Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Perfectly Square Bit of Dirt on the Window.
Funny how you get more right-wing as you get older...
After winning the Golden Cleric in the previous episode, Ted is seemingly reaping the benefits, having been moved to a cushy parish in Dublin, with good food, intelligent company, beautiful surroundings, the prospect of a trip to Paris and free tickets for the races. Unfortunately, the parish accountant notices some discrepancies in Ted's expenses ... and he finds himself swiftly banished back to Craggy Island.
After settling in back at the parochial house, Ted finds in his absence Jack has become agoraphobic and following a series of falls, Mrs. Doyle is pretty much crippled and incapable of cleaning the house. After a stupid joke of Ted's results in him being branded a racist by the island's (suprisingly sizeable) Chinese community, Ted finds his efforts to clear his name being thwarted by the decrepit condition of the parochial house and the antics of a fellow priest with some unwholesome interests.
Tropes featured in this episode:
- An Aesop:
- Ill-timed, poorly thought out actions can damage or destroy one’s reputation.
- If you've been caught doing something offensive or upsetting, don't try to justify your actions or try to overcorrect them. Just apologize and try to make up for it by making smaller gestures instead of large ones.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: When visiting Father Fitzpatrick to reclaim a book he lent, Fitzpatrick looks through his bookcase, rattling off the numerous significant philosophical and theological texts he owns before coming to the book Ted was after...Fr. Fitzpatrick: Let's see now, Humanae Vitae. You know, sometimes I leaf through this to see just how far we've come. Celebration Of The Christian Mystery, Daeus Canida, Ventra Mepolo ... ah, Stephen King's The Shining.
- Both Sides Have a Point: While Ted's quite right to point out that he's not actually a bigoted person and just happened to do an offensive impression at a really poor time, it's not too hard to understand why the Ying family aren't inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt, given that Ted tries to give lame excuses and rambling justifications for his actions rather than apologising at the start.
- Brief Accent Imitation: Ted’s Chinese accent
- Cannot Tell Fiction from Reality: Ted refers to Ming the Merciless as a "notable Chinese person" in his presentation, ignorant of the fact that as well as being fictional, Ming the Merciless is not even from the planet Earth, let alone China. Among the other famous Chinese people he mentions is Mr. Miyagi, who is actually Japanese — as well as (also) fictional.
- Chekhov's Gun: The perfectly square bit of dirt pointed out by Ted near the start of the episode later comes back to haunt him, as does the massive amount of Nazi memorabilia owned by the priest Ted visits at the beginning of the episode.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Father Jack, on account of his constant emerging from confined spaces due to his newly developed agoraphobia.
- Conflict Ball: Combined with Idiot Ball. Ted gives a really obviously lame excuse for his "Chinaman" impression rather than immediately apologising to the Ying family — mostly because the Yings would probably have just accepted the apology, and then the episode would have been over.
- Cringe Comedy: Ted's attempts to clear himself of racism lead to the situation getting worse, up to and including giving a bad presentation on diversity.
- Cyanide Pill: Father Fitzpatrick and his Nazi lodger inadvertently take two of these.Fr. Fitzpatrick: Wait, this aren't Valium! These are the cyanide we kept for emergencies! You put cyanide next to the Valium, you old fool! That's asking for trouble!Nazi Lodger: Oh shut up!Fr. Fitzpatrick: You shut up! We've only got 15 seconds to live!
- Digging Yourself Deeper / Not Helping Your Case: As mentioned above, Ted’s attempts at clearing himself of the allegations of racism make the situation worse.
- Discriminate and Switch: Mrs Carberry initially appears to praise Ted and condemn the Chinese for stealing Craggy Island's jobs and women, but it turns out she was talking about the Greeks.
- Dumbass Has a Point: When Ted is accused of being racist towards Craggy Island's Chinese community, Dougal tells him to hold a presentation praising Chinese culture, as a gesture of good faith. It may count as a subversion, though: when Ted asks Dougal to follow up on his brilliant idea, poor Dougal panics, as he didn't think coming up with a good idea would be so much work. And the Chinese people didn't actually enjoy the presentation, but they appreciated the free drinks afterwards.
- Embarrassing Slide: The Māori slide becomes this for poor Ted.
- Former Regime Personnel: Father Fitzpatrick is not just an avid collector of Nazi war memorabilia — he's also been hiding an old Nazi in his house for many years.
- Friendly Local Chinatown: Craggy Island has a surprisingly large one, which Ted has hitherto not noticed.Ted: Since when have Chinese people been living on the island?Dougal: There's a load of them there in the Chinatown area.Ted: Chinatown area? There's a Chinatown on Craggy Island?
- From Bad to Worse: Ted manages to escape from an angry crowd pelting him with rotten eggs for being a racist by running into a nearby pub ... only to find it full of Chinese patrons.
- Gilligan Cut: The Dublin parish accountant asks Ted to clarify a few things he put under "expenses". Cut to Dougal opening the Craggy Island parochial house door in the middle of a storm and being overjoyed to see a thoroughly bedraggled Ted.
- Godwin's Law of Facial Hair: After inviting the Chinese family to his home so he can apologise for his actions and explain himself, Ted sees them through a window and tries to wave at them. However, Ted was unknowingly standing behind a black spot on the window, giving him the toothbrush mustache and making his gestures resemble a Hitler salute, which upsets the family more.
- Innocent Bigot: Ted, in this episode.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: During his presentation, a slide of a Māori man appears. Ted apologises for the mistake, insisting there are of course no Māori on Craggy Island ... only for a man in the crowd with the traditional tā moko to take offence.
- Interchangeable Asian Cultures: At one point, Ted says Mr. Miyagi is a "notable Chinese person". Mr. Miyagi is Japanese. And that's not the only time...
- Mistaken for Racist: The premise of the whole episode. Played with in that it starts out thanks to Ted doing something that actually is racist, but it gets blown out of proportion thanks to the combination of his failure to give an immediate apology, the islanders never paying any attention to what he says (and in some cases, using Ted's supposed racism to validate their own prejudices), and mishaps involving a perfectly square bit of dirt and Ted inheriting a stash of Nazi memorabilia at a particularly inopportune moment.
- Nazi Grandpa: Father Fitzpatrick and his Nazi lodger.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Ted, having been transferred to a fancy parish in Dublin following his Golden Cleric award, buggers up chances of advancement in the Church hierarchy. Apparently, the old "the money was just resting in my account" excuse still doesn't work.
- Oh, Crap!: Ted slowly realising Father Fiztpatrick owns what is less a collection of Second World War memorabilia and more a shrine to the Third Reich.
- Racist Grandma: Mrs Carberry wholeheartedly approves of Ted being racist.Mrs Carberry: I don't care who he gets as long as I can have a go at the Greeks! They invented gayness!
- Rearrange the Song: The ending theme is redone in a Chinese folk music style.
- Reassigned to Antarctica: In this example, more a case of "Reassigned back to Antarctica" as Ted starts off at a fancy Dublin parish, only to be sent back to Craggy Island for financial misconduct.
- Red-Flag Recreation Material: Ted borrows a copy of The Shining from Father Seamus Fitzpatrick... and it turns out that reading the extremely dark Stephen King novel is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Fitzpatrick's hobbies, as he's also an avid collector of World War II memorabilia - all of which are from the Nazis, leaving Ted deeply uncomfortable when he returns the book. Soon after, it turns out Fitzpatrick is in fact a full-on Nazi sympathizer and has even been harbouring an actual former Nazi in his house. Fortunately, this revolves itself when he and said fugitive accidentally mix up Valium with the elderly Nazi's cyanide pills and kill themselves. Unfortunately for Ted, Fitzpatrick left him all the memorabilia in his will.
- Remember the New Guy?: The fact that Craggy Island is home to a sizeable Chinese community has never been mentioned before. Ted himself was unaware of them. It's possible that they moved there while he was in Dublin, although Dougal acts as though they've been there for years (but then, this is Dougal we're talking about here).
- Shout-Out: While doing his Chinaman impression, Ted says 'I am Chinese, if you please'. It could as well be that he's saying 'We are Siamese, if you please'.
- Socially Unacceptable Collection: Father Fitzpatrick's Nazi memorabilia, which he leaves to Ted in his will ... and which arrives at around the same time as Ted has told Mrs. Doyle to expect a delivery of material with which to redecorate the parochial house.
- Status Quo Is God: Ted's move to a fancy parish in Dublin doesn't last long — he's back on Craggy Island before the opening credits.
- Suddenly Shouting: "I'M NOT AFTER THE CHINESE!"
- Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: After Ted accidentally offends the Chinese family, a couple of locals applaud him for "standing up" to them and ask how they, too, can become full-time racists. Ted is horrified.
