As 'The Grand Tour' returns for its fourth series it sees a radical change; the scenes in front of an audience in a tent in Oxfordshire have gone as have most of the things that made it 'Top Gear' on Amazon... instead we will be getting episodes that are like the 'specials'.
A sign of how big the change is this episode doesn't even feature cars; it is about the trio travelling in boats through Cambodia and southern Vietnam. The episode starts on the banks of the river they are planning to travel on; unfortunately due to a combination of the monsoon being late and damming upstream in China the river is barely a trickle. Unperturbed they cycle to Tonlé Sap Lake and getting their boats. Their choices aren't too surprising; Hammond turns up in a Scarab speed boat which looked like it belonged on the set of 'Miami Vice'; Clarkson was in a replica of a PBR, the patrol boat used in the Vietnam War; and May arrived in a '30s vintage river cruiser. Their journey to the coastal city of Vung Tau sees them contending with shallow water, clogging weeds, busy waterways and a distinctly unpleasant section where they find themselves in the choppy waters of the South China Sea.
As one would expect there is the usual silliness with Hammond's boat being mocked as a floating porn studio and May's for its age and lack of speed as examples. The setting is interesting with impressive scenery and references to the painful history of the area. Some of the times when things go wrong I suspect it may have been scripted but the final sea crossing looked genuinely dangerous... Hammond said it was one of the scariest things he's done and I believed him! The boats they selected were nicely varied and suited their drivers; they looked great going down the river... I particularly liked Clarkson's PBR; it looked cool and provided a good excuse for stories about exploits of those US Navy personnel who manned them in the war.
Overall this was a great episode; I hope it is a sign of how good further episodes of the new format will be.