The most boring episode yet
Whether the rumors of Matt leaving the show or not, at the moment he is still there, so we’re still here, giving you the latest review. Getting right into it, the first segment briefly features “the British super lightweights”. Some amazing cars for sure with some familiar faces in the lineup such as the Lotus, Caterham 7, Ariel Atom, the Radical, and the real star of the segment, the all new Zenos E10. Evans leads this segment which as usual is quite unfortunate, although again, he is starting to try and do his own thing instead of blatantly copying Clarkson. At one point they race the Zenos against the Ford Focus ST (from which the Zenos drivetrain is derived) but we won’t spoil the (obvious) results.
The Segway is awkward, forced, and frankly it is sad, but we’re
getting used to it. (Seriously, how sad is that?) They then hand the Zenos over
to the Stig and give it a go around the track. Maybe it’s just us, but who else
hates hearing Evans name off the corners…
The Zenos is predictably quick around the track.
Heading into Matt’s segment, we see him in the new Rolls
Royce Dawn. The monstrous British luxury cruiser, while the size of a small
yacht, is none the less gorgeous. The segment, is probably one of Matt’s best.
Maybe the car’s subdued personality just matches up with his to make the
segment work just right. The filming is of course, beautiful, this is Top Gear after
all, but really the segment is lacking any real excitement or even interesting
information. The producers seem to be trying to craft Matt into the new James May,
but what Matt has in subdued personality, he lacks in automotive knowledge and highbrow
British humor, leaving him much like the rest of the show, a shallow reflection
of the golden years of Top Gear and the legendary cast.
Following the Rolls, Matt and Evans take part in a forced
bit of what is supposed to be comedy with a back and forth of Matt loving the
car and Evans hating it. Skip past it if you have the ability unless you like
cringing.
Chris Harris then drives the new BMW M2. He begins by saying
it’s essentially the new M3, with the M3 no longer being the M3. All very sill
semantics really, but hey so is Chris Harris, and so is the bit. The whole
segment follows suit with the rest of the episode, by being extremely boring.
The stars in a rally car this episode are Paul Hollywood and Jennifer Saunders. Saunders is an English comedian and writer and Hollywood is a celebrity chef. At this point the show has just become hard to get through. They push through the terrible sub-segments, the best first car, and the courtesy intros. The whole bit is just harsh and unpleasant.
After more terribly written jokes delivered by Matt, Rory
Reid follows up with a segment featuring the Jaguar F Type SVR convertible. The
intro, in actually quite good with a bit of cinematic storytelling and a
recreation of a historic Jaguar road trip to the Geneva Motor Show, only this
time instead of unveiling an E Type, it is the new SVR convertible. It should
be mentioned at this point, that Reid has become easily the shows best host.
The segment is also the best of the episode, especially for fans of automotive
history, though it still seems a bit off not having May or perhaps even Hammond
driving it and giving the narration.
The
segment also features the legendary Norman Dewis, who if you don’t know who he
is, definitely give Google a search and give it a read. Fascinating guy. (Pictured below)
The show ends as badly as it started with another awkward
segment with Matt and Chris arguing about whether a new Rolls or an old is
better, with some input from the locals. Pro tip: end the show at the Jaguar
segment.
This is dummy text. It is not meant to be read. Accordingly, it is difficult to figure out when to end it. But then, this is dummy text. It is not meant to be read. Period.
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