The second part of “The Grand Tour”‘s year-ending Namibia Special – technically titled “The Beach [Buggy] Boys” – continued with the boys traversing the southwest African desert nation of Namibia.
Right off the bat, Jeremy Clarkson – who switched sunglasses in the first part – loses one of his spectacles altogether, a problem easily solved by James May who, in what sounds distinctly like the voice of experience, tells him to simply put his glasses on upside down so he can see out of his best eye with the one good remaining lens. This is a necessity since Clarkson’s buggy is repeatedly breaking down and requiring his utmost attention to detail to complete repairs.
A drag race between Richard Hammond’s buggy and Clarkson’s buggy is abandoned after Clarkson’s buggy breaks itself trying to get off the line. That leads to a brief excursion to draw attention to the rhinoceros protection plight in the continent which then leads to May’s idea to drive off the actual road they are traveling on in order to avoid the washboard bumps. This turns out to be a stupid idea, which May reluctantly admits in hindsight.
After Hammond’s buggy briefly breaks down due to May’s stupid idea, he is serenaded by topless Namibian tribal ladies and Clarkson exacts revenge on May’s stupid idea by installing a gigantic dildo in place of the gear lever in May’s buggy. May retaliates – of course – by altering Clarkson’s front spoiler. This abuse-and-retaliation segment was the best part of the second part of the Namibian Special.
Upon reaching their near-final destination locale, the boys jury-rig a buggy zip line to get them across the river to their final beach landing point, but the ending lacks pizzazz and surprise and merely features a drunken May and mundane Clarkson watching Hammond sit stationary on the zip line in front of them because Clarkson weighed down his vehicle with construction equipment.
ASN awards an 84 for the second part of the Namibian Special and coupled with the 86 given the first part, gives the entire episode a respectable but unremarkable score of 85. It was good for a first effort on a special – but there are definite areas of improvement that can be made.
