User Reviews

Step forward Monsieur Alfonse, who's set to bury Rene, only Rene isn't dead, his cover story that he is his own twin brother. Herr Flick and Helga attend the funeral hoping to discover members of The Resistance among the peasants.

It's a particularly funny episode, it's getting more and more bonkers with each episode. Kenneth Connor was one of my favourite characters, so it's wonderful to see him appear as the undertaker.

It's loading with funny scenes, the exploding coffin for one, but the subsequent scenes where mud drips on the hiding pair. The look of sheer delight on Hartman's face is evident, Gibson manages to remain stern faced throughout.

A classic. 9/10

Having survived "The Execution," Rene is now set to weather "The Funeral" even if the café owner in Occupied France must now masquerade as his own twin brother for those not in on the deception perpetrated by Germans Colonel Von Strohm and Captain Geering to substitute dummy bullets for the real ones in a marginally better episode scripted by "'Allo 'Allo!" creators Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft.

The masquerade is necessary for those such as Leutnant Gruber, who commanded Rene's firing squad unaware that his riflemen were shooting dummy rounds, and who accepts that Rene's brother is, thanks to a slip by Edith, also named Rene. A plus ca change, n'est-ce pas? It is also necessary for Alfonse (Kenneth Connor), the undertaker whose arrival sparks extended slapstick as Gorden Kaye must pretend to be both Renes in a standard, albeit lively and well-executed, misdirection routine by Connor, Kaye, Vicki Michelle, and Carmen Silvera.

Displaying his versatility, Jack Haig masquerades as the priest set to conduct the funeral, but of course wackiness must ensue. First, Gestapo agent Herr Flick and his lover, Von Strohm's secretary Private Geerhart, plan to spy on the funeral so they can identify any Resistance members attending to pay their respects to presumed fallen hero Rene. Then, speaking of the Resistance, Michelle stops by Café Rene to leave a cache of anti-tank mines for safekeeping, but with a German patrol hot on her trail, Rene is forced to hide the mines in the coffin, and you know that just has to lead to an explosive situation.

There are few surprises in "The Funeral" but the cast seems invested in this segment of the rolling story line, which still elicits a high ratio of laughs despite the overall sense of familiarity with the situations. As the unlikely couple involved in kinky roleplay, Richard Gibson and Kim Hartman generate quirky interest with Gibson the archetypal aloof, imperious Aryan superman coolly dominating the quietly aroused Hartman whose Geerhart inadvertently finds herself in sexually suggestive situations.

Kaye is clearly the fulcrum for the large ensemble cast, and his asides and expressions provide sotto voce commentary on the unfolding story that closes this chapter of the late Rene as "'Allo 'Allo!" gears up for the end of its first series. Much of the initial inspiration has dissipated, but there is still enough momentum to at least see it through to the end.