Blackadder/Recap/S1/E03 The Archbishop

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    • S2 Blackadder's Christmas Carol
  • S1
    • E01 The Foretelling
    • E02 Born to Be King
    • E03 The Archbishop
    • E04 The Queen of Spain's Beard
    • E05 Witchsmeller Pursuivant
    • E06 The Black Seal
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    • E01 Bells
    • E02 Head
    • E03 Potato
    • E04 Money
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    • E01 Dish and Dishonesty
    • E02 Ink and Incapability
    • E03 Nob and Nobility
    • E06 Duel and Duality
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When the previous Archbishop of Canterbury is assassinated, Edmund suspects his (much more liked) brother, Harry, would be the next archbishop. Naturally, due to the fact that each of the other Archbishops have been very tragically and accidentally brutally murdered, this role is very dangerous, almost certainly eliminating Harry from Edmund's path between the throne.

Unfortunately for Edmund, King Richard didn't want a pious person such as Harry to be Archbishop (in order to maximise control over the nation), and instead chooses Edmund. After his commission, he convinces a dying man whom had sinned greatly that all his life that "Heaven is for people who like the sort of things that go on in Heaven, like, uh, well, singing, talking to God, watering pot plants. Whereas Hell, on the other hand, is for people who like the other sorts of things: adultery, pillage, torture - those areas," and so earns respect from his father.

Due to a misunderstanding, two drunken ex-crusaders believe that the King had ordered Edmund's death, and so attempt to kill him. The resulting chase leads them to a nunnery, where they don habits as a disguise, and later are discovered by the Mother Superior. Edmund lies about the situation so that he may be excommunicated, no longer to be the Archbishop.

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• Naughty Nuns: A major profit area in the Church is apparantly selling sexual favours of nuns. Edmund is surprised that people actually pay for them.
  • The nuns we see at the end apparently engage in lesbian bondage games with each other.
• Hell of a Time: What Edmund tries to convince a dying lord Hell is like.
• High Turnover Rate: The position of Archbishop itself.
• Historical In-Joke: Richard's exclamation of 'who will rid me of this turbulent priest?' and the knights mistaking it for an order to kill actually happened to Henry II.
• The Magnificent: Edmund is known as Archbishop Edmund the Unwilling.
• Poor Communication Kills: The two crusaders hear King Richard quoting someone, and believe it to be a demand for Edmund's death.
• Sinister Minister