An Idiot Abroad: S02 Ep04

What happened?

Karl was discharged to Alaska to fulfil the once in a lifetime event of seeing whales in their natural environment (although he didn’t realise he’d be doing this from the vantage point of a working fishing boat). On the way he stops off to see parts of the Arctic circle, with Inuits to eat frozen chopped whale, to trek through wilderness in deep snow and to be pulled by huskies across a frozen lake.

Thoughts

I don’t judge the quality of an episode of An Idiot Abroad by how funny it is. Funny is good, but my enjoyment of the programme isn’t based on how much I laugh. It’s a mixture of amusement and interest and seeing something refreshing. Following Karl, we invariably get taken to poke around in quarters of the world most travel documentaries don’t bother with, or overlook, or put a nice gloss over. Karl will turn up at an Insuit’s house and be hospitably treated and only remark about how he’s being given cold food when they have an oven there they don’t seem to be using.

And what other show will let the viewers know about the “honey bucket” system, which is basically a bucket that the locals use as a toilet and then stick into a plastic bag to be emptied and returned, just like we have refuse collectors. (The poor guy that was desperately holding out for a replacement honey bucket also made for priceless TV!)

Sure, Karl’s perpetual moaning does sometimes feel a little over-egged. When he was roaming the snowy wilderness, in a barren, frozen desolation, his complaining about how there was nothing to see and the sun was making him go blind felt unbalanced against what must have been an incredible sense of wonder. He’s not that much of a Philistine and the natural world is one that interests him so, even if for a little while, I don’t doubt that this man who craves solitude and peace must have found something rather marvellous in his journey North.

The guide Ricky and Steve initially hooked him up with was a joyously irritating find. He even had a high-pitched laugh of mocking delight like Gervais’; the irony was rich. And after chugging through deep snow, dragging an abundance of provisions on a sledge, the final resting place being a cold hut with no toilet (just go outside and wipe yourself with a frozen hunk of a snow afterwards!) was a perfectly miserable start.

For the most part, though, Karl seemed in good-humour. He had enough hubris to dryly remark about how this was all “things to do before you die”, like when he was charged with chopping up dead fish on a boat that was making him seasick. And his bemused chuckle when chatting with the truck driver who merrily informed him the last place he’d go to was exactly where Karl was headed. It’s all the touches like that which make the show flow more enjoyably for me than all the big contrived stunts that seem to want to force through humiliation and attempt to mine laughs.

That being said, the highlight of the episode had to be when Karl was being dragged (I’d like to say riding along with, but that wouldn’t be an accurate reflection) by huskies. His swearing, his tight grip, the brief moments of downtime to chat to camera about how the frozen river was tough terrain and the huskies just did not obey commands and the brakes didn't work, they all added up to a great section of the show that certainly did have me chuckling out loud (and at the time of watching the show I was riddled with a horrible aching flu and felt like shit so that was no mean feat).

As is becoming something of a motif of the show, the actual ‘thing to do before you die’ was an anticlimax, although this one felt rather more poetic than just straightforward disappointment. Suffering aboard the fishing boat, chopping octopus, nausea overcame Karl so that by the time whales were spotted surfacing in the waters he was stifling the urge to vomit. He hauled himself over to catch a few glimpses but, cruelly yet typically, his lot would have it that he missed the best things on account of himself – barely able to keep his eyes open let alone stand and get a clear view.

To be fair, aside from the odd flipper or tail, it didn’t look like he was missing much.

What was the best part?

Easily the husky drag, which did look like a lot of fun though I can well see how, hanging on to the back of the sled being dragged uncontrollable across a frozen lake, it would well have felt very treacherous. What made the sequence great was Karl’s out and out anger and frustration, from cursing at the dogs to yelling at the people with him about how long this was going to go on for. You'd never see that with Palin! Terrific viewing.

What do I think will happen next?

Next stop Africa, I believe, from the preview at the end of the episode. As said, I was rather ill when I watched this so I can’t actually remember what the ‘bucket list’ event is for the next one. The fever was taking hold. I’m sure I can stand the surprise!