By Melissa Antoinette Garza
“Some maniac smashed into him and left him lying in the rain.” – Pete Radcliff (Kevin Hagen)
Oliver Pope (Edward Andrews) drives home after a long day of work. His mind isn’t on driving though. Instead, he is thinking about his job and how another employee is aiming for it. Though, Pope is paranoid and his co-worker Pete Radcliff (Kevin Hagen) is not after his job, the thought alone consumes him. Before he knows it, he rams into a young boy who was merely riding a bicycle. In a state of panic, he leaves the child for dead and takes off. The boy lives but just barely and only for a little while. While alive, the child remains in the hospital and the accident is the talk of the town. Though there was a witness present, all that is known among the townspeople is that the hit-and-run driver is a man.
The townspeople may not know, but Oliver’s car does. Soon, the vehicle begins acting strangely. The horn goes off all hours of the night. When Oliver descends into the garage, he sees that the car is alone. Still, the horn goes off. Oliver decides to take a day off of work to clear his mind. Radcliff arrives and though the two bicker, Pete apologizes to Ms. Pope (Helen Westcott) and explains that he has just received word the young boy had died.
The next day, Mrs. Pope takes the car out only to have it begin steering her in an alternative direction before going dead. She brings the car into the repair shop, but later on it appears in the driveway. The shop calls and asks if either she or Oliver picked the car up, admitting that they had lost it. Once again, the car’s horn begins to blare.
Soon, Radcliff s mistakenly arrested for the crime. Instead, of showing shame or regret, Oliver instead expresses glee at his co-worker’s misfortune. That is until of course the car once again begins to make noise. This time it starts of it’s own accord without the keys in the ignition. Later, the car plays the radio at full-blast in the middle of the night. Fed up, Oliver begins destroying his own car.
The next day, Oliver decides to walk to work only to have the car drive itself and follow him. It moves along at a snail’s pace demanding him to get inside. It nearly runs him over but stops itself. It then swings open its own door in a forced invite. Oliver, without choice, gets inside the car. The car’s motivation becomes clear as it bring Mr. Pope to his destination.
Long before STEPHEN KING’S CHRISTINE there was YOU DRIVE. Simple in premise; it followed a car with a conscience. Though the car in this tale is not a villain but a hero of sorts, there is still something unsettling about one’s own vehicle turning on them – even when the owner deserves it.
This is a fun tale and like most episodes offers a moral and a wonderful short soliloquy by the great Rod Serling.
Scared Stiff Rating: 8/10
