(023) Next in Command

Review

"Next In Command" is the last of the trio of Combat! scripts written by Burt Kennedy. As with "Far from the Brave" and "The Walking Wounded," the show gives us a morally-unwavering Saunders faced with a soldier spiritually broken by the war. This time Saunders' second-in-command battles his own inner war. Ben Cooper plays Corporal Cross, the newest addition to the squad, tormented by a fatal mistake he'd made on another hill. That mistake has crippled him, stripping away not just his ability to fire a rifle, but his ability to be a soldier.

A hallmark of a Kennedy script is the close relationship between Billy and Littlejohn. In "Next in Command," the comradely between the two goes over the top and enters dangerously into the land of "cute." I wonder if we have Kennedy to thank for the early resurrection of the Billy character. He directed "The Celebrity," Nelson's first appearance in Combat! and also wrote and directed the next episode filmed, "Far from the Brave." Did he see in the Nelson character something he wanted to use in the next episode? After the Kennedy triad of scripts, their relationship is fixed in the Combat! canon. (Though after this episode, Billy's helmet never again gets used to make coffee.)

Jack Hogan's Kirby is deliciously obnoxious in this episode, retaining the edge he had in "Far from the Brave." Here we have the Kirby-as-troublemaker character firmly established, along with the introduction of his history of being demoted. I just wish he was carrying his BAR in this episode. The antagonism between Littlejohn and Kirby is also strongly evident. And speaking of demotions .... poor Brockmeyer has gone from being a corporal in "The Medal" to a buck private in "Next in Command."

Character-wise, this is a strong episode, with inter-relationships between squad members a vital part of the story. But the plot is weak. Saunders messes up uncharacteristically while dealing with Cross. When the Germans show up at the house, why does he take Cross with him to dispatch those soldiers? Cross has already demonstrated that he's unreliable (Also, why would the first-in-command take the next-in-command on a dangerous outing--one of them should have stayed behind). And why did Saunders take Cross's word that he'd killed the German. I'd want to see a body. Better yet, Saunders' ought to want to BURY the body; they'd already buried the bodies of the Germans killed earlier. Odd that Cross can disappear the whole night and nobody notices. Worse yet, when Cross runs out of the house during a firefight into certain death .... Saunders follows after him, abandoning his squad while they fight the enemy. No, no, no!

The ending comes out of nowhere. How were they tossed off the hill? When last we saw them, they'd destroyed the mortar and it looked as if the squad was again victorious (Heck, they'd killed twelve out of twenty Germans and only suffered two losses, not bad.)

Notes, Oddities, and Bloopers

• can anyone identify the battles that Cross lists? Those French names don't fall easily on these German ears. But he lists many battles he participated in, which could help "date" this episode if anyone can identify them.
• Interesting that Hanley deliberately withheld information from Saunders. It seems that Hanley protects the privacy of *all* his non-coms, not just his favorite.
• Davis and Baker again appear as part of the squad.
• Brockmeyer has been demoted in this episode. He's a buck private, though last time we saw him he was a corporal.

Cast Credits

Vic Morrow
as Sgt. Saunders

Rick Jason
as Lt. Hanley

Guest Star
Ben Cooper

Jack Hogan as Kirby
Pierre Jalbert as Caje
Steven Rogers as Doc
Dick Peabody as Littlejohn
Tom Lowell as Billy Nelson

Fletcher Fist ..... Brockmeyer
Bill Harlow ..... Davis
Dennis Robertson ..... Baker

Dialog Excerpts