Episode Guide
Habitat Conservation Regenerative Agriculture Great Barrier Reef Torres Strait Waste Wildfire Aboriginal Voices Eco Innovators Zac Efron is back with another slice of his globe-trotting adventure, Down to Earth. However, thanks to a certain global pandemic, Efron and his crew are forced to stay in one country and surprisingly, it’s not the US! Instead, the focus here is exclusively on Australia, where Zac has the whole crew fly out to him. With a returning format and the same humour that made the first so endearing, what’s here is enjoyable but it doesn’t quite match up to what we received the first time around. The 8 episodes essentially explore individual parts of Australia, broken up into different topics for good measure. The first looks at Habitat Conservation and the importance of keeping ecosystems in check, while the Great Barrier Reef chapter looks deeper at the coral reef and the restoration techniques used to try and sustain this natural wonder of the world. There’s also an episode about waste, although the slightly egotistical way Zac and his team pat themselves on the back for reducing their carbon footprint with bottled water, forgetting to mention of course that half the crew flew over in jets to film this rather than using a locally sourced team is a bite of irony that’s not lost here. The chapters are easy to watch on the whole, with each clocking in at around 35 minutes. The same quirky wild-eyed wonder that Zac brought to the first season is evident here too, although the less globally-expansive view is a tad disappointing. The format is largely the same as before though, with Zac and lifestyle guru Darin galivanting off together to give new perspectives to old problems. The car banter is a welcome return while the array of different activities they end up getting involved in is another particular highlight. As I said before, Down to Earth does feel tailored more toward Americans than other cultures across the globe, with plenty of expository text and facts popping up on screen that should be common knowledge – especially for those living in Australia! Despite all that though, there’s enough here to enjoy and if you were a fan of the first season, chances are you’ll be a fan of this too.
