Combat! S1 E9 - "Cat and Mouse" - recap and review

Combat!

Season 1 Episode 9:

They’re headed uphill, into a cemetery; then the shelling starts…

Hanley gives the order, “Dig in!” Cage isn’t thrilled about the idea of digging into the asphodel fields. Littlejohn says, “This is one hole I thought somebody else would dig for me.” A guy we haven’t seen before makes his way to Hanley; he says that the captain wants him to send a man back out…as soon as that man gets back from the last mission. A few moments later, out of the smoky blasts walks a figure; he’s carrying another soldier. It's Saunders!

He’s exhausted—we’ve seen this setup before. He has come back from the land of snipers and landmines. He lost 5 NPCs. Hanley tells him he has to report back to S-2. Saunders says he has nothing to report. He didn’t see anything. That’s too bad. He has to go back; they want him to go back out again…orders. Saunders says, as he leans his head against a slanted headstone, “Funny. I feel like I belong here.” Roll the opening credits.

The episode guest stars Albert Salmi. It’s entitled “Cat and Mouse.” It is written and directed by Robert Altman.

Back at S-2, Saunders is one of a few men who get a briefing. Something big is about to break. There’s going to be a breakthrough attempt…somewhere else. Success depends on holding this part of the line with only a few troops…and the Germans have an attack planned. They need to know where the attack will be in order to successfully defend with limited resources. Recon patrols have been gaining nothing but casualties. Therefore, there will be more patrols. Everyone is excused to go to their patrols...except for Saunders and a Sgt. Jenkins (the guest star Albert Salmi). Saunders is to accompany Jenkins’ patrol because that patrol is assigned the area from which he has just returned. Jenkins is beside himself with joy…or something sort of opposite of joy. He’s experienced; he doesn’t need someone else along…that he might have to “nursemaid.” Saunders is his usual jolly self—glum, grim, silent; he doesn't waste time on any persuasive charisma die rolls.

The patrol is off, complete with leafed sprigs sticking from their helmets. A certain tree doesn’t find the disguises amusing, and shoots one of the soldiers. (Not the tree. Turns out it was a sniper hiding in a tree).

Jenkins doesn’t listen to Saunders and goes to help the downed man. He draws fire (in a stark charcoal on cream colored paper, that being his artistic specialty), but isn't hit. Saunders follows, spraying bursts from the Thompson. Jenkins has a plan. Saunders doesn’t like it. Jenkins rolls a natural 20; the plan works! Jenkins gets the sniper…but their man is dead too. One NPC and one enemy, the score is tied.

Saunders finds a mine while Jenkins is trying to rush the men along. As Saunders pulls out the mine, another one goes off; they lose another man. Jenkins agrees to go a little slower. Two NPCs down. (They should've worn red shirts for this episode). 

The DM has them find a building. Jenkins decides to take in one man, the other two will cover. Saunders says that he will go in with Jenkins. Wilson and McKay will cover. It’s a mill, with a waterwheel. The sgts get in fine…but one of the cover guys thinks that he has heard something and starts to go check on it; he rolls a critical failure. A German appears behind him, banging out a fatal riff of heavy metal. He plays more of the same for the other American, who finds it totally killer, as well. It’s a whole kraut platoon arriving at the mill. 4 NPC's have been expended. (It's like "The Apple" TOS S2E5).

The sgts are trapped inside the mill…and I can guess where the Germans are headed. Yep…they’re coming inside. The sgts have to hide. The Germans are moving in, and setting up a regimental command post. The German colonel takes a liking to the resident cat. (And isn't that Ted Knight holding the helmet or something on the right? It is. It is).

But will the cat give away the Americans? 

Saunders doesn’t have any luck with the radio, there are just too many negative modifiers to the dice. They’re out of range. Jenkins has gone full-thief, and found a passage. They can sneak out when it gets dark. In the meantime, they wait. Saunders makes a few long-shot die-roll attempts for success with  the radio. Jenkins is so enamored with the idea that he points his rifle at Saunders, and orders him to stop. Saunders is through taking orders from him. That sends Jenkins into a soliloquy about how he’s fighting this war surrounded by shoe clerks. Jenkins was regular army before the war. Saunders, he sold shoes, or so he tells Jenkins. Jenkins goes into slow burn mode, refusing to think of possible positive modifiers to the radio checks.

With darkness, they try to make their escape. As Saunders is making the attempt, Jenkins deliberately drops the radio to alarm the Germans. Is he trying to get Saunders captured? No. Jenkins shows himself, surrendering.

Saunders watches in secret as the Germans interrogate Jenkins, even though Jenkins has signaled him to go. Jenkins has a picture on him from when he was a lieutenant, before he was cashiered, and rejoined as a private. The Germans want to know where the American lines are. He can’t tell them. They threaten to shoot him. When they start to drag him out, he agrees to tell all that he can. He knows Saunders is still there. He signals him to go up above so that he can see the map as he explains to the Germans where the American lines are located.

Saunders is able to read the map with the aid of one side of his binoculars. The problem develops when Ted Knight (as a German captain) goes after the cat and discovers the American boots that Saunders had left in the passageway out. Jenkins goes wild--he's rolling dice on the distraction tables like a madman. The Germans go wild--and they have the guns. Lead flies; Jenkins takes more lead than his hit points can handle. Saunders grabs his heater and burns down some Germans. He goes down the ladder. He confirms that Jenkins in dead before he goes out, rolls a successful sneak attack, and overpowers a guard, and swims downstream.

We next see him in a Jeep, rolling into S-2. Saunders is not a little dismayed when S-2 doesn’t show interest in his report. They tell him that they broke the German code that morning, and know where the attack is coming. Saunders tells them Jenkins gave his life so that he could escape to get this information back to them, and someone is going to listen to it. Yet, nobody does hear it. The major informs Saunders that hundreds of men at desks have been working on the code (rolling percentage dice through the night until they could get three "00"s in a row) and 6 French underground agents died getting the information; the important thing is that they have the information, not who got it first.

What to think about his episode? It certainly burned through the NPCs--5 lost on Saunders' first mission before the session, and 4 more lost during this adventure. The guest player character also cashed-in his chips before the closing credits. I was disappointed about a few things: I didn't find any really outstanding camera shots; nobody spoke French; Ted Knight never got to speak English; and I didn't think of anything funny enough to make me laugh while I wrote this. Speaking of Ted Knight... by way of trivia, Knight and Salmi would later appear together in Caddyshack. Salmi appeared in numerous movies and series before his apparent murder/suicide. He never appeared in Star Trek, as far as I could find, but he was in The Brothers Karamazov with Shatner, and Yul Brenner. It seems to me that he usually played the dim-bulb-loud-mouth type.

The episode wasn't very satisfying for me. The tension that I expected from the cat and mouse game just wasn't there. I expect that the ending was intended to be unsatisfying--it succeeded.  

And I haven't time to write anything more..."Patterns of Force" just came on.