The Grand Tour

The Grand Tour-Season 2, Episode 3: Media Reactions

We are now three episodes into the second season of The Grand Tour, and it’s very clear that the boys have found a formula and are sticking with it. That formula, more or less, is “Let’s See How Close We Can Get To Top Gear and Not Get Sued.” And you know what? It has made for a very strong first three episodes.

But how does the world of major media publications feel about episode three? Let’s take a look:

Telegraph

Ed Power of The Telegraph was very diplomatic in his review as he did what any good journalist does; he reviews the episode and doesn’t play sides. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for myself. Regardless, here are some highlights from Ed’s review:

“What that is is a big spoiler alert,” says May of the cross. “If you don’t want to know what happens to the Baby Jesus look away now”. Funny – but how will it go down in America?”

“There’s some proper motoring journalism from Clarkson, for whom the Bugatti evokes the lost era of luxurious mucking about previously embodied by Concorde. Squint – or actually just watch with your eyes wide open – and you could be sitting through vintage Top Gear.”

Gizmodo

In a complete 180 from his previous reviews, James O Malley actually had some kind things to say about episode 3! In all seriousness, O Malley described the episode as “actually pretty fun,” even though he still can’t stand Conversation Street.

“Still, it (Car Park Racing) was definitely the best thing the show has done this season: it was good-natured, a clever idea, and strayed just on the right side of believable. Good work.”

“I actually liked it. As Clarkson was going solo, rather than show us some pretend banter that is supposed to be real, it was like he was showing us, the viewer, his own hyper-real fantasy that inspired by driving such the car…It worked in part because it did the thing I like best: it became a travel show. It was less about the car, or the top bants, and more about the scenery. Every shot was beautifully done, and really gave you a sense of the places that Clarkson was driving.”

O Malley then tops it off with an olive branch:

“Let’s call a Christmas truce. The Grand Tour was pretty good this week. Let’s get out of the trenches, and have a game of Scalextric. We can resume hostilities next week.”

Unfortunately, that’s really it for the media reviews. I suspect publishing was put on a temporary hold for the holidays, but from, the two we have here, it looks like we can all agree that this was one of the better episodes this season.

The question from here on out is actually pretty simple; will The Grand Tour continue to toe the line by using a nearly identical Top Gear flavored episode? I guess we’ll find out tomorrow!

Tony Hsieh

Cars, the Buffalo Bills, video games, comics, sandwiches, jelly beans, and the shooting star press; these are the things that Tony loves (in addition to his family, of course). When he's not spending his time writing tech reviews for theslanted.com, Tony puts his lifetime love of muscle cars to use on his 2015 Mustang GT. Tony's top three favorite cars are the 1973 Mustang Mach 1, Ferrari 458, and Aston Martin DBS.

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