Drive, He Said
For "Drive, He Said", a Mulder/Krycek X-files story, see Andromeda Heights
| Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Drive, He Said |
| Author(s): | Jennifer-Oksana |
| Date(s): | |
| Length: | |
| Genre: | MSR |
| Fandom: | The X-Files |
| External Links: | online here |
Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Drive, He Said is an X-Files story by Jennifer-Oksana.
Reactions and Reviews
1998
[The author is] known around the Abbey as the BeadSlut for reasons I won't go into here, but it's her creative style that keeps us entertained. In response to a homework assignment (so I feel partially responsible) out popped this short angsty gem. Scully, her thoughts, and a convertible take to the road in "Drive, He Said". [1]
Jennifer Stoy's "Drive, He Said" was an excellent portrait of a Scully who hasn't *quite* gone crazy yet, but is teetering RIGHT on the edge. And the circumstances would certainly warrant insanity... [2]
1999
That's one story that has stayed with me. Every now and then I think of it and just shudder. [3]
OK, I just found this one: "Drive" by Jennifer Stoy. Maybe this is where I find out everyone already knows about this amazing, raw, gut-wrenchingly sad story but me, but nevermind. I bawled into my cereal. Nuff said. [4]
Is this story amazing or what?
I passed it around to several friends and they were as impressed as I was.
It's dark. It's bleak. It's sad.
And is it ever good.... [5]
2004
Post-colonization (or sometimes post-apocalypse) was always a popular genre in X-Files fandom, since it gave such scope for exploring different futures, without having to pay too much attention to what had passed in canon. This is one of the shortest of this type of story, yet still incredibly powerful.When I tracked down this author's web page I was amused to find this wry comment next to my pick: This is the story you've read, let's face it. Made me feel happy that I wasn't the only one. Out of all of Jenny-O's stories, and out of all the post-col ones out there, this is the one that's stayed with me. I could even remember the title, since it's so intrinsic to the piece.
The story is compelling, with a Scully who's almost a stranger, but with flashbacks to the more familiar characterisation of the series. Although told from her POV, the reader is not restricted by it and at the end steps aside to watch the final scene. [6]
2013
This gutted me. What a beautiful, haunting story.I love post-col stories, and I love little short fics like this, because they can do such a great job at capturing a moment or a feeling without foundering under their own weight the way that longer epics can sometimes do.
The brief description of Mulder and Scully's last moments together was heart-wrenching and conveyed such a sense of deep regret and missed chances. Thanks for reccing this. [7]
... damn but it gutted me too.Longer, more ambitious stories are hard to pull-off, but I love that people try for it.
Not all well-known fics live up to their hype but this one does. It packs in a lot of emotion and history with a few well-chosen words. That's tough to pull off too. It doesn't seem as daunting to write short fic as a novel. More people try so more people succeed. [8]
I'm a sucker for post-col stories too and this was such a beautiful, heartwrenching piece. I loved this writer's streamlined writing style, which proves once again, in fanfic as in everything, less is more. She capture so well the emotional numbness of grief when the mind wanders and stops to consider the most irrelevant things - why bugs have yellow blood instead of red. [9]
I wish it wasn't so depressing, but it was very good and very sad. I read through twice and I still wonder when Scully died. Was it on the road, or was it back with Mulder on the East Coast. Also, I thought her appearance was weird. She was dressed in a way that some might see as kinda attractive and a little strange for post apocalyptic. This makes me wonder if it was a mental image, and we were viewing her consciousness rather than actual events. [10]
I liked it too, for many of the same reasons people already cited.But, I'm not sure I have decided what I think happens in the end. Did Scully actually die? Or, is she hallucinating (because of heatstroke, or maybe because of going crazy from being the only one left)? I certainly like the dying interpretation better, since the misery would be over for her and she gets to be reunited with everyone (Mulder). Near the beginning, I thought she had survived because of the Scully-is-immortal possibility, and that probably made me think twice about her being dead at the end (even if the author was not going for the immortality angle at all).
I looked up the lyrics to Twilight Time, the song that plays in the biker bar when Scully arrives, and saw that it played in the s5 episode Kill Switch, where an artificial intelligence has gone rogue and where Esther and David (friends of the AI's creator) ended up transferring their consciousness into cyberspace so they could be together forever (the song was on the CD which turned out to be the kill switch for the AI - haven't watched the episode in a while, so thanks to the interwebs for remembering details). The song is appropriate both for the Esther/David scenario and for the sort-of parallel scenario with M&S in this story -- Scully following Mulder into the beyond and being reunited with him for forever, like Esther following David in the episode (their bodies were dead, but they believed their consciousness was together). (This does bolster the Scully is dead interpretation of the ending, despite my waffling above.) I thought the whole song was relevant, but the key line (repeated through the song) is probably "Together at last at twilight time." Maybe I am too stuck on the significance of the song in this story, but I can't imagine it was a coincidence that the author chose this song. (?)
On a different note, I found myself wondering why Mulder's dying instructions to Scully were to drive. The ending makes it seem like he knew how the reunion was going to happen. But again, something I'm still considering. [11]
I found myself wondering why Mulder's dying instructions to Scully were to driveI thought that Mulder realized that the end of the world was coming to where they were. ("I held his hand to the very last, listening to the sounds of encroaching anarchy and chaos.") I think he sent her out driving in hopes that she could still survive and find others. But it's not very clear. I think we're meant to wonder about it.
re: Twilight Time, in the last line Scully also quotes "Beyond the Sea", the song that was played at her father's funeral. I would say both of those songs can be interpreted as being metaphors for death. [12]
...this story is a stunner. I read it long ago, didn't appreciate it sufficiently (I don't like sad), but it has developed over time a ringing resonance. Just got home from church, and, well, maybe believing in some form of heaven makes the ending so powerful for me.IMO, short, controlled tragedy works better than long pieces. Because you tighten your gut, and that hurts after a while. In that regard, I strongly warn against Everyone Having A Good Time (?), although Sabine is a very fine writer.
Does anyone remember: is "drive, he said" some kind of famous quotation? Guess I should go find out. It sounds borrowed, which is not a criticism. [13]
References
- ^ News for the OBSSEsed: September 1998, Archived version
- ^ What X-File fan fic blew you away?
- ^ comment at The fanfic that gave me the heebie-jeebies...
- ^ Looking for Tragedies (March 1999)
- ^ Looking for Tragedies (March 1999)
- ^ rec at Crack Van, June 2004
- ^ discordantworlds at xf book club, October 2013
- ^ wendelah1 at xf book club, October 2013
- ^ badforthefish at xf book club, October 2013
- ^ mogster495 at xf book club, October 2013
- ^ tri sbr at xf book club, October 2013
- ^ infinitlight at xf book club, October 2013
- ^ estella c at xf book club, October 2013