The Black Adder episode 4  

The fourth episode of the Black Adder first came out on the 6th of July 1983. If you would like information on this shows production crew and its main cast, please check out my review of episode 1. 

Warning for those who have not seen this episode there will be spoilers. 

Story Summery 

The episode starts at night on the walls of the castle with a beautiful woman meeting with the prince of the realm. However, when she finds out its Edmund, she rejects him due to the fact she was expecting Harry, she then pushes him off the wall and he falls and gets bitten multiple times by an angry dog. 

We then come to the war room of king Richard where he is mapping out his battle plans against the rest of Europe. When Harry enters the room, the king tells him of his “cunning plan”. He plans to form an alliance with Spain against France by having Harry marry the Spanish infanta, (but that idea quickly goes out the window due to the fact Harry is engaged to a few other princesses, probably his father’s idea for more alliances). But then he is reminded he has another son (who he forgot about again). So, he decided that Osmond (I mean Edmund) will marry the Spanish infanta in order to form his alliance with Spain. 

Meanwhile in his chambers Edmund is tending to his dog bites, but when Baldrick and Percy come in, he goes on how they are actually love bites (though Percy and Baldrick are not fooled, and they know they are dog bites). He then gets a message that he is to marry the Spanish infanta to which he really likes the sound of. However, when the infanta arrives he is not that impressed with his wife to be (I mean he even jumps into Percy’s arms so that’s saying something). He then runs back to his chambers and barricade’s himself in.  

It is here that Percy gives him the idea of making her believe he has gone mad, (by dressing up as a little pig that goes mooooo, because of cause that’s goanna work “yeah right”). But then Baldrick comes up with another “cunning” plan, he tells Edmund that he should pretend that he is gay, he doesn’t like the idea at first, but he soon figures out that if the Infanta thinks he is gay she would no longer want to marry Edmund. So, he gets dressed, (like the Earl of Doncaster it seems, as his father thinks Emund is the Earl when he walks past him). But when the Infanta sees him, she falls even more in love with him due to the fact she thinks he got dressed up all fancy, just for her. 

Edmunds next plan involves him trying to marry another woman, unfortunately that also goes bad due to the fact she is already married. We also find the Spanish Infanta having a conversation with Edmund’s mother about her husband to be, to which she responds by making him sound like a very sweet, loving man. We then find Edmund at the most depressing Stag party of his life, because all his plans to avoid this marriage have failed. But then he comes up with one final chance to get out of this. He figures that if she is not a virgin, she wouldn’t be able to marry Edmund, so (to Baldricks horror) Edmund and Percy got him to sleep with the Infanta, which they got away with because the room was really dark, and she thought that Baldrick was Edmund. Edmund then informs the king of terrible news, (to which he responded with very over the top theories), but Edmund puts his mind to rest an informs him that the Infanta is not a virgin, to which the king responds that only one of them needs to be a virgin, (and since Edmund has never had a girlfriend in his live, he counts).  

 So, the wedding came, and the Spanish Infanta and prince Edmund lived happy ever aft… (wait what’s this urgent news it seems that France has allied itself with Spain and now England has no allies left in Europe, unless they ally with Hungry). In the end the king called off Edmund’s engagement to the Infanta and instead had him marry princess Leia of Hungry, (who was a lot younger than Edmund). The episode ends with Edmund reading his new wife a bedtime story and then blowing out the candy.   

Thoughts and Feelings          

Another day another great episode. An example of this was how when Edmund dressed up all flamboyant everyone thought he was the Earl of Doncaster, which I found very amusing.  

Another reason was when Edmund was tending to his dog bites, and he was pretending they were love bite. This was funny because Baldrick and Percy kept on saying that they were dog bites and when he finally admitted they are dog bites he overreacted very big and amusingly. 

The Spanish Infanta was also a great character in this episode, (played by guest star Miriam Margolyes). This was because her Spanish accent was really good and she was able to show on the screen that she was in love with Edmund so much, with use of her facial expressions and her tone of voice. 

I also liked how King Richards war room was almost like a children’s game. This was because I liked how Richard was playing with his toy soldiers and horses while at the same time planning out his battles.   

It was also very sweet when Edmund was reading princess Leia of Hungry a bedtime story. This was good because even though they are “husband and wife” Edmund knows that she is still I child and she need’s a bedtime story read at night, and to go to bed at six o clock, (which Edmund needs to do now as well). 

Overall, I thought this episode was great and I can’t wait to see what happens next.