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SAS Rogue Heroes: Episode #1.6 (2022)
The end of the beginning
With the addition of the Free French the force is growing. With Randolph Churchill's glowing report of the Benghazi raid the reputation of L detachment is growing.
David is back in Cairo, suffering from ulcers caused by being too long in the desert, small wounds becoming infected. Walking painfully in formal evening wear he is introduced to the Prime Minister, is tasked with doing anything he wishes to reduce losses on two vital convoys for Malta and uses Churchill's and Auchinlek's signatures to make himself a letter of authority that gives him free rein to commandeer anything he requires.
And then the action begins. Of the planned raids Paddy's is thwarted by the Axis troops being alerted by the premature French attack on the neighbouring airfield. It takes awhile but it seems as though he realises the wisdom of running away in order to fight another day, an action he declared himself unable to take earlier in the series. Paddy is beginning to be changed by his actions.
Another French party, pretending to be prisoners in a truck driven by two of the renegade Germans in the force are betrayed by one of them when there vehicle breaks down. The one who Paddy was suspicious of, the one that became mistrusted by others due to Paddy's strong dislike was as surprised as everyone else when his comrade sided with the Germans.
David tried a different tactic with his newly acquired jeeps with twin Vicjers armament - sometimes twins front and rear. Driving in echelon down the runway they shot indiscriminately at everything - unarmed troops were scythed down, parked aircraft were shot at(why weren't they dispersed like most operational airfields would do?) And, of course, as the rounds sparked on the engine cowlings each aircraft immediately exploded in a Hollywood-style orange ball of flame.
David, returned to base, felt sickened by the actions he had instigated - "but they were unarmed" - Paddy observed that their actions were becoming alike; David too is changed by his experiences.
Then the devastating news, delivered by a sober, for one, head of Intelligence in the Cairo nightclub; as David sits at a table hoping to meet his lover, who is not answering the phone, he is told that the aircraft she was travelling on has gone down in a sandstorm.
Had this been a fictional story rather than one based on fact he would have driven into the desert, found her, thirsty but alive, cradled her in his arms and driven into the desert sunset as the music swelled over the closing credits.
Reality ensued. He returned to the chaps, informed them that they were now officially a regiment and that their next task, now that the Americans had eventually entered the war, was to move westward through Egypt. His single jeep was ambushed by a well-prepared German force and he was captured.
Now the regiment was in the hands of the newly promoted madman, Paddy Mayne. This was the end of the beginning.
The second series is eagerly awaited.
SAS Rogue Heroes: Episode #1.5 (2022)
More story, less character development
An apparently rag-tag bunch of ill-disciplined scruffs watch two truckloads of well-drilled men united under the Free French flag assemble at their desert camp.
There they endure the unorthodox and potentially lethal training regime of Captain Mayne while the chaps go on a jolly to Benghazi.
As the port of Benghazi is firmly in Axis hands they have to resort to subterfuge, riding in a German truck thoughtfully provided by the head of British Intelligence in Cairo along with a passenger, Winston Churchill's son Randolph.
From here on in we seem to halt character development in favour of a straightforward, two dimensional (but entertaining) sequence of our chaps bluffing the somewhat thick Axis troops - the staple of most formulaic WW2 films.
Meanwhile Paddy has managed to unite the French against a common foe - himself. On David's return he learns the cost in a count of broken jaws (2), broken ribs (3) and teeth lying on the mess room floor (several). At least the piano remains intact.
The transport for Randolph Churchill appears and with it David's lover, the French Intelligence head, now that she has exposed her boss as a drunk and incompetent. She talkks with David as the effects of amphetamine and adrenalin are gradually calmed by barbituates. During that time she warns him that the lack of identification codes on the roof of his German truck may have a darker reason than just incompetence on behalf of those who supplied it.
We return to learning more of Paddy's motivations in a scene in his tent where he refuses to apologise to the French but admits to a grudging respect for them. Part of his seeming perpetual anger stems from the loss of his Irish friend Eoin McGonigal in their first disastrous operation. As David surmises, Paddy is unable to lay his ghost to rest until he can locate and properly bury his body.
And then, Paddy having shot a gazelle, a slap-up feed is organised for everyone, French included as , if not an apology, at least a move toward acceptance.
SAS Rogue Heroes: Episode #1.4 (2022)
The dreamer and the madman
The chaps, flushed with success, go back for another go, this time with a bottle of rather fine single malt as a prize for the top scorer in their little game.
So now we get more action but not quite more of the same. The results, in materiel destroyed, are similar but the action scenes are shorter and less habds on. Apart from the killing of a sentry (and the sparing of a dog) we are left to observe from a distance.
This sets the story aside from the usual actioner, the bigger and better explosions, the more frenetic battles and, in my opinion, the story is served well by shortening the destruction scenes. We can concentrate on motivations and character development instead.
This time our heroes triumphal return is halted by a couple of aircraft that weren't destroyed and here the cliched vast balls of orange flame as soon as a vehicle is hit trope comes into play. I do wish that one day someone will have the wit to curtail these Michael Bay tributes and show vehicles being hit and objects exploding as they actually appear.
Not only the vehicles took a hit though, we lost one of our principals, leaving the two polar opposites to snarl at one another in an uneasy truce that seems to break at the end.
David's attempt at designing headgear draws admiring comments from other regiments when the men take a five day leave in Cairo GHQ. The men who receive the comments have bonded through fighting Axis forces, they bond further by fighting the Allies. David, meanwhile, is forced to accept a squad of French paratroopers to train, his independent unit is less free from interference by intelligence and GHQ than he thought. He also discovers that the situation has been manipulated by the woman he is beginning to fall in love with, the 2 i/c of French intelligence.
Less that a happy bunny, he passes the French contingent onto Paddy when he returns to camp. Paddy had spent his leave talking to the ghost of his friend out in the desert. With Lewes gone there is no-one to intervene between the dreamer and the madman.
The question is which man is which?
SAS Rogue Heroes: Episode #1.3 (2022)
Let the games begin
Two episodes have introduced the characters and the situation.
The "gentlemen" of the newly formed SAS are seen as expendable by the intelligence operator who created them in fiction, in reality they initially also suffer appalling loss.
The pace has picked up now we are being shown the exploits of the new group. After the first, costly, setback they are joined with the Long Range Desert Group. Two sets of mad buggers become mutually supportive and devastate German and Italian airfields and supply dumps.
That devastation looks good on film - apart from the Hollywood explosions - all rolling flame and little blast, unlike it would look in reality. We have become so acclimatised to the spectacular orange flames that productions that show explosives as they should look appear dull in comparison. Much as a space epic without battle noise seems weird.
Anyway, that digression aside, the model work and CGI looks fairly convincing. And the desert - well that is a star in its own right, well captured by the DoP.
And now the games have been announced and the scores are chalked on the board it is apparent our David has a wee bit of catching up to do ...
SAS Rogue Heroes: Episode #1.2 (2022)
Accelerating slowly
So now the pace is beginning to pick up although there is still a lot of exposition to be done. This episode seems to have elements of both The Dirty Dozen and Hustle - though paying homage to neither.
From the little I know of the formation of the SAS this story seems broadly in keeping with real events although obviously the dialogue, which is beautifully dry and witty for much of the episode, must be a work of the writer's imagination.
One criticism, that may become moot in later episodes, is that the action is all very boys'club and chummy; it is not easy to place this against the background of the war that was raging along the North African coast. Perhaps a little more inclusion of that, even if it means more archive footage would lend the sense of urgency that the missions require.
At the moment I'm left with the erroneous impression that Axis and Allies are having a little tiff which David, Paddy and the chaps will sort out in the next couple of episodes ...
SAS Rogue Heroes: Episode #1.1 (2022)
Slow but promising start
If you are hoping to leap into the action from episode one - forget it.
It looks as if we are in for the long haul here so those that don't appreciate great cinematography, editing, production design and intricate story weaving best leave now.
For those of you with a decent attention span, stick with it, I'm sensing a six episode series will be followed by another, then another as the story evolves.
The first episode necessarily has to set the scene, explain the historical context, introduce the characters and begin the story; it does so admirably. Most of the actors are new to me which is good, there is no previous character to unsee; one well-kent (to me) face was that of Miles Jupp, perfectly cast as a somewhat ineffectual officer - much the role he played as comedy in Gary, Tank Commander.
From my limited knowledge of wartime vehicles the producers seem to have gone for authenticity, it was great to see the DH Dragon Rapide in flight and in close up.
I'm looking forward to episode 2 which I'll watch immediately after writing this and I'm hoping that the pace of the action begins to pick up.