This installment finally has Rice leaving the California base where he trains men to fight in combat, and actually does some fighting himself. The battlefield was the smoldering powder keg of Viet Nam, only weeks away from large scale US involvement. He's on temporary duty, delivering valuable knowledge about a radar-like device, when he's shot down by Viet Cong in a transport helicopter with a small group of other marines. They're overtaken by the guerrillas, and all are killed except Rice, and, in due time,one other passenger, a traitor in an American uniform, who prevented Rice's death at the massacre to obtain Rice's secret information. At one point he tries to justify why he fights for a communist take-over, and his contempt for Democracy with reasoning like, "We can't eat ballots!" At length, Rice out-wits and finally kills his trigger happy adversary, and some R & R is his back in the city. Things like a friendly but gruff fellow from HQ and an oriental stewardess he runs into twice, and that somehow he can't make his return flight yet, indicate pretty obviously they intended that a second season would be full of action and these new characters. But it must have just had no chance with any potential sponsors, so Lieutenant Rice's career ends with but one kill to his name. Too bad, it was fun while it lasted.
2 Reviews
The best episode of the series! And regrettably, the last.
FloridaFred11 February 2024
Warning: Spoilers
The Lieutenant finally gets out of California / Camp Pendleton; he is sent to what is obviously Vietnam. The helicopter he is flying in is forced down behind enemy lines. After a firefight with the Viet Cong, it appears that Lt. Rice is the only survivor.
Anyone who was alive in 1964, and especially those who served in Vietnam, can relate personally to this episode. One of the great challenges was knowing who was your friend, and who was your enemy. The person you trusted could turn out to be a backstabbing traitor. That was true in the jungles of Vietnam, it was equally true in Washington, D. C. Before this episode is over, Lt. Rice will find out that someone he considered a friend is a Communist traitor.
There is also the moral issue of killing another person. Rice states in no uncertain terms that he hates killing, but as the climax approaches, it is kill or be killed.
As the show concludes, with some relaxing R&R in a hotel lobby bar, Lt. Rice is told that he will be returning to Vietnam. And of course, a beautiful Asian woman (actress Irene Tsu) will be waiting for him. What a shame that this was the final episode of the series.
10 Stars for "To Kill a Man".
* * * * * * * * * * * Florida Fred * * * * * * * * * *
Anyone who was alive in 1964, and especially those who served in Vietnam, can relate personally to this episode. One of the great challenges was knowing who was your friend, and who was your enemy. The person you trusted could turn out to be a backstabbing traitor. That was true in the jungles of Vietnam, it was equally true in Washington, D. C. Before this episode is over, Lt. Rice will find out that someone he considered a friend is a Communist traitor.
There is also the moral issue of killing another person. Rice states in no uncertain terms that he hates killing, but as the climax approaches, it is kill or be killed.
As the show concludes, with some relaxing R&R in a hotel lobby bar, Lt. Rice is told that he will be returning to Vietnam. And of course, a beautiful Asian woman (actress Irene Tsu) will be waiting for him. What a shame that this was the final episode of the series.
10 Stars for "To Kill a Man".
* * * * * * * * * * * Florida Fred * * * * * * * * * *
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