SWC75
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ROUTE 66 1/17/64 “Like This it Means Father…Like This…Bitter…Like This Tiger”
The boys are still in Savannah. They wander into a bar and suddenly Linc runs at a man, (Larry Blyden) and beats him up. Tod has no idea why and Linc says it’s so personal he won’t tell him- or the police Blyden doesn’t press charges and Linc begins a campaign of harassment against him. He finally explains why to Tod. The man was with his unit in Vietnam and was a picket on their flank. When he encountered the enemy, instead of fighting or warning his fellow soldiers, he hid in the bushes and two of the men were killed because of the surprise attack. He wants the man to admit to his cowardice, (apparently he hasn’t told the truth in the past although obviously Linc suspected what happened).
Linc begins to soften up when confronted by the man’s young son, who wants to prove that not everyone in his family is a coward. He continues his harassment of Blyden but he wants him to confess for a different reason. He can see that the act of cowardice has ruined Blyden’s life: he’s an alcoholic who can’t hold down a job. He wants him to confess so he can be forgiven and thus forgive himself.
The ponderous title comes from Blyden’s explanation of the Vietnamese language to his son. The same word, when pronounced differently means different things – just as people and events when viewed from different perspectives mean different things. It’s a thoughtful comparison in a thoughtful episode.
IMDB: "Route 66" Like This It Means Father... Like This - Bitter... Like This - Tiger... (TV Episode 1964) - IMDb Amazon Prime has it for 99 cents.
You-Tube: For $1.99
The boys are still in Savannah. They wander into a bar and suddenly Linc runs at a man, (Larry Blyden) and beats him up. Tod has no idea why and Linc says it’s so personal he won’t tell him- or the police Blyden doesn’t press charges and Linc begins a campaign of harassment against him. He finally explains why to Tod. The man was with his unit in Vietnam and was a picket on their flank. When he encountered the enemy, instead of fighting or warning his fellow soldiers, he hid in the bushes and two of the men were killed because of the surprise attack. He wants the man to admit to his cowardice, (apparently he hasn’t told the truth in the past although obviously Linc suspected what happened).
Linc begins to soften up when confronted by the man’s young son, who wants to prove that not everyone in his family is a coward. He continues his harassment of Blyden but he wants him to confess for a different reason. He can see that the act of cowardice has ruined Blyden’s life: he’s an alcoholic who can’t hold down a job. He wants him to confess so he can be forgiven and thus forgive himself.
The ponderous title comes from Blyden’s explanation of the Vietnamese language to his son. The same word, when pronounced differently means different things – just as people and events when viewed from different perspectives mean different things. It’s a thoughtful comparison in a thoughtful episode.
IMDB: "Route 66" Like This It Means Father... Like This - Bitter... Like This - Tiger... (TV Episode 1964) - IMDb Amazon Prime has it for 99 cents.
You-Tube: For $1.99
