History Recap / TheGoesWrongShowSummerOnceAgain

* MondegreenGag: The script calls for Uncle Roger to eat two goulashes and Lady Montague to don a pair of galoshes. The third time around, Vanessa is wearing goulashes while Dennis is eating galoshes.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: After accidently flubbing the word 'perfect' in his first introduction, Robert commands the audience to "reset their minds" and pretend his mistake never happened. This is what he later tries to do with the entire performance. Multiple times.

* NotSoDifferentRemark: Chris seems almost shocked when Robert blazes through his character's relationship with the former's deliberately-demeaning character of 'the manure boy,' because he says that after years of conflict and animosity they came to bond through their shared hardships and realize that they had more in common than either realized and developed a mutual respect for one another. Because Robert is Robert, he doesn't realize what a FreudianSlip this seems to be, and finishes by saying that the manure boy [[RunningGag also died of typhoid.]]

* VictorianNovelDisease: At least seventy percent of the named characters end up dying of typhoid. (Which is another example of the script's hackiness, because typhoid--while period-appropriate--is an acute illness.)

* HerCodeNameWasMarySue: It's not confirmed if Robert actually wrote this particular play, though it's rather telling that his character is liked by everyone, given a ludicrously overblown hero's welcome, and even has a sex scene. For good measure, Chris is made to look pathetic and disgusting - to the point that Robert adds even ''more'' demeaning lines to the script in between takes.

** Each run-through begins with something missing from the first scene that makes Robert have to do an immediate reset. The first time, the table the actors are sitting around is missing. ''("Where's the table?")'' The second time, the actors themselves are missing. ''("Where are the actors?")'' And then the third time, the ''house'' is inexplicably missing. ''(Oh, for God's sake!")''

* DeathByNewberryMedal: Apparently, in the play within a play Mrs Wimblegate kills Monty the dog for reasons that even Robert has to admit don't really seem to make a lot of sense.

* ItMakesSenseInContext: Invoked by Robert after Mrs. Wimblegate inexplicably kills Monty the Dog. (“Something about loss”).

* MondegreenGag: The script calls for Uncle Roger to eat 2 goulashes and Lady Montague to don a pair of galoshes. The third time around, Vanessa is wearing goulashes while Dennis is eating galoshes.

** Each run-through begins with something missing from the first scene that makes Robert have to do an immediate reset. The first time, the table the actors are sitting around is missing. The second time, the actors themselves are missing. And third time, the ''house'' is inexplicably missing.

* VictorianNovelDisease: At least seventy percent of the named characters end up dying of typhoid.

* TheDogBitesBack: After two run-throughs where he is increasingly belittled and insulted, Chris takes the opportunity to get some good gloating in during the increasingly disastrous third run.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Robert begins the episode swaggering and smugly boasting about how his direction will result in no errors, unlike Chris. He quickly learns that being in charge of the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society is not as easy as he apparently thinks.

** The suitcase of bricks he used to make Chris look like a weakling falls open, spilling the bricks all over Robert's feet.

* HumiliationConga: Robert is subjected to the ultimate in embarrassments during the third take, in which his car breaks down, his ego-stroking intro not only fails but ends up making him look like an idiot, a misfiring confetti cannon sends him faceplanting into a wheelbarrow full of manure, the suitcase full of bricks opens on his feet, a chair collapses under him, Dennis reads out several extremely embarrassing passages from Robert's diary, and last but not least, he ''forgets his lines.''

* NoOSHACompliance: The stove might be the single most dangerous setpiece ever used in Cornley's history. For some reason, Robert decided to get a real wood-burning stove and have it burning ''for real'' without bothering to turn it off between takes or to replace the teakettle that was heating up on top of it. Because of this, both Vanessa and Max end up with burnt hands in the second take, while in the ''third'' take, the stove has been on for so long that it starts belching fire, and even after the fires have been extinguished, the simple act of accidentally knocking Sandra's wig onto the stove causes the whole thing to burst into flames. Finally, the entire stove ''' ''explodes'' ''' during Robert's rushed synopsis, sending bits of it cartwheeling across the set.

* HumiliationConga: Robert is subjected to the ultimate in embarrassments during the third take, in which his car breaks down, his ego-stroking not only fails but ends up making him look like an idiot, a misfiring confetti cannon sends him faceplanting into a wheelbarrow full of manure, the suitcase full of bricks opens on his feet, a chair collapses under him, and he ''forgets his lines.''

* AwesomeButImpractical: Robert's summary of the play sounds impressive, but it's abundantly clear that Cornley wouldn't have been able to make it anywhere near as epic as Robert had hoped - the sandstorm being apparently portrayed with the aid of a bag of sand and a desk fan. Plus, give the sheer scale of the play, they probably wouldn't have been able to fit it into their usual timeslot, even if Robert hadn't insisted on redoing takes.

* ExhaustionInducedIdiocy: The stress of having to repeat the take multiple times without adequate time to tidy up after the previous attempt results in people making more and more mistakes as exhaustion sets in, worsened by the actors' own foibles. Among other things, Vanessa ends up putting rain boots ''over'' the rain boots she put on in the previous case, Sandra brings out a boiling hot kettle instead of a fresh pot, Annie gets the galoshes and goulashes mixed up, Robert himself actually forgets his lines by the third take, and the technical errors get worse and worse.

To renew TV standings for ''Play of the Week', the CPDS stages a period saga following the life of an aristocratic family living in Northwood Manor. It starts when the son Roger returns from his military service, but his arrival will lead to great upheavals.

The CPDS stages a family saga following the life of an aristocratic family living in Northwood Manor. It starts when the son Roger returns from his military service, but his arrival will lead to great upheavals.

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* IronicEcho: Certain lines of dialogue take on unintended layers of meaning and subtext thanks to the numerous resets. ("I feel I've lived through this moment so many times before..." "There! Second helping finished! Now no more!")

* TheDogBitesBack: A two-way example (at least, in Robert's mind and ego). Having had to play second-fiddle to Chris throughout the various Cornley productions, Robert is clearly ''very'' pleased to have an opportunity to put Chris in what he feels is his place, and has humiliated him by casting him as "Manure Boy" and giving him lots of demeaning dialogue. Later in the play, however, when things are going very wrong for Robert (up to and including a face-plant into the aforementioned manure), Chris looks ''extremely'' pleased and takes the opportunity to deliver a gloating IronicEcho ("It appears someone has already been at my supper!").