Survivors, April 17, 1996

Survivors is about the long-lasting damage of the Vietnam War - the mental and emotional scars that war leaves on everyone it touched. Col. Anderson has carried these emotional wounds for years. His divorce is the trigger that unlocks the pent-up nightmares that have haunted him, and now form the basis of this episode.

Poor Harm! As a favour to Col. Stryker, his father's old friend, he agreed to represent Anderson in the divorce proceedings. Before going any further, I would like to say that it was neat to see Harm out of uniform, and in a very nice business suit, which he had bought just for the occasion. This was in sharp contrast to the other lawyer, who was careless and rumpled in a suit that had obviously seen better days.

Anyway, as I was saying, poor Harm. He's finding out the hard way that it was no fun being a divorce lawyer. Plus, he was left holding the bag when his client skipped town with his son, without proper authorization. The totally unimpressed judge issued a bench warrant for the colonel's arrest, and the chase is underway.

Meanwhile, on the lam, Anderson (nicknamed Gooch) is reliving his nightmare of having to leave his best friend Digger behind to die in the jungles of Vietnam. In some strange fashion, Anderson becomes convinced that his son Trevor is somehow Digger come back to give him a second chance to make good on his promise to bring him back home, to the hunting cabin they both loved.

Back at the ranch, so to speak, Harm's hands are full with the worried Mrs. Anderson, and an extremely belligerent Deputy Hodge, who is itching to bag himself not just a bird colonel, but a cocky lieutenant commander as well. Some of my favourite amusing scenes are of the fugitives flitting out of Hodge's reach via helicopter as he sputtered impotently below.

This episode had elements of the supernatural. The casting for the young Digger and Gooch was excellent. The way the black and white Vietnam footage merged from the past into the present was well done and conveyed most effectively the colonel's precarious mental state.

However, I didn't enjoy this episode very much. All the elements were there for a good episode - good storyline, action, good acting, and a very appealing child. For some reason I couldn't get into the story itself. I felt quite detached as I watched it unfold. Perhaps it's because it's a story about the Vietnam War, and I've seen too much television coverage of that war. As a result I may have been conditioned to view it in a detached fashion. Interesting.

There were lots of other little things I enjoyed, mainly the scenes between Harm and Meg: Meg trying to talk Harm out of getting personally involved to the extent of aiding and abetting a fugitive; Harm and Meg bluffing the very angry Deputy Hodge into dropping his charges against Harm - "... the video ... you did get the video, didn't you, Lieutenant?"; and most of all, the little scene in the courthouse hallway, when Harm had to confess to Meg that he lost. "You lost?"
 

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