What on Earth was I drinking last night? My head feels like there's a Frenchman living in it. Where am I?
Blackadder and Melchett are kidnapped and held for ransom by the German mastermind Prince Ludwig the Indestructible. Queenie must decide which of them should go free.
Tropes
- Anachronism Stew: The Swedish krona wasn't instituted until 1873.
- And That's Terrible: Played for laughs:Queenie: You've killed Nursie! That's horrid!
- As Long as It Sounds Foreign:Blackadder: No speako dago.
- Bait-and-Switch:
- Ludwig had previously known Blackadder, Melchett and Queenie in various disguises. While explaining this to them, he briefly implies that he was disguised as someone (a smuggler, a shepherd and Queenie's horse, respectively) before revealing he was disguised as something else entirely (a waitress, Flossie the sheep and "the handsome German stable boy" respectively)
- Also done with his third disguise. Since the first two have Ludwig turn out to be someone (or something) Blackadder or Melchett slept with, Queenie's story initially appears to be the same ... except he wasn't the horse that Queenie liked to kiss, but the stableboy instead.
- The episode opens with Edmund yelling at the Queen and Lord Melchett. After he is finished the Queen replies "And what did you say to him?"
- Bestiality Is Depraved: Melchett's relationship with Flossie the sheep. Queenie was also no stranger to kissing and fondling horses.
- Big "SHUT UP!": When Blackadder correctly attributes Ludwig's megalomania to a miserable childhood.Ludwig: SHUT UP! SHUT UP! When I am King of England, no-one will every dare call me 'Shorty Greasy Spot-Spot' again!
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: 'Queenie' addresses the audience directly in the final scene.
- Brick Joke: Turns out Queenie knew the "handsome German stableboy" as "Shorty Greasy Spot-Spot."
- Dirty Coward: Blackadder and Melchett pretend to be this by apparently selling out their Queen to Ludwig, only to reveal after their escape their oddly heroic intentions to save the Queen.
- Disguised in Drag: Ludwig first met Blackadder while he was disguised as a waitress.
- Disney Death: Ludwig is stabbed, seemingly fatally, twice, only to return at the end of the episode without explanation. Maybe he is indestructible after all.
- Downer Ending: The entire cast is murdered by Prince Ludwig, who goes on to rule as Queen Elizabeth I.
- Embarrassing Nickname: Ludwig was apparently known as "Shorty Greasy Spot-Spot" when he was younger.
- "Everybody Dies" Ending: The entire cast is killed by Prince Ludwig after the credits. Even the balladeer dies, as Blackadder drowns him in a fountain.
- Evil Gloating: Blackadder gets sick of this, telling Ludwig it's a sign of insecurity.
- Freudian Excuse: Ludwig wants to Take Over the World because he was bullied at school.
- Funetik Aksent: Ludwig's ransom note is written like this, judging by how Percy reads it out.
- Germanic Depressives: Ludwig, again.
- Germanic Efficiency: Exploited by Blackadder, who notes that Germans "are sticklers for efficiency." Without Ludwig himself around, his guards follow the same routine every day, allowing Blackadder to pinpoint when they're most vulnerable.
- Gilligan Cut: Well, Gilligan's Doorway, at least. Edmund remarks to the Queen how only an idiot would allow himself to get distracted by a foreigner asking a question, be knocked on the head, and abducted for ransom. Naturally, this exact sequence of events occurs when Edmund leaves her throne room.
- Groin Attack: Blackadder and Melchett escape from German captors by carefully memorizing their daily routine, then striking at the moment where they're at their weakest — when they taunt the prisoners with pelvic thrusts. Afterwards Blackadder remarks, "Trust me to get the hard one!"
- Hypocritical Humour: Blackadder scoffs at a kidnapping victim, saying anyone who is stupid enough to be tricked by someone saying "excuse me, mister" in a weird accent and hitting them over the head deserves to be kidnapped. Naturally, this exact thing happens to Blackadder about two seconds later.Blackadder: Oh, God, how incredibly embarrassing.
- In My Language, That Sounds Like...: Edmund falls prey to the English-Spanish "embarrassed is tener vergüenza but embarazada means pregnant" while under interrogation by the Spanish Inquisition torturer.
- It's All About Me: Faced with the threat of having to save either Blackadder (whom she's fancied) or Melchett (her sanest advisor), Queenie decides instead to throw a party, and "forget all about [them]".
- Karma Houdini: Prince Ludwig gets away with at least two counts of deception, kidnapping Edmund and Melchett for ransom, killing the entire main cast and overthrowing the British throne.
- The Loins Sleep Tonight: Blackadder's encounters with Ludwig (disguised as Big Sally the barmaid) in the past had him suffer a case of this.
- The Magnificent: Hugh Laurie's character is styled as "Prince Ludwig, The Indestructible".
- Master of Disguise: Ludwig
- No Doubt the Years Have Changed Me: Played with three times regarding Ludwig. See Bait-and-Switch.
- Not Quite Dead: The Stinger reveals that Prince Ludwig survives his injuries, kills the entire cast, and goes on to reign by impersonating Elizabeth I.
- Not So Above It All: Melchett, having previously seemed relatively sane, turns out to have had "relations" with a sheep, and is also perfectly willing to sell out his queen.
- Parting-from-Consciousness Words: "I said 'What is it?' — not 'Hit me hard on the head wi–'"
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Blackadder's speech to Prince Ludwig in the dungeon.Blackadder: Oh yes, we are proud of our comic serving-wench voice, aren't we? Just because we can say 'zer' instead of 'sir' we can assume that all social gatherings are attended by a tedious tedious little turd who keeps putting on amusing voices. What else have you got in your astoundingly inventive repertoire, I wonder? A brilliant, drunk Glaswegian, no doubt. An hilarious black man — see you Jimmy, where am dat warty mellon? Oh fabulous! I can't wait for your side-splitting poof and that funny little croaky one who isn't anyone in particular, but is such a scream. And most of all, I like the one you do all the time - the fat-headed German chamberpot standing in front of me.
- Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies: The second series ends with everyone, including the Queen, getting killed offscreen.
- Running Gag: The credits finally have Blackadder catch the balladeer, and kill him.
- Sadistic Choice: Prince Ludwig offers Queenie one of these, forcing her to pay a vast sum on the last ransom she'll ever make to free either Edmund or Melchett. She chooses a costume party.
- Shaped Like Itself: Apparently, Ludwig first met Queenie 'disguised' as 'The handsome German stable-boy'. Then again he apparently wasn't that handsome.
- Shout-Out: Ludwig tells Blackadder to "choose your next witticism carefully, it may be your last."
- Spotting the Thread: When Prince Ludwig, something of a master of disguise, tries to infiltrate Queen Elizabeth's dress party disguised as Nursie dressed as a cow. He is found out because his costume is too good; Nursie has some... interesting interpretations of how a cow should look.
- To quote: "Prince Ludwig is a master of disguise, while Nursie is an insane old woman with an udder fixation."
- The Stinger: The ending reveals that Prince Ludwig had disguised himself as the Queen to kill everyone and usurp her place.
- Sudden Downer Ending: After one of the breezier episodes in an already light series, the entire cast is murdered offscreen after the credits.
- Tap on the Head: How Blackadder and Melchett are kidnapped. A German guard hits them over the head with a stick while they are distracted by another German guard.
- Translation by Volume:Blackadder: How - can - you - question - me - when - you - don't - speak - English?
- Vocal Dissonance: A very disturbing example in the final scene.
- We Meet Again: Parodied repeatedly - see No Doubt the Years Have Changed Me.
- You Talk Too Much!: Ludwig thinks Blackadder has a case of werbal diorewea.
- Lord Melchett, Lord Melchett, intelligent and deep.
Lord Melchett, Lord Melchett, a shame about the sheep!
