Summary
Long Way Up episode 2 presents a touch-and-go scenario with the journey nearly finishing before it even starts.
This recap of Apple TV+ series Long Way Up season 1, episode 2, “Ushuaia” contains significant spoilers. The first three episodes will be released on September 18 and then it will be weekly.
We will be recapping every episode — check out the archive.
The opening
Ewan and Charley arrive in Ushuaia. The electric trucks look impressive and full of technology — it’s called a Rivian. There’s heavy snow in Argentina which gives the team a predicament. The producer is concerned about safety — episode 2, “Ushuaia”, does not present a good start at all.
Early problem
There is a problem early on; Harley-Davidson does not want to say that level 1 charging is good enough yet — they haven’t had time to test. Which is understandable as it’s a prototype. The production team, Ewan and Charley are not frustrated at the company, they completely understand the time constraints to create these bikes. But they do seem irritated.
Let’s get on with it
But episode 2 brings some enthusiasm as Ewan and Charley begin their journey on the cold roads and they enjoy the beautiful scenery. They do their first charge and it seems to work. They stop off at a shop where there is a new charging station. There’s a sense of relief that the journey has started.
Charging
They charge their bikes using solar panels. If they don’t charge they won’t make the ferry — at first, they don’t charge. Next steps, charging from a research station. We can assume this will be a problem for most of the series — charging will be the main point of the conversation.
The bikes are not taking a full charge and they’ve lost three days already. The team is hoping to stay somewhere but they are running out of juice in all areas. They find a shutdown hotel who helpfully open for the team; Ewan and Charley finally have a charge. But it’s still not all smooth
The ending
With bad weather and plenty of issues facing the team and frozen hands, the episode ends ironically with the power cutting off at the hotel. Long Way Up episode 2 presents a touch-and-go scenario with the journey nearly finishing before it even starts.
The only issue with this series that is nothing to do with the quality is that Ewan and Charley are presenting problems for electric vehicles which will only excite those against pro-climate change technology — it’s worth reminding these people, as Ewan does repeatedly, that this is only early days of electric vehicles and of course there will be infrastructure in the future.
