When an operation to rescue two Bosnian captives goes hideously wrong, a Backstep is authorized to save the lives of the soldiers, including the Vice President's illegitimate daughter.
After last week's take on Ghost, this week it's time for a modern take on Saving Private Ryan, except this time it's Saving Lieutenant Benson. This episode contains some of the worst character motivations in history. When his daughter is killed, the Vice President takes his own life. Now, isn't that a bit of an overreaction? After all, he later admits he's never known her anyway. He might be upset by this, but suicide? It's just a convenient excuse to make a Backstep essential. Can't have the US without a Vice President, can we? Still, it must be grating on Frank's nerves a bit that this is the second time when he's back-stepped to save the guy's life.
On top of this, the soldiers leading the rescue mission are the most useless people imaginable to send. They bicker, they're seconds away from shooting each other, and they don't have a planning brain in their heads, preferring to just shoot and run, usually into the open ground. These people deserved to get shot the first time round, and frankly, they don't deserve rescuing. What the hell was anyone thinking when they sent these people in? 'Let's get the most incompetent people we can find, eh? Don't want anyone coming back alive, do we?' It's only Frank's self-admitted arrogance that gets them through, coupled with the fact that he appears to know what he's doing. The others don't come across as having ever been out on more than a field trip.
Benson is actually a much less annoying character, although she does get the most terrible speech about the army being her family at the end of the episode. In fact, there are clichés galore in this one, and it's great to spot them coming.
The only positive aspect is the execution. The direction contains a few nice tricks; in fact you can feel the poor guy trying to work with what he's got; and there's plenty of action. However, it doesn't make up for the weakness of pretty much everything else.
**
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