Mr. Bean/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Alternate Character Interpretation: Views are divided on Mr. Bean's exact nature. While most people seem to view him simply as a Cloudcuckoolander living in his own mad little world, others, notably Roger Ebert in his review of Bean, believe him to be a malevolent individual who delights in causing madness and devastation wherever he goes. And then some thinks that he's a humanoid alien from a planet that is completely unfamiliar with Earth society and technology, due to the opening and closing (this is made canon in the Animated Adaptation).
    • The malevolent theory holds even more water even to the audience. While some of his actions are indeed innocent interpretations gone wrong, in other cases he seems to actually enjoy doing "evil" things, like throwing the door in someone's nose and laughing after, showing no empathy whatsoever.
  • Americans Hate Tingle: It seems most Americans find Mr. Bean alienating and bizarre, and can't quite understand why this series is as popular as it is.
    • This is very much not the stereotype in Britain, where instead it is widely believed that Mr. Bean is insanely popular in both the United States and Germany, largely as a disparaging comment on those countries have simplistic senses of humour (as the humour in Mr. Bean is visual rather than verbal).
  • Crazy Awesome: When he buys household appliances and furniture, he puts everything in and on his car, including his couch on the roof. He made some wires to control the car from the roof!
  • Crowning Music of Awesome: The remix of the theme song that plays when he rushes to his dentist appointment in "The Trouble with Mr. Bean".
  • Fridge Horror: Bean's solution to the destruction of the Whistler's Mother painting in the movie is never gonna hold. As soon as somebody gives it a closer inspection, or (accidentally) touches it, or it's up for renovation of whatever sort, or is ever moved, the switch will become apparent. Not to mention that the whisked egg which Bean smeared on the poster he replaced it with is going to give off an awful smell after a couple of weeks, cluing everyone in anyway. If the movie had a Where Are They Now? Epilogue, both Bean and David would have been discredited professionally and incarcerated for being complicit in a conspiracy to destroy and steal a national treasure said to be worth fifty million dollars, and David would also lose his family forever. Bean just might be able to get out from under it or get a reduced sentence with an effective defense arguing that he has diminished mental capacity (putting the blame with the board of the British National Gallery instead for nominating him in the first place), but David's life is absolutely and irrevocably ruined.[1]
  • Germans Love David Hasselhoff: The show used to be huge in Japan. There is an unconfirmed story that a crowd of fans nearly tore Atkinson to bits during his visit to the country.
    • It is also very popular in the Philippines, where people have been known to call awkward or funny individuals by the name.
    • Very likely with many former Communist countries after the fall of the curtain, which didn't get to see such British hits, including Benny Hill or Doctor Who.
  • Jerkass Woobie: Mr Bean, of course.
  • Memetic Mutation: Magic. *snort, snort*
  • Nausea Fuel: Occasional. The dirty diaper in "Mind the Baby, Mr. Bean", for example.
    • Also, the bad oysters from "Mr. Bean in Room 426".
  • What an Idiot!: David's actions after discovering that Bean destroyed Whistler's Mother, which is to try and cover it up for him. This wouldn't even work in the first place, since the painting is going to be unveiled in a few days anyway, and as far as he can tell he can't just miraculously restore the painting to its prior state before then. David even addresses why he shouldn't just report it to his bosses and colleagues what Bean did, but then draws the wrong conclusion, stating that it's on him since he accepted responsibility for Bean's actions and even left him alone with the painting while knowing that Bean has a penchant for destruction, and would thus be sued for neglicence in the destruction of a national treasure worth fifty million dollars. There are some counterpoints to this:
    • Actually, it was David's superior who ordered Bean to stay in the room by himself. He justifies it by saying that it would give Bean some inspiration for his speech, but he also already knew by that point how strange Bean was and that he ruined the dinner evening immediately before with his crazy antics, so he almost certainly did it so he wouldn't have to be around Bean. This means that the responsibility for leaving the inept Bean alone with the painting was his, not David's -- David just reiterated with his boss already ordered.
    • David could also not reasonably accept responsiblity for Bean's behavior and actions. It was never *his* idea for Bean to come over to Los Angelas in the first place: David was intentionally misled by the false recommendations of the British Royal Gallery's board members into thinking that Bean was a genius, making him not responsible for that as well.
Basically, whatever consequences would come to his career of reporting the vandalism to his superiors, not doing so would be much worse, since it actually made David complicit in the crime by trying to cover it up. And there is video evidence for all of it.
  1. Which, to be frank, is partly his own fault. When Bean presented to him what he had done to Whistler's Mother, David should have immediately reported this to his bosses, not try to cover up for Bean.