[Afamilyatwar-list] Episode 44

[Veit, Richard]

Episode No. 44, "Breaking Point"

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This is the first of two episodes that centre around David’s friendship with RAF pilot Derek Robbins and his wife, Jill, who live with their two children in a rented home near the airbase. Jill is said to be having a romantic affair with David’s skipper, Jack Ridley, and when David discovers that this ugly rumour is indeed true, he becomes judgmental toward her—perhaps more so than rightfully is his due, considering his own indulgent extra-marital history.

It seems clear that David, particularly when he wants to, can discern right from wrong, and he has grown honest enough with himself to admit his own failings as a husband and father. In a frank conversation with Jill, David confesses that he should have tried harder to salvage his marriage, if only for the kids’ sake, adding that the present war is beginning to sound more and more like a convenient excuse. Then, just prior to the final sortie of his tour, David tells his skipper, “I’m a sucker for temptation. Do you know? I’ve never said no to temptation in my life.” Jack, of course, is destined not to return alive from the ill-fated bombing mission—the victim of armour-piercing shrapnel embedded in heavy flak—nor is Derek’s plane among those landing safely at the airfield.

Some random comments about “Breaking Point”…

Both Richard Easton and Jennifer Hilary are brilliant in their roles as the furtive lovers. Indeed, the casting for Jack Ridley and Jill Robbins simply could not have been better. (Was it an “in joke” or mere coincidence that their names happen to be Jack and Jill?)

This episode graphically depicts the psychological difficulties that arise when a serviceman’s family is sharing living quarters with him during wartime. Granted, there are a wife and children to come home to, but, as Derek explains to David, “You can see every day what it is you’ve got to lose.”

That is an effectively staged sequence when David spots Jill from the bridge, only to have his shouted greeting drowned out by the cacophony of an approaching barge. Director Bob Hird certainly does have a good sense of the dramatic.

I find Chrissie to be a likeable and sympathetic character, whether in relationships with Frank Cox and Peter Bryant or, in the next episode ("The Lost Ones"), visiting with David at his hospital bedside, where she must endure the scarcely concealed suspicions of Sheila Ashton.

Jill’s mother, I think, is a very well-crafted character who serves a critical role in “Breaking Point.” Not only does she watch over the kids, thus freeing Jill to rendezvous in town, but she counsels her daughter and allows us to learn the young woman’s innermost thoughts about the affair with Jack and her troubled marriage to Derek.

How bittersweet it is to hear Jill describe to David what those secret meetings with Jack Ridley have meant to her: “It’s all been a bit like that lovely dream thing that happens when you’re very young, and hardly ever again.”

As always in “A Family at War,” the action scenes are splendidly filmed and edited, and the accuracy and realism are second to none. The claustrophobic interior of the bomber is faithfully captured by the camera, and we feel that we are right there alongside the men—fighting, laughing, praying, dying.

Not only is David slowly (almost imperceptibly) maturing as a husband as the series progresses, but much the same can be said of his military bearing. I find it interesting to witness how quickly David comes to the rescue in this time of emergency, relative to his tardiness in answering the call during a similar airborne situation in “One of Ours,” a span of four and a half years.

Who plays the role of the flight commander, conveying instructions to the airmen during their final briefing? Surely, he should have been accorded screen credit for his fine contribution.

Were those American jeeps that transported the men to their aircraft? The steering wheels were mounted on the left side. If so, was this typical RAF equipment during the war, or was there a British version of the vehicle as well?

"Breaking Point" is a bit unusual in that it takes place entirely away from Liverpool, and only one of the regular characters (David Ashton) appears on screen. Written by John Finch, so logically structured is the dramatic action that it can very well stand on its own as a self-contained short story. The characters are honestly motivated throughout, producing a sense of inevitable progression.

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