Recap / Blackadder S 3 E 1 Dish And Dishonesty

You know, Blackadder, for me socks are like sex. Tons of it about, and I never seem to get any.

Edmund Blackadder, now a butler to the Prince Regent, is not happy. Despite the usual problems of dealing with all the idiots around him, Prince George's extravagant sock habit is bankrupting the country, and Parliament is trying to cut him off. The only way to stop Prince George being utterly bankrupted is to tip the vote in their favour, which means getting one of their own elected to Parliament, but who? A man without a will of his own, a puppet, purely under their control. One might almost say, a man without a brain.

Baldrick gets elected to Parliament after an outrageously rigged election. However, Baldrick is so stupid he votes for the wrong side and the bill passes, moving on to the House of Lords. Blackadder uses this as an opportunity to swindle a fortune and a peerage out of the Prince Regent, but he's a bit too subtle about it and the Prince gives the rewards to Baldrick instead. Baldrick promptly spends the money on his lifelong dream, a priceless turnip - which Blackadder immediately smashes over his head.

Tropes

• Ambiguous Syntax:
  • Sir Talbot Buxomly "dined heartily off a servant", which Prince George interprets as his eating a servant rather than eating off them like a table (the latter being what Sir Talbot did).
  • Due to Vincent Hanna's hushed delivery, it's not entirely clear if Brigadier-General Horace Bolsom represents the Keep Royalty White, Rat-Catching and Safe Sewage Residents' Party or the Keep Royalty, White Rat-Catching, etc. Do they believe in keeping royalty white and catching rats, or in keeping royalty and catching white rats? Most transcripts and online resources go for the former.
• Anachronism Stew:
  • At play in this episode and for the rest of the third series. William Pitt The Younger declares his intentions to fight Napoléon Bonaparte, yet a few episodes later the events of The Scarlet Pimpernel take place including The French Revolution, which of course took place before Boney came to power in France — while the final episode features The Duke of Wellington who is mentioned as only recently come back from fighting Napoleonic forces in Spain. For all intents and purposes, the series is presented out of chronological order.
  • Also the pervasiveness of powdered wigs; Pitt had actually instituted a tax on them in the 1780s that combined with a few other factors to kill the fashion. Portraits of George IV actually stand out for his clearly displayed short, brown curly hair (which was a main dandy fashion of the Era).
• Antidisestablishmentarianism: Blackadder tells the Prince Regent he'll be back before the Prince can say it. Naturally he's right.
  The Prince Regent: Anti-distinctly minty...
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking:
  • The prince regent's chief expenses are banqueting, perfume and socks.
  • The Standing At the Back Dressed Stupidly and Looking Stupid Party's main policies are the compulsory serving of asparagus at breakfast, free corsets for the under-fives and the abolition of slavery (though they do note they only wrote the last one in for a joke).
• Artistic License – History:
  • In real life, Pitt the Younger was a close ally of King George III. The episode implies that he was a member of the Whig Party, when in fact the real Pitt the Younger was a Tory (although his father had been a Whig).
  • The episode also implies that he directly succeeded his father, Pitt the Elder, as Prime Minister. In fact, Pitt the Elder died five years before his son came to power, and ten years after he himself left the position.
  • Pitt the Younger's real-life younger brother, James Pitt, also died before he came to power, meaning that there wouldn't have been a "Pitt the Even Younger" to run in the by-election. He did have an older brother, John Pitt, Earl of Chatham, who was alive during the events of this episode, but he was a member of the House of Lords at the time.^note (well, that and having a "Pitt the Slightly Less Younger" competing against Baldrick probably wouldn't have been as funny)
• As Himself: Vincent Hanna, who was at the time a political correspondent at the BBC who often covered by-elections, appears as a fictionalised version of himself, presenting the coverage of the Dunny-on-the-Wold by-election. He is credited "as his own great-great-great-grandfather".
• Atomic F-Bomb: D rather than F when Edmund finds out that Baldrick was made a Lord at the Prince Regent's request, after Edmund strongly suggested himself for that honour.
  Mr. Blackadder: Sir, might I let loose a short, violent exclamation?
  The Prince Regent: Certainly.
  Mr. Blackadder: DAAAAAAAMN! Thank you, sir.
• Brick Joke: The greatest of all Pitt the Younger's complaints against Prince George is how much he spends on socks. Unsurprisingly, in Blackadder and the Prince's first scene together, it turns out Blackadder is stealing them and selling them. At the very end of the episode, a naked Tunisian sock merchant comes to the servant's entrance looking for Blackadder.
• Brutal Honesty: Sir Talbot Buxomley is pretty blunt in telling Prince George he thinks he's a terrible Regent.
• Cheating with the Milkman: Blackadder makes a reference to this when Pitt mentions his brother: "And which Pitt would this be? Pitt the Toddler? Pitt the Embryo? Pitt the Glint in the Milkman's Eye?"
• A Child Shall Lead Them: Pitt the Younger.
• Comically Missing the Point: When he was a child, Baldrick would go up to people and introduce himself, and was told "Yes, we know. Sod off, Baldrick". Which he interpreted as them saying his first name was "Sod Off".
• Comically Small Bribe: Baldrick would be perfectly content with a turnip, provided he didn't feel he was pricing himself out of the market.
• The Coroner Doth Protest Too Much: The returning officer and lone voter in Dunny-on-the-Wold apparently died, respectively, from accidentally brutally cutting his head off while combing his hair, and accidentally brutally stabbing himself in the stomach while shaving.
• Credits Gag: Vincent Hanna plays "His Own Great-great-great grandfather"
• Decided by One Vote: Presumably the outcome of the vote in the House of Commons to impoverish Prince George, given that Baldrick's mistakenly voting in favour of the bill was apparently decisive.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance:
  Vincent Hanna: Well, many people may find your stance on asparagus perfectly reasonable, but what's this extremist nonsense about abolishing slavery?
  Ivor "Jest Ye Not, Madam" Biggun^note of the Standing at the Back, Dressed Stupidly and Looking Stupid Party: Oh, we just put that in for a joke. See you next year!
• Dominance Through Furniture: Sir Talbot Buxomly states that he uses his servants as tables to eat off of.
  Sir Talbot: Why should I spend money on furniture when I have perfectly good men standing idle?
• Dumbass Has a Point: When talking about how much money he spends on socks, the Prince comments that they always seem to go missing, adding that it's as if someone is stealing them. Blackadder's reaction suggests that, for once, the Prince is actually right.
• Election Day Episode: The episode is about a by-election in an obscure rotten borough that Blackadder and the Prince Regent have managed to gain control of, putting forward Baldrick as their candidate as someone who can be relied on to vote as the Prince desires. The sole voter in the borough is one E. Blackadder, following the unfortunate accidental beheading of the previous voter.
• Every Man Has His Price: When applying to become an MP, Baldrick is asked what his "minimum bribe level" would be. He responds that it would be one turnip, although he's worried that he might be pricing himself out of the market.
• Fictional Political Party: After the MP for rotten borough Dunny-on-the-Wold (consisting of nothing more than a tiny plot of land, many farm animals and only one actual voter) suddenly died, the Prince Regent and Blackadder decide to run Baldrick as their own candidate and tip Parliament in their favour. Baldrick runs on behalf of the "Adder Party", a name which becomes much more appropriate when it turns out that Blackadder was both the borough's Returning Officer and lone voter after both died in freak "accidents". Other fictitious parties on the ballot included "Keep Royalty White, Rat Catching and Safe Sewage Residents' Party" and the "Standing at the Back Dressed Stupidly and Looking Stupid Party" (whose party line stands for "the compulsory serving of asparagus at breakfast, free corsets for the under-fives (girls, obviously) and the abolition of slavery" — though the last one was just put in as a joke). The last two are a Shout-Out to two real minor perennial candidates at British elections at the time the show was broadcast — Bill Boaks, who usually stood as something like "Democratic Monarchist Road Safety White Resident", and Screaming Lord Sutch of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party (which, in their heyday of the 70s and 80s, proposed ludicrous policies, although by the 2010s a couple of them had actually been proposed and enacted by the government — much like the reference to the abolition of slavery was implied to be).
• Flat "What": Blackadder, when Baldrick tells him his first name might be Sod Off.
• Funny Background Event: The MP sitting behind Pitt who gives a hearty and hammy "Boo! Boo! Boo!"
• The Help Helping Themselves: The only reason Prince George is bankrupt is because he has to keep replacing the socks Blackadder is implied to be stealing from him. For once in his life, the Prince is surprisingly on the mark...
  Prince George: It was as if someone was coming in here, stealing the damn things and selling them on!
  Blackadder: [coughs nervously] Impossible, sir. Only you and I have access to your socks.
• Insistent Terminology: Even as Blackadder's bludgeoning him senseless to get his bribe money back, Baldrick still corrects him that he should be properly addressed as "my lord".
• Jerkass: Sir Talbot Buxomley apparently eats dinner off his servant's backs, because why spend money on tables when he's got men standing around?
• Landslide Election: Baldrick ^note Adder Party wins the election, 16,472 to 0. In a constituency with one voter. Vincent Hanna's ancestor questions this anomaly, to which the voter in question, Blackadder himself, explains that he cast so many votes because he believed in Baldrick so much.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Ultimately, Blackadder's dire situation at the end of the episode is partly his own fault, for stealing George's socks and driving his living costs even higher than their already-extravagant levels.
• Last-Name Basis: Baldrick has not had a first name until this episode. Now it seems to be Sod Off, but even he's not sure.
  Blackadder (filling out an MP application form): First name?
  Baldrick: I'm not sure.
  Blackadder: Well, you must have some idea?
  Baldrick: Well, I think it might be Sod Off.
  Blackadder: What?
  Baldrick: Well, when I was little and I used to go and play in the gutter with all the other snipes, I'd say, "Hello, my name's Baldrick," and they replied, "Yes, we know, Sod off, Baldrick."
  Blackadder: Oh, alright. Mr. S. Baldrick.
• The Linus: Pitt The Younger. He seems to be a prodigy in politics and business, but he also writes angsty poetry and says things like 'poo to you with knobs on.'
• Malaproper: This episode introduces this aspect of Baldrick's character.
• Newscaster Cameo: At the time the episode aired, Vincent Hanna was an actual newsreader who was known for frequently covering by-elections, hence his credit in this episode as "his own great, great, great grandfather".
• Only One Name: When Blackadder asks Baldrick what is his first name, he replies that he isn't sure, but it might be "Sod Off" (because when he was little, he'd say to the other kids "Hello, my name's Baldrick," and they'd say, "Yes, we know. Sod off, Baldrick.")
• Overly Prepared Gag: The show expounds at great length that Blackadder's robe is made of catskin, and since they've left the collars on, they can tell that one of them, Mr. Frisky, belonged to the infamous Lady Hamilton (Lord Nelson's mistress). All for the build-up to the inevitable joke about "Lady Hamilton's pussy".
• Phony Newscast: Vincent Hanna (a BBC election correspondent at the time of filming) appears as "his own great-great-grandfather", reporting on the Dunny-on-the-Wold by-election for The Country Gentleman's Pig Fertilizer Gazette. This is treated exactly as a TV broadcast (although he is broadcasting out of the window to the crowd), even though it's set in the 18th century.
• The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: One plot revolves around Edmund getting the Member of Parliament with the worst attendance record — Sir Talbot Buxomley, MP for Dunny-on-the-Wold — to turn up to work and vote in the Prince Regent's favour. Edmund recalls that the one time Sir Talbot did manage to attend the House of Commons, "he passed water in the Great Hall and then passed out in the Speaker's chair." ^note It would have been better if he'd done it the other way round. Sleeping in Parliament, even in debates, was not uncommon right up until it was televised in the 1980s (and for a short time afterwards). The Speaker's chair, meanwhile, is equipped with a chamber pot and curtains to accommodate exactly the need in which Sir Talbot found himself. Admittedly it's intended for the use of the Speaker, without whose presence Parliament can't sit, but still.
• Servile Snarker: The first episode with this sort of Blackadder.
• Shout-Out: The "Standing at the back dressed stupidly and looking stupid party" reminds one a lot of the "Very Silly" candidates in Monty Python's election night special sketch. They're actually based on the Monster Raving Loony Party, a genuine British political party who, in general, stand at the back dressed stupidly and look stupid. And, as in real British elections, the returning officer is put in the ridiculous situation of being forced to take them seriously. Similarly, Brigadier General Horace Bolsom is a reference to perpetual right-wing independent candidate Lieutenant Commander William Boaks.
• Strange Minds Think Alike: When the idea of the House of Lords comes up, Blackadder eagerly declares that "every man-jack" of them would be behind Prince George. Soon after, as the notion is brought to the Prince himself, he says much the same thing, a rare time Blackadder and George are thinking on the same wavelength.
• Surprisingly Sudden Death: Sir Talbot Buxomley, right as George is telling him how healthy he's looking.
• Take That!:
  • While Blackadder is filling out Baldrick's MP application form:
    Blackadder: Criminal record?
    Baldrick: Absolutely not.
    Blackadder: Oh, come on, Baldrick, you're going to be an MP, for God's sake. I'll just put "fraud and sexual deviancy".
  • Also at the judiciary, when Blackadder and the Prince are discussing how they can bribe Sir Talbot into supporting them:
    Blackadder: You could appoint him a High Court judge.
    George: Is he qualified?
    Blackadder: He's a violent, bigoted, mindless old fool.
    George: Sounds a bit overqualified!
• Tempting Fate: A double-whammy, when Sir Talbot declares he shall stand by George forever, even as he's wracked by ill-health. As George tries to say he's clearly in perfect health, Blackadder notices Sir Talbot has suffered a sudden case of dead.
• Who's on First?: When Vincent Hanna tries to interview Baldrick:
  Hanna: Perhaps he could answer one question. What does the "S" in his name stand for?
  Blackadder: "Sod Off".
  Hanna: Fair enough, none of my business, really.

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