The Grand Tour

Our Review

The old gang, escaped from the BBC and given an Amazon budget. The Grand Tour is Top Gear with fewer lawyers: Clarkson, Hammond, and May doing what they do — travel to absurd places in absurd cars, insult each other’s height and driving, and accidentally create genuinely affecting television when the scenery gets big enough. The tent format of season 1 gave way to the road-trip-special format that plays to their strengths; the specials (Namibia, Scotland, Scandinavia, Madagascar, the Central Europe run) are the best things they’ve made since the classic Top Gear voyages.

Conversation Street and the celebrity segments replaced the old bits with varying success — but the core product is the three bozos in cars, and that product still slaps. The finale special retired the trio properly: sentimental, stupid, and honest about the end of an era.

Verdict: Watch it. The reunion tour where the band still actually likes each other.