Having concocted an intricate, compelling, hilarious narrative to begin their first series of the satirical situation comedy "'Allo 'Allo!," creators and scriptwriters Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft must now pursue the plot mechanics they set in motion, and it's hard not to see that their inspiration is lacking for "The Execution."
In the nighttime countryside of Occupied France, Rene steps from behind a tree to deliver his recap. The uniforms the Savile Row tailor fitted for Colonel Von Strohm and his adjutant Captain Geering must be altered, leaving the two downed British fliers, Flight Lieutenants Fairfax and Carstairs, still stranded in France and the two German officers still disguised as onion sellers and now on a mission with Rene and the Resistance group led by Michelle Dubois to blow up a rail line down which General Von Klinkerhoffen is traveling. But when the mission goes awry, Rene, Yvette, and the two disguised Germans are captured by the Germans.
Cue the tired running gag about the visitors, French and German, the quartet receive who have all smuggled hacksaws to them, and the standard trope about Von Strohm and Geering disguising themselves as Rene's wife Edith and mother-in-law Fanny to escape and thus enable Von Strohm, as the area commandant, to release the prisoners. However, Von Klinkerhoffen insists that Rene be executed as an example to future saboteurs, and when Leutnant Gruber, commanding the firing squad, takes a box of live ammunition from Geering along with a box of the dummy rounds the squad is supposed to use, the suspense about Rene's fate deepens.
Well, not really, because series star Gorden Kaye is not likely to depart the story now, so the premise of "The Execution" is hardly credible, leaving Lloyd and Croft to manufacture some excitement and mystery, which they can't even if the execution scene is staged well by director Croft, with Guy Siner displaying the clipped anguish of the man lusting after the man he is ordered to execute. The expectation built up over Von Klinkerhoffen's visit is overblown as Hilary Minster's appearance is a cameo, hardly substantial enough to push the character past simple stereotype as "The Execution" is "'Allo 'Allo!" going through the motions, with the cast less than engaged in this rote exercise.
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