‘Top Gear’ Recap: ‘Season 29, Episode 4’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 2904 of ‘Top Gear’.
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​At this point in time, we can all agree upon the fact that 2020 has made for one wild and unsettling year. For reasons that we don’t have to rehash here. But the chaos of this particular year does matter for one reason and one reason alone, in that… it’s definitely prompted all of us to get creative as to how we have fun and that’s something that’s started to seep into the television industry as well. Because some shows simply cannot function in the manner they once did before Covid, such as Top Gear. Since this particular series is all about the road trip in populated places. But a pandemic can’t keep our intrepid hosts down and not being able to travel abroad, motivated them and the producers to put together an episode that offered up one unique and entertaining adventure. 

After all, there are plenty of beautiful places to visit in the United Kingdom and everyone agreed that Wales would be the perfect place to hop into some grand touring vehicles in order to properly explore the majesty of Wales and well, once again, our intrepid hosts picked some fascinating cars to accompany them on their journey. For Chris Harris went with the refined Bentley Flying Spur, whilst Freddie Flintoff opted to go with something slightly sportier by choosing the McLaren GT and of course… Paddy went the unconventional route as he is wont to do, by selecting the Aston Martin DBX and well, once the lads got some good natured ribbing about Paddy’s ride out of the way, the lads were off to drive around the countryside for a bit.

But it wouldn’t be Top Gear if all they did was drive around and enjoy the scenery and thankfully the producers figured out that this episode was the perfect time to put together a competition unlike any other. And that gave life to a grand competition between Germany and Great Britain, one where the lads would face off against racing legend Heinz-Harald Frentzen in cars that rivaled the boys’ selections and of course, the winner would enjoy bragging rights. Which seems like an unfair competition from the get-go, since Mister Frentzen knows racing inside and out. So, the producers were also nice enough to enact rules to level the playing field, the kind that sadly, didn’t help Freddie out in the first race. Since the rule was to use cruise control and not hit the brakes or accelerator and since Freddie didn’t gauge distance quite right in one spot of the track, he slammed on the brakes and lost the match.

However, he would quickly redeem himself in perhaps the most unique challenge ever seen on this series. For in round two, the Bentley and its German counterpart would hit up a nature themed course and try to get through it as quickly as possible, without terrifying the passenger that was strapped to the roof of these lovely cars, and yes, you read that right. Someone was actually strapped atop the roof of each car and the victim – er, passenger that saw the least increase in heart rate during this challenge, combined with the fastest time would be declared the winer and well, Freddie saved the day. Because he was captain cool whilst atop the Bentley, whereas poor Paddy lost his marbles when he rode atop Heinz’s ride and that allowed for, Freddie and Chris to tie it up for Team GB, and that left one last competition to decide the whole thing. 

One that would see Paddy race Heinz to the top of a quarry in a winner-take-all final battle, and if by chance Paddy couldn’t overtake him, all he had to do was stay within a certain time frame to clench a victory and wouldn’t you know it? Paddy McGuinness pulled it off and locked up a huge win for Team Britain and in the end, this episode was just a blast. Because it was just pure fun from beginning to end and it really did feature some incredibly creative challenges, the kind that undoubtedly left the audience in stitches, especially that wild rooftop challenge. If anything, this particular tale just goes to show that a little ingenuity can go a long way and it should be interesting to see what other types of creative and innovative ideas the show is going to bring to the table, for next week’s season 29 finale. Until next time.  

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