(TV Series)

(1988)

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10/10
Tour of Duty Tour de Force
evanjones-1039517 June 2021
If one is only familiar with Rosalind Chao from her work on Star Trek, as I was, one could be forgiven for underestimating her formidable talent (as it turns out, she has had a long, busy and award-winning career). But her performance as Viet Cong "liberation fighter" Li Kiem in this episode is an absolute masterpiece worthy of an Emmy, or two. I do not have enough superlatives in my vocabulary to describe it. Credit Stephen Caffrey as Lt. Goldman for holding his own opposite Chao with an outstanding performance of his own.

I have seen every episode of Tour of Duty, and in my mind this one is the best. 10 stars, or maybe 20 - if you only see this show once, make this episode the one you watch...and revel in these 2 performances.
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10/10
Brlliant stuff
gritfrombray-118 January 2007
Warning: Spoilers
This episode says it all about the Vietnam war. The regular cast is brilliant as always. But the real star of this particular episode is Rosalind Chao. Been a fan since her long running work as Keiko O'Brien in Star Trek the Next Generation and DS9. In this she plays a young Vietnamese girl held prisoner, and is led through the jungle by a half blind soldier. Li Kiem (Rosalind) lays it all out in the open. About the Americans being in her country etc. But it's when her hard edged 'Soldier' slips away from her and the two begin to get along a tiny bit of chemistry happens and they both begin to see the pointlessness of the whole war. If you know anything about the Vietnamese war you would do well to watch this. In a nutshell, great acting by all, and the point of the whole Vietnam war is laid out in front of us.
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1/10
Not believable
rodney_h5 January 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Overly dramatic, totally implausible plot of this episode marks it as one of the worst in the series. The blatant anti-war theme was preponderously unsubtle. Illogical and incomprehensible actions occur throughout starting with the discharge of the fire extinguisher into Lt. Goldman's face and eyes. Did nobody even think about flushing his eyes out when he revealed the chemicals blinded him? That would be step one in any first aid scenario. And then, while left alone with an enemy combatant, Goldman removes her gag, even after she had previously screamed and yelled? Too many unrealistic scenes in this episode for me and far below the usual high standards for this series.
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