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Top Gear: Episode #25.3 (2018)
Hitting the stride
A really great episode. Matt and Chris goes to Japan to explore the car culture there with one common goal - to buy a legendary Japanese sports car for 1m yen (~7.5 Eur or 7k claimed in the episode).
I'd like to mention that I myself am a huge fan of Japanese car culture therefore this review is not exactly unbiased.
Episode kicks off with comparing a Lexus LC500 and the new Civic Type R. Whole clip is about a little over 10 minutes and this personally for me was the weakest part of the episode - kicked off great with Chris comparing both cars, saying the good and the bad and ended with a small race between him and Stig. What lacked for me was a personal comparison from Chris's side at the end of the race about how the cars feel apart from the outcome of the race.
What continued after that was amazing, Matt and Chris go to Japan, buy the cars at an auction that could only be described as a place most car guys only see in their wet dreams and then taking those cars for a spin through some sweet touge roads, a little race and a fun drifting event to end off with a run to an airfield where the first car to arrive would be shipped to UK. In between both hosts endure some unusual Japanese treats.
Between the main story Rory has a segment focusing on some of the many aspects on Japanese underground scenes such as crazy mods on classic Japanese muscle cars and the infamous so called "Japanese Lamborghini Mafia" (try looking up Lamborghini Bosozoku if you like this kind of stuff).
Overall there were great cinematics throughout the episode, good chemistry between Matt and Chris, jokes felt fairly unscripted (to a certain extent) and it felt a bit like old Top Gear in a way where three (or in this case two) guys are just having fun with cars. I would have liked to see Rory partaking as well in the main challenge as well as the side segment, but a great episode nonetheless. I honestly enjoyed this much more than any of the Grand Tour episodes I've seen this season, great watch!