It's a bit much for me, Father. "Feck this" and "feck that".
Ted struggles as he falls for visiting novelist Polly Clarke while also having to deal with some visiting nuns.
Tropes featured in this episode
- Accidental Misnaming: Polly Clarke signs Ted's book to 'Father Curley'. The name sticks.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: After Mrs Doyle goes on about profanity, she finishes with something that technically has no profanity, but is still adult-age-rating-inducing because of its sexual implications:Mrs Doyle: 'Ride me sideways' was another one!
- Ax-Crazy: Tom, as usual. He robs a post office in one scene:Ted: Are you up to your old tricks again, Tom?
- Book Dumb: Ted, to an extent — he loves Polly's books, but struggles with more highbrow fare like Crime and Punishment and The Commitments. His putting such books on the table in order to impress Polly is misinterpreted by Dougal as getting rid of the ones he couldn't finish. Polly goes the other way, thinking he's re-reading one of them as she finds a bookmark on page seven.
- Broken Pedestal: Ted, in the eyes of the nuns — they start off as big fans of his who are really looking forward to hearing him say Mass, and are visibly disappointed with him when he rushes through it.
- Call-Back: Ted putting The Commitments on the shelf. The film of the book was referenced in "Grant Unto Him Eternal Rest" and the author, Roddy Doyle, was mentioned in "Hell".
- Cluster F-Bomb: Mrs Doyle's 'profanity rant':Mrs Doyle: You can't move for the bastards in her books! It's wall-to-wall bastards!
- Cringe Comedy: The whole "Ted meets female author" storyline.
- Downer Ending: Graham Linehan called the episode "terribly sad", stating that Ted should really be married to Polly, while Arthur Mathews acknowledged that they would probably get on quite well as a couple. Though considering that every aspect Polly liked about Ted was either a mistake or a lie, it's hard to see how that could possibly have gone well for her.
- "Fawlty Towers" Plot: Ted's attempt to duck out of saying Mass so he can visit Polly.
- Foreshadowing: Sister Assumpta's angry reaction to Ted saying he may not be able to do Mass can be seen as this in the light of her appearance in "Cigarettes and Alcohol and Rollerblading", in which she's got a new job as a sadistic Lent enforcer.
- Hypocritical Humor: Mrs Doyle and profanity."You can't move for the bastards in [Polly's] novels! It's wall-to-wall bastards!
- Motor Mouth: Mrs Doyle gets a little carried away with her examples of profanity until Ted physically pushes her out of the room.
- Mutual Envy: Polly Clarke and Ted express envy for each other's lifestyle.
- Serious Business: The nuns insist that nothing is more important than saying Mass, and are not impressed when Ted rushes through it.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Jack, on realising that there are nuns present.Jack: Nuns! Nuns! Reverse! Reverse! Reverse!!
- Shout-Out:
- The scene where Ted gets picked up by Tom was inspired by Thunderbolt and Lightfoot. In one scene, Thunderbolt is picked up by a crazed car driver who opens the back of his truck to reveal a group of rabbits, which he then shoots; this character inspired the Tom character.
- The car's sudden approach is an homage to a scene where Lancelot suddenly attacks a guard in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
- Something Else Also Rises: Polly's description of her sex life is too much for Ted, whose uncomfortable walk afterwards suggests that he's struggling to conceal the fact that he has an erection.
- This Is Reality: Ted, in defence of the profanity in Polly Clarke's books.
- Too Much Information: Polly’s description of her sex life. Poor Ted…
- T-Word Euphemism: This being Father Ted, they have to clarify:Mrs Doyle: The bad f-word. Worse than "feck".
