Black Books

Blood

Season 2, Episode 4, Aired 3/22/02

Episode Summary

When Manny is drawn into a competing bookstore by its customer-friendly atmosphere, he convinces Bernard the shop needs an overhaul. Fran makes use of the shop's improved facilities to track down her relatives, but is not entirely happy with what she finds.

9.2

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Cast & Crew

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Dylan Moran

Bernard Ludwig Black
Tamsin Greig

Fran Katzenjammer
Bill Bailey

Manny Bianco

Fan Episode Reviews (2)

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Manny takes it upon himself to 'reinvent' the store,including a sofa that eats people,and an information point that puts Fran in touch with her relatives.After a brief...undecided period, Bernard tries to further the development by launching a restaurant.moreless

10

"Perfect"

By mirador1987, Feb 23, 2008 Report Abuse

A fantastic episode mainly for the cooking scenes. Bernard makes a fantastic alcoholic stress filled chef. Perhaps more suited to this life than to that of a bookshop.
Ah to taste such dishes as 'luxury pie' (made from lobsters, saffron, caviar, truffles and champagne - Drizzle it!), and the concoction of paint, Bernard's belt, bits of oven, and some ground black pepper to flavour.

The second storyline of Fran tracking down her relatives and finding out that her eastern european cousins live right round the corner from her has it's moments, but isn't so packed with hilarity as is the cooking storyline.

And what review would be complete without honourable mention to the fantastic 'creatures'. Score is kept on the blackboard of how many Manny has killed vs how many Bernard's killed. They get knives thrown at them, they steal onions, and at the end - courtesy of the coffee machine's steamer - Manny: "Bernard, I got the queen!"

Quite possibly the funniest episode in the entire series.moreless

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All fine food must be presented in little towers!!!

9.5

"Superb"

By Dirk13, Jul 18, 2006 Report Abuse

I really enjoyed this episode, it was by far one of my favorite yet of this show, if only for the 2/3rd's of the portions dedicated to Bernard's and Manny's delirious descent into insanity while upgrading the shop. At first Bernard is disgusted at the idea, walking in almost blank of emotion, curiously inspecting someone's muffin and then angrily tossing it aside.

Eventually he starts to get so into the idea that he starts making full service dinner, which alludes to one of the most insane scenes involving cooking bits of oven, excessive whine drinking and little towers of food, not in that order.

There's also some side plot about killing strange unseen little animals and keeping a score tally. It may have been from an earlier episode but the fact that i had no idea what was going on with that made it even funnier, which may have possibly been the intended effect.moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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Trivia
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- The Chalkboard contains a running total of Bernard and Manny's kills. The kills concerned are the 'creatures' which have taken to nesting in the Shop. Edit
Notes
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Quotes
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- Bernard: We can't let them find reasons to leave. We can feed them! Lunch and dinner! We'll build a pool! And a gym! And an Egyptian-style casino! No, that's a bit much. Edit
- Bernard: (Holding a pan) Take this out to table twelve. Fran: But, no. There are no plates. Bernard: Well use...recipe books with pictures of plates on the front! Do I have to explain everything? Edit
- Bernard: The shop is the way it is, because it is the way it is. If it wasn't the way it is, it wouldn't be the way it is! Edit
Allusions
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- During his spell in the kitchen, Bernard combines the traits of two other famous chefs - Keith Floyd (famous for his drinking while cooking) and Gordon Ramsay (famous for being nasty to his fellow cooks). Edit