I think Top Gear's scripted moments of cocking about are quite acceptable when they're well directed and the concepts are fresh, and the motorhome segment mostly lived up to that. The fire scene was a retread, but the shot of Clarkson cooking with the fire raging in the background was nicely done--whoever directed this episode made good use of background space in staging. And I don't think enough praise has been given to the beautifully stupid designs of those crazy motorhomes. You knew from the moment that Clarkson's three-story monster showed up that it would get toppled and spectacularly destroyed, so complaining about predictability is besides the point. Those gags were too priceless not to pull. This might rankle some car nuts out there, but Top Gear is one of the few places on TV you can still see truly physical comedy, the sort involving the great mechanical props Buster Keaton used to toy with, and I like the show for providing an outlet for that, even if a few po-faced anoraks get pissed off. Does the comedy always work? No, as shown in the more forced scenes from the India special, but here it mostly does.
