Last Night's Top Gear Was The Finest Episode Of The Series, And Arguably One Of The Best In Recent Times
In the lead up to the debut of Top Gear’s big revamp, and throughout the airing of the new series thus far, I’ve probably sounded like a stuck record. “Chris Harris and Rory Reid will be the ones to watch,” I’ve been saying for months. “Chris Harris and Rory Reid should be in every episode,” people are no doubt sick to death of hearing me blurt out.
My rationale for this stance has been a sound one: we know Harris and Reid are two of the best road testers on YouTube, so out of all of Top Gear’s rather large presenter line-up, they are by far the most qualified to drive a car, and tell us what it’s like in an entertaining and insightful way. And yet, there were still a lot of unknowns: would it seem weird seeing these YouTube stars thrust onto TV? Would their distinct styles still shine through with a vastly increased budget? Have they been excessively toned down by the meddlesome BBC?
Last night we got our answer: Chris Harris and Rory Reid were both awesome on Top Gear. Both were very much the personas we know and love, with an extra - and utterly spectacular - layer of gloss and gravitas heaped on top. And at last we had a dose - a double dose, even - of what Top Gear has been missing this season: knowledgable people who know how to drive cars, talking about cars.
It’s not like Harris’ stunning F12tdf film and Reid’s brilliant Focus RS feature were the only two good parts in a steaming pile of turd of a show either. No, the rest was pretty good too. Matt LeBlanc’s buttock-clenching ride with a certain Mr Block - the filming of which caused the production crew a little trouble - was enjoyable if a little too long, and even Evans’ Audi R8 test was decent despite some cringey moments and duff lines. And Star in the Rallycross Car? Well, at least there wasn’t quite as many guests as last week.
All of this came together to make an episode of Top Gear which wasn’t just easily the best we’ve seen from the show post-revamp; no, I’d go so far as saying it’s one of the best TG efforts in recent times.
Given the shaky start Evans-era Top Gear has experienced, it’s easy to put on a pair of rose-tinted spectacles and pine for the days of Clarkson, Hammond and May, whom apparently could do no wrong. But we can’t forget that the trio pumped out many sub-par episodes over the years, particularly leading up to the end. Last night’s episode certainly wasn’t sub-par - far from it - and it fills me with hope for the future of the show, even if the ratings dipped to a disappointing 2.4 million, thanks in part to some well-paid men in France kicking a ball around on BBC1.
The good news is, Chris Harris and Rory Reid will be in every remaining episode of Top Gear Series 23’s six episode run. We can only hope the show’s producers look at the dramatic improvement in critical reception, and re-jig the presenter structure to give Harris and Reid the prominence they deserve, and the prominence we all want to see.
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
LeBlanc echoed my statements immediately after the Rory segment when he said Reid was Ford’s “Salesman of the month”. You know when Clarkson reviewed cars(or Hammond sometimes) he wouldn’t mince words if he found something actually “Rubbish”. Rory on the other hand presented it like a car salesman would. There was hardly any cons he listed there. It was less TG and more of a TV commercial for the Focus RS. I also didn’t appreciate the fact that he said 376hp out of a 2 litre engine was “Unprecedented”. Comeon, Ralliart churned out Evo FQ versions all the way to 440hp out of their 2 litre milk can sized engine. Clarkson even reviewed one a decade ago.
I do agree that Rory was perhaps a little too nice to the Focus RS, but admittedly he did at least point out a few flaws (such as the seating position), and to be fair, it’s not as if he’s the only motoring journalist saying positive things about the RS; Alex (Kersten) gushed over it a few months ago, so I’d argue it makes Rory’s glowing review slightly less biased.
Rory’s Focus RS piece was on point. His sentiments echoed every other reviewer who has driven the car.
Granted the piece about the Mercs power wasn’t entirely correct as you’ve pointed out.
should get the “Strawberry Boy” to hurl more to shut his scream up…..
the Star interview’s still very weird to me, unnatural even….
maybe after this season over, Bossman of the BBC gonna start to think why do they hire such a wonderhurl person to lead TG and start rearranging the cast
#chrisharrisroryreidfortheTGleadpresenters
Anyone knows where it’s possible to watch extra gear online?
http://thewatchseries.to/serie/top_gear_extra_gear
good to see what Harris wasn’t held back. liked his little diss at lamborghini in extra gear
“Best in recent times” because the show hasn’t been on recently…
This is because of the evens effect the more evens per episode or EPE is the rule that proves the move evens the worse the episode
ETA on Netflix?
Skip the audi r8 segment and 20 minutes (20 FREAKING MINUTES) of star in a something rather shout questions at two black guys, and this is a perfect Top Gear recipe. Note that everything you need to cut out actually involves Evans.
i agree with you with cutting evans out part, everything with him seems forced, and evely scripted, he isn’t natural and his voice is anoying.
at least this week star on a rally cross car was fun apart from the first part when they talk about the other and the cars as that is scripted, but with kevin hart beeing funny it couldn’t be wrong
Summary: Great Audi and Ferrari review. Ford commercial. Great guests. Way too much guest advertising, we can cut their personal details and solve the star segment being too long. Crowd too active. Ken Block was monotonously. Remove Chis.
Soo………its official then
We now have 2 different car shows to enjoy!
What a relief!