The first episode of season two is promising. We look at what’s changed and where they can still improve.

It may be later than expected, but the second season of The Grand Tour featuring the old Top Gear trio of Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond has finally launched on Amazon Prime. Although this episode of Season 2 was never intended to be its premiere, it shows signs of significant growth from last year’s season, despite a couple near death experiences during production.

Why the misplaced episode you ask? Thanks to Richard Hammond’s leg getting smashed up in the now very famous accident of the Croatian made Rimac Concept_One, the team had no choice since the remaining episodes in the season will showcase the haggard leg.

Seeing an episode out of order is a rare opportunity to take a glimpse into an Executive Producer’s war plan. Even though Andy Wilman still holds that title for The Grand Tour, I’ll lump Jeremy Clarkson in with him as well; both are childhood friends keen on making this new series out perform their previous show. As a producer, you realize you have stronger episodes than others.

Since your overall goal is to show growth over the season, you strategically place episodes in an order that will not only provide a good viewing experience, but you also place weaker episodes around dates where you can find an excuse for poor ratings. That last bit isn’t entirely a joke. This episode, before the Rimac accident, was likely planned to air somewhere in the middle of the season. It wasn’t strong enough to be a season opener… unless one of the hosts drove a multi-million dollar all-electric hypercar straight off a Swiss mountain. I guess that’s why Amazon calls The Grand Tour unscripted.