“A man finds himself at war with a bee while house sitting a luxurious mansion. Who will win, and what irreparable damage will be done in the process?” IMDB.com
I recently watched Man vs Bee on Netflix and to say it stressed me out is an understatement. I got very uneasy and was shouting at the TV when disaster was going to strike and as you can imagine inevitably it did. As a person who never likes to see damage happen, I found it hard when priceless items were destroyed….all to rid the house of one bee!
However it was like wanting to know what happened in a disaster, I had to find out what happened, was Trevor going to triumph over the bee? Or will the bee get his revenge to Trevor’s demise?
What is Man vs Bee About?
“Man vs. Bee is a 2022 British comedy created and written by Rowan Atkinson and William Davies. The show consists of nine episodes, each of them directed by David Kerr. Atkinson stars as a down-on-his-luck man who finds himself entrenched in a battle with a bee while house-sitting a rich couple’s modern mansion. Jing Lusi, Claudie Blakley, Tom Basden, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Greg McHugh, and India Fowler also feature. Man vs. Bee premiered on Netflix on 24 June 2022 and received mixed reviews from critics.” Wikipedia
Rowan Atkinson is Trevor Bingley who is obsessed with removing a bee from a mansion that is filled with expensive everything; statues, artwork, clothes, cars, books, and more.
13 reasons why Trevor should never house sit
- Breaks priceless statue
When Trevor first arrives at the house he walks around admiring all the art and objects. You slowly realise that there are a lot of very expensive and priceless objects. He turns around and bumps a statue off a table. Trevor tries to remember how to open the kitchen cabinets from the information shared by Nina and Christian the homeowners but is finding it difficult, as he is looking for glue to fix the broken statue. Trevor finally finds super glue and fixes the broken statue by glueing the broken part back on. However, this scene has been found to have a continuity error. “One viewer couldn’t help but notice the moment during the first episode when the head of a broken statue hilariously flies across the room after Trevor tries to speedily glue it back together and dry it with a hairdryer. However, in the next shot, as Trevor looks on horrified, the head inexplicably appears back attached to the main body of the statue.” Hello Magazine
- Burns manual to house
When Trevor met Nina and Christian they explained that the house has a manual, all that he will need to know is in this manual. The manual also had codes to unlock doors and other such items, if Trevor doesn’t have these codes the only way to open doors is using Nina’s voice as it is voice activated. Trevor put the manual on the induction stove top, he thought that he had turned on one area of the stove for a saucepan to heat up some food but had actually turned on the back part of the stove that the manual was sitting on and therefore set it alight. As you might guess the food never cooked or heated up and Trevor was not sure why it wasn’t working.
- Locks Cupcake the dog in the library
Cupcake the much-loved dog of Nina and Christian is not allowed in the library. The library is the home of some very rare books and one, in particular, is a manuscript that is on display on a platform that is carefully lit. Trevor was given explicit instructions to make sure that the dog was never allowed in and in his panic to try and rid the living area of the bee didn’t realise that Cupcake snuck inside while Trevor was distracted making it easy for the door to lock after him. Trevor remembers that the codes were to do with famous naval battles and magically remembers what the code is but then the door will not open unless he sounds like Nina, so Trevor spends time perfecting his female Nina-like voice to open the library door.
- Cupcake destroys priceless manuscript
While Cupcake is trapped in the library she destroys the priceless antique manuscript that the homeowners were protecting and valued. It is torn to shreds and as you can imagine the rest of the library is a mess too.
- Ruins a Kandinsky sculpture
Trevor breaks parts of the Kandinsky sculpture and works hard to fix it. He replaces the artwork with a metal hand beater and other things to make it appear like it was before it was broken.
- Rips a Mondrian painting
Trevor accidentally rips the painting by using a hammer to try and open the door to the library that is locked. He attempts to break the glass on the library door and then the hammer slips out of his hand and flies backwards to then slide and rip down the expensive painting. Trevor fixes this issue with tape and colouring it to appear like the red on the painting. At one point the tape falls down to show that there indeed has been damaged and that it is not perfect.
- Makes cupcake the dog sick
Trevor has been warned that Cupcake cannot eat peanut butter, if she eats it she has diarrhoea and farts a lot…and as you can imagine it was not good and very stinky. Due to Cupcake having an upset belly and doing terrible poos inside it affects Trevor when he crawls back inside the house with Cupcake’s collar that opens automatically the dog door. Trevor accesses the house with the dog door due to locking himself outside of the house and then lands right into the dog poo.
- Wears the furs of the homeowners while covered in dog poo
Trevor is covered in dog poo when there is a police officer at the door. He doesn’t know what to do as he is not dressed adequately, he panics and finds a fur coat to wear when he answers the door, he is also still wearing the dog collar. While speaking with the police officer the officer finds that Trevor is rather smelly and finds his outfit rather troubling. The police officer is letting homeowners know that there is a band of burglars that are breaking into houses and to be aware.
- Posions Cupcake the dog
In an effort to rid the house of the pesky bee, Trevor traps it in the pantry and then has a poisonous bomb of cleaning chemicals. To lure the bee into the pantry Trevor put peanut butter on a knife and left it in the pantry with the door open, this then also lured in Cupcake the dog. Trevor thought it was just the bee and shut the door trapping Cupcake in the pantry when he let off the chemicals. House sitters are trusted to look after animals, not kill them or try to…well you hope this never happens.
- Torches the house
In one last-ditch effort to rid the bee from the house and away from Trevor he torches the house. As you might imagine this caused terrible damage and burnt the house too. Torching houses of course is not what a housesitter should do and one that you would think that a bee would not survive, but this bee is rather clever and cunning…. Yes maybe the bee has a cunning plan Trevor
- Damages a priceless E-type Jaguar
After nearly killing Cupcake the dog Trevor needs to get her to the vet. Trevor decides to drive the very rare and super expensive E-Type Jaguar to get much-needed medical help for cupcake. On the way to the vet he damages the car, to make sure he had all the broken bits he made sure to put them in the car and magically made it to the vet, and spoiler alert….Cupcake was okay.
- Bombs the house
Trevor is so over this bee and is dead set on wanting to get rid of it for good. He believes he has captured it and then devises a bomb to kill it for good. He lets off the bomb in the garden but it impacts the house and also the car too.
- Unknowingly let burglars into the house
Trevor had no idea that he let the burglars into the house. The team of men were locked in the house and was in the process of robbing the house of Nina and Christian’s valuables. As a house sitter, you should really know if you have burglars in the house and poor Trevor had no idea.
What did I think of Man vs Bee?
I found the show reminiscent of Mr Bean but the character of Trevor was different. Trevor was more caring and human and Mr Bean is rather selfish in his behavoiur. The drama that Trevor got into as a result of a bee was horrible and there was so much destruction. I found myself yelling at the television about certain things, and telling Trevor loudly, “NO don’t do that!!!!” “Oh NO!”
The show has very short episodes and some by the time you start have ended, so it is very easy to watch the whole season in one go. I did find myself annoyed at all the destruction and rather upset about it but had to watch it to the end. Some things were very funny and others I found rather troublesome. I wasn’t a fan of showing how to poison a bee or kill a bee as they are needed for our survival. Bees pollinate our food and help everyone. However, I know the bee was used as a demonstration of something that plagued Trevor, leading to him not letting go and focusing on that above anything else.
I am not sure that Man vs Bee is for everyone. If you were like me you might get upset with all the destruction and be too stressed out to watch more.
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