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Air Date: Mar. 8, 1972. Written by: Bill Craig. Directed by: Mike Vardy. Produced by: Reginald Collin.
THE PLOT:
Callan is fit to return to work... except that he doesn't want to. His time in Russia has left him badly shaken, and he demands to be transferred to a non-operational position. Anything, he says, as long as it doesn't involve "getting killed."
As it happens, Hunter and his superior, Bishop (Geoffrey Chater), have plans of their own for Callan. Given the importance of the Soviet agent they traded, the enemy now regards Callan as somebody important. Fortunately, there's a perfect way to grant Callan's request to be non-operational while also managing the perceptions of the Opposition - promotion.
Specifically, they will give Callan the one job that's worse than his current one. He's to be made the newest Hunter!
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CHARACTERS:
Callan: Is apoplectic when Hunter and Bishop reveal their plans. "(Hunter's) desk has dominted my life!" he protests. "Do you know what that bit of furniture means to me? That's orders that turn my stomach. Lying, cheating, double-dealing, dying!" When Hunter points out the job also means safety, Callan retorts that he remembers a couple of Hunters who didn't end up being so safe. He quickly finds himself trapped by the job; as Hunter points out, he's free to make his own decisions, but he needs to be prepared to defend his choices with logic and reason, and without emotion.
Hunter: By the end of Series Three, it was becoming clear that Hunter respected and possibly even secretly liked Callan. He offered praise for Callan's judgement in handling a crisis with Liz, and spoke to him almost as an equal at the end of Breakout. He adopts the role of mentor, helping Callan to understand the limits of his new position. When he leaves the office for the last time, he announces that this departure comes "without a particle of regret."
Lonely: We first see Lonely in an unusual situation: Sitting as a model for amateur artist Flo Mayhew (Sarah Lawson). She later explains that she was taken by Lonely's face, which she describes as "grotty" but "interesting... full of peculiar angles and unexpected bumps." For all of Lonely's semi-comic mannerisms, he isn't actually stupid. With Callan away for eight months, he's had time to think and has put several pieces together. Being Lonely, he reaches the exact wrong conclusion, but all of his reasoning is sound. For the second episode in a row, he shows courage in a stressful situation, this time directly confronting Callan about the mysterious disappearances, the odd jobs he's given him, and most particularly the breakout of the Soviet spy. Callan is left nonplussed, likely realizing how badly he's underestimated him.
Cross: Initially treats Callan's promotion as a joke, even quipping to him about how false funerals are an unreliable disposal method since Callan managed to come back from his. The smile vanishes when Callan firmly and evenly tells him: "Sir. Call me sir." From that moment, Cross tries to undermine Callan, using his friendship with Lonely as a weapon against him. The episode ends with him and Callan swapping barbs. Callan tells him that taking care of an enemy assassin is his problem; after Cross, um, solves it, he then swipes back that the loose-lipped Lonely is Callan's problem, and seems smug that his new boss has no answer to that.
Liz: Gets a substantial role, acting as Callan's one true ally. When Cross goes on the hunt for Lonely, she conspires with Callan to keep him safe. A dangerous moment happens when Cross walks right to the room where she is hiding with Lonely... and she thinks fast to come up with a solution that explains every discrepancy and leaves Cross slack-jawed in shock. With a little training, she would make a rather good agent herself... though as was showcased in last season's A Village Called "G", she's far more valuable in her current role, as likely The Section's only indispensable member.
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THOUGHTS:
It's difficult to properly review Call Me Sir! It's an almost entirely a transitional episode, moving the characters from the events of the premiere to the setup that will dominate much of this season. As such, it is more interesting as a building block than as a story in its own right.
There are two threads: Callan being manipulated into his new position, and the issues involving Lonely. They barely connect at all for the first half of the show, and for the first thirty minutes the Lonely subplot starts and stops around the more prominent Callan promotion thread. This results in pacing problems for the first half. Not just slow pace, but an awkward one, with the Callan and Lonely scenes interfering with each other rather than enhancing each other.
Once Callan has reluctantly accepted his new post, the episode improves significantly. The two threads finally converge, so that everything feels like part of the same story, and there are some fun scenes in which Callan and Liz work to keep Lonely safe while misdirecting the other agents. The reactions of Cross and Hunter to one particular moment are genuinely funny, with Hunter actually left speechless.
It ends with a final twist that most viewers will see coming almost from the episode's start. Still, the closing scenes are well-done, cutting between a calm conversation in a car and the house it's parked outside of, in which gunfire is being exchanged. As is often the case in this show, the conversation is more interesting than the shooting.
So overall... It's an episode of two halves. Even the first half isn't actually bad, with excellent character material and typically strong performances by the regular cast. When the subplots finally come together, it even becomes enjoyable... but the awkward pacing and ill fit of the two threads makes the first half unusually unengaging, lowering my final score a bit.
Overall Rating: 6/10.
Previous Episode: That'll Be the Day
Next Episode: First Refusal
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