So if you've been watching as much Combat as I have, you'll know by now that Kirby is the show's primary mischief maker. He's still someone you want on your side, but most wouldn't trust him to lead other men around. In this excellent episode, Kirby's leadership ability is put to the test in the most grueling way possible. The story starts with 11 men (minus Saunders) advancing into German territory at night. Caje wanders into the bushes to look around, and by the time he comes back, Kirby finds him badly stabbed. With Saunders away from the squad, the only person fit to lead the men now is Kirby. Even worse, Kirby has almost a copy of himself to deal with; Maynard (William Bryant), an obnoxious slacker who does nothing but backtalk. Kirby discovers the germans have cut the lines on a phone they were trying to use to get in touch with Saunders, so Kirby sends two men to look around for enemies. When they go into the area with the bushes, they are stabbed to death. As Doc tends to Caje, Saunders receives orders from Hanley the germans are planning a push soon and he needs to get back to his squad. German artillery starts pounding at an American company close to where Kirby and the others are stationed. Meanwhile, Saunders runs into german resistance alone and is hit in the arm. Kirby and the others start firing at a german infantry squad just meters away. In the gunfight, another squad member is shot. Maynard is getting worried that if the americans in front of them are wiped out, there's going to be nothing standing between the germans and an under equipped squad led by a troublemaker. Kirby tells Maynard they're staying and waiting for Saunders. Two more squad members die shortly after, and Kirby receives word there are german patrols all over the place. Maynard continues to gripe, and during a subsequent engagement, three more americans are killed. Doc tells Kirby whether the rest of the squad lives or dies tonight depends on him. Kirby decides to check out a nearby farmhouse and finds out it has a basement. He isn't sure if this is going to work, but he tells the others that they have a better chance of survival if they go in the cellar. Once again, Maynard objects, saying that in basic training, the first thing they teach you is to stay away from buildings as they're prime targets. Kirby overrules him. As the squad heads to the farmhouse, Kirby throws a grenade into the basement, thinking the germans will ignore the building if it looks like it's been flushed out already. To add credibility to the deception, Kirby orders the dead americans to be laid outside the cellar entrance. After this, everyone goes inside. One squad member can't stand the tension and decides to run for it, and Kirby goes after him. He manages to avoid being killed by playing dead when a german patrol comes across the house. The squad mate who ran out comes back to tell Kirby and Maynard the phone line is fixed, but more importantly, Saunders is hurt bad. Kirby gets on the radio and Hanley instructs him to make his way back to base. With an artillery attack in progress, the germans are starting to retreat. After meeting up with Saunders and Hanley, Kirby asks when the former is going to return to the squad, and Hanley jokingly asks why would that be necessary with Kirby doing his job for him. Combat's last episode in black and white couldn't have gone much better than this. Of course, William Bryant would go on to play McCall in the fifth season and become a new squad regular, but this episode is Kirby's and nobody else's. In it, he's shown to be a below average leader, as essentially half the people under him either die or get wounded. He wasn't meant to be in Saunders' position, and he knows that, but he has to try or else the squad will have no chance at all. I think his scene with Doc is among my favorite in the whole series. When Kirby worries he's not doing good enough as a leader, Doc tells him not to think of how many dead americans there are, but to think of the ones who are still alive. Conlan Carter is so good he never really seems to be acting. The episode also has a lot of shooting, which serves to kind of force Kirby to grow into his leadership abilities as the situation keeps getting worse. He starts off the episode unsure of what he's doing and wishing Saunders was back, but by the end, he's in total control. Overall, The Leader is one of Combat's best episodes due to its depiction of Kirby as an imperfect but determined substitute for Saunders. I wanted to talk about it much earlier, but I was so excited to start the color episodes I had to put this on hold.
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