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The best car show right now., it is a great show, funny and hilarious, should be for teens and up only, this is better than modern top gear., great motoring show, the best motoring show pause... in the world.

Raising Geek Generation 2.0

9 Things Parents Should Know About ‘The Grand Tour’ Season 2

Reading Time: 5 minutesJames May, Jeremy Clarkson, and Richard Hammond star in ‘The Grand Tour.’ Image © Amazon

The Grand Tour officially began its second season December 8, with Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May at the helm. Although the spirit of the show remains the same, there are plenty of changes from its inaugural journey.

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The Grand Tour: an exclusive review (by someone who hasn't watched it)

No early screeners were available for Clarkson, May and Hammond’s first post-Top Gear series. But it’s easy to imagine what it might look like ...

H ere it is, the thing for which your dad has spent 15 months trying to figure out what Amazon Prime is and how to sign up to Amazon Prime and how to use the printer so he can file off the Amazon Prime terms and conditions and calling you in the small hours of the night asking, “Is Amazon Prime TV, or is it on the TV?” and then calling back 40 minutes later to ask, “Hold on, I think I’ve got it now: but Amazon is a website, it’s not on the telly?” and watching Dave-after-Dave repeat of Top Gear and settling down into his Big Chair with a foaming mug of that beer you got him for Christmas and now he’s ready, his body is ready: The Grand Tour lands on Friday.

Sadly there are no preview episodes available, so we’re going to have to imagine how it goes. This shouldn’t be too difficult, though. Listen, right: have you ever seen an episode of Top Gear? It’s really, really, really like that. We open – after a bombastic montage featuring Richard Hammond yelping in a £600 Jeep as he drives it into river after river and James May trying to break a land speed record on a milk truck, or something – with Jeremy Clarkson, back where he belongs, scratching his head in a sun-and-bleached-sand landscape and “talking … like this”. He skirts smirkingly around that bit of business with the producer he decked then looks off to the horizon and says, “Hang on …” at an approaching dust cloud, as if this doesn’t happen in every episode of everything he has ever recorded for the past seven or eight years, as if his life didn’t long ago turn into a series of segments inevitably interrupted by James May.

May’s here now, the one they laugh at. Hammond turned up without fanfare a few minutes ago, goatee-bearded and waistcoated, ever more resembling a haunting ventriloquist’s doll made in the likeness of John Virgo, and together he and Clarkson are laughing at May. “What?” May barks, flaunting something patently absurd – he’s in a three-wheeled car; all of his limbs are broken; he suddenly has a ponytail – and they point this out to him. In many ways, Top – sorry, The Grand Tour, is as formulaic as the worst pantomime.

The question, I suppose, is: how is Amazon Prime hoping to differentiate this show from the one that came before it? Will Clarkson somehow unbutton another rung of his shirt, until his entire chest is exposed? Will Hammond find room to pile another beaded necklace on over the thousands of beaded necklaces he is already wearing? Will James May, forbidden from being declared “Captain Slow” by a 10-year trademark claim the BBC took out on the name to print on a series of mugs, instead be referred to as “The Pondering Man”? And, most crucially, will they actually talk about cars?

It was long ago that Top Gear (Top Gear Mk I, rather than the Mk II “ Chris Evans spending six weeks corpsing in front of a studio audience who really wished their turn on the ticket lottery came up two summers before it did” version – actual Top Gear Mk 1, with Tiff Needell and Quentin Willson , is non-canon) edged all the way over to the banter side of the cars/banter spectrum. But still, those moments endured: Jeremy Clarkson padding up to a supercar like he was about to impregnate it, climbing into the passenger seat, firing the engine up and shuddering climactically. Is The Grand Tour just weird porn for dads? We’ll have to wait for the episodes to drop for confirmation of that. But yes. Definitely yes.

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The Grand Tour: Season 5 Reviews

Depending on your point of view, therefore, you will either find the latest edition of The Grand Tour everything you’d hoped for or the same old cobblers.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Feb 16, 2024

... It’s as much about the dynamic between the three presenters, whether we’re watching them navigate site-specific setbacks in their chosen vehicles or engage in lively commentary, whether in person or busting each other’s balls over two-way radios.

Full Review | Feb 16, 2024

It feels like a warning – or an apology – to viewers that they might struggle to keep them amused and engaged on this particular escapade.

We were here for May getting his car filled with sand or the smirking cutaways to a garage with a sign that said "Rim Oil" and which you know must have tickled them raw in the edit suite.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 16, 2024

A funny, scenery-filled road trip with everyone’s favorite group of British goofballs.

Full Review | Jun 17, 2023

... What a shame that, rather than go out in a blaze of glory, The Grand Tour feels as if it is shuddering to a wheezing halt.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jun 16, 2023

The Grand Tour: A Scandi Flick is the team getting back to business. These epic adventures through some of the most grueling and captivating places on Earth had been curtailed due to travel being limited.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Jan 16, 2023

Smart. Social. Savvy.

9 Things Parents Should Know About ‘The Grand Tour’ Season 2

The Grand Tour officially began its second season December 8, with Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May at the helm. Although the spirit of the show remains the same, there are plenty of changes from its inaugural journey.

1.Is it still a big tent tour?

There’s still a big tent, but it isn’t touring. The tent is now permanently situated in England, near the home of Clarkson in the Cotswolds. The set is still virtually unchanged from last year, which is a good thing, but now the panoramic view from the giant window behind the hosts may be fixed on one location all season long. That almost defeats who purpose of why they created the tent in the first place.

What really stinks about this is now those from other parts of the world (like me) hoping to see a live taping of the show in a city near them will no longer have that chance. They’ll have to make their way to England if they want to vie for this privilege.

2. Does this static location mean the boys are slowing down?

Absolutely not. They may have a set “home base,” but they are still heading off all over the world for their adventures this season. The first episode sent them to gorgeous locations in Switzerland and Croatia, and upcoming shows will take them back to the United States, including Colorado and New York, Spain, Mozambique, and more—and nearly killing themselves in the process.

There was no shortage of beautiful locations, challenges, high-speed driving, or excitement in the first show.

3. Will we see Richard Hammond’s heavily publicized crash?

The very first episode does, indeed, include Hammond’s near-fatal crash in the Rimac Concept One supercar, and it is intense and frightening. Since the tent segments are filmed much later than the trio’s world travels, they are all able to joke about it. Also acknowledged was Clarkson’s debilitating bout with pneumonia, another focus of attention between the seasons.

Both Hammond and Clarkson have recovered well, and they even used these incidents as ongoing jokes about keeping anything from happening to James May.

4. What are some other big changes?

In addition to the traveling tent no longer traveling, there are two big changes in Season 2, which are both improvements.

First, driver Mike “The American” Skinner is gone. He didn’t resonate well with the audience at all. He was a blatant, insulting stereotype to American viewers and an irritating bore to those from everywhere else. There was no test track driving of a new car in the first episode at all, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be in future episodes.

UPDATE: Episode 2 revealed their new test driver to be champion race car driver Abbie Eaton, and fans have so far been very receptive to her no-frills, straight forward driving style, sans snarky commentary.

Second, the Celebrity Brain Crash, in which a celebrity “guest” meets their gruesome demise before making it to the tent, is also nixed. I actually really liked this segment for the first couple of shows—the first one with Jeremy Remmer was pretty hilarious—but the joke got stale and predictable by the end of the season.

With the Brain Crash gone, they now have actual celebrity guests, but instead of mimicking the familiar formula of one celebrity trying their time around a track, they pit two celebrities with similar occupations against each other in a timed lap. The first show featured two “former talent show judges,” Ricky Wilson from The Voice UK and David Hasselhoff from America’s Got Talent , in their new competition they called Celebrity Face Off–they shortened it to “F Off,” of course.

5. Is there anything returning from last year?

Their Conversation Street is still the same, along with its clever silhouetted intro. This was an ideal way to fit in a brief sight gag before their commentary last season, and viewers liked seeing what they’d do with it each week. It is nice to see they kept this concept intact.

6. Is it still TV-14?

Yes, and from the looks of it, they will continue to push the envelope.

Last year’s season got progressively cruder each episode, from “naughty words” to rubber “naughty bits” and a town named F**king (pronounced FOO-king), but they ignored that fact.

In this first show alone, there was mild cursing, innuendo, some scatological commentary, and a cheap pot shot at the American response to the World Trade Center 9-11 attacks from Clarkson. So we’re pretty much on track to head in the same direction as last year. Viewers also got to enjoy Clarkson getting a colonic, which resulted in some very funny comments.

Proceed with caution in watching with younger views, or simply preview the episodes first. That’s one of the great things about streaming content.

7. Is it still Amazon Prime’s main event?

No, but that’s to be expected. Last year, when Amazon snatched up the coveted car threesome of Clarkson, Hammond, and May, there was publicity and promotions everywhere. This season’s fanfare has been more low key. Yes, Amazon is still pushing it plenty on the site, but there doesn’t seem to be the overkill of last season, where The Grand Tour pretty much owned every advertising space on Amazon.

One thing you won’t see is a big, expensive opening scene like the one that kicked off Season 1. This season starts out with a plain, no-frills opening. It’s better to keep the episode consistently entertaining than try to beat an over-the-top opening segment.

The honeymoon phase may be over, but the relationship is still happy. The first episode of Season 2 is still fast-paced and high quality.

8. Is it all fun and games, or will we actually learn something?

This first episode still had plenty of car facts and comparisons, as well as a nifty look at the Swiss Museum of Transport in Lucerne that includes an interactive exhibit resembling a big warehouse bay area. Visitors can use a touchscreen to bring the vehicle they want to see to them, like a giant vending machine or automat. The vehicles themselves weren’t exciting, but the presentation was incredibly innovative.

Thanks to Hammond’s crash, we also learned a pretty alarming fact about the batteries in electric cars that I never before considered. Definitely could “spark” some discussion if having a gas vs. electric debate with friends.

Really, it contained copious amounts of the reason people love Clarkson, Hammond, and May working together, as Clarkson himself said, “Driving around corners a bit too quickly while shouting and bickering.”

9. Do we need to see Season 1 to enjoy the new episodes?

Not at all. The Grand Tour , like other motoring shows, doesn’t work that way. It isn’t a linear story, and you can jump in any time. Unless it’s a two-parter, every episode stands alone.

Of course, this is a streaming Amazon Prime show, so you can still catch up on last year’s show before watching, or wait and binge Season 2 once all the episodes are released. Make sure to also see our review of The Grand Tour Season One  for a refresher on the series.

The Grand Tour Season Two Episode 1, “ Past, Present or Future ,” is now available on Amazon Prime, with Episode 2, “The Falls Guys,” available next week.

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Jeremy Clarkson , Richard Hammond and James May are back with The Grand Tour after a small, hardly worth mentioning fracas cut short their time on BBC Top Gear . The Grand Tour is a show about adventure, excitement and friendship… as long as you accept that the people you call your friends are also the ones you find extremely annoying. Sometimes it's even a show about cars. Follow them on their global adventure. What could possibly go wrong?

Previous Episode Carnage A Trois

Latest Episode A Scandi Flick

• 1 Hammond's Rimac Crash
• 3 Mike Skinner

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A Review of the ‘The Grand Tour: A Scandi Flick’

A review of this film on ‘rally culture’ set against the backdrop of an Arctic road trip.

Gabriel Marinescu , Staff Reporter | December 28, 2022

Monicore / Pexels

Here is a seaside image of Lofoten Norway, the archipelago where the Grand Tour began their journey heading for Finland.

Who would have thought that The Arctic Circle, Europe’s last great wilderness , would be conquered by three Brits in rally cars? Set to a road trip, The Grand Tour returns in their special The Grand Tour: A Scandi Flick , and they are back better than ever. They experience danger and surprises as they venture from Norway in the Lofoten Islands to Ivalo airport in Finland near the Russian border. Given the harsh conditions of Scandinavia, they risk crashes and accidents. With only six days to travel 600 miles, the trio, James May, Jeremey Clarkson, and Richard Hammond, embark on this journey, regardless of the risk. Presenting comedy at its highest quality from the moment the special begins, while also paying homage to rallies in the early 2000s, this film is a love letter to rallying.

The Grand Tour is an Amazon Prime Original Series hosted by Jeremy Clarkson, James May, and Richard Hammond. The history between these three runs far greater than The Grand Tour; in 2002, they created car reviews, entertaining viewers with their exceptional sense of humor. In 2003, the trio went on to host Top Gear, an automobile show on the BBC. A decade later, in 2016, after a fallout between Jeremy Clarkson and a producer of Top Gear , The Grand Tour was eventually created. 

They continued the original format of car reviews and guest stars for the first three seasons but then announced they would end the show. Later, The Grand Tour announced that they would continue the show in a specials-like format, with the yearly or bi-yearly movie-length episode ‘A Scandi Flick’ as the first episode of season 5 . Their dynamic rapport was possibly the most endearing aspect of the trio’s performance.The juxtaposition between adult conversation regarding the systems in the car, the modification of their vehicles, and the history behind motorsport is contrasted with their childlike behavior. The pranks they pull on one another, the situations they find themselves in, and the stupid modifications they make to their cars add to the humor, because they choose to use their knowledge to entertain the audience.  

The Grand Tour has always been focused on cars, and on the culture behind motorsports. They have used the new format to show the history and love for cars in a more entertaining way than in a traditional studio audience network show. They have shown their passion for cars by going out, and driving them, putting them to the test and pushing them to their limits with different challenges and types of motor sporting events. There is always a theme or message to an episode, but in the end, they are three friends bonding over the journey they made in these cars. The show embodies the idea that it is not the destination but the journey. 

Rallying is the central theme around “A Scandi Flick” which ties together every aspect of the special. Rallying is a specific kind of motocross event typically completed on dirt roads with hills and jumps, where racers either compete against a clock or in a more traditional head-to-head competition. Rallying and rallycross can exist in any environment, from roads covered in snow, dirt, or even sand. Snow rallying was how they chose to test the cars since it is especially popular in Scandinavia. Snow rallying allows for the use of the natural Scandinavian terrain and constant winter environment, which is perfect for pushing cars to their limits. The title of the special is even named after a common rally move: ‘Scandinavian Flick.’ A ‘Scandinavian Flick’ is when a driver, typically on a snow track, purposely oversteers to slide around the outside of a turn and line up to the exit of the turn while maintaining momentum.

It is the cars that make rallying heritage so special. The cars are such a big part of the rallying community because the cars make or break the competition and are built to handle even the toughest of conditions. As Hammond said in the film, “It’s not a car that you crash or ding in the usual way. It’s a car that gets injured ‘cause there’s so much passion wrapped up in it from a lot of people.” Rallying is often hectic, so cars are built to withstand the unusual strain and endure what normal stock cars cannot. According to the FIA World Rally Championship regulations World Rally Championship, Rally 1 uses a 1.6T Engine, meaning that rally cars are characterized by their small engine capacity but high speeds, as well as their stock build. These regulations are what define rally and what makes rally unique, as not any car can be fit to be a rally car. You cannot take a standard factory-line car and make it work for rally; it has to be built for rally and be able to put up with tremendous amounts of force upon the car. To the viewers and drivers alike, these cars represent all the crashes, the suspension shocks, every hill jump, and obstacle climb. The cars represent how they are built for endurance and, by extension, the endurance of spirit. Each car means a different thing to different people, but they can all agree that rally cars represent the best possibility of what cars can be. 

The Subaru Impreza is the rally champion, with 47 world championship wins and a total of 212 versions available on the market. Subaru fans are divided on which version is the best, but Hammond believed his 2003 Subaru Impreza WRX Sti limited edition was the best Impreza to choose from. 

The Evo (short for Evolution), with 27 championship wins and ten versions released, is the other head honcho in the rally scene. Despite fewer releases than the Impreza, it has just as much of a loyal fan base. It has a community just as large as the Impreza has, and oftentimes, the Evo and Impreza are seen as rivals. James was content with his Evo XIII GSR and had full faith in the car and its rallying capabilities. 

However, for those who are not familiar with the rallying scene, Clarkson made a bold choice with his Audi. Instead of taking an Audi Quattro, an iconic rallying symbol, he instead claims  RS4 is the heir to the Quattro since it is a fast and powerful track car. However, because of the RS4’s large engine and wide body frame, it cannot be called a rally car. Despite the lack of a real Quattro, it is more than made up by Clarkson’s humor and charisma as he depends on his Audi throughout the special, which makes up for his straying from the task.

Their task is simple, to take their cars and cross Europe’s last great wilderness in six days. In those six days, they must cross more than 600 miles to the Finnish border. Most importantly, they must find out whose car is the best rally car there is. 

(Spoiler Warning Ahead) 

This being said, the movie itself was outstanding. The trio is back and re-energized after their hiatus. With the last two specials having been released during the COVID-19 pandemic, Lockdown and Carnage A Trois , being restricted in where they could go also seemingly limited the comedy. However, A Scandi Flick is a return to greatness for the Grand Tour, delivering 1 hour and 39 minutes of laughs. I also found it incredibly informative, as it taught me the real meaning of motorsport and the heritage behind the cars that I have always liked. The only pause in comedic relief was the collective concern for James May during his crash at the twenty-minute mark. Despite the crash being widely known prior to the release of the film, we were so surprised how early it was, fearing that any serious injuries might impair him or possibly remove him from the special. Thankfully, his injuries were minor, and the show went on. His journey would instead become a message of triumph for the rest of the runtime. 

The redemption and survival of James May and his Evo are at the centerpiece of the special. May crashed his Evo into a wall after taking a turn too quickly, breaking a rib and totaling the car. He completely destroyed it during the crash but made a surprising effort to resurrect the Evo and bring it to Sweden. Later, while falling through a frozen lake in Finland, he got the Evo working again. That Evo became a symbol of the power of old-school rally cars and the power of the Evo. May’s Evo survived to work for the reunion they had months later despite being bodied twice and missing part of its chassis. For a comedy-based car show, the idea of perseverance would shine through special, as it not only embodies the struggle that the Evo went through, but also the spirit of rallying itself. These cars crumple and are destroyed but they always persevere. They run even with the frame and doors fallen off because of the determination of spirit. We connect to rally racing because it reflects the human condition; life is not paved and easy but rough with many ups and downs. Much like these cars, the human spirit takes every beating and still makes it to the finish line because that’s what humanity stands for. 

From the discovery of the Dutch-Norwegian War to the ice-related pranks, and the extreme modifications to their cars like Clarkson’s fire exhaust, the bar is set high for their cars. One memorable event is in Skijoring, when skiers are pulled behind cars to race. We can see the passion return in the trio, and in my opinion, this is the best part of the special, ever since the series changed format to these full-length specials in 2019. On-par specials like Seamen and A Massive Hunt were fueled by their ambition which gets them into all sorts of trouble. This special surpasses those two in not only humor but as well as in subject. Seamen was a journey to Vietnam in boats and A Massive Hunt was a trip across Madagascar in modified cars. Both were entertaining to watch, but A Scandi Flick clearly had a lot more love behind it. In their distinct style and sense of humor, the Grand Tour showed the power and love that the motoring community has for rallying. This proves the power of rally cars and the passion which comes when you drive these cars. As well as just providing us with their antics, the visualization of them surviving the night in a Sami museum exhibit, Clarkson burning his car in order to melt the ice, and Hammond barreling down the ski slope in his shack, A Scandi Flick provides images that still remain in my memory weeks after I watched it. 

Its visual imagery of the Arctic Circle also does wonders, creating a sense of sublimity when the men are surrounded by the vastness of nature. The beautiful sights of Norway, Sweden, and Finland added to the viewing experience, by showing us the true beauty of “Europe’s Last Great Wilderness.” The B-roll footage of the black forest, contrasted with the stark white snow, provided a nice sense of calm to the visual intensity of the races. The peace of the snow falling was a breath of fresh air against the constant roaring engines of the cars. The visual imagery reinforces the idea of Europe’s Last Great Wilderness due to the vastness of nature depicted. In these moments, we see how small we are in respect to nature, as the cars are mere blips on the screen, while the forests, mountains, and frozen lakes encompass everything, with only a mere road cutting through nature. Nature is ever present in the special because of its meaning; the rally was meant to overcome nature’s obstacles. With every leg of the journey, nature became more unruly, and the closer they got to the finish, the harder it was to travel. From the moment they entered Finland, the final leg of the journey, they had experienced the power of nature at its fullest. From maneuvering between trees in the forests or having to cut across frozen lakes, mature checked the power of the rally cars. The stunning visuals gave us an understanding of what they really were up against in the Arctic.  

When the episode premiered in September 2022, it was refreshing to see the return of the Grand Tour that I’ve loved watching for the last six years. Due to the extensive history behind both rallying and the trio making the movie, so much depth, passion, and love are added to this film. Even if you don’t like cars, you still can’t help but laugh and find yourself enjoying their childlike antics and pranks. If you have Prime Video and are looking for a laugh-filled hour and forty minutes, then I would recommend “ The Grand Tour: A Scandi Flick.’

As Richard Hammond said in the film, “It’s not a car that you crash or ding in the usual way. It’s a car that gets injured ‘cause there’s so much passion wrapped up in it from a lot of people.”

• A Scandi Flick
• Arctic Circle
• Europe’s Last Great Wilderness
• Jeremy Clarkson
• Richard Hammond
• The Grand Tour

Gabriel Marinescu is the Arts and Entertainment editor for ‘The Science Survey.' He enjoys the fact that journalism allows you to convey the facts in...

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The Grand Tour (TV Series)

The grand tour presents: seamen (2019).

• Parents Guide

Certification

• Sex & Nudity (1)
• Profanity (3)
• Alcohol, Drugs & Smoking (1)
• Frightening & Intense Scenes (1)

Sex & Nudity

• None 7 of 10 found this to have none Severity? None 7 Mild 2 Moderate 0 Severe 1 We were unable to submit your evaluation. Please try again later.
• Jeremy Clarkson comically films James May's buttcrack for a few seconds. This scene later also appears in the credits. Edit

Violence & Gore

• Mild 1 of 1 found this mild Severity? None 0 Mild 1 Moderate 0 Severe 0 We were unable to submit your evaluation. Please try again later.
• Moderate 6 of 11 found this moderate Severity? None 0 Mild 5 Moderate 6 Severe 0 We were unable to submit your evaluation. Please try again later.
• 4 uses of 'shit', 2 uses of 'bollocks', 2 censored f bombs and 1 uncensored use of the word, and 1 use of "cucking" and 'cock', as well as multiple uses of milder profanity including 'bloody', 'hell', 'damn' and religious profanity. Edit
• Jeremy Clarkson asks a Vietnamese woman, what the word 'Da mi' means in Vietnamese and she it means 'f*** your mother'( f word censored). Only played for comedic. Edit
• At least 1 use of "goddamn" Edit

Alcohol, Drugs & Smoking

• Mild 6 of 7 found this mild Severity? None 1 Mild 6 Moderate 0 Severe 0 We were unable to submit your evaluation. Please try again later.
• People drink and make references to alcohol. Edit

Frightening & Intense Scenes

• Mild 4 of 6 found this mild Severity? None 1 Mild 4 Moderate 0 Severe 1 We were unable to submit your evaluation. Please try again later.
• Some suspense and real Vietnam war footage. Also two stories, told by Jeremy, of war heroes and the massacre in the 'Nam war. Can be hard to watch. Edit

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