The following is commentary on Episode No. 38 ("Flesh and Blood") from members of AFAMILYATWAR-LIST. If you wish to add your thoughts to what is being said on this page, become a part of our discussion group by clicking the "Join" button.
Richard Veit
The title serves this episode exceedingly well, as the concept of blood relations weaves its way through John Finch's excellent script as a recurring theme.
We already have learned that Sefton is counting on Tony’s vote because he is, after all, his own flesh and blood. Further, Sefton tells Edwin that he envies him because of his grandchildren, who are where immortality lies.
Barbara complains to Tony that little Stevie’s father, Tim Bernard, rarely thinks of her but only about his family in France and of course the baby boy -- that is, his own flesh and blood. Later, in hospital, she confides to Tony that she sees no future between them, as she wishes to return to Guernsey with her baby, and Tony is not the biological father.
Teddy Martin tells his wife, Dora, that he suspects that Barbara will choose Tim over Tony because “It’s the kids that hold a marriage together, in the long run, and that means your own flesh and blood, not somebody else’s.”
From his hospital bed, Tony grumbles to his father that he really did not expect him to accept his plans for a ready-made family, knowing Sefton’s feelings toward the sanctity of a blood relationship.
In the final scene, after Tony assures Barbara that he will wait for her, she declares in no uncertain terms that she wants Stevie’s father to be his own flesh and blood. For that biological reason, she insinuates, Tony always would remain second best in her affections.
And then, when Tony explains to her that his father could not even begin to comprehend that she might turn down his marriage proposal, Barbara points out that Tony nonetheless continues being his father’s son. It is a basic fact of life, she adds: “When there’s no one else, there’s always your own flesh and blood.”
Some random comments about “Flesh and Blood”...
We never learn Barbara’s surname. Our only clue is when Tony mentions that her initials are “B. D.”
This is the second episode with direct ties to Guernsey. “For Strategic Reasons” (Episode No. 8) takes place there just prior to the German occupation of the Channel Islands. And here, in “Flesh and Blood,” Barbara explains to Tony that she was evacuated from Guernsey, but her parents remained behind, under German rule.
Beyond the recurring theme of its title, this intriguing episode is, quite simply, one very good story of wartime romance and its bittersweet complications. Like many another serviceman, Tony Briggs finds that the chaotic circumstances of displaced persons, broken relationships, and unplanned progeny can (and, most often, do) lead to unrequited love.
There is an amusing scene in which Edwin and Sefton compare notes as “armchair generals,” predicting where the landing in France will be.
Though Tony receives a mere flesh wound for his efforts in cautioning the commander and his lover about the minefield, that in no way diminishes the courage he displays in trying to save their lives.
Thanks, I presume, to director David Giles, that harrowing scene can lay claim to some of the finest editing in the entire series: the woman’s foot narrowly missing a buried mine, the commander’s foot about to trip the igniter, the sound of an explosion, billows of smoke, the cries of startled seagulls, Tony being struck by shrapnel, Barbara falling to the ground and looking toward the blast, smoke clearing to reveal two bodies from afar, close-ups of those same lifeless bodies amidst more smoke. All of this drama is delivered to the audience within the span of thirty-six seconds.
Again we witness Sefton’s selfish immunity to the hardships of war. Having been inconvenienced during the journey from Liverpool, he complains to the innkeepers (Teddy and Dora), “The things we put up with in wartime!” They can only look at one another in silence, having lost their son in combat over Germany just six months earlier.
