Recap / Blackadder S 3 E 5 Amy And Amiability

I laugh in the face of danger, Baldrick. I drop ice-cubes down the vest of fear.

Edmund is in serious debt, and Baldrick has become obsessed by a mysterious highwayman known as "The Shadow". With no intention of following Baldrick's cunning plan to become a highwayman himself, Blackadder tries asking the Prince Regent for a pay rise, only to find that George is broke too (owing to his newfound addiction to and complete inability to play card games). With no better options, Edmund is therefore forced to search for a rich wife (and hence a sizable dowry) for the Prince. Unfortunately, of the 262 princesses in Europe, only two are possible matches: Grand Duchess Sophia of Turin, who is unlikely to marry the Prince on account of the fact she's met him, and Caroline of Brunswick, a woman with the worst personality in all of Germany ("and, as you can imagine, she's up against some pretty stiff competition").

With foreign royalty off the table, Edmund starts looking in British high society. Amy Hardwood, the daughter of a noted industrialist, seems like a good prospect, but unfortunately they're flat broke too. Blackadder breaks off the engagement (though too late to stop the Prince from blowing a fortune on engagement presents), and reluctantly follows Baldrick's suggestion and takes up life as a highwayman. With Baldrick as his horse. On his travels, he encounters Amy, who is actually the Shadow. She pretends to be in love with Blackadder to steal the Prince's money and the wedding gifts, but after having the ruse revealed to him and being tied up by her to be shot, he is rescued by Baldrick and subsequently turns her in for a £10,000 reward. The Prince, now in love with Amy, is crushed to discover that she has been arrested and hanged, but is warmed by the fact that he discovered "so much money I don't know what to do with it!", having accidentally found the hiding place for Edmund's reward money. All seems lost ... until Blackadder convinces the Prince to play a game of "cards" with him.

Tropes

• Ambiguous Syntax: Edmund tells Mr. Hardwood that "The Prince wants your daughter for his wife." An outraged Mr. Hardwood replies "Well, his wife can't have her!"
• Arranged Marriage: For George.
• Attractive Bent-Gender: Amy in her highwayman garb. It is Miranda Richardson after all.
• The Bad Guy Wins: Edmund gets the Shadow hanged, as well as getting off scott free for his own stint at being a highwayman and robbing the Prince Regent, and while he suffers a minor setback in Prince George finding and taking the reward money Blackadder got for turning Amy in to the authorities, it can be assumed he'll get it back fairly quickly via playing cards with George.
• Bait-and-Switch: After Blackadder and Baldrick's successful robbery, it seems as though Blackadder is being genuinely kind by giving Baldrick half of their prize since they did it together, only for Blackadder to then rob the money back from Baldrick at gunpoint immediately after splitting it.
• Berserk Button: For Amy Hardwood, squirrels.
  Amy: Bastards! I hate them with their long tails and their stupid twitchy noses!
• Brick Joke: The shot squirrel.
• Broke Episode: Prince George's financial troubles, caused by his spectacularly bad attempts at gambling, are behind the plot to get him to marry Amy. Turns out, she has evidently taken to highway robbery as a result of her family being poor.
• Call-Back: Sally Cheapside mentions being "in love with a poet called Shelley who's a famous whoopsie". Shelley was one of Lord Byron's hangers-on in "[1]".
• Cast as a Mask: Warren Clarke provides the voice of The Shadow while the character is masked to enable the reveal of the Highwayman's true identity.
• Credits Gag: At the end of the credits, yet another squirrel is shot.
• Comically Missing the Point:
  Blackadder: You've no idea what irony is, do you Baldrick?
  Baldrick: Yeah, it's like goldy and bronzy, only it's made of iron.
  • Also there's an earlier example:
    Prince George: Honestly, Blackadder, I don't know why I'm bothering to get dressed. As soon as I get to the Naughty Hellfire Club, I'll be debagged and radished for non-payment of debts!
    Blackadder: 'Radished', sir?
    Prince George: Yes, they pull your britches down and push a large radish right up your-!
    Blackadder: Yes, yes alright! There's no need to hammer it home.
    Prince George: As a matter of fact, they do often to have to...
    Blackadder: [mortified] NO, NO!
  • And this one:
    Blackadder: The Prince wishes to have your daughter for his wife.
    Hardwood: Well, his wife can't have her!
  • George when describing his kind of girl:
    Prince George: They've got to be laughers, lovers...
    Blackadder: And bonkers.
    Prince George: {lasciviously} Well, that goes without saying.
  • Blackadder imitates Caroline of Brunswick shouting a stream of demands. Cue an alarmed Baldrick asking which one he should do first.
• Deadpan Snarker:
  Baldrick: Oh sir, you're not becoming a highwayman, are you?
  Blackadder: No, I'm auditioning for the part of Arnold the Bat in Sheridan's new comedy!
• Delayed "Oh, Crap!": Two from Blackadder:
  • Hoping for a raise to cover his bills, Edmund starts buttering up Prince Fathead, who asks to borrow some cash.
    Blackadder: Certanly sir, I [Beat] cash?
  • Edmund brings Mr Hardwood the news of the Prince's proposal to Amy. Hardwood rejoices that he and Amy need never be poor or hungry again, and Edmund says he'll start arranging the cerrrrrremonywhatdidyousay?
• Didn't Think This Through: "Let us not forget, Baldrick, that you solved the problem of your mother's low ceiling by cutting off her head".
  • Consider the following example when Edmund intends to take up the life of a highwayman:
    Blackadder: Just saddle the Prince's horse!
    Baldrick: That'll be difficult; he wrapped her round that gas lamp in the Strand last night.
    Blackadder: Well, saddle my horse, then!
    Baldrick: What do you think you've been eating for the last two months?
    Blackadder: Well, go out into the street and hire me a horse!
    Baldrick: Hire a horse? For ninepence? On Jewish New Year in the rain? A bare fortnight after the dreaded Horse Plague of Old London Town? With the blacksmith's strike in its fifteenth week and the Dorset Horse Fetishists Fair tomorrow?! (Beat)
    Blackadder: [throwing a saddle and bridle at Baldrick] Well, get this on, then. It looks as though you could do with the exercise!
• The Dog Bites Back: Amy, a.k.a. The Shadow, robs Blackadder and calls him a "dumb animal". Blackadder returns the favour after escaping by getting her arrested and executed, and claiming the reward money.
• Dramatic Drop: Blackadder thinks he's been found out and drops a tray he's carrying. When it turns out he hasn't been discovered, the tray zips back up.
• Dude, Not Ironic:
  Blackadder: Baldrick, have you no idea what irony is?
  Baldrick: Yeah, it's like goldy and bronzy, only it's made of iron.
• Epic Fail: The Prince's card-playing abilities — although to be fair, he was evidently told that the objective of the game is to lose one's money as fast as possible.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  Baldrick: You become a dashing highwayman, then you can pay all your bills and on top of that, everyone will want to sleep with you.
  Blackadder: Baldrick, I could become a prostitute and pay my bills, and everyone would want to sleep with me, but I do consider certain professions beneath me!
  • Amy Hardwood seems to have a principle against shooting dumb animals (except squirrels).
• Foreshadowing: Amy Hardwood comes to Blackadder's attention by spending lots of money (to the point where it was reported in The Times), but then it turns out her family's stone broke. Where did all that cash come from?
  • Also at play when Blackadder reads a newspaper headline about the King (George III) talking to a tree, given that when the King shows up in the next episode, he's carrying a rosebush that he wants his son to marry.
• Godzilla Threshold:
  Blackadder: Crisis, Baldrick, crisis! No money, no marriage, more bills! For the first time in my life I've decided to follow a suggestion of yours!
• The Highwayman: The Shadow is one of these, although 'he' is actually Amy Hardwood. Edmund decides to become one after the plan to marry George off to Amy falls through.
• Historical In-Joke: Edmund's mention of Caroline of Brunswick, see Truth in Television.
• Kick the Dog:
  • Mrs Miggins is on the receiving end of this when Blackadder bluntly crushes her dreams of him settling down with her.
    Blackadder: Mrs Miggins, if we were the last three humans on Earth, I'd be trying to start a family with Baldrick!
  • And Baldrick...
    Blackadder: When we're established in Barbados, I'll send for you. No more sad little London for you, Balders; from now on, you will stand out in life as an individual!
    Baldrick: Will I?
    Blackadder: Of course you will. All the other slaves will be black!
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: After being tricked and captured, Blackadder laments his life will end "on an unrealistic grassy knoll".
• Literal-Minded: Mr. Hardwood has a few problems with this.
  Blackadder: The Prince wants your daughter for his wife.
  Hardwood: Well, his wife can't have her! To come here with such a ludicrous suggestion. Mind sir, or I shall take off me belt and by thunder me trousers will fall down!
• A Man Is Always Eager: Prince George, who interprets Amy's reaction to his (or rather Blackadder's) wooing as an invitation to go up to her room straightaway.
  George: Sausage time!
• Motor Mouth: Blackadder imitating Caroline of Brunswick lets lose a dozen commands rapid-fire.
• Nobility Marries Money: Prince George, who has been accumulating huge gambling debts, attempts to marry the daughter of a wealthy industrialist for her money.
• Noodle Incident: Apparently Amy's aunt and uncle were a milkmaid and the Pope, who fell in love and got married. Also, whatever happens at the Naughty Hellfire Club.
• "No. Just… No" Reaction: Not exactly, but it's the sentiment when George worries about being "radished" at the Naughty Hellfire Club for non-payment of debts. They take a large radish and shove it up—Blackadder interrupts at this point and mutters "there's no need to hammer it home."
  George: As a matter of fact, they do often—
  Blackadder: [angrily] No, NO!
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Blackadder was so concerned about the prospect of his imminent death at the Shadow's hands that Baldick's sudden arrival introduces Blackadder to a genuinely new experience — being pleased to see Baldrick!
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Amy Hardwood pretends to be a ditzy, fluffy-headed idiot. She is in fact the most notorious highwayman around.
• Oop North: The bluff-speakin' Mr. Hardwood plays this trope t'hilt.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: Of all the people who Blackadder kills in the third series, Amy is the one person who definitely deserves it. That being said, Blackadder's motive is revenge first, the reward for her capture a close second, and bringing her to justice for her crimes a distant third.
• Pet the Dog: "Baldrick, thank you for introducing me to a genuinely new experience... being pleased to see you!
• Playing Cyrano: Blackadder acts as this to Prince George, although he thinks she's disgustingly twee, until he finds out that she's the Shadow.
• Really Gets Around: Sally Cheapside — a pregnant opium-fiend who wastes no time in trying to proposition Blackadder when he holds up her father's coach.
  Sally Cheapside: [kisses Blackadder hard on the mouth] Oh, I'm overcome. Take me with you to live the life of the wild rogue, cuddling under haystacks and making love in the branches of tall trees!
  Blackadder: Madam, sadly I must decline. I fear my horse would collapse with you on top of him as well as me!
  Baldrick: [appears next to Blackadder, wearing a harness] I could try!
• Rewind Gag: Blackadder thinks he's been found out and drops a tray he's carrying. When it turns out he hasn't been discovered, the tray zips back up.
• Running Gag: This week's Lady Hamilton mention comes from Blackadder and Mr. Hardwood's exchange.
  Mr. Hardwood: No-one ever made money off of good looks and charm.
  Blackadder: You obviously haven't met Lady Hamilton.
• Samus Is a Girl: And the Shadow is Amy Hardwood.
• Self-Made Orphan: Once Mr. Hardwood dashes Amy's hopes for marriage (and wealth), he's murdered by Amy.
• Suddenly Shouting: When Baldrick asks what's wrong with Caroline of Brunswick:
  Blackadder: "GET MORE COFFEE! IT'S HORRID! CHANGE IT! TAKE ME ROUGHLY FROM BEHIND! NO NOT LIKE THAT, LIKE THIS! TROUSERS DOWN! TACKLE OUT! WALK THE DOG! WHERE'S MY PRESENTS!"
  Baldrick: {alarmed} Alright, which one do you want me to do first?!
  Blackadder: No, that's what Caroline's like!
• Take That!: A couple.
  • Blackadder reads an article in The Times entitled, "King Talks to Tree, Phew What a Loony", then remarks that the paper has really gone downhill recently. This was a dig at Prince (later King) Charles, who famously talks to his plants, although George III really did talk to a tree during one episode of madness, imagining it to be the King of Prussia. And also at Rupert Murdoch, who had bought The Times in 1981, six years before this episode was broadcast.
  • Germany is on the receiving end of one as well — Blackadder describes Caroline of Brunswick as having "the worst personality in Germany", adding that "as you can imagine, that's up against some pretty stiff competition".
• Too Proud for Lowly Work: Blackadder feels that being butler to the Prince Regent is a case of this anyway, but he's even more dismissive of Baldrick's suggestion of an alternative line of work.
  Baldrick: You become a dashing highwayman, then you can pay your bills, and everyone would want to sleep with you.
  Blackadder: Baldrick, I could become a prostitute and pay my bills, and everyone would want to sleep with me, but I do consider certain professions to be beneath me.
• Truth in Television: One of the potential brides Blackadder suggests for George is Caroline of Brunswick, whom he dismisses on account of her "having the worst personality in Germany". Historically, the Prince Regent did marry Caroline, her personality was pretty much as described by Blackadder, and the marriage was an unmitigated disaster. In this universe, it's presumably Blackadder who marries her.
• Uptown Girl: Not the main plot, where the prince is definitely in it for the money. But in trying to persuade her father to give her consent to court the prince, Amy lists off several straight examples of increasing absurdity, the last of which being that her aunt and uncle were a milkmaid and the Pope.
• You Do Not Want To Know: Blackadder's reaction when he hears George's explanation of being "radished" at the Naughty Hellfire Club for not paying up.

---

Boom!

(distressed squeak)

(thud)