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| Soviet spy Richmond's observations about Callan hit a little too close to home... |
Air Date: May 10, 1972. Written by: George Markstein. Directed by: Bill Bain. Produced by: Reginald Collin.
THE PLOT:
Richmond (T. P. McKenna), the top Soviet agent who was once exchanged for Callan, has returned. After popping back up in London, complete with his old code name, Richmond turned himself in. Hunter has assigned Callan to debrief the enemy agent in an isolated safe house far from London, to learn what he knows and what he wants.
Richmond insists that he has no desire to betray his country. He has simply grown weary of the job, and he has no safe Soviet retirement option. As he tells Callan: "For people like you and me, safety can only be found amongst our enemies. It's our friends who will kill us." To buy his Western retirement, he has come with a piece of information.
There is a traitor inside The Section: None other than Callan's long-time rival/partner, Toby Meres!
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| Richmond accuses Meres of being a traitor; Meres doesn't exactly make himself look innocent. |
CHARACTERS:
Callan: The heart of this episode lies in the interactions between Callan and Richmond. Richmond, the faithful Communist, reminds Callan of the exact type of upper-class officer he despises. After it's revealed that Richmond was a colonel in the Soviet military, Callan begins snapping an angry but military-crisp "colonel, sir!" at him. Callan tries to get under Richmond's skin, using a photograph of the man's wife to rattle him at one point... but Callan is himself shaken by some of the other man's all too true observations about how trapped they are in their lives. While he doesn't believe Richmond's accusation against Meres, he also doesn't seem 100% certain that the other man is lying.
Hunter: When Callan reaches the safe house with Richmond with no problems, he is surprised, and a little unsettled, at the absence of any sign of pursuit. He spends most of the episode listening in on Callan and Richmond, reacting with annoyance when Richmond bids his listeners a good morning. Though he monitors the situation closely, it's clear that he can do nothing to affect the outcome; if the house is attacked, then he and his agents are simply too far away to do anything about it.
Meres: Only enters the episode in its final Act, after Richmond has fingered him as the traitor. His aloof manner and general callousness are well-established traits. In this new context, however, they make him into a sinister figure, and Callan cannot help but regard him with suspicion even while loudly insisting that he doesn't believe a word that Richmond is saying.
Richmond: Richmond is very much Callan's opposite. Callan is working class, while Richmond affects the mannerisms of the upper class. Callan is emotional and prone to anger, while Richmond is almost continuously unflappable, seeming to find his situation amusing even when Callan threatens him. His calm is so absolute that it makes the rare moments in which it breaks all the more effective... and McKenna keeps those breaks brief and subtle for the most part, minor twitches that belie an otherwise perfectly placid mask.
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| The enigmatic Richmond (T. P. McKenna): What does he know, and what does he want? |
THOUGHTS:
The series' final arc begins with this excellent first installment. It would not be difficult to adapt this script into a two-hander. The bulk of it consists of conversations between Callan and Richmond, the story boiling down to a battle of wills and wits between two smart, experienced, and stubborn men.
Edward Woodward and T. P. McKenna are tasked with carrying the hour, and they play off each other splendidly. George Markstein's script gives both actors good material, too, zeroing in on the two spies as characters. Callan is theoretically in the more powerful position, as Richmond is in his custody. Nevertheless, Richmond's statements increasingly hit home for him. The ending sees each man taking a moment to size up the other. Both men's observations seem entirely accurate... but Richmond's assessment of Callan seems to strike closer to the core than Callan's does of Richmond, leaving our anti-hero to mull a few unpleasant truths in the final moments.
Though this episode features all the current regulars (even Bishop returns after a few episodes away), most of them have little to do here. Lonely is disgruntled by the long drive; Liz is clearly worried at a situation that's beyond immediate Section control; Bishop fumes about the risk to Callan; and Hunter has some amusing interactions with the surveillance man (an entertaining Brian Croucher) who dresses a bit too casually for the older man's liking but who shows a sharp mind, catching on quickly to the ramifications of the situation.
The episode is a gold mine for continuity lovers. References are made to events from earlier this season: Callan's imprisonment in Russia and his brief stint as Hunter receive mentions. Richmond also tries to enhance his accusations against Meres by reminding Callan (and us) that Meres once shot him, almost fatally, while playing on Callan's resentment against the Section by noting that they keep him in line through blackmail. All of these continuity points tie in well with the current situation. They also create the sense of the series being bound together just in time for its ending.
Several loose ends are left to bring us into the next episode. Callan, Hunter, and Bishop all agree that Richmond came back to the UK with good reason, leaving the enemy agent's agenda still unknown. Then there is the question of the traitor. While I don't believe Richmond's claims about Meres (among other things, the sadistic Meres being a villain is too easy for a series that rarely opts for "easy"), it is nevertheless clear that he has a lot of information about The Section - enough that it seems probable that there's a leak at least connected to the team.
In any event, on its own terms, Call Me Enemy is a splendid opening episode to this arc: well-plotted, sharply-scripted, and impeccably performed. I'd rank it as one of the best of a very good final season.
Overall Rating: 9/10.
Previous Episode: The Contract
Next Episode: The Richmond File - Do You Recognize the Woman?
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