Line #9 Series/SixteenSeventy


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1670.png]]
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3	[[TitleByYear 1670]] is a Polish {{Mockumentary}} satirical comedy television series. It was released on Netflix on 13 December 2023. It follows the pursuits of Jan Paweł (pronounced John Paul, like the [[UsefulNotes/NotablePopes famous Polish Pope]]) Adamczewski, the head of a szlachta family in the [[UsefulNotes/PolishLithuanianCommonwealth Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth]] during the 17th century. Full of Polish in-jokes, it features Jan Paweł and his family as they take a documentary crew through their daily life.
4
5	!!1670 contains examples of:
6	* AccidentalMurder: [[spoiler: Henryk Lubopolski]] gets his head blown up during a hunt. Ironically, when a BountyHunter shows up and starts sniffing, he thinks it was an [[HuntingAccident "accident"]] rather than a genuine mistake.
7	* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Maciej eventually warms to the various whimsical elements of the plays presented by the travelling group of actors, smiling when they rope him into their antics and goad him into doing a {{rimshot}} for a BadBadActing death.
8	* AllPartOfTheShow: When stoned Bohdan interrupts a theatre play and scares the hell out of everyone, Maciej interrupts and portrays it as part of the show, with the actors picking the cue and playing along.
9	* AndThereWasMuchRejoicing: The piest investigating [[spoiler: Henryk Lubopolski’s death]] after finding the guilty party [[TheScapegoat which was blamed on Bohdan]] reveals that [[spoiler: he was to reward the one who killed him as Henryk was [[PriceOnTheirHead a wanted man]]]].
10	* AnnoyingLaugh: Henryk Lubopolski has a particularly piercing NoblewomansLaugh. Keep in mind that he's a guy.
11	* AppealToTradition: Mocked relentlessly, since the series uses [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarmatism sarmatism]] as an allegory to poke fun out of people who insist on "tradition" for their own, self-serving goals.
12	* AristocratsAreEvil: Henryk Lubopolski, a magnate’s son is one of the most villainous characters to the point that [[spoiler: [[AndThereWasMuchRejoicing the one who killed him]] [[PriceOnTheirHead is rewarded]]]].
13	* ArrangedMarriage: As a RunningGag, both Jan Paweł and Andrzej are trying to find a rich suitor for their daughters - regardless of what the girls want or say. Or how blatantly bad the match is.
14	* AsideGlance:
15	** The longer he stays in Adamczycha and the more tired he's with all the antics of the locals, the more Maciej is giving those to the camera when having to face yet another form of shit given to him by someone.
16	** The medic does it too, before explaining to Jan Paweł that having testicles is normal and not a sign of pestilence.
17	* BaroqueMusic: As part of the joke regarding rebellious teen having a garage band, Stanisław is head-lining a music group playing "late Baroque, the newest trend" - to which Jan Paweł has a reaction as if they were playing ThrashMetal.
18	* BiggerIsBetterInBed: Invoked in various ways, particularly when Jan Paweł describes what three big features Sarmatians have after their minds and bravery.
19	* BlatantLies: An entire series of those is used as a blatantly forged "Letter from the Kang" to justify increasing corvee from four days to five per week.
20	* TheCavalierYears: Or at least the Polish version of those. Both [[HistoricalDomainCharacter real]] and fictional characters and events from this period get mentioned and referenced.
21	* CharacterCatchphrase: Jan Paweł Adamczewski often calls himself [[ForegoneConclusion „the most famous Jan Paweł in Polish history”]].
22	* ComicallyIneptHealing: The medic combines genuine anatomical knowledge and ''some'' solid treatments with utterly ridiculous (but period-fitting) advice in tune of "smoke more, especially in winter, to not get sick, as this warms the innards".
23	* TheComicallySerious: The medic, who wearingly has to explain various medical conditions.
24	* ConspiracyTheorist: The Jew believes that all Jews are in one big conspiracy, except him [[InsaneTrollLogic which means that they don't invite him into it]].
25	* TheDungAges: Played with. Adamczycha looks like a pig sty... because Jan Paweł is terrible at managing it or organising any kind of reconstruction from wars that ended ''a decade prior''.
26	* TheDandy: Unlike every other nobleman, Henryk is following French fashion, and thus hinges on DudeLooksLikeALady territory.
27	* DemocracyIsFlawed: Or rather, the style of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth noble's republic is ''deeply'' flawed with its voting system, as a single vote against a motion is enough to prevent its passage, until the person voting against is convinced otherwise. The system is portrayed in all of its "glory" - with Jan Paweł intentionally preventing a reform he doesn't even understand just to ''spite his neighbour''.
28	* EgocentricallyReligious: The second oldest son, Jakub, who tries to get God to do what he wants.
29	* {{Egopolis}}: Village of Adamczycha is named from owners from Adamczewski family.
30	* EnlightenedSelfInterest: Andrzej's MO. He pays his serfs rather than abusing corvee - because that makes them work much harder and provides him with far more grain to sell in the end. He wants to raise taxes (from 2% to 5%, but still), because that means the country in which he's living can reconstruct after decades of war and thus he keeps his privileged position along with gaining new business opportunities. He is generally nice to people (other than Jan Paweł), because this pays back in favours. He plays ball with burghers, because that makes his business even more profitable. And so on and forth. All of which ''still'' makes him generally a better person than Jan Paweł, even if his motivation is far from noble.
31	* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Almost literally, since the Jew introduces himself as "the Jew", is a barkeep and has otherwise NoNameGiven. He is, however, a take on an ArchetypalCharacter from [[UsefulNotes/PolishJews Polish literature]].
32	* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Jan Paweł is utterly incapable to grasp how and why [[SitcomArchNemesis Andrzej]] is so successful - ''even when Andrzej is willing to explain''. It's not helping matters that Jan Paweł is a dolt.
33	* FakingTheDead: Bohdan survived in this way most of the battles he participated in.
34	* {{Foil}}: For the first half of the show Andrzej, Jan Paweł's SitcomArchNemesis, is practically a saint: he is willing to introduce and pay additional taxes for the sake of Polish economy, he runs his estate so that peasants get their share of the profit and is [[NiceToTheWaiter somewhat friendly to his servants]]. Then in episode 4 he reveals that his main reason for agreeing to a demonstration of religious equality is [[EvilIsPetty because it would infuriate Jan Paweł]], showing he shares some of his neighbour's mean-spiritedness. And then he proves himself Jan Paweł's equal in scheming when seeking to wed his daughter with [[AristocratsAreEvil magnate's son]] and [[spoiler: trying to hide the fact that they accidentally killed him.]] In the end, their main difference is the form of evil they represent: Jan Paweł is just [[ObliviouslyEvil obliviously]] [[StupidEvil stupid]], while Andrzej is a [[PragmaticVillainy pragmatic]] [[TooCleverByHalf schemer]].
35	* ForegoneConclusion: Jan Paweł Adamczewski wishes to be the [[CharacterCatchphrase most famous Jan Paweł in Polish history]], but if you know that English version of Jan Paweł is John Paul [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_Paul_II you will know that he will fail]].
36	* ForeignCultureFetish:
37	** Sarmatism is effectively an obsession with a very specific brand of {{orientalism}}, but be careful to mention that in front of any of the noblemen.
38	** In turn, this is how Henryk's French fashion is treated in-universe.
39	* ForeignExchangeStudent: Maciek came to Adamczycha from Lithuania as part of a "peasant exchange program", explicitly named after the contemporary real-life [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erasmus_Programme Erasmus Programme]].
40	* TheFundamentalist: The mother, Zofia, is a religious fanatic who is frequently found prostrate on the floor, praying. Her son, who is a priest, is nowhere near as devout.
41	* GirlyGirlWithATomboyStreak: Aniela is a young ProperLady, but at the same time she's also RichKidTurnedSocialActivist, which in the given setting makes her willingly participate in various physical tasks and labours and generally be heard, rather than merely seen.
42	* HappinessInSlavery: When Bohdan is captured by Tatars and locked, he is conten because his [[MundaneLuxury straw bed is twice as big as his one in Adamczycha]], with the same amount of rats to eat.
43	* HiddenDepths: Zofia looks like a [[TheFundamentalist religious fanatic]], but actually she has some secrets about her feelings.
44	* HistoricalInJoke: The entire damn point of the series is poking fun out of modern, contemporary Poland via a mid-17th century backdrop and historical references.
45	* HuntingTheMostDangerousGame: When Jan Paweł proposes Henryk Lubopolski a hunt in the local woods, without batting an eye, Henry asks if they can hunt some humans. [[EveryoneHasStandards When Jan Paweł gets startled]] by such a suggestion, Henryk starts laughing and [[JustJokingJustification says he was just kidding]].
46	* ImStandingRightHere: When discussing the prospect of ''not'' buying Bohdan from the Tatar slavery and instead taking a masked prisoner, Bohdan reminds the group that he's still here and can hear them.
47	* IllegalReligion: [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] as in this case atheism is punished with death, while every other religion is not. [[SinglePreceptReligion Even one made up on the spot]].
48	* ImpoverishedPatrician: Bohdan is a 6th-generation nobleman with nothing but his title and a lean horse.
49	* JustBeforeTheEnd: The story is set in 1670, just as the Commonwealth is about to enter a period of rapid decline and semi-anarchy - in no small part thanks to people like Jan Paweł.
50	* KarmicProtection: No matter how bad Jan Paweł messes up, he never, ever has to face any consequences, and his problems tend to resolve on their own. Which only serve to further cement his conviction in his greatness.
51	* KnowNothingKnowItAll: A running theme with the male side of the Adamczewski family (and Bohdan, who's a brother-in-law) is that they are all complete morons, but it doesn't stop them in the slightest from speaking up their minds on various subjects they have no clue about or throwing temper tantrums when being corrected.
52	* {{Leitmotif}}: Whenever Zofia shows up or even approaches the frame, an eerie theme on the flute starts playing.
53	* ALighterShadeOfGrey: Andrzej isn't a saint nor even a really good person. However, for all his personal flaws, he is still a reasonable statesman and industrious, hard-working businessman, especially when compared with [[PointyHairedBoss Jan]] [[ObliviouslyEvil Paweł]].
54	* LostInTranslation: A ''lot'' of the humour depends on either knowing Polish, or at least the Polish literature. Otherwise, the audiences are facing a ViewersAreGeniuses scenario, where the majority of gags will completely fly over their heads without even registering them as humorous.
55	* MagicMushroom: One episode has Bogdan, the deadbeat brother-in-law of the main character, eating fistfuls of hallucinogenic (unknowing to him) mushrooms and becoming convinced he's inherited the Sultanate from a goat.
56	* MediumAwareness: It's a {{mockumentary}} about a mid-17th century Polish noble family, so they are fully aware of the camera and the filming crew. Try not to overthink this too much.
57	* MilesGloriosus: Bohdan brags about his military exploits, of which he's very proud. They involved participating... [[DoomedMoralVictor in every single defeat sustained by the Commonwealth over the past decade]].
58	* MistakenForCheating: Aniela seems suspicious that her mother cheats on her father and follows her only to see that she [[SubvertedTrope was delivering charity to church]] [[spoiler: [[DoubleSubversion and after that she has a affair]] [[FunnyBackgroundEvent behind her back]]]].
59	* MistakenIdentity: Jakub mistakes one peasant with Jesus, only to discover that he was wrong after [[SuperDrowningSkills he tried to walk on water and drown]].
60	* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: Jan Paweł Adamczewski is out-of-universe named after the former pope John Paul (Jan Paweł) II, which is what the "most famous Jan Paweł" gag references. Adamczewski might be a reference to Piotr Adamczyk, the actor that famously played said pope in a 2005 biopic.
61	* NeverLearnedToRead: There's a gag in the first episode where an illiterate peasant brings Jan Paweł a letter, and as he tries to read it out loud for them, he reveals himself to be only marginally literate, spending a good minute trying to read a single sentence that he then fails to understand.
62	* NeverMyFault: Jan Paweł MO. ''Anything'' going wrong is someone's else fault, especially when it was his own (un)doing, and he is pathologically incapable of taking blame in any form. It's hard to tell if it comes from the fact what sort of a jerk he is, how dumb he is, or both of those.
63	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Lubopolski is not a real surname, but it sounds close enough to Lubomirski, a notorious magnate family that just kept meddling with the crown politics for well over a century, being synonymous with self-serving, PragmaticVillainy and their fair share of entitled psychos within the "familia".
64	* NobilityMarriesMoney: In one episode Adamczewskis are trying to agree about marriage with [[MerchantPrince rich merchant]] between his eldest son (who is desperate to get married) and the merchant's daughter.
65	* NotWhatItLooksLike: The BountyHunter searching for [[spoiler: the killer of Henryk is there to reward the killer, not haul them to face justice]].
66	* OnlySaneMan: Maciej, a down-to-earth apprentice blacksmith. He's also [[AudienceSurrogate the POV character for the audience]], as he's from a "peasant exchange" and an outsider to Adamczycha and its mores.
67	* OverlyLongGag:
68	** The (barely literate) Jan Paweł spends an inordinately long time reading the single sentence of a letter that was sent to him - all shown to the viewer in real time.
69	** The various excuses Jan Paweł comes up with to avoid a duel he's sure to lose. The gag drags for ''nearly ten minutes''.
70	* ParodyCommercial: The travelling troupe of actors have a side gig for advertising a diet supplement in the style of the most cliche medicine commercial and then [[TravelingSalesman selling it]] after the show. Jan Paweł buys their entire supply.
71	* PhoneaholicTeenager: Stanisław, Jan Paweł's older son and heir of the family estate, is constantly on his phone looking at pictures. (It's really just a bunch of tapestry weavings in a wooden rectangle).
72	* PointyHairedBoss: Jan Paweł is a terrible boss to the serfs, being in the same time incompetent, harsh and demanding. This is just as much a joke about szlachta excesses and modern, small-town "entrepreneurs" who run their companies like a serf-staffed manorial estate.
73	* PoliceProcedural: The BountyHunter trying to find the killer of Henryk Lubopolski is a character from a completely different story and setting, playing all the cliches of the genre straight.
74	* PresentDayPast: A large chunk of the jokes boil down to putting contemporary concepts in a vaguely historical setting. To name a few from the first episode alone: Jan Paweł's (mis)management of his serfs is a parody of a certain type of incompetent [[PointyHairedBoss Pointy-Haired Bosses]] typically associated with small Polish companies, Stanisław, his older son, has a garage band that, since garages don't exist yet, plays in a barn, and Jakub, the younger son and a priest, is introduced speaking like an overly demanding middle-manager from an international MegaCorp, only to reveal he's "praying". In particular, Aniela presents modern Western morals in things like gender equality, environmentalism and religious tolerance... a lot of it PlayedForLaughs, since it's 17th century.
75	* PrideParade: Quite LostInTranslation as in Poland term Pride Parade is Equality March and the one is organised to celebrate other religions [[{{Hypocrite}} while presenting non-Catholic faiths as inferior]] and [[IllegalReligion threating with death to atheists]].
76	* RecklessGunUsage: When trying to one-up each other, Andrzej and Jan Paweł do a speedy reload to be the first to kill an elk... only to instantly fire at Henryk when he emerges from the bush.
77	* RichKidTurnedSocialActivist: Aniela, the only daughter, tries to bring about recycling to end global warming which will kick off in... about 380 years.
78	* {{Rimshot}}: The travelling troupe needs a replacement "sound engineer", so they hire Maciej. His job consists of doing rimshots whenever someone dies in their plays. He quickly gets creative with it.
79	* {{Ruritania}}: The series is not really set anywhere within the UsefulNotes/PolishLithuanianCommonwealth, but instead checks all the boxes for the Polish take on this trope - a rural, ultra-religious backwater ruled by an incompetent nobleman and his extended family, populated otherwise by apathetic serfs that are doing their very best to not work for their "mister".
80	* RunningGag:
81	** Every time when someone reminds that [[SitcomArchNemesis Andrzej]] owns half of village someone adds that he owns [[OxymoronicBeing bigger half]]. (Not that it matters)
82	** "Poland for Poles [[{{Beat}} ...]] and Lithuanians"
83	** Repeating every time Maciek’s introduction, when he was seen in first episode.
84	* SexSells: Invoked in-universe, where Aniela lowers one of the straps of her dress to [[MediumAwareness get back the attention of the camera turning away from her speech]], and then proceeds to chew the filming crew for being such simpeltons.
85	* ShoutOut:
86	** Actor troupe plans to present [[ComicBook/TheAvengers Avengers-like]] {{Crossover}} with characters from [[Creator/WilliamShakespeare Shakespeare’s works]] - ''The People of Revenge''.
87	** There is a nod to ''Series/LetsMakeADeal'' (or rather its Polish version) when contemplating buying a masked Tatar prisoner, quoting the memetic lines of the Polish host of the show.
88	** In episode 7, Jakub and Bogdan are send to perform [[Film/TheExorcist exorcisms]] on a young, blonde girl named Dobrusia, who is trapped in her dark bedroom, wearing a white nightdress, puking with slime and bending her body to extremes. Jakub says that's [[ComicallyMissingThePoint the fault of stress-free upbringing]] and keeps on acting like she's a rebellious teenager. Then, Bogdan comes near her and gets possessed himself.
89	** The last episode has a priest from Sandomierz solving crime cases, which is a reference to the Polish [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_Matthew_(TV_series) criminal series]].
90	* ShipperOnDeck: Jakub is an unusual malicious example towards Aniela and Maciej. He tries to get the two together, so that he can then reveal the relationship to his father and use the scandal to get his sister banished and himself left as the sole heir to the family fortune. Fortunately, he's not very good at it.
91	* SinglePreceptReligion: Religion of Hatter. [[ShapedLikeItself He wears a hat]], after death he gives to good people potatoes and bad people pushes into a puddle. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] as this religion was made up on a spot by an atheist peasant, [[IllegalReligion who in other case would be killed]].
92	* SinisterMinister: Jakub is greedy priest focused mainly on money.
93	* SissyVillain: Henryk Lubopolski, a rich, French-styled bon-vivant with a bad case of AnnoyingLaugh and needing a servant for everything he does. None of which makes him any less of a monster, who, unlike [[ObliviouslyEvil Jan Paweł]], takes great pleasure from bullying, beating, fucking - over and with - and killing people.
94	* SitcomArchNemesis: Andrzej, Adamczewski’s neighbor and owner of other half of village [[note]] [[RunningGag the bigger half]] [[/note]], which Jan Paweł considers his main enemy.
95	* {{Slapstick}}: Easily the biggest source of humour are the various bouts of violence that are also almost never intentional, but ''always'' painful or [[BloodyHilarious over-the-top]].
96	* SleepingDummy: When running away, Maciej set up an ''incredibly'' blatant one. It still took Bohdan a whole day to figure it out.
97	* SmallNameBigEgo: Jan Paweł Adamczewski, who consider himself the most famous Jan Paweł in Polish history despite a fact that his own subjects don't know his name.
98	* SmallTownTyrant: Every single nobleman, but in case of Adamczycha, the small village is already split between ''two'' owners.
99	* SpitefulSpit: Any single mention of Swedes is going to cause this from Jan Paweł and his sons.
100	* TakeThat: The series doesn't shy away from making jabs at stuff like the trinkle-down economy, picking comfort over preventing global warming, mobbing, bigotry and what not... by playing it all as very bleak BlackComedy.
101	* TokenMinority: The Jew, who is the archetypical [[UsefulNotes/PolishJews token Jew innkeeper]], and the blacksmith's helper is a token Lithuanian.
102	* TooCleverByHalf: For all - or maybe because - of his business acumen, Andrzej is eventually played by the grain merchant he was making all the deals with, leaving him with neither grain nor money ''and'' the merchant's debts to pay. Jan Paweł rubs it into his face.
103	* TruthInTelevision: While the series exaggerates many things for comedic effect, quite some gags actually have historical origin:
104	** Most of the plot in episode 4 comes from „celebration” of various faiths and Jan Paweł's attempts to not show his blatant favouritism for Catholicism. Religious freedom was in fact enshrined in Polish law since 1573, but by late 1600's constant wars with Sweden (Protestant), Moscow (Orthodox) and Ottoman Empire (Muslim) resulted in tolerance slowly disappearing.
105	** In last episode [[spoiler: Andrzej has to sell his half of Adamczycha, since he faces financial trouble after his business with [[MerchantPrince Czesław]] results in his assets being conficsated]] due to a royal decree "to preserve class differences". Throughout the 17th century Polish monarchs (or, more specifically, [[UsefulNotes/PolishLithuanianCommonwealth the Sejm]]) steadily put more and more restrictions on merchants and burghers, so that they wouldn't dominate the nobles economically.
106	* VisualPun:
107	** In one scene Jan Paweł and others are comparing how well hung they are by… comparing part of their suits called „kutas” [[HaveAGayOldTime which is now slang term for penis]].
108	** The medic arrives in Adamczycha in a cart with a rooster on the roof. [[LostInTranslation In Polish slang,]] „kogut” (lit. rooster) is a term for emergency lamp on an ambulance.
109	* TheVonTropeFamily: Inverted, since Adamczewski surname is derived from a given name (Adam, duh), turning the village they reside in into a case of an incredibly small and quaint {{egopolis}}.
110	* UptownGirl: Maciej (a peasant) falls mutually in love with Aniela (a nobleman's daughter).
111	* VillainProtagonist: Of the ObliviouslyEvil variety - Jan Paweł is a moron that actively makes the lives of everyone around him miserable and is utterly unable to learn any lessons, but because he's so incredibly stupid and self-centred, the harm he causes flies entirely over his head.
112	* YourHeadASplode: Henryk Lubopolski died in this way after being shot accidentally by Jan Paweł and Andrzej in the same time.

Context Series / SixteenSeventy