After a quick and shakily-shot recap of the previous episode, Father Ted is faced with the realization that he still has to kick Bishop Brennan up the arse for losing his bet, and Dougal must take a photograph of the arse-kicking for proof. Dougal tries to cheer Ted up by claiming that Brennan will never come to the parochial house. Brennan then calls to inform Ted that he will be visiting tomorrow to investigate Father Dick Byrne's claim that the grain in one of the skirting boards forms a likeness of the Bishop himself. Ted gets so worried that he rambles all night about it and doesn't sleep at all.
By the time Ted finally stops to sleep, it's already morning and Bishop Brennan has arrived with his assistant Father Jessup, the most sarcastic priest in Ireland. Ted leads the visitors upstairs to examine the skirting board and tries to kick Brennan up the arse, but Father Jessup spots him and Ted runs through the window instead. Not seeing any likeness, Brennan prepares to leave as he has an audience with the Pope in Rome. However, the roads have been taken in due to heavy rain and so he and Jessup must stay in the parochial house until tomorrow.
That night, Ted and Dougal discuss the entire arse-kicking ordeal and Dougal suggests playing dumb after doing so, as Brennan would never believe that Ted would do it. The next morning, while Jessup confronts Father Jack for stealing the Bishop's sherry and ends up getting locked in his underpants hamper, Ted invites Brennan to look at the skirting board again and successfully kicks him up the arse as Dougal takes the photo. Ted celebrates the achievement with a lot of sparkling wine and drunkenly tells Dougal to make a blown-up "10 by 10" copy of the photo.
Brennan leaves Craggy Island and flies all the way to Rome in incredible disbelief over what happened, until he finally snaps out of it in front of the Pope and immediately heads back, shoving His Holiness out of the way in his haste to do so. Ted wakes up the next morning to see a furious Bishop Brennan storming the parochial house. With his life on the line, Ted somehow manages to convince Brennan that he did not, in fact, kick him up the arse and that it was all in his head. However, Dougal then arrives with the blown-up photo (10×10 feet instead of 10×10 inches) for all to see, and the episode ends with Brennan getting his revenge... by kicking Father Ted up the arse.
Tropes in the episode
- Anti-Advice: Ted convinces Mrs. Doyle to do the opposite of whatever Father Jessup says to get around his sarcasm, but this results in Jessup becoming trapped in Jack's underpants hamper.
- Bullying a Dragon: Well, kicking one up the arse.
- Father Jessup comes across Jack holding Bishop Brennan's bottle of sherry, and moves to confront him. End result: Jessup is locked in Jack's dirty underpants hamper.
- Cassandra Truth:
- Father Jessop's pleas to be let out of Father Jack's underwear basket are interpreted by Mrs Doyle as yet more sarcasm so she leaves him there.
- Ted's solution to kicking Bishop Brennan up the arse is to simply deny it. It works, for a good while anyway.
- The Cloud Cuckoo Lander Was Right: Through a sound chain of reasoning, Dougal of all people comes up with a successful plan to kick the bishop up the arse and get away with it. It only fails due to a combination of Ted's hubris, and Dougal (more characteristically) not understanding the difference between feet and inches.
- Deadpan Snarker: Father Jessop, said to be the most sarcastic priest in Ireland, naturally takes this up to eleven. Every sentence that comes out of his mouth is a cutting remark, which has unfortunate consequences when Ted tells Mrs. Doyle to assume he means nothing he says, so that when he pleads with her to get him out of the laundry basket into which Jack has stuffed him, she assumes he's just being snarky as usual.
- Delayed Reaction: After getting kicked by Ted, Bishop Brennan remains in a state of shocked disbelief for the time it takes him to fly to Rome for an audience with The Pope, at which point he finally snaps out of it with a roar of "He did kick me up the arse!". And then shoves His Holiness out of the way and rushes back to Ireland. Not to mention screaming "God damn it!" in the middle of the Vatican.
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Ted kicks the terrifying Bishop Brennan right up the arse.
- Dumbass Has a Point: Dougal advises Ted that, if he pretends as though he didn't kick Brennan up the arse, the bishop will believe that he had simply imagined it. In fact, this plan works rather well. Ted would've gotten away with the whole thing, had His Grace not seen the blown-up copy of the photo taken of the deed.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Ted only gets caught when Bishop Brennan sees the giant blown-up image of the act which Ted had drunkenly ordered (in Ted's defence, it was mistakenly ordered at a far larger size than intended)
- Imagine Spot: The episode opens with Ted imagining being thrown into a volcano in his next parish.
- Incoming Ham: An enraged Bishop Brennan charges at the parochial house with billowing cape and kicks the front door in, all the while shrieking a blood-curdling "Crilllllyyyyyyy!"
- Jerkass: Father Jessop, who snipes at Ted's attempts at conversation and mocks Mrs Doyle for offering him tea.
- Mistaken for Gay: Bishop Brennan, when he sees Ted and Dougal whimpering and holding each other for comfort like Laurel and Hardy.Bishop Brennan: Now, this is a new one!
- Noodle Incident: Father Dick Byrne lost the darts tournament and had to say "bollocks" very loudly in front of Mary Robinson, who was the President of Ireland at the time.
- Oh, Crap!: A hungover Ted when he sees a raging Bishop Brennan hurtling towards the parochial house.
- Poor Communication Kills: Ted would have gotten away with kicking Bishop Brennan up the arse, if not for him forgetting to specify that he wanted a ten-by-ten inch photograph of the event. Which, in fairness, is the sort of thing you wouldn't usually have to point out, but Dougals getting a ten-by-ten foot photograph made ends up giving the truth away in spectacular fashion.
- Precision F-Strike:Bishop Brennan: You mean we have to stay here? Tonight?Ted: Well ... yes.Bishop Brennan: Oh, bollocks.
- Previously on…: The episode beigns with a brief recap of "Escape from Victory".
- Reassigned to Antarctica: Ted imagines being reassigned to a pagan-filled island and being thrown into a volcano.
- Refuge in Audacity: Ted nearly succeeds in getting away with kicking Bishop Brennan up the arse because (as observed by Dougal) it was such an outrageous thing for him to do that Bishop Brennan couldn't believe it actually happened.
- Rule of Three: When Ted finally attempts to get some sleep before Bishop Brennan's visit. He turns off the bedroom light...only to find the room full of natural light, as he'd rambled all night and it's already morning. He starts to say that they at least have a few more hours before the alarm clock goes off ... only to be cut off by said alarm clock ringing. He then starts to say that he set the clock early, to give them plenty of time before the bishop's arrival ... only to be cut off by the doorbell ringing.
- Sarcasm-Blind: Mrs Doyle.
- Sarcasm Failure: Father Jessop does break from his non-stop sarcastic tone occasionally, usually in defence of Bishop Brennan — or when something really weird happens, like Ted unexpectedly jumping out of the window.
- Sarcasm Mode: Father Jessop's usual setting.
- Father Jack goes into an extreme version of this when ordered to apologise to Brennan.
- Say My Name: ''CRIIILLLLYYYYYY!'
- Shout-Out:
- The episode's recap sequence is a parody of NYPD Blue's "shaky camera" technique.
- The post-credits scene, in which Father Jessup flicks his lighter on and off inside Jack's underpants hamper, is a reference to The Vanishing.
- Super Window Jump: Ted resorts to this after Father Jessup catches him trying to kick Bishop Brenan.Bishop Brennan: What happened there?Father Jessup: Crilly just ... jumped through the window.
- Tempting Fate: Just as Dougal assures Ted that the bishop won't ever visit, the phone rings.
- Trrrilling Rrrs: Bishop Brennan has to go to 'RRRRRome' for an audience with the Pope.
- Whole-Plot Reference: The writers drew inspiration for the episode's storyline from the Seinfeld episode "The Revenge", in which George regrets quitting his job and Jerry suggests that he return and pretend he had never quit.
