While Jack must have been an absolute pain to live with, sometimes it really is a case of better the devil you know. Jack has always had a loveable charm, happy with merely his dirty magazines and copious bottles of liqeur. With Father Fintan Stack, things got scary. And funny. Fintan had an equal appreciation for the cigarettes and alcohol, but also a genuinely mean spirit oh, and a fondness for playing jungle music at three in the morning. As Ted put it, worse than Hitler. While Jack was off in the 'Jurassic Park' hospital for elderly priests, the insults got personal with Fintan. One or two lines in this are actually quite dark, when you consider the scandals that have afflicted the Catholic Church in recent times, but depending on your views, that makes for the best comedy. For example, the following
"Lots of young fellows running around in shorts. That's the kind of thing you like looking at."
The guilty looks of the priests in response to this are genuinely uncomfortable to watch in hindsight, and the Father Ted writers must exchange knowing looks when viewing this episode today. The brazen delivery of Fintan's lines, by Irish comedian Brendan Grace, was what made this episode. "Bye girls! Pair of w*****s" was the one that really got Ted's ire going, and our laughter going. The inaugural Tedfest voted this the best episode, but this writer has plumped for number eight.
I am from Bangor, aged 24, and possess an MA in Journalism from The University Of Ulster. I have had work published in the Belfast Telegraph and interviewed several local footballers and Olympic athletes. I also run my own sports blog, 'Sporting Thought' in addition to contributing to What Culture.
