That is the worst idea in the history of entertainment since Abraham Lincoln said, "I'm sick of kicking around the house all day, let's go take in a show".
Captain Blackadder hates showbusiness with a passion — until Melchett plans to stage a revue to boost morale, which he sees as a golden opportunity to escape from the trenches. His plan goes well, until George's drag act catches the General's eye.
Tropes
- Actor Allusion: Baldrick is strongly implied to be a communist sympathizer (albeit one who's never going to pose much threat as a revolutionary); Tony Robinson is a socialist in real life, and was a strong critic of Margaret Thatcher's government when this series was being made.
- Ambiguous Syntax: Bob Parkhurst disguises herself as a man because she "want[s] to see how a war is fought, so badly." Edmund informs her that she has come to the right place, as the war is being fought very badly indeed.
- Artistic License – History: The show has always played fast and loose with historical accuracy, but it's especially prevalent here.
- The final episode establishes this series as taking place in 1917. General Melchett refers to the French Army mutinies "last year." The French Army suffered a series of mutinies in April 1917, which is around the time that America entered the war.
- While Tsar Nicholas II abdicated in the March Revolution of 1917, Germany did not sign a peace treaty with Russia, signaling the latter's exit from the war and thereby freeing up most of the former's forces on the Eastern Front, until the following year.
- At the end of the episode, Melchett believes that Baldrick is doing a poor impression of Buster Keaton, who was not a well-known star at the time that America joined the war.
- Attractive Bent-Gender: Melchett falls for Georgina, who is George in drag.
- Big "WHAT?!": From Blackadder, when George tells him he didn't turn down Melchett's proposal.
- Breather Episode: Subverted. This is the only episode of the series not directly centred on Edmund's attempts to escape, but instead focuses on him staging a war relief show (with an obvious purpose).
- Brick Joke: See Telegraph Gag STOP below
- When planning the show, Blackadder commissions an act known as "the Three Silly Twerps", with the big joke being that there's only two of them. Melchett later criticises the second show because the Three Twerps were one twerp short "again".
- Comically Missing the Point:
- Returning from latrine duty, Baldrick excitedly announces news.
Baldrick: Sir! It's all over the trenches!Blackdder: Well, mop it up, then.- When Blackadder tries to tell Melchett about his fiancée's "demise".Blackadder: There's something wrong with your fiancée.
Melchett: Oh my God, she's not Welsh, is she? - Also while Blackadder is trying to think of a replacement leading lady:Blackadder: Oh, of course, what was I thinking? Bob!
[she appears, wearing a Modesty Towel]
George: Ah yes, Bob! Can YOU think of a new leading lady?
- Disguised in Drag: Lieutenant George develops a drag act as part of an attempt to boost troop morale, and 'Georgina' promptly attracts the amorous attentions of General Melchett, which "she" only escapes by faking "her" death. A straight female singing performance by the General's driver, Corporal Parkhurst, is dismissed by Melchett as a bad taste drag act, even though Corporal Parkhurst is really a woman.
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: Inverted. No one notices that Bob Parkhurst is a woman (except for Edmund).
- Also a Continuity Nod to Blackadder II.
- Inherently Funny Word: "Darling".
- Innocent Innuendo: Melchett, when introducing "Bob" to Blackadder:Well then, Bob, I'll leave you two together, why don't you get to know each other, play a game of cribbage, have a smoke, something like that. They tell me that Captain Blackadder has rather a good line in rough shag. I'm sure he'd be happy to fill your pipe.
- Kick The Son Of A Bitch: Blackadder gets back at Darling by feeding him Baldrick's dead slug, claiming it's liquorice.
- Modesty Towel: Bob is seen wearing one after a shower.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Bob tries to pretend to be a man simply by putting on a man's uniform. Edmund tells her that she's "a girl with as much talent for disguise as a giraffe in dark glasses trying to get into a "Polar Bears Only" golf club." It fools everyone else, though.
- Pet the Dog: A very rare case for this Blackadder. When he confronts Bob about her gender, she begs him not to out her, and that she'd do 'anything'. Blackadder, unusually, does not take advantage of her in any way, and simply advises her not to repeat it in front of someone less scrupulous.
- Recursive Crossdressing: Bob "crossdresses" to fill for the "deceased" 'Georgina'. It doesn't work — while the soldiers evidently recognise that she is a woman and like what they assume to be a straight female singing performance, Melchett - who thought 'Georgina' was a straight female performer - thinks Bob's is a bad taste drag act.
- Rule of Three: Blackadder is asked three times in a row "Who is she?"
- Singing in the Shower: Edmund is trying to work out how he's going to replace "Georgina" when he hears an off-screen Bob singing to herself in the shower.
- Slip into Something More Comfortable: Inverted by Bob, who after performing in a dress, asks for permission to "slip into something more uncomfortable".
- Take That!: When Melchett declares the show unnecessary because the Americans have just joined the war, Blackadder asks in perfect seriousness how that's going to help the men's morale. The answer has nothing to do with personnel or materiel—it's because they've brought an enormous Charlie Chaplin film collection with them.
- Telegraph Gag STOP: Done twice.
- First by Blackadder, to Charlie Chaplin:
TO MR C CHAPLIN
SENNETT STUDIOS—HOLLYWOOD CALIFORNIA
CONGRATS -{STOP}-
HAVE FOUND ONLY PERSON IN WORLD LESS FUNNY THAN YOU -{STOP}-
NAME—BALDRICK -{STOP}-
SIGNED E BLACKADDER -{STOP}-
PS—PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE STOP- At the end of the episode, Chaplin himself makes a comeback at Edmund:
TWICE NIGHTLY SCREENING OF MY FILMS IN TRENCHES—EXCELLENT IDEA -{STOP}-
BUT MUST INSIST THAT E BLACKADDER BE PROJECTIONIST -{STOP}-
PS—DONT LET HIM EVER STOP
