Rev it up, and the wheels fall off. Plus, I'd be a great partner.

First, the good news. Last night's Drive kicked all sorts of ass content and quality wise, as I expected it would. Mystery, intrigue, action, seamless CGI combined with great driving stunts, interesting characters, compelling performances, tight scripting. Now the bad news. The ratings were awful. Despite being well-reviewed and FOX actually doing effective promotion for once, it drew only a 3.7/6. We'll see how it does on its regular tonight paired with 24, but to stick around, I would think it would have to come close to the number Prison Break was putting up. (Why didn't they launch this after Idol?)

Ah well. That's the bitter fruit that comes with falling in love with a Tim Minear show. (Really, he should try HBO, Showtime or maybe FX next time out). Speaking of Minear, there were lots of connections to the Whedonverse last night, aside from our erstwhile Captain Mal:

The detective in the beginning was Richard Brooks (Jubal Early from Firefly).
The waitress was Beth Grant (Phantom Dennis' mom on Angel, and she also had a guest shot on Wonderfalls).
The mom's "fake husband" was Patrick Fischler, who was the conspiracy theorist shop owner on "The Magic Bullet" ep of Angel.
Tully's wife was Amy Acker, Fred from Angel. The voice of Tully's sister was Katie Finneran, chain-smoking her way through both The Inside and Wonderfalls.

And though he doesn't have a Whedonverse connection, it was also nice to see Paul Ben-Victor as the seemingly helpful trucker. Most recently, he's played the studio head with a grudge against Vince on Entourage, Allen Grey. And was that Shirley Feeney with minivan mom's kid?

Other random thoughts:
Remix of "Roadhouse Blues?" Good. Remix of the greatest driving song of all time, "Radar Love?" Not so much.

Good Lines:
“How do you cheat in a game that has no rules?”
“I don’t know. I missed the orientation.”

"I think maybe I should have shot you."

"Mr. Tully, the PowerPoint is put away..."

So, I'm looking forward to tonight, and keeping my fingers crossed for better ratings.

Why I should (or should not) compete in Drive:

Except for the getting killed and/or blackmailed part, I think I would be (mostly) awesome at this game. Though what could they do, kidnap my cats?

Plus:

• I have a fast, reliable, versatile vehicle that would work both on road and off.
• Blackberries are better for sorting out clues than regular cell phones.
• I'm an excellent driver, the faster the better.
• I'm great at puzzles and word games.
• I hate to lose.
• I have no qualms about killing people I find annoying.
• I'm timely, and wouldn't have missed the PowerPoint presentation.

Minus:

• I have absolutely no sense of geography or direction, and get lost frequently.
• I rarely panic and always keep my head in a crisis. Except when I get lost, which makes me completely freak the fuck out.
• I have a tiny bladder, and have to pull over to pee a lot. And I'm not doing a "crazy astronaut lady diaper."
• Did I mention the sense of direction? Because I'm sensing that's important here.

So solo, I think I'd still be in the hotel parking lot, getting shot or hit with a shovel. But if I had a partner that can read a map and has a good sense of direction (and preferably looks like Kristin Lehman), I could win this thing. And get my cats back.