The first episode of the fifth and final
series, and this programme is starting to show signs of exhaustion. This
suffers from the laborious nature of many first episodes, taking a lot of time
to set up a regular situation (the four National Servicemen are posted to the
hospital of a new base - R.A.F. Druidswater - where they are appalled to
discover that they are to minister to the invalided Corporal Marsh, who is now
being hailed as a military hero).
Having to cover a lot of ground to get to this point, the episode is probably more interesting dramatically than comically, with the young men reflecting on their peripatetic situation as they get quickly reposted from a cushy billet in Malta and the cunning Marsh explaining to his wife how they can best exploit his new status through a strategy of false modesty. The studio audience have enough invested in these characters emotionally to go along with this, although its noticeable that they respond best to the simplest pleasures that the story has to offer - the boys' appalled reactions to being faced by a stripper in a Maltese dive bar at the start and the reassuringly familiar sight of Marsh yet again shouting at them at the end.
Marsh's arrival to a Guard of Honour at R.A.F. Druidswater (shot on O.B. on a horribly overcast day) is achieved with considerable visual flair, with the drill shown from below and at a tilted angle.
Having to cover a lot of ground to get to this point, the episode is probably more interesting dramatically than comically, with the young men reflecting on their peripatetic situation as they get quickly reposted from a cushy billet in Malta and the cunning Marsh explaining to his wife how they can best exploit his new status through a strategy of false modesty. The studio audience have enough invested in these characters emotionally to go along with this, although its noticeable that they respond best to the simplest pleasures that the story has to offer - the boys' appalled reactions to being faced by a stripper in a Maltese dive bar at the start and the reassuringly familiar sight of Marsh yet again shouting at them at the end.
Marsh's arrival to a Guard of Honour at R.A.F. Druidswater (shot on O.B. on a horribly overcast day) is achieved with considerable visual flair, with the drill shown from below and at a tilted angle.
No comments:
Post a Comment