episode #31 - Beyond the Call

episode #18 of 2nd season / Air Date: 3/9/77
written by Daniel Kibbie and Arthur Rowe directed by Alan J. Levi

This showed the damages left over from the Vietnam War, as in many TV episodes and films of that time. It also comes across as an Afterschool Special in some scenes, which doesn't leave much room for excitement. As a result of all this, Jaime barely uses her bionic abilities in this episode, almost functioning as an outside observer of events. The story concerns a decorated soldier (Sam Groom) and his Vietnamese daughter; the wife & mother died before the war ended, due to a military screw-up - tanks meant to protect her did not arrive. The soldier blames the army and so we see him skulking about the base at night, stealing guidance system parts for a big pay-off. The girl, meanwhile, doesn't speak due to the trauma of witnessing her mother's death.
This has a couple of interesting scenes - Jaime on survival training in the woods with the soldier and Jaime's mom (Martha Scott in her last appearance on the show) complaining about the troubled & troublesome girl - but is fairly boring for much of the running time. The story tries to soft pedal the huge amount of trouble the soldier has gotten himself into by the end of the episode and it's very unrealistic. It mostly hinges on whether the little girl will speak by the end - and of course we know she will... BoG's Score: 5 out of 10