An Idiot Abroad: S02 Ep08

What happened?

A retrospective episode with Karl sitting down with Ricky and Steve to discuss his travels and field questions from viewers, as well as Ricky finally ensuring that Karl had his prostate checked and his invention of Pilkopants made it to a shopping channel.

Thoughts

Strange kind of episode to write a write-up for, considering that a lot of it was basically going over old material and discussing it. As such there doesn’t leave much for me to actually discuss here so I don’t envisage this being too long-winded. Curiously, though, this retrospective episode was perhaps the most consistent and amusing episode of the whole series.

Anyone who has heard or watched The Ricky Gervais Show will be familiar with the trio of Ricky, Steve and Karl and how they get along together. It’s a lot of fun to actually see them, properly. I think one of my most memorable moments was the sight of Steve Merchant creasing up with laughter, clinging on to Ricky’s arm, when Karl was talking about how one of the rooms he had stayed in had stank of fish.

There’s little else to say about the three of them talking about what happened, save to say it remained fun and entertaining. The highlight of the straight conversations had to be when Ricky made Karl re-enact his ‘Bullshit Man’ superhero, which then resulted in an interrogation of whether he could fly, or had superhearing, all of which were added superpowers! If there was anything lacking, I would say that I'd have preferred to see more 'behind the scenes' pieces of the making of the show - stuff that didn't fit in with the regular episodes but could have been included here.

This being an episode of An Idiot Abroad then Ricky and Steve couldn’t help themselves lay out some stunts for Karl to endure, although they were definitely the highlights of the episode. The visit from the doctor that took Karl to a private room to perform a check on his prostate was brilliantly funny. I defy anyone not to observe a man begrudge another man sticking his finger up his arse and not laugh. And the scene was capped off brilliantly with Karl’s perfectly-timed joke remark asking whether he was a real doctor.

Karl also had his own surprise when he showed Ricky and Steve his stint on a shopping channel trying to sell his Pilkopants. They were truly a terrible invention, basically boiling down to little more than a string bag attached to the seat of trousers. (Surely a better idea would be to have a form of inflatable thing in the seat of trousers for the use as a seat when required?) Still, Karl gave it his best shot (best line being that they’d be useful for children that fell into water to keep them buoyant, with Ricky pointing out that they would be floating face down, submerged!) and managed to sell all fifteen of them.

Probably some smart consumers snapped them up. Not because they were a good product but because they’ll surely be worth quite a lot more as famous rarities.

End of the series then, and this second foray of An Idiot Broad has been good value. The first episode had me worried that they were striving too hard to re-create the effortless fun of the first and failing. But after that initial mis-step the series seemed to relax and find its own groove and be thoroughly good viewing week in, week out. Dare I say it, but I think I liked it more than the first one.

What was the best part?

Easily the part where Karl had his prostrate checked. He took it in good humour and, strangely, it probably did more for raising awareness about what such a simple and important check it is that might prompt men over 40 to do the same.

What do I think will happen next?

Ricky Gervais is usually pretty strict on quitting on a high, and his television output so far has always took the trend of two series, and a special (not including the podcasts that inspired The Ricky Gervais Show). So, I suppose, there’s always scope that there will be An Idiot Abroad special. Given the massive success of the show, though, I would imagine there’s a lot of encouragement to go right ahead and make a third. If they can get the right conceptual reason to be sending Karl overseas then I certainly would be tuning in.

An Idiot Abroad: S02 Ep07

What happened?

Karl is sent off to Japan, ostensibly to climb Mount Fuji, for the last of his bucket list journeys. Before he climbs the mountain he takes a trip to a cat cafe, samples rare sushi dishes, tackles sumo wrestling whilst all the time trying to think of a new invention to make his mark on the world. He eventually comes up with Pilkopants; in-built cushioning for trousers.

Thoughts

I was looking forward to seeing Japan through Karl Pilkington’s eyes and it’s fair for me to say that I was a little disappointed. I didn’t really get the feel of what the place was like because the programme seemed more intent on making him go and visit various pre-planned appointments, be it the cat cafe or the sumo wrestling. Whilst these were by turns either amusing or interesting there wasn’t a little portion of the programme left over just to show Karl having a wander and seeing whatever he came across.

This episode lacked that sense of spontaneity.

I think the closest the show got to demonstrating the strangeness of everyday Japan was when the room full of builders were all engaging in morning exercises before they started work. It was a truly bizarre sight. At least a thousand builders in hard hats all crammed together and doing stretches and postures to loosen up and get them ready for the day – it’s so mad but so weirdly understandable; that’s the kind of thing that fascinates me about the place.

Karl versus the Sumo wrestlers went as predicted, with Karl getting picked up and thrown around and pressed against fat, sweaty wrestling skin. I felt like I’d already seen this kind of thing before, from the time Karl visited the wrestlers in Mexico in the first series. So whilst it was funny to see Karl haggling over wearing his boxer shorts under his thong (he does have a self-consciousness about wearing anything revealing, I’ve noticed) there really wasn’t anything refreshing to see.

Karl's trip the Buddhist monastery went well in the end, although even Karl managed to find conflict and pain there after his transgression during the meditation period. But in the end he managed to find contentment and common ground over the tradition of gathering to make and drink tea. If you had to pick anything in the world you could bank on Karl being pleased about it, it's a cup of tea!

I did like the part where he was sent to sample a rare sushi dish, that had been fermented for years. His reaction on being presented with it was funny, as was his debating with the man who served him that it would be better etiquette if he went first rather than Karl (a hopelessly idiotic argument that the guy quickly deflected in good-humour). And, of course, Karl took a mouthful of it and then soon later was throwing up in the bushes. There was an inevitability to it all that didn’t stop it being funny – quite the opposite.

The climax of the episode, and the series properly (I realise there is another episode next week that is a look back at all that has happened) did at least end on a high. It was a literal high, with Karl making it to the summit of Mount Fuji. But I really liked how the show didn’t cheapen it out too much. From Karl’s wry observations at the beginning, seeing that everyone coming back down the mountain appeared to be travelling in pairs, that dissolved into him very tired, listing off famous double acts he knew. And then there was a little monologue where he talked about how he wasn’t one for finishing things, talking about not finishing school or even getting married, and that was actually rather moving to see him consider making it to the top of the mountain as an urge to actually, for once, finish something.

It was also good to see that when he reached the summit at dawn, and marvelled at the view, in typical fashion he could appreciate that it was spectacular whilst at the same time moaning about how he felt like shit. It did look magnificent.

Of course, An Idiot Abroad does play for laughs, so there was the punchline of the Pilkopants revealed. His invention formed from needing a comfortable place to sit wherever he was, the cushioning he had stuck to the backside of his trousers looked ridiculous, and it had a ridiculous name, but Karl’s unswerving sense that it was a winning invention just about sums him up. He’s one on his own, with his own ideas about how things should be.

So not the greatest bucket list event to cap off the series, but at least the finale felt deserving of the climax and proved to be a strong conclusion to what has been a very good series. It perhaps may even be the last one, too (although the sheer success of it must have the powers that be hoping it won’t be and pushing for another one!).

What was the best part?

I’m tempted to plump for the sequence where Karl ate the raw fish and then vomited, but for sheer class and a fitting finale, I have to say the journey up the mountain was good stuff – and probably the show’s most classy moment. Despite the Pilkopants.

What do I think will happen next?

Next up is a retrospective over Karl’s journey with Ricky and Steve; it’ll probably be a lot of fun, like a video version of their podcasts, so I am looking forward to it perhaps more than any of the ‘proper’ episodes. (And Ricky Gervais on Twitter has been talking about how it’s his favourite episode of the series and is really good, so that helps generate more enthusiasm for it.)

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.

An Idiot Abroad: S02 Ep05

What happened?

Karl was presented with the opportunity to travel to Uganda to see mountain gorillas in their natural environment. Before then he was given something of a small tour of South Africa and Africa, to once again be presented with bungee jumping, to seeing a house where a hippo is kept as a pet, to be a children’s teacher and to build a new hut for a poor family as well as cook for a king.

Thoughts

I really feel like this show has settled down a lot more into itself, almost as though it’s comfortable with itself and what it’s about without having to try too hard. The first episode tried too hard for me and, slowly, over the course of things, that sense of forced amusement and stunt pieces has given way to a more flowing vibe and it’s really helping the show along.

Take Karl taking a visit to the school and then to the mass maze of hut homes in South Africa. Now this was an eye opening place (and credit for the high definition views, some of the shots this show captures of the world are quite amazing and something An Idiot Abroad doesn’t get particularly noticed for). But whilst it was amusing to see Karl struggling to teach children about risk there was the undercurrent of what their life is really like when they were asking about the risk of getting pregnant at just thirteen years old.

Same for the building of the hut. The guy whose home they knocked down and rebuilt was lay ill by the side, and whilst Karl quipped and later bickered with Stephen Merchant about the futility of his actions (genuinely touching, just hearing Karl’s exasperation at how his efforts were so miniscule in making a difference to the overwhelming problems of the area) the programme was also showing us what conditions these people live in are like. It did it without patronising or ramming the message home – it showed us a world of need and deprivation and still made us chuckle at Karl.

I guess what I am saying is that An Idiot Abroad does have the potential to be justified and vital, and not just a show about putting Karl Pilkington through as much shit as possible and then sticking a camera in his face to record his expression and see what he has to say about it.

There was something near-justified in presenting Karl with another opportunity to do a bungee jump which he subsequently declined, it kind of makes it into a running theme during the series since it was something he also failed to do during the first episode. That he lied about it to Ricky was amusing, but better was the last reveal that Karl had got one of the crew to do it for him and was going to pretend that was him – only the hat had fallen off the guy and so revealed a head of hair that Karl patently does not have.

Again, what made this reveal all the better was seeing Karl discuss it on the phone with Ricky and laugh about it. Again, Karl laughs! It’s better that the show allows him this – isn’t afraid to occasionally drop his dead-pan, morose demeanour to let us see there is a sense of humour and fun beneath.

The show is, of course, called An Idiot Abroad and it’s perhaps worth me remembering that before I get all irritable about the actual end, where Karl was presented with gorillas, and seemed to become utterly bored with it. Maybe it’s just because it’s one of those things that I would have been fabulously fascinated by (far more than boring old whales from the last episode) but his grumbling all the way along the trek to find the gorillas and then near-tedium once he was there just rubbed me up the wrong way.

As I said, I suppose I ought to remember that he is the ‘idiot’ that is abroad and, as such, I ought not to be too surprised when he behaves in a manner I deem idiotic! Good episode all round though and, you know, I think this series is actually shaping up to be stronger than the first one.

What was the best part?

I really liked the part where Karl was being a teacher. His flipping between being stuck for what to say to becoming incredibly agitated, like when they thought he shaved his head and he adamantly announced that he was in fact bald, were very amusing. But the bit where he mentioned that he didn’t have children despite having a girlfriend for seventeen years, and then having to clarify that she wasn’t seventeen years old was laugh out loud funny.

What do I think will happen next?

Karl is off to travel Route 66 in America, which might prove to be mightily entertaining or it might be one of those episodes where a lot more gets set up along the way and so loses that fluid, impromptu quality the series has been developing. I’ll continue to hope for the best, and the good news is that Karl will at least be able to communicate better with the people he meets which might mine more comedy gold.

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!

An Idiot Abroad: S02 Ep03

What happened?

This week’s bucket list charged Karl with being sent off to Australia to swim with dolphins. However, he was sent to Thailand first as a stopping off point to see ladyboys, visit Monkeytown and fight in a blind Thai boxing tournament. It was only when he arrived in Australia was he informed “swimming with dolphins” had changed to “swimming with sharks”, and Karl was placed into a cage and lowered in to the water with the deadly fish.

Thoughts

It was good to see An Idiot Abroad feel like it was back on form with this week’s episode. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and perhaps it was telling that the actual ‘bucket list’ event of the episode was the least engaging part of it. Better was the bulk of the episode that followed Karl in Bangkok and, as usual, participating in stuff and witnessing things that other travel documentary shows shy away from.

It was very strange seeing Karl dressed up as a woman by the ladyboys. They actually did a good job in making him look feminine! If they could have persuaded him to shave his beard off then he might have actually made you look twice. Of course, the genuine ladyboys were practically indistinguishable from regular women, and it was fun to see Karl confronted with it and then question his own sense of gender. I’m sure Suzanne his girlfriend would be thrilled to hear that if he found out she was a guy all along then he’d probably stay with her anyway – albeit demanding that she participate in more heavy lifting!

This episode certainly did make me laugh and chuckle pretty frequently. Karl getting put through his paces by the Thai boxing instructor, and looking like he was genuinely getting angry and stressed out by the physical endurance and being harassed by a dog at the same time. The blind Thai boxing part did succeed in making Karl look silly, but I’m glad they didn’t dwell on it.

It was good that Karl actually (well, seemed to) go out and see something that he wanted to see. Going to Monkeytown was just bizarre. Monkeys are those kinds of animals that are cuter in idea and perception than they are in reality; they are smelly, scavenging and pretty wild. That there was this entire area called Monkeytown that was given over to the monkeys (and, naturally, the tourists) just boggled my mind.

Karl has been synonymous with monkeys for quite some years, for anyone that ever heard the podcasts or watched The Ricky Gervais Show, he was regularly reading out ‘monkey news’. Clearly he has an interest in them, and so to see him broken down and disappointed, lamenting ever meeting his heroes, was pretty funny.

I did think Karl was in very good form here, and it’s his mood that can very much make or break the show. He really seemed to go with the flow in Thailand in good humour – from the moment he turned up there to be fired at with water and paste, trundling into his hotel looking like a refugee, he got involved in everything that was thrown at him. Kudos as well for remarking how picturing a naked Rupert Murdoch in his head made him think of a turtle without its shell!

When the climax of the episode came, the swimming with sharks bit, I just didn’t feel it. I think the editing of the piece did its best to make it look exciting but, really, it was just Karl in a cage looking frantically around him as, occasionally, sharks came near. Can’t really expect more, of course – I am not suggesting I would only have been satisfied had his cage been attacked like he was Richard Dreyfuss in Jaws – but I did wonder if maybe the original plan of swimming with dolphins might have produced a genuinely good, golden moment.

It wouldn’t be in the spirit of An Idiot Abroad to have Karl enjoy something and have it be wondrous, but coming at the end of a gruelling episode and journey I don’t think anyone would have begrudged him a joyful experience at the close.

What was the best part?

I thought Monkeytown was the best part, purely because it was a fascinating place to see anyway. But watching Karl being accosted by monkeys crawling over him, snatching food out of his hands, amidst this strange little area of Bangkok was something I found interesting and entertaining.

What do I think will happen next?

Karl is being sent off to some frozen wastelands to see whales, by the looks of the clips at the end of this episode. Should be interesting, actually.

An Idiot Abroad: S02 Ep2

What happened?

Karl was sent to experience the Tran Siberian Express; one of the longest train journeys on Earth on a train that contains the most opulent and fantastic standards of travelling alongside third-class levels. En route he is taken to experience zero-g effects at a Russian astronaut training facility, meets a man that can stick metal to his body and finishes up in a Chinese dwarf village.

Thoughts

Well, it was better than last week’s! I felt like Karl was given a little more licence and freedom and there was less pre-arranged stunts or events for him to contend with. Again, like the bungee jumping last week, the one genuinely amazing experience put in front of him (of going up in the plane to experience true weightlessness in zero g conditions) he elected to wangle his way out of.

I know it’s his character, and he is being absolutely true to himself in not going ahead and doing stuff he resolutely doesn’t want to do just because he’s on television, but at the same time it’s plain annoying to watch. I don’t find it funny. I don’t find myself on his side. I find myself disliking him for squandering these amazing opportunities.

I never felt like that watching the first series. Throughout that one I was always sympathetic to his plight but, for series 2, this idiot abroad is only really being idiotically resistant. So instead of him on the flight we had to settle for a bag of Revels being flung about in zero g in his stead. That’s not good entertainment.

More entertaining was Karl being made to wrestle for the honour of some Mongolian tribe. Not only did he look ridiculous but his fed-up reaction to it was terrific. The difference here was that he actually did get on with it. He stayed with the people (joining in with their chanting singing!) and practised the wrestling and then turned up and competed. As he said, there was no surprise in that he didn’t win but at least he gave it a go! So long as he does that the show works – it’s when he just turns his nose up, folds his arms and refuses to play does it get frustrating.

On the plus side there was a lot more of this episode that felt like the first series, and was better for it. His arrival in Moscow, with the most grumpy taxi driver ever, was amusing. But better was the look on his face when he went into the bar and spotted a bunch of guys sat at a table wearing only towels; just that glancing expression of disbelief to camera when he had passed them was priceless.

It was also interesting to see him aboard the Tran Siberian Express, particularly when we followed him being moved through the train, down the class levels, into the nightmarish conditions of third class and his bed that was little more than a shelf. It was utterly contrived but made for good viewing, seeing him perched up there hating every second of it.

Where this show actually succeeds is in being a kind of anti-travel show. Normally such shows will seek out new places and far off lands and show them in the best light. In the first series of An Idiot Abroad the strength and freshness of it was in having Karl turn up at the pyramids and remark about how scruffy the place was, or arrive at the Great Wall of China and fail to see the wonder in a wall that had been patched up and re-built in the modern age. This episode had touches of that down-to-earth, this is how it is viewpoint with the unflinching look at how crap the third class conditions were; this is where the show validates itself and was something last week’s jungle-based expedition completely lacked.

Maybe it’s just the joke is wearing thin. It’s not a concept that can be spun out for much longer. Maybe. I’m not completely down on it because there was plenty to chuckle at and enjoy. Like the dwarf village was fascinating and weird, and it was a nice touch to have Karl contact Warwick Davis and discuss it with him. That Karl was, for once, positive about something that Warwick could see nothing positive about was typical: Pilkington remains a man forever at odds with popular perception!

What was the best part?

For all the centrifugal machinery and dwarf villages, the best part of the show is Karl being Karl. As such the best part of the episode for me was, having met the man that could stick metal to him, Karl was asked what kind of power he would like to have. The following little monologue about how he’d be ‘bullshit man’, turning up and remarking “bullshit” wherever anyone was talking crap, was absolutely genius.

What do I think will happen next?

Next week Karl is to go swimming with sharks. If there hadn’t been some clips with him actually in the cage, in the water with the sharks, then I’d have worried it would be another case of him being presented with another experience he’d refuse to properly take on. I still doubt how much of it he will do, but we’ll see. The episode does have the potential to have more contrivance, though, so my hopes aren’t particularly raised.

An Idiot Abroad: S02 Ep01

What Happened?

Having traversed the Seven Wonders of the World, Karl Pilkington's new globe-trotting agenda has focussed on him experiencing selected items from a 'Bucket List'; a list of things to do before you die. In this episode he is sent to the South Pacific where he gets to spend a whole night alone on his own desert island (but not before he is offered opportunities to bungee jump, and landjump with tribal natives. . .).

Thoughts

I was always of the opinion that An Idiot Abroad was at its best during the first series when there was less 'forced' event and more of Karl Pilkington being documented experiencing the things he came up against that were not prompted or predicted. It's for this reason I felt this opening episode of the new series felt just too forced, felt like it was trying too hard, and it just didn't translate as naturally well.

For example, in the first episode of the first series, when Karl visited China, there was a period of time where he was left to his own devices to go and walk around and explore the place. It was during that time he came across the various stalls selling crazy food, and saw a guy walk by carrying his own toilet seat amongst other things; it was like a little treasure trove of insights about what things are really like there that offered amusement and some genuinely interesting views of a country you've probably never been to presented in a way most travel documentaries don't dwell on.

It was refreshing.

This episode didn't capture that refreshing vibe. As I said, it felt like it was trying too hard, constantly throwing pre-arranged stuff at Karl as though afraid that letting him just be left alone to show us where he was through his eyes would be too boring for the audience. The very thing that I thought was the show's biggest strength is the very thing the show creators seem too afraid to fall back on. And so seeing him forced into ingratiating himself to tribes, and barely want to adopt their customs, dress and practices simply made for uncomfortable viewing rather than the feel of 'one of us' reacting to life 'over there'.

Admittedly there was the funny moment, when he was refusing to wear the leaf pants of the natives, where Karl acknowledged to the crew behind the camera that it was awkward - only for the native, 'Jon', to push on and insist that it was going to happen anyway. But that amusement was tempered by the feel that Karl was probably being rather insulting to these people; his belligerence and stout English mentality wasn't translating as humour and more like narrow-minded ignorance. Not cool. I know it's very much Karl's character to be resistant to new experiences but, fact is, he was in their tribe with a film crew all around him and to just point blank refuse to get involved became tiresome.

Same goes for the bungee jump at the beginning. To be fair, Karl had said he definitely would never do such a thing. But then why get all trussed up for it, camera mounted on his helmet, and have the bungee guys all urging him on, only to refuse to do it? It made for infuriating viewing. I really wanted the bungee guy just to put a boot on Karl's back and shove him off the ledge because, as Ricky Gervais was saying in one of his phone calls, there's every chance he'd have found it more of a thrill and a rush than his fears were screaming at him. As viewers, we wanted to see Karl take the jump and be amazed and enthralled by the experience of it - instead we got him backtracking.

The landjump was similarly disappointing, though it did yield the amazing rarity of Karl in fits of laughter afterwards when even he realised how utterly pathetic his small five foot 'fall' into mud had been in comparison to the thirty foot plus jump he was supposed to attempt (in fairness, leaping off the rickety scaffold to practically land headfirst in the ground with your fall broken only by a special vine didn't look very health and safety conscious!).

So from a tribe that worshipped Prince Phillip (I shared Karl's confusion about how such a thing happened) to sliding down the side of a volcano on an arseboard (didn't look like much fun since there appeared to be more pushing than sliding) we finally arrived at the climax of the episode; a night on a desert Island. It certainly looked miserable. Pissing down with rain, sitting on shingle sheltered only by palm leaves, eating some miserable potato-like vegetable slow-roasted over the embers of a dismal fire. This, of course, is what An Idiot Abroad wants to be about this series; pushing Karl into conceptually amazing experiences and converting them into the most arduous and embarrassing and fun-sapping results. It's a good pitch but, incongruously, it demands more set up and pre-arrangement and that drains the vitality that the first series possessed.

Hopefully it'll get better. It's still an amusing show, and still one to have recorded on series link to ensure you don't miss it, and for sure it'll be one that people will be talking about at workplaces all over the land on Monday morning. But, for me, being so excited about it, it's return to the screen was marred with more disappointment than entertainment.

What was the best part?

Karl discussing with Ricky his accomplishments with the landjump, and breaking down into laughter when he realised how pathetic his efforts had been. It wasn't so much the subject matter that was so funny, it was more just the sight of Karl laughing hard. Whether it's a well-cultivated demeanour he maintains, or whether he really rarely laughs, or whether the first series just edited out such giggly glee previously, it was hard not to laugh along with that miserable sod as he cracked up.

What do I think will happen next?

Given this is a documentary and not a drama it's not really essential to make speculation about what I think will happen next. I know from the 'next week' preview that Karl will be venturing aboard the Transsiberian Express and, from the few clips shown, it looked like a lot more interesting and engaging subject matter. Hopefully it'll be the return to the feel of series one and re-capture that magic.