SYNOPSIS:
Littlejohn receives a birthday cake from his mother, with the explicit instruction
to not open until the 21st. He carries it on a dangerous patrol into enemy territory. On
the mission, also, is Cantrell, a man waiting for orders to go home. Littlejohn's
adherence to his mother's request brings the squad into harm's way and Cantrell to doubt
he'll live to see home.

REVIEW:
Littlejohn receives a cake on the 20th, with instructions not to open it until the
21st (which 21st? It doesn't say). The audience endures a day of this cake causing
complications for Littlejohn and for an obnoxious translator forced to go along with the
squad and the cake.
The script makes Littlejohn come off as a slow-witted bumpkin C something that he is
not in most episodes. This story could not quite decide if it was truly a comedy. There's
a bit too much bloodshed, angst, and abandonment of wounded soldiers to really make it
amusing. The episode originally aired Christmas week, just before the new year.
NOTES, ODDITIES, AND BLOOPERS: