2-05. Let's Kill Everybody.

Callan turns the tables on a pursuer.

Air Date: Feb. 5, 1969. Written by: Ray Jenkins. Directed by: Robert Tronson. Produced by: Reginald Collin.


SPOILER WARNING

My review of this episode will include discussion of major events that occur. If you have not seen Let's Kill Everybody, I strongly recommend watching it before reading this!


THE PLOT:

Under interrogation, an enemy agent reveals that the entire Section has been targeted. Unfortunately, that is all he reveals before his death, leaving few clues as to who might be behind it. Hunter orders emergency procedures, locking himself down in The Section while arranging for his agents to cover each other at all times.

Callan, recovering from a neck injury, has begun a relationship with Jenny (Hilary Dwyer), a nurse who abruptly quit to begin studying history... something that, once he hears from Hunter, Callan suddenly finds suspicious. Hunter has managed to link the dead assassin to a Fascist group, and he tells Callan that he believes there are only two assassins. One is unidentified; the other is either Jenny or her new mentor, Dr. Paula Goodman (Heather Canning) - but even Hunter isn't sure which!

Callan's suspects: His new girlfriend (Hilary Dwyer)
and her mentor, Dr. Goodman (Heather Canning).

CHARACTERS:

Callan: His single-episode relationship is just a convenient (and largely unconvincing) way to try to match narrative stakes with emotional ones, but it does allow Callan a rare moment of relaxation. This does not last, with the plot against The Section raising his paranoia, making him suddenly wary of Jenny's every word and movement while he at the same time worries that she could be in danger. Woodward is typically excellent throughout; his final line, the episode's last, is particularly well-delivered.

Meres: A recurring theme has been Meres' enthusiasm for violence going too far, which has earned rebukes from Callan in Red Knight, White Knight and even The Section's doctor in The Most Promising Girl of Her Year. It's not just that pain is the first tool Meres reaches for; in most cases, it's the only tool.  It's this, rather than any deficit of skill or intelligence, that is why he will never be Callan's equal.

The episode kicks off with Meres conducting a sloppy, rushed interrogation/beating, which ends with the other man killing himself to avoid divulging what he knows. Had Meres used any of the other options at his disposal, or even taken the time to make sure the man was restrained first, then they would have had all the information needed to avoid catastrophe. Meres' sadism, which has been tolerated by two Hunters now, is the first of several blunders that ends with multiple deaths and the potential crippling of the entire Section.

Hunter's in over his head again. 
This time, it catches up with him.

THE FALL OF THE SECOND HUNTER

Let's Kill Everybody is the exit episode for Michael Goodliffe's coldly bureaucratic Hunter. Goodliffe, a World War II veteran and former POW, reportedly had issues with some of the series' content (one can only assume that he never watched Series One). He evidently failed to bond with the rest of the cast and crew, and not long after his arrival asked to be released from his contract.

So they killed him.

The episode does an excellent job with Hunter's death. Goodliffe's Hunter has consistently been portrayed as intelligent, but in very much a "book-smart" way. He is a career civil servant with no field experience. In his introductory episode, while he's potentially being targeted by an assassin, Callan actually has to tell him to stay away from an open window; his reply indicates that he doesn't recognize his own vulnerability.

These lapses catch up with him. Though emergency procedures demand that he stay within the safety of The Section, he leaves when a contact lures him out with vital information... a mistake his predecessor would never have made. It almost goes without saying that he walks into a trap, but even so he almost survives.  He evades the initial attack, but then makes his second mistake: Having avoided the first shots, instead of hiding in a defensible position, he returns to his car - the most obvious place for his assassin to stake out. It's one mistake too many.  As he attempts to start the car, his luck finally runs out.

It's worth noting that the episode up to this point portrays him as entirely competent. He initiates emergency procedures without hesitation, and has a strong suspicion of one of the attackers' identities by the midpoint of the episode. In the end, he's tripped up by his own false sense of invulnerability, and by a lack of the training and experience that might have gotten him out of the trap he let himself fall into. His downfall comes through traits established in his first episode, which makes his end basically what Callan prophecied: "I think he must have nine lives, mate.  He's going to need them all."

Callan is briefed on the organization
behind the Section's enemies.

THOUGHTS:

The appropriately titled Let's Kill Everybody is a key episode because of its events. Fortunately, it's also a particularly good one. Despite the action-heavy nature of the story, Ray Jenkins' script never loses sight of the characters, actually using their faults and failings to propel the catastrophe. The result is the first episode written by someone other than series creator James Mitchell to truly hit the mark.

It should be noted that, even after Meres' opening blunder, disaster is not inevitable. Every Section agent who dies, does so because somebody broke procedure. One agent forgets to call in; he compounds the error by leaving his home to use a call box, opening himself up to attack. Hunter and another agent fall to Hunter's choice to leave The Section, violating his own procedure because he believes vital information is in his grasp. Callan's own emotions almost get him killed when he goes to face the villains alone; fortunately for him, Meres isn't far behind.

The episode isn't perfect. The opening death of the enemy agent requires truly inexcusable negligence on Meres' part, to the point that briefly snaps suspension of disbelief. Though actress Hilary Dwyer is quite appealing and does well with what she's given, the Callan/Jenny romance never convinces. Also, late in the episode, the habitually paranoid Callan somehow fails to be suspicious of a person he's been given direct cause to be wary of.

Still, this ends up being a strong piece. It combines a driving pace with a growing sense of a situation out of the characters' control, and then worsens that situation through misjudgments that are fully consistent with the regulars' previously-established traits. The sum is greater than the individual parts, and despite the contrivances, this ends up being among the strongest episodes yet.


Rating: 9/10.

Previous Episode: The Little Bits and Pieces of Love
Next Episode: Heir Apparent



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1-03. The Death of Robert E. Lee.

Air Date: July 22, 1967. Written by: James Mitchell. Directed by: Robert Tronson. Produced by: Terence Feely, Lloyd Shirley. MISSING, PRESUMED WIPED.

This review is based on the camera script, available in the .pdf archive on Disc Three of the Callan: This Man Alone DVD set.


THE PLOT:

Hunter makes a deal with two CIA operatives, who agree to trade sensitive information in exchange for an American-educated Chinese operative, Li Pa Chao (Burt Kwouk), who is better known by the name he called himself in the States: General Robert E. Lee. The Americans don't care whether Lee is delivered alive or dead, so long as they can identify him.

Hunter decides to use Jenny (Francesca Tu), the former mistress of Schneider - Callan's target from the pilot - to send a message to Lee. He hopes to lure Lee to Callan by making it known that Callan can find his father. When the CIA realizes Hunter's plan, they go to Callan directly, on the grounds that the government would rather pay Callan in money than pay Hunter in information.

Now Callan and Jenny find themselves reluctant allies as they attempt to evade Hunter's men while setting up a rendezvous with Lee. Navigating a web of American, Chinese, and British intelligence operatives, it's a situation in which any mistake could instantly prove fatal...


CHARACTERS:

Callan: When the CIA agents approach him, he seems initially inclined to chase them off. He changes his mind due to a combination of the Americans' money and the realization that Lee will be coming for him regardless. He manipulates Lee's assumption that all he cares about is money... but he is quite happy to profit from the events of the episode, remarking at the end that he should have gone freelance a lot sooner.

Hunter: He may tolerate Meres' nastier tendencies, but that doesn't mean he shares them.  When a drunken Meres abuses Jenny, Hunter reacts with open disdain. He even modifies Jenny's message to Lee in order to embarrass Meres as punishment.  Still, he makes use of the encounter, dangling the prospect of an unrestrained Meres to ensure the woman's cooperation.

Meres: Though earlier episodes have shown him to be unlikable, this is the first one to portray him as actively sadistic. Early in the episode, he bruises Jenny's wrist. Later, he threatens her: "I won't touch you. Not till you do something wrong And you will do something wrong... and I'll be waiting."

Jenny: The biggest surprise of the episode is the return of Jenny, with substantial amounts of dialogue referencing her relationship to Schneider and Callan's role in his death. She is much more central to this episode, and gets choicer material as a result.  She sizes up Meres in her first scene, caustically assessing his willingness to threaten those who are weaker or older than himself, and declares that she hates him far more than she does Callan. As the plot progresses, she admits to being frightened, and the alliance between her and Callan is both convincing and enjoyable.

Robert E. Lee: The villain of the piece. American educated, at the insistence of his capitalist father, but utterly loyal to Mao Zedong and his Communist government. He is well-spoken, and presents himself as almost humorous when first introduced, but it is clear that he will kill anyone without a hint of remorse. It is a great pity that this episode is missing, as I suspect actor Burt Kwouk was splendid in the role, likely bringing a depth to the character far beyond the lines on the script pages.


THOUGHTS:

In my review of Goodbye, Nobby Clarke, I noted that if an episode had to be missing, then at least that one didn't seem like much of a loss. Reading The Death of Robert E. Lee, by contrast, leaves me absolutely gutted at its absence. Even in script form, the story is absorbing. The stakes are high for all the characters, each of whom has his own agenda - including Lee himself, who in the course of one scene goes from being a MacGuffin to a man with plans of his own.

It is the first episode to discard the template of Callan being tasked with killing/disgracing someone he likes. Instead, Callan is put into the middle of a complex situation, navigating it in a way that allows him to come out ahead. It showcases the character's intelligence and ability to improvise. We also get a lighter Callan, cracking jokes (he first identifies himself to the CIA agents as a Martian) and being protective of others. The character becomes more conventionally likeable as a result, and it's done in a way that doesn't undermine his previous characterization; he's the same man, but we're seeing additional layers to him.

Scenes I would particularly enjoy seeing if this episode was ever found include: The first display of Meres' sadism, and Hunter's disdain for that side of him; Callan's alliance with Jenny, which grows less uneasy as the episode progresses; and Burt Kwouk's performance as Lee. Honestly, the script is largely a joy to read (though as a camera script, action scenes are largely undescribed and confusing), and I would have dearly loved to have seen the actual episode.


Previous Episode: Goodbye, Nobby Clarke
Next Episode: Goodness Burns Too Bright



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