Black Books episode guide: The Blackout (episode 4)

After being given an Espresso Machine, Manny stays up all night drinking coffee and watching the entire box set of The Sweeney, only to find himself in chase of a bag snatcher the following day. Mistaken for a police officer, he is taken down to the station to aid the local bill with some interrogation work.

Bernard has been blanked in the street by a couple whos party he attended the previous night. He realises that he must've done something pretty horrendous to warrant such a complete social blackholing. He then recalls, piece by piece, his humiliating and somewhat disgusting antics of the night before.

Fran, having caught her boyfriend with another woman the night before, and recognising "the power of the blank", decides to use the force at her next opportunity. She ends up blanking her boyfriend to such a degree that she walks into the path of oncoming traffic.

Bernard, having remembered all, goes to apologise to his friends in the hopes that they'll forgive him, and maybe apologise to him in return. They refuse an apology, and he storms out of their house only to trip on their threshold and break his arm. Hence both he and Fran are left with humorous disabilities.

Manny, still down at the station, is left alone to "crack" a tough case. He resorts to pleading with the crim, "I'm not really a police officer! I just drank too much coffee!" The interrogated becomes confused and enraged at this, and admits to everything. Manny announces his retirement as a detective - not one unsolved case to his name.

Previous The Grapes Of Wrath
Next: The Big Lock-out

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