Councillor Murray - It's Batman!
We're hurtling towards the end of the show's run but this trilogy of episodes are all equally placed high on the list in many people's favourite episodes and it's clear to see why. My personal favourite is 'Modern Men' - but there are plenty of people who will argue that this is the best of the 3 episodes and it is hard to argue on re-watching.
I usually have 1 main moment that I can find on YouTube or share in meme form. The fact that 'Heroes And Villains' has 3 clips available shows how well loved the moments in this episode are, and demonstrates the variety of them. On top of these are some classic moments such as the mugging chase and Del's medal, as well as scenes which are built upon in the following 2 episodes. Cassandra's pregnancy is announced, but is miscarried in 'Modern Men' and then there's Rodney coming to terms with it in 'Time On Our Hands'. Raquel also is back in touch with her parents, a plot line so critical to that third episode of course. It really is a saga of a trilogy and there's a heap of content to analyse. It was also 3 years on from the last episode, but the detail of the 3 episodes and how they integrate together make sense for them to come as a set.
Rodney's nightmare sequence is supremely rewatchable as a sort of mini-episode in its own right. As it's the opening of the episode, you're not sure whether this is a flash forward or an alternate universe perhaps, but it turns out to just be a nightmare. The clip speaks for itself but the detail I only picked up on this time around is the identity of President Reeves - if you listen closely, Damian mentions his first name as "Keanu". The year is set as 2026 - with the way things are going in terms of celebrities involvement in politics and Keanu Reeves' personal fame right now, who knows if this prophesy will come true?!
Del is very much back to wheeling and dealing in the market. Escaping the Latvian alarm clocks to Sid's café we find Trigger and his medal. Not only is this scene hilarious in it's own right but it also serves as a precursor to Del receiving his medal as a "have-a-go hero".
Cassandra and Rodney are still trying (exceptionally hard) for a baby. It's also Rodney's birthday - or "Rooney" if you ask Del's chunky gold identity bracelet present. Rodney is clearly unhappy with the gift but is embarrassed to confront Del over it - a very relatable emotion that many of us will have had at times. Raquel is also invited to meet her parents with Damian for a reunion, but is nervous that Del will spoil their reunion, Del lets her off the hook - a sign of growth and maturity in his relationship in that he's willing to let her go alone and not interfere for once.
So the brothers will be on their own for the weekend - Rodney's visibly relieved to get out of baby-making duties for the week too - which goes to show how exhausted he is. After guilt-tripping Rodney, Del convinces him to attend the Publican's Ball - a fancy dress party.
Del - It’ll be like the old days Rodders!
Rodney - We ain't going to be pulling birds are we?
Del - We never pulled any birds in the old days! What chance have we got now?!
Of course Del wants to win the fancy dress competition, so they go all out on the costumes. What's so great about this is that it gives us 3 separate enormous laughter moments. The first is the reveal of their costumes as the van breaks down. Then as they decide to run to the party, they save Councillor Murray from being mugged. Finally there's the scene where they enter the room to discover that the host has since died, they didn't get the message and the party has been replaced with a funeral.
All three moments are noteworthy, but the middle one is so perfect in terms of its execution from an acting and production perspective - the smoke wasn't originally planned but John Sullivan was convinced by the crew it would add to the comedy - with the music on top it has become one of the most memorable moments in British comedy.
The final set piece of the episode is the chase scene where Rodney runs after one of the muggers they had scared off the night before. There's a wonderful moment in the middle where Rodney isn't sure what to do with the mugger once he has confronted him, and then starts running away from him with the mugger now in chase. There's a moment of realisation that Rodney is the more cowardly character, we know that Del wouldn't have messed about but Rodney just isn't cut from exactly the same cloth. In the end it is Del that saves the day - with his suitcase put to good use.
Del's medal leads us to the end of the episode and the treble celebration of his medal, Cassandra's pregnancy and then Del revealing that Councillor Murray grants him the home improvement grant that he had been refused earlier. I believe that the episodes that end with the Trotters winning are often more memorable, we want them to succeed ultimately.
One character we haven't mentioned yet is Uncle Albert. He plays a supporting role across all 3 of these episodes, delivering a couple of wonderful one liners in this episode. The pick of the bunch has to be "Raquel goes away for a few days and this place becomes a shambles. There’s nothing in the fridge, the veg is on the turn and that apple juice is horrible!" indicating that he has drunk Cassandra's pregnancy specimen. There's only a couple of times Del spits out his cigar but this is one of them. He's linked to another food mix-up in 'Time On Our Hands' as he messes up the gravy.
Tomorrow's episode: Modern Men
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