Despite Combat's penultimate season being almost over, there are still barely any episodes of this show that focus on Kirby. Jack Hogan was an intelligent actor, and while Kirby is no doubt the squad's bad boy, he's still somebody you want on your side in a gunfight. This episode, which I think is one of the most tense of the 4th season, shows Kirby at the height of his abilities, with the possible exception of Hills are for Heroes. Retribution begins much too innocently, and really doesn't prepare you for the macabre plot that follows. The squad is getting ready to go meet up with an intelligence officer named Lieutenant Kopachek. At first, Kirby doesn't want to go because he injured his foot earlier, but after Hanley says the name of the officer, he wants to tag along because Kopachek is his sister's fiancee. When the squad comes to Kopachek's last known location, Saunders finds him inside dead, apparently beaten to death by an unknown SS colonel. They also find a badly wounded witness who says the colonel went down a nearby road. Enraged over the loss of his friend, Kirby sets out for the Nazi officer himself. By the time the others realize he's gone, Kirby has gotten himself knocked out and captured by the colonel's soldiers. He's then tied and brought before colonel Bruener (Albert Paulsen), who proclaims he's the one who killed Kopachek. Saunders and the others have to act fast and stage a raid on the outpost. They succeed in rescuing Kirby, but he's so infuriated he attempts killing Bruener the second he's cut loose. Saunders and the others take Bruener hostage and run off just as a huge array of german infantry arrive and start firing. Saunders evades them by taking Bruener with him into the woods while he instructs Kirby to stay with the others. However, Kirby doesn't listen and comes across Saunders in the woods, once again adamant on killing Bruener. Somewhat rare for Saunders, he agrees with Kirby's sentiment that Bruener should be killed, but says he can't kill him here as a prisoner. Saunders promises Kirby Bruener will be hanged. Kirby follows Saunders to a house, the latter saying it's the house of the witness they saw in the town earlier. As Saunders enters the house and then comes back out way before Kirby was expecting him to, he knows something is wrong. Saunders doesn't admit it right away, but this pretty obviously means the witness died. Like a knife to the heart, Kirby is frustrated as never before. The only man who could attest to Bruener's evilness is now dead, and Kirby is convinced he's going to get away with killing Kopachek. Shortly after, another gunfight ensues in the town, and Kirby is left alone with Bruener for a short while. After he somehow manages to untie his hands, Kirby tries strangling him, but is pulled off by Saunders. Bruener dives through a window and escapes. He sneaks into a building where a GI is, kills him and then takes his uniform. Saunders eventually finds Bruener's uniform, and now has to track him down in a town swarming with US personnel. Running through the streets, he randomly points his Thompson at people, confusing and bewildering them. One guy in the distance walks quite fast and doesn't respond to Saunders' call to identify himself. After getting closer, Saunders realizes it's Bruener and fires. Critically wounded, Bruener begs Saunders not to let Kirby shoot him as he catches up. Kirby realizes Bruener is nothing but a coward who killed a defenseless person tied to a chair, professes he's not even worth killing, and walks away. This episode is probably a better showcase of what Kirby can do than any other installment of Combat. He still lacks situational awareness sometimes (which leads to his capture), but as a character, he's basically a more aggressive and sinister version of Saunders. He does what he's told, but is also the most easily angered member of the squad and he's not afraid to even question the motives of his superiors sometimes. He was introduced as a kind of rival to Saunders in the first season, but by this point, he's probably my favorite character. It's also worth pointing out that Albert Paulsen plays Bruener, and he appeared 3 other times on this show. 3 out of those 4 he's playing a prisoner. In all, Retribution is a really good installment of this show, even if the script falls a little behind once Kirby is set free. The ending makes it for me, as Kirby is not willing to let his anger get control of him and chooses to let a trial determine Bruener's fate instead. It's a great test of his patience, but it's only worth it.
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