Season synopsis
Contains spoilers for this season and earlier seasons.
Captain Edmund Blackadder is trapped on the Western Front in 1917, looking for any posting that will keep him out of the next attack. Private Baldrick’s ideas offer little comfort, while Lieutenant George still approaches the war with enthusiasm Blackadder cannot share. General Melchett issues orders from far behind the lines, assisted by Captain Darling, whose safe administrative position makes him a particular target for Blackadder’s resentment. Their arguments take place under the continuing threat of an advance across no man’s land.
Each possible escape becomes another military disaster. A position as official war artist sends Blackadder outside the trench rather than safely away from it. Shooting a carrier pigeon brings a court-martial because the bird is Melchett’s pet. An entertainment show seems to offer a route to London, until Melchett falls for George in his female stage costume. Joining the Royal Flying Corps lands Blackadder and Baldrick in German captivity after a crash. When George is injured, Blackadder investigates a suspected spy in the hospital while pursuing a romance with a nurse. None of these diversions removes the approaching attack.
With the advance ordered for dawn, Blackadder tries pretending to be mad, wearing underpants on his head and pencils in his nostrils. Melchett already knows that trick. A call to Field Marshal Haig produces only the same useless advice. Darling is sent forward despite his protests, joining the men he previously dealt with from headquarters. George’s confidence gives way to fear as they recall the friends they have lost. A pause in the bombardment briefly raises hope, but the guns have stopped to let them advance. Blackadder wishes his companions luck and they climb into machine-gun fire; the battlefield fades into a quiet field of poppies.