Drive (The X-Files)

The show centers on FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files.

The episode was written by Vince Gilligan, directed by Rob Bowman, and featured a guest appearance by Bryan Cranston.

FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), investigating possible domestic terrorism in Buhl, Idaho, get wind of the bizarre car chase.

Mulder realizes that Crump is suffering from a painful sensation of pressure building in his head and that the only way to alleviate his symptoms is to drive west.

Scully then discovers that a United States Navy antenna array emitting ELF waves stretches beneath the Crump property.

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 remarks.

[1] Vince Gilligan, the writer of "Drive", was inspired to pen the episode based on an earlier idea he had about a man holding an individual hostage on a Tilt-A-Whirl.

Gilligan had pitched this idea at several previous story meetings and it soon became a recurring joke among the writing team, many of whom felt that the premise lacked an X-Files-like mystery.

[3] Gilligan thus wrote a script that featured an individual who, due to a secret experiment involving soundwaves, could not slow down for fear of rupturing his head.

[6] 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.

[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.

[...] 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.

"[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.

[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.