“Mr. Bean” is the Somber Story of an Alien Entity Who Has Lost His Mind
Mr. Bean is the lovable British sitcom about a strange man who ends up in all sorts of awkward predicaments… or is it?
I grew up watching the show, and adored it for what it was. Revisiting it years later, perhaps there is a far darker subtext to the show than initially meets the eye.
Is Mr. Bean truly just an average person who looks at the world in a different way, or is he actually an alien entity trapped on Earth who has gone mad living in his own head?
I’ve seen theories online that Mr. Bean is a human being who was abducted by aliens, experimented upon, and then released back on Earth. I submit the theory that Mr. Bean was an alien all along, who has gradually lost his mind the more time he spends on our planet.
Every episode begins with a beam of light opening on the ground, from which Mr. Bean plummets. He lands on the pavement, looks up, and then scurries off into the world. This is how Mr. Bean first came to Earth. We know nothing of his parents or him as a child, because he has always been Bean.
Over the course of the series, we see Mr. Bean attempting to do simple and mundane tasks. Not being from this world, however, he finds unconventional ways to accomplish these undertakings. He has no prior basis for how these things should be done.
Notice how Mr. Bean’s apartment changes throughout the episodes. It isn’t just a redesign — it’s a completely different apartment. Mr. Bean acquires new apartments as he sees fit, not staying in one place for too long. He clearly goes about taking apartments from people when it’s convenient for him. He proceeds to remove the door knob, as a means to keep the returning owner out.
This would also explain how Mr. Bean is able to come into money without any sort of job, as he simply takes it from the apartments he seizes.
The next question is Mr. Bean’s girlfriend. We don’t know if Mr. Bean can change his outward appearance, imperceptible to the viewer since the show is entirely from his perspective (something we’ll revisit). Perhaps Mr. Bean steals someone’s identity — inhabiting their apartment and living their life until he is able to accomplish his immediate goal. This would explain why his girlfriend was wanting him to propose, suggesting there had been considerable groundwork in their relationship.
It is also possible that Mr. Bean can effect people’s moods. He seems to be able to provoke people when he wants to, but rarely gets into any violent confrontations himself. Could he be seducing her by deliberately altering her mood in order to get her to fall in love with him? There are many different ways to look at this.
Regardless of his means, Mr. Bean clearly fell in love with her. When he couldn’t deliver what she wanted (having no understanding of marriage or proposal), she leaves him, breaking his heart. Is this the catalyst that sends Mr. Bean over the edge, or had he been building towards a mental break for the entirety of his time on Earth?
We don’t know for sure how long Mr. Bean has been among the humans, but it’s evident that it hasn’t been good for him. He has clearly become apathetic towards human life.
As the series progresses, we see many points where he actively works to hurt human beings, and in some cases even try to kill them. At one point, Mr. Bean pretends to be an arriving bus in order to trick a blind person into “getting on the bus”, leading to him almost getting hit by said bus. In another episode, Mr. Bean finds himself in possession of an unwanted baby. He proceeds to simply push the carriage aside into traffic, leading to it almost getting hit by a car.
The more time Mr. Bean has spent among humans, the less he cares for their well-being; but he also seems to be losing his sanity. The key indicator for this? The laugh track.
Many may suggest that the laugh track is simply part of the show, but I think it is a window into Mr. Bean’s mind. See, the whole show is from his perspective. We experience everything through him. However, when you get to the Mr. Bean movies, it is mainly told from the perspective of other characters; and what isn’t there? The laugh track.
Mr. Bean hears the laugh track in his own mind. He uses it as a coping mechanism to help ease the pain of being stranded on Earth. We know that he watches television, so it is very possible that he picked up the concept from any number of televised sitcoms.
When it comes to the movies, Mr. Bean is most likely hearing bellowing laughter with every ensuing shenanigan in his head; we, the audience, hear nothing, since those stories are told from other characters’ perspectives.
The biggest question you’re probably wondering is what about Teddy? What about the bear? Does Mr. Bean actually speak to the bear and hears its thoughts? Is Teddy an alien companion for Mr. Bean, or is this another product of Mr. Bean losing his sanity? Some things we just don’t have enough evidence for in order to reach a proper conclusion.
Mr. Bean is a comedy because Mr. Bean has allowed it to be. Trying to cope with his isolation — and with no end in sight for his time on Earth — his antics will only get increasingly destructive. It is clear that he does not care for human beings. If he did once, it was sullied by the rejection of his girlfriend, someone he clearly cared for.
For years we all laughed at this silly sitcom of a ridiculous man getting into ridiculous situations. But now, we can see Mr. Bean for what it truly is: an epic tragedy on par with the works of William Shakespeare.
