An Idiot Abroad: S02 Ep06

What happened?

Karl takes a drive along the famous Route 66 in America, stopping off along the way to visit a weird bottle dump home, a cuddling commune, an explosive gold hunter, an Amish community and sing in a Glee-style concert before he finished by viewing the end of Route 66 on top of the wings of a bi-plane.

Thoughts

Can’t say I was particularly enthused by the ‘bucket list’ concept for this week – travelling along a road across America didn’t really strike me as all that fascinating. However, this episode of An Idiot Abroad really managed to make it feel like an effortlessly enjoyable journey, and I think Karl was perhaps more relaxed and willing to participate (maybe due to not being kept too far away from the general luxuries and familiarity of the western world).

As anticipated, the journey was staggered with pre-arranged events for Karl to participate in, but this was a necessity. If Karl just kept driving then he was utterly unlikely to encounter anything random or spontaneous so this episode, more than any other, was really dependent on the pre-arranged items. Luckily they were weird enough to be eye-catching, yet not so silly so as to be preposterous.

Well, except for the Glee concert part, but what a joy it was to see Karl actually get involved, stomping around the stage ‘singing’ Van Halen’s Jump with a broad accent. Clearly this also showed that Karl is not a man that is averse to his own sense of comic timing and schtick; he delivered a comic performance and the crowd loved it and it made for good TV.

It’s curious how Karl, and this programme, seem to have to wrestle with the notion of how genuine it all is. I personally think this series has seen a more genuine Karl than the previous series did. This series he has been seen to smile, laugh, make dry bemused comments about what was going on. Last series seemed more determined to only show Karl ‘in character’; miserable, moaning and angered. This series there’s been a little more dimension to his on-screen persona and, whilst I don’t doubt that it’s what he is like, there’s almost certainly an element of him exaggerating his own traits, or holding back other aspects of his character to remain true to the tone of the programme.

That’s fair enough. I don’t have a problem with the show in the sense of how ‘genuine’ it is in that respect.

I did like seeing Karl at the hugging commune. Was it wrong that I was rather attracted to the commune leader? Her discussion about how it was OK for men to become aroused, and offering to spoon Karl. . . He showed stronger will than I would have in turning her down and getting out of there early.

Better was his charming relationship with the gold prospector. Charging into the remote mountains on a riotous ride in his 4x4, this gun-toting man of the world was great value. But I really enjoyed how Karl seemed to warm to him, putting faith in this man to keep him safe no matter what happened. They’d make a great double act, and it was good to see Karl rise up to the man challenge and shoot at the explosive targets (even if he did scurry away and cower like a big girl’s blouse!).

The ongoing thread of the episode had Karl seeking out a gift for his girlfriend (the ever-unseen star of the show Suzanne; someone who should never, ever be revealed because there is so much humour to be mined out of wondering how she deals with a man like Karl in her life). It resulted in some amusing moans that, as ever, revealed Karl to be the opposite of romance, and it was a delightfully pitiful present in the form of a jar of peas from the Amish community.

I really enjoyed the feel of this episode. I think Karl not being too annoyed and yet not being too comfortable really helped, but it was just a really eventful, varied collection of encounters and strange characters that really worked. Contrived without feeling forced, amusing without feeling absurd – another strong episode. So far the only weak link this series was the first episode, and that’s something I am happy to report.

What was the best part?

For once the climax of the episode actually delivered the most entertaining part of it. Karl stood atop the wings of a bi-plane whilst the pilot really didn’t seem to show him any mercy, performing barrel rolls and loop the loops whilst Karl shouted and cursed at the top of his voice. I defy anyone not to have watched that and at least smirked, if not laughed out loud.

What do I think will happen next?

Next week Karl is off to Japan to climb Mount Fuji, which I am really looking forward to seeing. Japan is a country that totally fascinates me so to see Karl poke his nose into it and see what he makes of it will be highly interesting.