Top Gear, episode 1 recap: bromance blooms for Matt LeBlanc and Co
Top Gear returned with a LeBlanc slate as the series put behind it the upheavals of recent seasons and sprinted off the grid with a solid comeback episode.
Utah made for a spectacular backdrop, the banter was top-notch, the cars loud and shiny. Adjust your wing-mirrors and check your indicators, as we recap the highlights of tonight's episode.
1. Has true bromance blossomed among the presenters?
Parachuted into Top Gear two years ago at the height of its post-Clarkson crisis Matt LeBlanc made about as much sense as Friends' Joey Tribbiani in an episode of Holby City.
But with naff natterer Chris Evans receiving the ejector-seat treatment and Chris Harris and Rory Reid promoted to full co-hosts, the series has finally recaptured some of the boyish brio of the Jezza epoch.
“Your car’s about as American as Silvio Berlusconi,” quipped Harris to LeBlanc, pointing out the engine powering the actor’s bright yellow Mustang had been revamped according to a European design. “Who’s she?” wondered LeBlanc. Thirty minutes in and intra-presenter badinage had achieved take-off.
2. Is Top Gear still the most spectacular car series on television?
Even with considerably fatter budgets, rival shows – Jeremy Clarkson’s Grandd Tourr springs to mind – have never quite rivalled that Top Gear visual swagger. Early on in Utah, a drone captured LeBlanc’s Hennessey Mustang GT350 R and Harris’s McLaren 570 GT from overhead as they engaged in an automative “shoot-out” – free-wheeling across the sand and then, on Reid’s signal, spinning and dashing towards the finish line.
The contrast between the shimmering vehicles and the aching red desert was stunning – as was a later sequence in which rally champion Ken Block, in a super-powered dune buggy, soared over Reid’s McLaren as he dashed towards the finish line in a challenge in which the team pretended to be bootleggers fleeing police.
3. Do not adjust your set – Matt LeBlanc can actually converse with other human beings now
The first studio guinea pig of the new series was comedian Rob Brydon, whose appalling performance in the Star in a Reasonably Fast Car segment was blamed on monsoon conditions at Dunsfold Aerodrome.
An even more daunting task, however, was engaging in light conversation with the notoriously wooden LeBlanc. But in a shock twist, LeBlanc was perfectly at ease as he and Harris jibed Brydon over his fealty to the Mitsubishi Carisma and the Land Rover Discovery of the infamously asymmetrical license plate.
“It’s a homage to Geoffrey Boycott’s mouth,” said Reid of the Land Rover – a metaphor that would give even Jeremy Clarkson pause.
4. Top Gear still isn’t quite sure what to do with Sabine Schmitz
Back in Utah, the crew made their way to a Nascar circuit, with bragging rights in the ensuing time-trial going to Harris in the McLaren. His "reward" was star billing in a Figure 8 race – a demolition derby event in which three cars are chained together and driven in a crazed loop. Or, as LeBlanc put it, “the greatest motorsport we’ve just heard of”.
Harris was in the rear banger with German racing ace and series semi-regular Sabine Schmitz up front behind the wheel. Around the track they dashed, very nearly (but not really) colliding with their rivals. All those battered bonnets corkscrewing around was undeniably arresting – but Schmitz’s role was that of a glorified Stig-type test driver. Though clearly keen to put Sabine in front of the cameras, the suspicion lingers Top Gear hasn’t worked out how best to utilise her.
5. Was Chris Harris on the brink of tears?
A reminder not everything goes to plan, even if you’re a ratings-gobbling BBC motoring show, came as the gang arrived at famous Bonneville Speedway. This was located amid the stunning salt flats of north western Utah and is the scene of countless land-speed world records.
Alas, the epic dreamscape had suffered freak flooding, forcing LeBlanc and gang to retire to a track up the road. “Thirty five years of waiting and I stand in front of a puddle,” lamented Harris. He sounded genuinely devastated.
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6. Did Top Gear have a good reason for a trek to America?
Jeremy Clarkson’s flabby Grand Tour has biffed viewers over the head with one contrived idea after another, a humanitarian fish-dash across Mozambique and a water-speed attempt in a converted three-wheeler among this season’s more egregious examples.
By contrast, Top Gear had a solid excuse to send its presenters to the United States. To celebrate the anniversary – admittedly the 116th anniversary – of the V8 engine the gang would travel to Utah and test their rumbling muscle cars on the open road.
The excursion culminated in a face-off against the Stig and his gorgeously preserved Ford GT40, the racing icon which in 1966 ended Ferrari’s dominance of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Joining forces, the presenters zoomed around the track in a relay attempting to trump the Stig’s time. Bragging rights went to the masked maestro by two seconds – though the real winners were probably the viewers, who will have enjoyed what seemed a genuinely competitive face-off.
Matt LeBlanc in pictures
7. Is Matt LeBlanc imitating Jeremy Clarkson?
He didn’t say anything rude about cyclists or “accidentally” antagonise half of Patagonia. But did you catch the distinctly Clarksonian-ring to LeBlanc’s sign-off? “And on that essential piece of consumer advice… we must end the show”. Give it a few months and he’ll be wearing ridiculous jeans and buying a vast cottage in the Cotswolds.
8. What does the rest of the series hold in store?
A preview of what’s to come in the remaining five episodes saw LeBlanc enthusiastically rubbing the bare belly of an unidentified co-driver and Harris parachuting in a dune buggy. A heartfelt tribute to the Citroen 2CV has also been confirmed. Quirkiness of the high octane variety is hard to get right – fans will hope Top Gear can mix comedy and earnestness without getting brake fluid all over its face.