While Combat is still a very good show in my eyes, I still don't let subtle drops in quality in certain areas of the show go unnoticed. This episode, while still engaging and memorable, has a few problems with it that are noticeable to veteran (no pun intended) fans of the show. In this episode, Saunders and the squad find out that a local library is being used by German paratroopers as an outpost, and they are holding several French children as hostages. Saunders and his men leave the area, but are only given 180 minutes to rescue them before American artillery blows the place apart. Also being held hostage is Annette, the librarian, and the german lieutenant overlooking the library (Gunnar Hellstrom) doesn't like her that much. During one conversation, Annette is trying to read a book of french history to the kids, and the lieutenant asks if the book contains the numerous times france was subdued by german and prussian might, such as in 1871, 1916, and now world war 2. The germans throw all the books in the library outside and burn them. Lieutenant Hanley, without Saunders at his back, decides to infiltrate the library completely by himself and try to get Annette to help him, but she doesn't want to. This is because she thinks the germans will free the children eventually. With time running out fast, Saunders tries to contact Hanley on a radio, but can't get in touch with him. Annette does end up giving Hanley the info he needs, and then acts like she is attracted to the german lieutenant, even though she really isn't. Hanley kills a few of the guards and manages to get the children to safety. However, as he starts running down the road with them, a guard sees him. Hanley tries to shoot, but his gun jams. The lieutenant, now aware of what's going on, commands one of his remaining men to shoot at Hanley (and the kids) but he refuses. For his compassion, the lieutenant murders him. Annette now knows the lieutenant wants her dead next, but as he is about to close in on her, the american artillery starts hitting the surrounding area as promised. The lieutenant is killed, and Saunders (with Hanley) later go back to the destroyed library, only to learn Annette was killed too. This episode was pretty well made and had a lot of exciting moments, but the reason I say it's flimsy in some other aspects is because it has quite a few flaws. For one thing, Hanley is a completely different character. This is still world war 2 in france, and not enough time passed between the previous episode and this one to justify the change in his attitude and (more noticeably) the way he talks. At one point, Hanley basically turns into a gangster and calls his portable radio a "chatterbox." Are you kidding me? This isn't the only example either. His dialogue is a lot more aggressive than usual, and it's just not befitting of someone who's supposed to be leading soldiers. This is explained by the fact that this episode was written by Steven Rich, in his one and only contribution to the show. Clearly, he didn't see any of the other installments that feature Hanley more than Vic Morrow, since if he did, he would have known Hanley's dialogue here is just out of character. On the flip side, the episode does have a lot of good things about it that you might not be aware of at first. Once Hanley sets about getting into the library, things start moving in real time. The amount of minutes until the artillery fires is the same amount of time before the episode ends. Basically, it feels like Hanley is on a time limit, and it's made even more stressful for him and the viewer because Morrow is not helping him. Once again, we have Gunnar Hellstrom playing a nazi. He was last seen in I Swear by Apollo as a german doctor who is the only hope of saving a frenchman's life, but here, he seems to have slightly more emotion. I thought it was idiotic how he's seen being loving towards Annette later on, even though he calls her (and all women) vain and later tries to kill her. Overall, this episode might be a bit of a mess, but it's still full of action and suspense because Hanley is on a time limit.
5 out of 6 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
