2-04. The Little Bits and Pieces of Love.

Callan pressures an emotionally fragile woman (Pauline
Jameson) to lure her former husband into a trap.

Air Date: Jan. 29, 1969. Written by: James Mitchell. Directed by: Peter Sasdy. Produced by: Reginald Collin.


THE PLOT:

Callan is assigned to break into the home of Sophia Rule (Pauline Jameson), a Polish survivor of the Nazi concentration camps who is now married to a prominent psychologist (Laurence Hardy). Before that, she was the wife of Russian scientist Brizhevski... a rocket fuel expert whose work potentially threatens England. Fortunately, Brizhevsi still wants his wife back - giving Hunter the opportunity to kidnap him.

Hunter's plan requires Sophia's cooperation, which is where Callan comes in. Callan gets close to the Rules by posing as an insurance investigator following up on the break-in. Once he's alone with Sophia, he reveals his true purpose: to get her to write a letter to Brizhevski, under threat of a bigamy trial. There are two complications: KGB agents who are already searching for her, and Sophia's own mental state, with the pressure threatening to result in a nervous breakdown!

The shady Dicer (Vladek Sheybal) tries to
ambush Callan.  It doesn't go well.

CHARACTERS:

Callan: In trying to find out exactly why Hunter is so interested in Sophia, he enlists the aid of Dicer (Vladek Sheybal), a Polish expat with a deep hatred of the Communists. Dicer clearly regards himself as a tough guy, and tries to introduce himself by waiting behind a door to ambush Callan - a maneuver that doesn't go well, with Callan pinning him to the wall while tersely advising him not to lurk behind doors because his shadow will be visible. Callan is pretty angry throughout the episode, clearly hating pressuring Sophia even as he completes the task with ruthless efficiency.

Hunter: Again manipulates Callan into an assignment he knows Callan will dislike, this time by withholding information in order to draw his curiosity. His manipulations are effective, but his final operation is sloppy. I suspect this is more due to limited budget and rushed scripting than to actual intent... but it does have the effect of painting the Second Hunter as a man so busy playing chess with the world that he ends up losing at checkers.

Lonely: Under threat of physical harm from Dicer, he's too cowardly to attempt to warn Callan of the other man's ambush. Despite this, he is loyal to Callan, neither losing his head nor fleeing when KGB agents come to Sophia's home to menace her and her husband.

Callan surveils his target.

THOUGHTS:

The Little Bits and Pieces of Love is reasonably effective on its own merits. Edward Woodward and guest actress Pauline Jameson deliver fine performances, the script is generally well-paced, and the scenes between Callan and Sophie crackle with tension.

Unfortunately, it hits a lot of the same beats as The Most Promising Girl of Her Year. Both episodes open with Hunter carefully manipulating Callan into completing an assignment that would otherwise go against his preferences. Both episodes see Callan initially befriending a woman in a relationship with an enemy asset, then ruthlessly pressuring her to behave as needed to capture that asset. With the two installments coming so close together in the airing order, it's difficult not to feel a sense of deja vu.

The script is also sloppier than the earlier one, in my opinion. Take the character of Dicer. Much is made of his introductory scene, with his aborted attempt to ambush Callan providing an early action bit. But all the character ends up doing is giving Callan the exact same information he receives from Hunter shortly after. He needed to play a larger part in the plot - perhaps with his anger at all things Communist interfering with Hunter's attempt to bring in Brizhevsi unharmed. As it stands, you could remove his scenes entirely and barely notice anything missing.

Lest this come across as a negative review, I should stress that the episode is absorbing on a scene-by-scene basis, and the performances are uniformly excellent. A touch I particularly appreciated was Sophie's reaction to learning Callan's intent. She does the smart thing and tells her husband, who confronts Callan the next time he goes to see her - putting Callan in the even more uncomfortable position of having to intimidate both of them. 

Still, the little pieces of the episode fail to add up in a satisfying manner.  Sloppiness, such as Dicer's irrelevance and Hunter's slipshod final operation, hint at a rush job, and the heavy recycling of elements from a much better episode invite unfavorable comparisons.

It's still much, much better than You're Under Starter's Orders.  Still, this is easily the weakest surviving episode I've yet reviewed, one that indicates the show was perhaps struggling with itself at this point.

Just as well, then, that a shake-up was right around the corner...


Rating: 5/10.

Previous Episode: You're Under Starter's Orders
Next Episode: Let's Kill Everybody



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