When Mr. Bean arrived on British television screens on New Year’s Day in 1990, it felt less like a contemporary sitcom and more like a transmission from a bygone era of entertainment. Created by Rowan Atkinson and Richard Curtis, the series bypassed the fast-paced, dialogue-heavy cynicism of early-90s television. Instead, it revived the pure, unadulterated grammar of silent cinema, channeling legends like Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, and Jacques Tati.

To look closely at the first five foundational episodes of Mr. Bean—“Mr. Bean,” “The Return of Mr. Bean,” “The Curse of Mr. Bean,” “Mr. Bean Goes to Town,” and “The Trouble with Mr. Bean”—is to witness the meticulous construction of a comedic icon.

Through these specific stories, the show establishes its central theme: the ordinary world is a minefield of unwritten social rules, and Mr. Bean is a human wrecking ball disguised in a neat tweed jacket.

I. The First Five Episodes: Detailed Plot Narrative & Deconstruction

Episode 1: “Mr. Bean” (The Birth of the Anti-Social Maverick)

The pilot episode serves as an introductory triptych, placing Bean into three highly restrictive public institutions: an academic exam room, a public beach, and a traditional church service. Each setting requires quiet, submissive behavior, making them perfect targets for Bean’s unique brand of disruptive self-preservation.

                  [EPISODE 1: THE RESTRAINT BREAKDOWN]
  Exam Hall (Mental Panic) ──► Beach (Physical Prudishness) ──► Church (Social Conformity)

In the first segment, Bean arrives at a mathematics exam. The comedy relies entirely on psychological escalation. He unrolls an arsenal of mascots and pens, only to realize he has mistakenly prepared for Trigonometry instead of Calculus. His desperate, silent attempts to cheat off his neighbor under the watchful eye of the invigilator become a masterclass in facial contortions and physical stealth.

The second act moves to a deserted beach, where Bean tries to change into his swimming trunks without exposing himself to a nearby stranger sitting on a deckchair. This scene highlights his intense, almost Victorian prudishness, forcing him into a series of agonizingly complex leg maneuvers beneath his trousers, only to discover the stranger is blind.

The pilot closes in a church, where Bean battles a wave of intense drowsiness during a sermon, attempting to suppress a sneeze using his coat pocket, and later loudly blasting out the chorus of the hymn “All Creatures of Our God and King” just to out-sing his annoyed neighbor.

Episode 2: “The Return of Mr. Bean” (The Illusion of Sophistication)

Broadcast in late 1990, this episode shifts focus toward the world of adult luxury and high society, testing whether Bean can pass as a functional, upper-middle-class consumer.

• The Department Store: Armed with his brand-new American Express charge card, Bean treats shopping like an engineering experiment. To test the quality of a trash can, he drops a piece of garbage into it; to test a frying pan, he brings out a raw fish from his pocket to see if it fits.
• The Birthday Dinner: To celebrate his birthday, Bean treats himself to a fancy restaurant. Lacking culinary worldliness, he accidentally orders steak tartare. Disgusted by the plate of raw meat, he spends the rest of the meal devising an intricate strategy to hide the food. It gets stuffed inside an elegant vase, shoved beneath a small plate, tucked into a sugar bowl, and slipped directly into the open purse of a lady at the neighboring table.
• The Royal Lineup: The final segment sees Bean preparing to meet Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother at a theater premiere. His nervous preparation—frantically cleaning his teeth, wiping his shoes on his trousers, and using breath spray—culminates in absolute physical disaster when his hand gets caught in his zipper at the exact moment the Queen passes, leading to an accidental headbutt that knocks the royal guest out.

Episode 3: “The Curse of Mr. Bean” (The Tyranny of Rules)

This episode shifts the comedic engine onto everyday operational tasks and romantic obligations, showcasing how Bean handles minor inconveniences and personal terror.

At a local public pool, Bean climbs up to the high-dive board, only to find himself paralyzed by an intense fear of heights. The camera holds on his trembling legs as a pair of young boys wait impatiently behind him. His attempts to sneak back down without losing his dignity result in him losing his trunks entirely, stranding him naked in the water.

Leaving the facility, he enters a parking garage, only to realize he doesn’t want to pay the exit fee. His solution is to wait for another car to trigger the automated arm, attempting to squeeze his tiny British Leyland Mini through the gap before the gate closes, creating an endless, infuriating loop for the drivers behind him.

Later, during a quiet lunch in the park, Bean sits next to a businessman and constructs a fresh sandwich from scratch. His process is bizarrely resourceful: he uses a credit card to spread butter, cuts lettuce with small scissors from his pocket, and washes his watercress in the public drinking fountain.

The episode concludes at a movie theater where Bean takes his girlfriend to see a horror film. His initial bravado quickly dissolves into absolute terror, causing him to use popcorn buckets and a sweater to block his vision, utterly ruining the film for his date.

Episode 4: “Mr. Bean Goes to Town” (The Urban Battleground)

This episode takes Bean out of his immediate neighborhood and drops him into the busy, chaotic center of London, focusing on electronic frustration and petty crime.

Bean buys a new portable television but struggles to get a clear picture. He discovers that the reception is tied entirely to his location in the room, forcing him to stand in a highly specific, contorted position in his underwear to get a signal.

Later, while visiting a public park, a thief steals his camera. Bean tracks down the culprit by forcing a paper bag over the man’s head and pinning him with a trash can, using a long stick to poke him in the stomach until he confesses.

This leads to the famous hopping sequence: after leaving his shoe on top of a stranger’s car roof, the vehicle drives away. Rather than walking barefoot on the filthy concrete, Bean hops through London on one foot, navigating escalators, shops, and street crossings with the balance of a seasoned acrobat.

The night ends at a local club with his girlfriend, where Bean’s intense jealousy over a magic show volunteer leads him to hijack the stage, ruining the illusions and accidentally trapping the magician inside his own trick box.

Episode 5: “The Trouble with Mr. Bean” (The Master Engineer of Mornings)

This episode is arguably the structural peak of the early seasons, highlighting how Bean manages acute time management issues and natural annoyances.

The opening sequence is legendary: Bean wakes up late for his 9:00 AM dental appointment. Recognizing that he cannot afford to waste time getting dressed at home, he drives his Mini through the busy streets of London while simultaneously putting on his trousers, shifting into a clean shirt, brushing his teeth, and rinsing his mouth using the car’s windshield washer fluid. He operates the steering wheel with his knees and a wooden mop, turning his vehicle into a rolling bedroom.

                    [THE EXPERIMENTAL DENTIST LAB]
  Bean steps into clinic ──► Plays with hydraulic chair ──► Sedates doctor ──► Fills own tooth

Arriving at the clinic, Bean sits in the hydraulic chair and treats the dentist’s tools like toys. He plays with the water vacuum and accidentally injects the dentist’s thigh with a massive dose of local anesthetic, knocking the doctor unconscious. Terrified of leaving without getting his tooth fixed, Bean picks up the drill and performs a highly questionable, agonized dental filling on himself, using the overhead mirror as a guide.

The episode ends with a complete tonal shift, as Bean goes to a sunny park for a peaceful picnic, only to end up in a brutal war against a persistent swarm of wasps that ruin his cake and attack his lunch.

II. Thematic & Structural Analysis: The Mechanics of the “Child-Man”

The Psychology of Isolation

To analyze Mr. Bean as a character is to explore a unique form of modern existential loneliness. Bean has no apparent job, no clear past, and his relationships—most notably with his long-suffering girlfriend, Irma Gobb (played by Matilda Ziegler)—are defined by his absolute inability to prioritize anyone else’s needs over his own.

He exists completely outside the matrix of typical adult responsibilities. Because he lacks a mature emotional vocabulary, he views every human interaction as a transactional challenge or a competition. If someone sings louder than him in church, he must out-sing them. If a blind man sits near him on a beach, his primary concern is protecting his own modesty rather than showing standard human awareness.

The Architecture of Lateral Thinking

What elevates the writing of Rowan Atkinson, Richard Curtis, and Ben Elton is Bean’s distinct form of intelligence. He is not a bumbling fool in the style of Inspector Clouseau; he is an unconventional inventor.

When faced with a problem, his brain operates with a terrifying, mechanical logic that completely strips away social etiquette to find the shortest line between a problem and a solution.

III. Production & Performance Analysis: The Silent Director

The aesthetic language of these first five episodes relies heavily on the direction of John Howard Davies, Paul Weiland, and John Birkin. Their approach treats the visual frame as an objective, unblinking observer.

The Medium Shot and Physical Space

The comedy of Mr. Bean fails if the audience cannot see the physical geometry of the scene. The directors consistently avoid tight close-ups during stunts, preferring medium and wide shots that show Bean’s entire body in relation to his environment.

In the high-dive sequence of “The Curse of Mr. Bean,” the camera stays locked on a wide profile shot of the diving platform. This frames Bean’s small, trembling silhouette against the massive, empty drop below him, letting the audience feel the physical reality of his height phobia.

  ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
  │  [Diving Board] ──► Mr. Bean (Trembling silhouette)   │
  │                                                        │
  │                                                        │
  │  [Water Level] ──► Distance creates the comedy         │
  └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

The Acoustic Landscape of Grunts

The sound design across these five episodes is incredibly sparse, which forces the viewer to focus entirely on physical movement. Aside from Howard Goodall’s famous choral theme, there is almost no background music during the sketches.

Every joke relies entirely on real-world foley: the snap of an elastic band, the crunch of a raw fish, or Bean’s signature low, gravelly mumbles. By stripping away dialogue, the show becomes universally translatable, bypassing language barriers entirely to make the comedy accessible to anyone, anywhere in the world.

IV. Episode Evaluation & Performance Matrix

These five episodes laid the absolute groundwork for what would become a global multi-million dollar franchise. Here is an analytical breakdown of their performance across key comedic metrics:

Conclusion: An Enduring Study in Human Absurdity

The first five episodes of Mr. Bean represent a pristine era of British television comedy. By anchoring the character to everyday situations—a dental visit, a birthday dinner, a trip to the pool—Atkinson and his co-writers tapped into the collective anxieties of modern life.

Bean is the manifestation of our worst inner impulses: he represents the part of us that wants to cut the line, push past the crowd, hide our mistakes rather than own up to them, and ignore the rules of polite society when they become inconvenient.

Rowan Atkinson’s performance across these early chapters remains flawless. His control over his expressions, his precise physical timing, and his ability to find humor in a simple task like changing clothes or making a sandwich turned Mr. Bean into an enduring classic. It stands as a brilliant reminder that under the thin veneer of our civilized lives, we are all just children trying to navigate a world that is far too complicated for us.

Final Review Score: 9.8 / 10