Beware of intense nitpicking below.
Like the intro music and how it seems we will get a new, location-specific intro every time.
This talking segment isn't really working for me. It feels like I'm watching a recording of a Top Gear Live show where they are playing to a local audience. I get that they are in a way, but this is a TV show not a concert. The talking and the comedy needs to be aimed at the cameras, not the audience. The new format has some problems. the crowd noise is too loud. They face out towards the crowd too, meaning they project and react more to the audience than to each other, reducing the effects of that chemistry that's worth so much money and that means so much to us fans. I am aware, though, that the format is brand new, and they didn't get the chance to gauge audience reactions before they filmed this, as it was shot before the first episode aired.
Excellent review of the Vulcan. Beautifully shot and edited, of course. Great points by Clarkson and a fantastic car.
Oh, god. The American is still talking. I give them a pass on this too since they filmed the episode before the first one aired, no time to react to criticisms. It's weird they let it be on the lap board, considering it isn't road legal.
Agera One:1, plus more crowd-specific humor, but this was pretty funny overall. lol bike mine.
Ok, I really hated the Jordan stuff. First time watching these three I've ever had the urge to turn it off. I thought this was genuinely bad, not just flawed, but actually bad. I fail to understand how this is supposed to be entertaining. There's absolutely no tension, as it's all scripted. And it's really badly scripted. Does anyone believe that Hammond didn't know where Jordan was and wore snow camouflage or that Clarkson meant to say "smoke grenade?" No. The jokes need us to believe that to work. I laughed a couple times, but so many of the jokes were just awkwardly unfunny. Jeremy's being raped now? What the fuck is this supposed to be? Just think how much better this would have been if they actually played this game with fake guns like those used in the Porsche Boxter vs SLK AMG film. They could still script a few jokes as a comedy safety net but have some actual tension, something for us to actually be invested in, some element of jeopardy. That said, I liked a few of the jokes. I particularly like the line "Cry havoc and let slip the dog of understeer."
The spinning part was great. That moment where the guy stepped out of the car and James was genuinely surprised was way funnier and way more exciting than the Jordan stuff, just that little moment.
"And on that terrible disappointment, it's time to end." Operation Desert Stumble is a very accurate title. Still better Chris Evans by a long way, and I'm still very very glad it's back, better luck next time, boys.