One of the best episodes of any comedy series, but one that has an important message. The plot revolves around Blackadder's attempt to avoid going over the top in another doomed offensive. The performances are excellent with the whole cast raising the bar for the final episode and the story getting gradually darker until its logical conclusion.
Whilst the rest of the episode plays a little like Catch-22 (it is potentially lethal to go over the top but staying means that you will be executed) the end of the episode is what stays in the mind long after the field of poppies fade away.
It addresses some of the issues of the time, the foolishness of the reasons behind the war and how it came to pass (Baldrick's explanation is not the worst I have heard and I am a history graduate), the seeming attitude of the generals and the differences between what the war was and how people thought it was going to be.
The final few minutes of the show are the most important. The show had continually made fun of the predicaments which befell the troops, but at the last the tone becomes ultra serious, the fears of the characters coming to the fore. Captain Darling comments on the simple things he had hoped for in his life, George expresses his fear for the first time and Blackadder makes comments (which he does not believe) about dinner in Berlin.
While not funny this is important as it underlines the sacrifice that many young men, on all sides, made in a pointless and highly destructive war.
Whilst the rest of the episode plays a little like Catch-22 (it is potentially lethal to go over the top but staying means that you will be executed) the end of the episode is what stays in the mind long after the field of poppies fade away.
It addresses some of the issues of the time, the foolishness of the reasons behind the war and how it came to pass (Baldrick's explanation is not the worst I have heard and I am a history graduate), the seeming attitude of the generals and the differences between what the war was and how people thought it was going to be.
The final few minutes of the show are the most important. The show had continually made fun of the predicaments which befell the troops, but at the last the tone becomes ultra serious, the fears of the characters coming to the fore. Captain Darling comments on the simple things he had hoped for in his life, George expresses his fear for the first time and Blackadder makes comments (which he does not believe) about dinner in Berlin.
While not funny this is important as it underlines the sacrifice that many young men, on all sides, made in a pointless and highly destructive war.