OT: The Grand Tour Season 2 Ends

Submitted by jimmyshi03 on

Last night, the last episode of the Grand Tour season two went up. It's a "mini-special," going from the coast of Mozambique to a village in the interior carrying fish to feed the village. 

I'm not sure how many others are fans of the Clarkson-May-Hammond trio from Top Gear, but I felt this season was a step back from previous years, and I can't really put my finger on why, other than to say that everyone just feels older, or like they're doing more going through the motions. I was on paternity leave for two weeks recently and ended up watching a lot of the old show and thought the difference was stark. 

Maybe it's seeing Hammond nearly die, again, that cast a pall over the rest of the season. Maybe there's less of a sense of daring after the replacement cast of Top Gear was such a flop. Or maybe I'm wrong. What'd you all think?

004

February 16th, 2018 at 6:32 PM ^

Thanks for a proper OT thread to counter all the trolls.

I enjoyed having guests back but the rest was, as you said, a little less fun.

They should also bring back the traveling tent.

Gr1mlock

February 16th, 2018 at 6:53 PM ^

I enjoyed it a hell of a lot more than season 1, but not as much as the best of old Top Gear.  It's still more than entertaining enough to make me watch, and I will always enjoy the three guy's group dynamic and banter.  

Sllepy81

February 16th, 2018 at 7:17 PM ^

they need to dump celebrities and also need to stop blowing British car makers. Aston Martin, McLaren, Jaguar can do no wrong at all and its a bit sad. I get tired of Clarkson finding nothing wrong with British cars. The previous episode was a snooze with SUVs, they need to dump SUV/Truck/Hatchback segments.

SiKa7x

February 16th, 2018 at 7:26 PM ^

It was an entertaining season but nothing world changing or mind blowing. I do like the actual celebrity races again. But yes it is definitely a step down from vintage Top Gear. Old Person friendly car special was my absolute favorite

Notawittyusername

February 16th, 2018 at 7:49 PM ^

I really want to love The Grand Tour, but these two seasons weren’t what I was expecting. The opening sequence of the first season was brilliant and then the rest of the season was ok.

This year just feels like they are running out the string on the three year contract. And what’s the deal with the special episode being so short? It was like I was watching the highlights of the normal specials with half the funny parts cut out.

swan flu

February 16th, 2018 at 8:03 PM ^

I find so much of it is irrelevant to me now that they basically only drive super cars. I miss the days of them hooning around in cars that I could theoretically afford.

umazg

February 16th, 2018 at 8:12 PM ^

I liked this season much more than season 1. It was much more reminiscent of the last few seasons of Top Gear... Which still isn't that great. They have run out of schtick between them. I think they spend a little too much time on supercars and not enough on the odd transportation still made and used in this world. Where is the Japanese kei car episode? The race across India where Hamster has to hang off a train? The episode where they are caught on Russian dash cam trying to create a fake insurance claim? I was happy to see the Raptor show up in the last episode, but they needed it in the tank in the desert episode. Anyhow, I'll keep watching and am looking forward to Top Gear starting.

mgobleu

February 16th, 2018 at 8:24 PM ^

Honestly after moving to Amazon I expected more freedom and more over-the-top ridiculousness like a reliant robin space shuttle or a trip across Vietnam on quarter century old mopeds. Yeah, they're getting old but it's definitely more reserved than I was expecting. 

Still, Its far more entertaining than most of the other dreck on tv lately. Certainly better than anything on broadcast...

umazg

February 16th, 2018 at 8:40 PM ^

I agree. I thought the floodgates would open and all sorts of crazy stuff was going to happen. Makes you realize how much capital the BBC put into that show.

How about they actually try at a challenge? Maybe put some charity money on the line? 20g grand to spend modifying any vehicle who's body has to be from early 80s but everything else is free game to compete in a drag, track, and rally. They have spent so much time doing things half ass, let then hire a team and actually try.

Youngharbaugh4

February 17th, 2018 at 1:09 AM ^

Of both top gear (multiple times) and of the grand tour. I think that the problem is that they have a ton of restrictions from the BBC when they left top gear. Most of the things they did in the past are what top gear itself made a name off of. I do think they are missing something. My opinion is that from their top gear days, they were always being filmed and off script, it seems now as if they are more scripted and lack that sort of amateur feel like they did before. I think being operated by amazon has actually dulled their efforts creatively and hindered them from being as creative as before. They might be older, but they are cutting out the preluded filming they used to do before. An example would be all of their episodes of them building and creating their own vehicles. Also, they aren’t going in as much depth on most of their content. It’s sad because top gear was my absolute favorite show with them on it, and now it’s like I’m just watching so that I can find a piece of the old show that is missing from the grand tour.

DadBodHermosa

February 21st, 2018 at 7:51 PM ^

I too am a huge fan of Clarkson, May and Hammond. The Grand Tour Season 2 has been light years better than Season 1 although they are still struggling to get back to the amazing highs of Top Gear. 

I found Season 2, Episode 11 ("Feed The World") to be one of their best yet, accentuated by three seemingly random clothing-based references to glorious Southeastern Michigan. 

  • Michigan Hoops Jersey (2:22) - A man in the town of Bingo, Mozambique wears a #1 jersey while relaxing in town. 
  • Bob's Place Detroit, MI (starts around 11:45) - The orangutan wears a Bob Seger inspired t-shirt while "fishing" in the Indian Ocean. Too bad the shirt is green and white. 
  • Bob Seger Silhouette (starts around 15:14) - Dried off from fishing, Clarkson wears a classic Seger t-shirt for most of the episode.

I have a hard time believing this is random...