Best Blackadder Moments #3: Blackadder and Kate's Wedding (Bells)

Enter the Best Man

We're now moving to the second season of Blackadder. Ben Elton has replaced Rowan Atkinson as a writer, and the roles between Blackadder and Baldrick have been reversed.

The humour of the first episode shown retains the Shakespearean aspect of the previous season with a story similar to Twelfth Night. A woman named Kate poses as a boy called Bob to find work as a servant in Lord Blackadder's employ. After Blackadder becomes attracted to "Bob" and the truth is revealed, he soon wishes to marry her.

I've heard the writers were challenged to get more laughs in the last five minutes of the episode than anywhere else. And that's accomplished with Blackadder's best man, the boisterous and arrogant Lord Flashheart. Played by Rik Mayall, Flashheart parodies the heroic image of the archetypal swashbuckler which accentuates the flaws of such archetypes, and is a highly promiscuous and narcissistic womaniser.

Anyway, Flashheart arrives late at the wedding, but makes a spectacular entrance. He immediately throws Percy out, seduces Nursie and the queen (and even Baldrick, who was acting as the bridesmaid), insults Melchett, and promptly elopes with Kate.

Flashheart's dialogue and over-the-top presence is pretty much comedic gold, accentuating how full of himself he is. My favourite line is definitely when he says to Melchett "Still worshipping God? The last I heard he's started worshipping me!"

While the reduced budget of this series shows when he nearly takes the set down by throwing Percy through the doors, I still think that adds to the humour.

Rik Mayall gave off such a good performance that he would later return with a much larger role in Blackadder Goes Forth, applying the same style of parody to a World War I flying ace.

Woof!