceover from Corinna that both started and finished the final episode wasn’t a voiceover at all; it was a conversation. She’s talking to Kathryn. With faith in her husband, Kathryn assures Corinna that Alex will find them.

What’s sad, is that we’ll never know, as once the show started getting truly gripping, it was cancelled.

Considering the surprises along the way, Ellie, Kathryn, “Alan James,” Winston and Ivy Chitty’s softer side and Leigh’s mission from God, there’s only one thing about this show that didn’t surprise me…

…the Fox Network.