This is more like it.
Perhaps the most classic bit of all.
Getting dressed in the Mini Cooper.
Brushing his teeth.
Rinsing with the windshield wiper fluid.
It’s bloody clever!
The dentist appointment is rather good, though it’s hard to follow the adventurous trip which precedes it.
The final picnic bit is rather lame.
But the very opening…yes, let’s go back to the top.
Bean, apparently, has an immensely difficult time waking up.
I can wholeheartedly sympathize with that.
He has his grandfather clock.
And then a small alarm on his right nightstand.
And finally a tea kettle alarm on the other nightstand to which he has affixed a hose which runs to the foot of the bed…to spray scalding hot water on his foot.
But there are no snooze buttons.
The little alarm is dropped into a glass of water.
The hose is stopped up by the muscle memory of his big toe.
And back to sleep he goes.
Which all explains why he must rush to the dentist in the fist place.
But let’s examine something else.
In this episode, Bean’s childlike nature is on full display.
He sleeps beneath an A-Team blanket (upon which Mr. T’s flannel, pastel head is displayed clearly).
But just as importantly, Bean sleeps with his teddy bear by his side.
For Bean, his teddy bear is a living entity…a toy doll with feelings.
So Bean tucks in the bear for some extra Zzzz…allowing his faithful friend to sleep in.
And thus begins the frantic race to the dentist.
Furthermore, Bean is solely interested in reading a Batman comic book at his dentist’s office.
None of the vast magazine collection in the waiting room will suffice.
And about that picnic scene…
At least it reminded me that Rowan Atkinson is essentially a mime on this show.
Indeed, he says only one word in his basso profundo voice during this episode.
“Bean”, he intones, as he arrives at the opaque receptionist’s window.
For those in search of art, look no further.
The man says one word. In the entire episode.
Not zero. And not 571.
But merely one.
Directors Paul Weiland and John Birkin were starting to get the hang of things with this one.
Highly recommended!
But don’t let your nose hair get caught in your Norelco (as Mr. Bean painfully finds out). Always reminds me of El Sayyid Nosair. And Meir Kahane. And the Jewish Defense League. MIPT (and by extension, Homeland Security) classifies the JDL as merely a “former terrorist organization”. (Jewish terrorists…imagine that!) Even the ADL gets it right regarding the similar sounding JDL: “thugs and hooligans”.
Kahane (founder of this former Jewish terrorist organization) has a nice little monument in Kahane Park in the West Bank. Which is to say, Israel seems proud of their terrorist martyrs. What hypocrisy!
-PD
paulydeathwish 