Well, this is it. Not only is the fourth series of Blackadder coming to an end, this episode is putting an end to the whole legacy - four series spanning 500 years in history end here. And I am glad to say that this great comedy tradition is brought to an absolutely brilliant and powerful close - the characters we know and love are about to go "over the top" to glory, and never come back. This episode features many things that make it truly unique and rank it higher than all the others - Baldrick actually reveals his past, George expresses his fear, Darling joins the trench trio as they prepare to go to their deaths and General Melchett finally surrenders Darling and sends him to his death. Blackadder meets the elusive Field Marshal Haig, who turns out to be an idiot. We find out about the pasts of George, Blackadder and Baldrick - and that is what makes it great. None of them are exactly hardened warriors - even Blackadder himself admits: "The type of people we liked to fight were two feet tall and armed with dry grass." This episode is the most meaningful and sad of all the episodes - it isn't complex, but it is hugely moving and we really feel for all of the characters, who all have human and realistic sides to all of them. This episode shall linger in the mind long after the field of poppies fade away, and is easily the most realistic depiction of trench life that you will find in this series. And that makes me proud to say that this is the best Blackadder episode - not just of Series 4, but of the whole legacy. The one-liners and funny Baldrick scenarios once again take precedence over emotions and violence in this episode, but the humour actually makes the ending more powerful, and make it more effective than most dramas. "Goodbyeee" is an episode to be proud of.
The ending won't be winning any awards for design any time soon, but its simplicity makes it better. The sound of the Blackadder theme tune being played in a sombre fashion, the sight of our four boys rising over the top of the trenches where they are met with furious explosions and gunfire, and the feeling of them being ravaged by the explosions and shells is caught brilliantly in slow motion, and sums up the real life experience - it feels like it is not happening. 90 years on, men are being sent to their deaths by incompetent fools - Blackadder Goes Forth's greatest talent is taking the truths of war and giving them a hilarious twist. The ending isn't funny, but it is the best thing about this episode, and you won't forget it. It carries an important message, and shows that all along, Blackadder Goes Forth's aim was to depict WWI's drudgery in a funny fashion. And it has done that job brilliantly and with honesty.
This last episode of Blackadder brings one of our proudest comedy traditions to the close it has always deserved, and proves to be an experience that nobody will forget. To write a fifth series of Blackadder would ruin anything - we shall leave it as it has been for the past 17 years, with our heroes looking death in the face and running towards it, preparing for fate.
My comments have spanned every single Blackadder episode from the first of Series 1 to this one - I have to say, this was the one that I most enjoyed reviewing. I have seen Back and Forth, and I may review that, but I know full well that it will never equal the classics, and does not contain the truths and wit of the 80s.
May the brave soldiers who died in World War I never be forgotten.
The ending won't be winning any awards for design any time soon, but its simplicity makes it better. The sound of the Blackadder theme tune being played in a sombre fashion, the sight of our four boys rising over the top of the trenches where they are met with furious explosions and gunfire, and the feeling of them being ravaged by the explosions and shells is caught brilliantly in slow motion, and sums up the real life experience - it feels like it is not happening. 90 years on, men are being sent to their deaths by incompetent fools - Blackadder Goes Forth's greatest talent is taking the truths of war and giving them a hilarious twist. The ending isn't funny, but it is the best thing about this episode, and you won't forget it. It carries an important message, and shows that all along, Blackadder Goes Forth's aim was to depict WWI's drudgery in a funny fashion. And it has done that job brilliantly and with honesty.
This last episode of Blackadder brings one of our proudest comedy traditions to the close it has always deserved, and proves to be an experience that nobody will forget. To write a fifth series of Blackadder would ruin anything - we shall leave it as it has been for the past 17 years, with our heroes looking death in the face and running towards it, preparing for fate.
My comments have spanned every single Blackadder episode from the first of Series 1 to this one - I have to say, this was the one that I most enjoyed reviewing. I have seen Back and Forth, and I may review that, but I know full well that it will never equal the classics, and does not contain the truths and wit of the 80s.
May the brave soldiers who died in World War I never be forgotten.