History Recap / TalesFromTheCryptS3E14Yellow

* CutPhoneLines: General Calthrop is unable to reach B Company to co-ordinate his backup strategy to fight General von Furstenburg, as the Germans have been cutting the Allies' communication lines.

* TheBadGuyWins: Let's face it, being willing to trick his own son into getting killed for the sake of wiping away a smear on his precious military reputation makes General Calthrop a disgusting human being.

* CowardlyBoss: Martin hides in the trenches and drinks from his flask as his men are sent to die. He even orders Ripper to signal a retreat because he believes the company's plan to take the hill is doomed to fail. Ripper tries to argue against him, but is forced to signal the retreat because Martin outranks him and threatens to have him stripped of command.

* DirtyCoward: Martin hides in the trenches while the men under his command die by the dozen in no man's land. When he was ordered to lead Ripper and the wire men to repair the breach in the communication lines and keep watch for the Germans, he freezes with panic when he spots a squad of German soldiers appearing, and he drops the whistle he was meant to use to warn Ripper and the wire men, which alerts the Germans and renders the men dead. He lies to his father when he flees back to the trench, but the dying Ripper reveals his trickery before he expires. The lieutenant's cowardice ultimately gets him sentenced to death.

Meanwhile, the local commanding officer and Martin's father, General Calthrop (Creator/KirkDouglas), receives an intel report from Captain Milligan (Creator/DanAykroyd) regarding the movements of German commander General von Furstenburg. The taking of the hill has been designated a crucial part of the general's strategy to counter von Furstenburg, and when Ripper reports that the charge failed because Martin ordered a retreat, the general moves to a backup strategy involving another company. The other company cannot be reached as communication lines have been cut, and Calthrop orders the lieutenant to take Ripper and two wire men to repair the breach; Milligan advises against this idea because, as Ripper explains, the general's son is [[DirtyCoward "yellow"]]. The general summons his son to explain himself, prompting to Martin tell his father that he doesn't want to be in the Army anymore. General Calthrop says he cannot give Martin a discharge, nor can he show his son any preferential treatment, but he promises the lieutenant that if he goes out with Ripper and the wire men to repair the broken communication line, he will transferred away from the front, which prompts Martin to agree to his father's terms.

Meanwhile, the local commanding officer and Martin's father, General Calthrop (Creator/KirkDouglas), receives an intel report from Captain Milligan (Creator/DanAykroyd) regarding the movements of German commander General von Furstenburg. Taking of the hill has been designated a crucial part of the general's strategy to counter von Furstenburg, and when Ripper reports that the charge failed because Martin ordered a retreat, the general moves to a backup strategy involving another company. The other company cannot be reached as communication lines have been cut, and Calthrop orders the lieutenant to take Ripper and two wire men to repair the breach; Milligan advises against this idea because, as Ripper explains, the general's son is [[DirtyCoward "yellow"]]. The general summons his son to explain himself, prompting to Martin tell his father that he doesn't want to be in the Army anymore. General Calthrop says he cannot give Martin a discharge, nor can he show his son any preferential treatment, but he promises the lieutenant that if he goes out with Ripper and the wire men to repair the broken communication line, he will transferred away from the front, which prompts Martin to agree to his father's terms.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Ripper is hot-headed and quick to anger, but that's because his commanding officer who is hiding in the trenches while his men are shot and blown up. When in the company of the higher ranking officers, he cools down slightly and informs them about Martin's retreat with professionalism. That changes when he barely makes it back to the trenches in one piece.

Meanwhile, the local commanding officer and Martin's father, General Calthrop (Creator/KirkDouglas), receives an intel report from Captain Milligan (Creator/DanAykroyd) regarding the movements of German commander General von Furstenburg. Taking of the hill has been designated a crucial part of the general's strategy to counter von Furstenburg, and when Ripper reports that the charge failed because Lt. Calthrop ordered a retreat, the general moves to a backup strategy involving another company. The other company cannot be reached as communication lines have been cut, and Calthrop orders the lieutenant to take Ripper and two wire men to repair the breach; Milligan advises against this idea because, as Ripper explains, the general's son is [[DirtyCoward "yellow"]]. The general summons his son to explain himself, prompting to Martin tell his father that he doesn't want to be in the Army anymore. General Calthrop says he cannot give Martin a discharge, nor can he show his son any preferential treatment, but he promises the lieutenant that if he goes out with Ripper and the wire men to repair the broken communication line, he will transferred away from the front, which prompts Martin to agree to his father's terms.

At sunrise, Lt. Calthrop shows up for his execution, noting the pack in the trench behind him, refusing the blindfold, and giving a dignified final speech in which he says he now knows what Shakespeare meant when he said, [[Theatre/JuliusCaesar "Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once."]] However, as Milligan gives the firing squad their orders, Martin notices his father [[ICantLookGesture look away]]... and realizes, seconds before Milligan gives the order to fire, that the general lied about loading the guns with blanks. Martin is blown right out of his boots and into the trench by the force of the bullets, and Milligan tells the general, "He died like a man." Calthrop proudly declares that everyone now knows his son is not "yellow". As the soldiers begin falling back, the camera closes in on the inscription on Martin's hip flask: "To Martin, Let courage be thy name. Love, Dad."

* DeadHandShot: In the final shot of the episode, Lt. Calthrop's lifeless hand lies next to his hip flask, upon which we see the ironic inscription "Let courage be thy name" from father to son.

* CowardiceCallout: Lt. Martin Calthrop is already looked down upon as being a coward ''before'' a German attack on his squad without warning causes him to run for his life and leave his men to die. He tries to convince his father, General Calthrop, that he did all he could to fight the Germans off, but the mortally-wounded Ripper comes in and reveals the truth of what happened, calling out the younger Calthrop over what he did. At his court-martial, he's sentenced to death by firing squad and deemed a disgrace to the uniform (which in his case he never wanted to wear).

At his court-martial, Martin is found guilty of dereliction of duty, desertion under fire, and cowardice in the face of the enemy, and is sentenced to execution by firing squad at sunrise, before the soldiers under General Calthrop's command fall back. Later that night, the general visits his condemned son. Martin reminds his father that he had [[WellDoneSonGuy spent his whole life trying to please the man]], but he knows now that he can never do so because his father wanted him to be a soldier under his command instead of his son, and since Martin is openly afraid to die, [[CallingTheOldManOut he berates his father for caring more about the stain on his reputation caused by having a coward for a son than about Martin's welfare]]. However, General Calthrop confides that he'd never order his own son's execution, and he will be loading the firing squad's rifles with blanks and putting a full pack in the trench behind the execution site so that Martin can escape to a new life. His only condition for this act of mercy: have Martin face his death with dignity.

* FaceDeathWithDignity: General Calthrop tells Martin he will have the firing squad's rifles loaded with blanks and put a full pack in the trench behind the execution site so Martin can escape to a new life, provided he faces death like a man on the morning of his execution. Certain he is going to live, Martin faces the firing squad with quiet dignity and gives a brave final speech. Only a few seconds elapse between his realization that the execution is not fake after all and the bullets hitting his body, so no-one notices the façade begin to crack, and after Martin is shot, Captain Milligan tells the general his son died like a man.

-->'''Martin:''' I tried. But I'm not the man my father is. I'm sorry, and I apologize. My fear of dying got in the way of my responsibility to my men, and the obligations of my commanding officers. I know now what Shakespeare meant: "Cowards die many times before their deaths. The valiant never taste of death but once." ''(salute)''

[[caption-width-right:300:''[[TagLine Paths of twisted glory. A World War 1 general devises a plan to prove his soldier son is not a coward.]]'']]
France, 1918. As UsefulNotes/WorldWarI lurches grimly onward, on the 49th day of continuous battle, an American battalion suffers heavy casualties as the soldiers try to take a hill near their trenches. The courage of Sgt. Ripper (Creator/LanceHenriksen), who leads his men from the front, is offset by the cowardice of his immediate superior, Lt. Martin Calthrop (Eric Douglas), who hides in the trenches and drinks heavily from a hip flask. Convinced the charge is doomed to fail, the lieutenant orders the enraged Ripper to signal a retreat.

Meanwhile, the local commanding officer and Martin's father, General Calthrop (Creator/KirkDouglas), receives an intel report from Captain Milligan (Creator/DanAykroyd) regarding the movements of the local German commander, General von Furstenburg. However, taking the hill is a crucial part of the general's strategy to counter von Furstenburg, and when Ripper reports that the charge failed because Lt. Calthrop ordered a retreat, the general moves to a backup strategy involving another company. The other company cannot be reached, as the communication lines have been cut, and Calthrop orders the lieutenant to take Ripper and two wire men to repair the breach; Milligan advises against this idea because, as Ripper explains, the general's son is [[DirtyCoward "yellow"]]. The general summons his son to explain himself, and Martin tells his father that he doesn't want to die or to be in the Army anymore. General Calthrop says he cannot give Martin a discharge, but if he goes out with Ripper and the wire men to repair the broken communication line, he will transfer him away from the front. Martin agrees.

That night, the lieutenant leads Ripper and the wire men into no man's land, but panics when he sees the breach is close to the German front line. Ripper persuades him to stay back and gives him a whistle to signal if he sees any Germans, while he takes the wire men to fix the cable. Moments later, a German squad emerges from their trench; the lieutenant freezes in terror, and when he drops the whistle, the Germans see Ripper and the wire men and open fire. The wire men are killed, and though Ripper holds the Germans off for a few seconds, he is blown across the field by an exploding grenade to land on top of Martin, whereupon he begins berating the cowardly lieutenant for not warning them about the approaching Germans. Martin pushes Ripper aside and flees back to the trench, exclaiming that the repair squad were ambushed and that he shot as many Germans as he could. The general tells him he did all he could, and he will still get his transfer... until Milligan leads in Ripper, barely clinging to life (and his intestines), who exposes the lieutenant as a liar and calls him "yellow" one last time before dying. The general inspects Martin's revolver and discovers it has never been used, and he orders him arrested, to be court-martialled within the hour.

At the court-martial, Lt. Calthrop is found guilty of dereliction of duty, desertion under fire, and cowardice in the face of the enemy, and is sentenced to be executed by firing squad at sunrise before the soldiers under General Calthrop's command fall back. Later that night, the general visits his condemned son, and Martin says [[WellDoneSonGuy he has spent his whole life trying to please his father]], but he knows now that he can never do so, as his father wanted a soldier for a son, and Martin is openly afraid to die; [[CallingTheOldManOut he berates his father for caring more about the stain on his reputation caused by having a coward for a son than about Martin's welfare]]. However, General Calthrop confides that he'd never order his own son's execution, and he will be loading the firing squad's rifles with blanks and putting a full pack in the trench behind the execution site so that Martin can escape to a new life. His only request: FaceDeathWithDignity.

At sunrise, Lt. Calthrop shows up for his execution, noting the pack in the trench behind him, refusing the blindfold, and giving a dignified final speech in which he says he knows what Shakespeare meant when he said, [[Theatre/JuliusCaesar "Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once."]] However, as Milligan gives the firing squad their orders, Martin notices his father [[ICantLookGesture look away]]... and realises, seconds before Milligan gives the order to fire, that the general lied about loading the guns with blanks. He is blown back into the trench by the force of the bullets, and Milligan tells the general, "He died like a man." Calthrop proudly declares that now everyone knows his son is not "yellow", and the camera closes in on the inscription on Martin's hip flask: "To Martin, Let courage be thy name. Love, Dad."
----

* ActorAllusion: General Calthrop mirrors one of Creator/KirkDouglas' most famous roles as the French Colonel Dax during World War I in ''Film/PathsOfGlory''. However, whereas Dax was a moral character who deeply cared for his men and tried to protect them from the capriciousness of the Generals, Calthrop IS one of those Generals with little to no concern for the lives of those under his command, even sentencing his own son to death for cowardice.
* AlmostDeadGuy: After Ripper is blown across no man's land by a German grenade, Lt. Calthrop leaves him for dead and flees back to the trench, insisting he fought bravely against the Germans but was overwhelmed by superior numbers. However, Ripper is not quite dead, and holds on for just long enough to return to the trench and tell General Calthrop the truth: his son froze with panic and left Ripper and the wire men to die.
* ArtisticLicenseHistory: No US Army soldier was sentenced to death and executed for cowardice during World War I.
* TheBadGuyWins: Let's face it, being willing to trick his own son into getting killed for the sake of wiping clean a smear on his precious military reputation makes General Calthrop a pretty disgusting human being in his own right.
* BladeOfGrassCut: The opening credits for the episode play over a shot of a flower growing in the middle of a muddy field. Once the music score fades out and the sounds of battle fade in, the body of a soldier with a massive, blood-drenched wound in his back falls on the flower and squashes it flat, firmly establishing the WarIsHell tone of the story.
* CallingTheOldManOut: When General Calthrop visits his condemned son before his execution, Martin lays into his father for never being there for him when he was growing up, and for seeing him more as a soldier under his command than as his son, even though he was never cut out for the military.
* CowardiceCallout: Lt. Martin Calthrop is already looked down upon as being a coward ''before'' a German attack on his squad without warning causes him to leave his men to die. He tries to convince his father, General Calthrop, that he did all he can to fight them off, but one of the mortally-wounded survivors comes in and reveals the truth of what happened, calling out the younger Calthrop over what he did.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: As cowardly as Lieutenant Calthrop is, the mentality that he deserves his death just to preserve his family's military reputation can be a hard one to grasp for anyone who isn't part of a similar heritage.
* DiesWideOpen: As Sgt. Ripper gasps his final words, "You... yellow...", his eyes remain open as he dies. Captain Milligan solemnly closes his eyes and asks the medics to attend to his "remains".
* DirtyCoward: Lieutenant Calthrop hides in the trenches while the men under his command are dying by the dozen in no man's land, and freezes with panic when he is ordered to lead Ripper and the wire men to repair the breach in the communication lines and a squad of German soldiers appears, only to lie to his father when he flees back to the trench. His cowardice gets him sentenced to death.
* FaceDeathWithDignity: General Calthrop tells Martin he will have the firing squad rifles loaded with blanks and put a full pack in the trench behind his execution site, provided Martin faces death like a man on the morning of his execution. Certain he is going to live, Martin faces the firing squad with quiet dignity and gives a brave final speech. Only a few seconds elapse between his realisation that the execution is not fake after all and the bullets hitting his body, so no-one notices the facade begin to crack, and after Martin is shot, Captain Milligan tells the general his son died like a man.
* ICantLookGesture: When Captain Milligan yells "Aim!", General Calthrop closes his eyes and looks away, since he knows the firing squad have been issued live ammunition, contrary to his promise to Martin, but he still can't bring himself to actually ''watch'' his own son get shot. Seeing his father avert his eyes is what gives away the ruse to Martin, but he only has a split second to process this before Milligan yells "FIRE!"
* OffingTheOffspring: General Calthrop may not pull the trigger, but he does condemn his son to death and then goes back on his promise to load the guns with blanks, personally loading them with live bullets before the execution. All so he can prove to everyone watching that his son is not a coward.
* OhCrap: After Milligan gives the "Aim!" command to his firing squad, Martin notices his father look away, and his brave expression vanishes immediately as he realises there can be only one reason why his father cannot look at him: the guns are loaded with real bullets.
* RealLifeRelative: Kirk Douglas and real-life son Eric as General Calthrop and Martin.
* RuleOfThree: In the opening battle scene, Sgt. Ripper asks three soldiers if they have seen Lt. Calthrop. The first two cannot answer as they are already dead, prompting Ripper to growl, "Damn!", while the third points out where he last saw the lieutenant... and gets his hand shot off by machine-gun fire for his trouble, whereupon Ripper expands his exclamation to "God damn!"
* ShotAtDawn: Martin is sentenced to death by firing squad for abandoning Ripper and the wire men to die after letting the Germans ambush them.
* StagedShooting: To get Martin to FaceDeathWithDignity, his father tells him the guns will be loaded with blanks so that it only appears as though he has been shot, and he can leave to start a new life. Unbeknownst to the lieutenant, the staged shooting turns out to be quite real.
* VillainHasAPoint: For all Lieutenant Calthrop's cowardice, he does have a legitimate point that he was forced into his military role against his will and he should never have been placed in any battlefront-relevant position. In fact, the deaths of Sergeant Ripper and his wire men is really as much ''General'' Calthrop's fault as it is the Lieutenant, because the Lieutenant was forced to undertake the mission despite knowing and ''admitting'' that he was the worst possible choice for such a mission.
* WarIsHell: It's UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, in the trenches of northern France, a campaign that in real life gave hitherto unseen depths to the notion that war is Hell. The battlefields are soaked with the blood of the dead on both sides, and we see numerous characters, ranging from nameless extras to major characters, dying messy and undignified deaths from enemy fire (Sgt. Ripper's death is especially gruesome, as half his intestines are on the ''outside'' of his body) or covered in blood-soaked bandages and lying on makeshift stretchers in the trenches.
* WellDoneSonGuy: Lt. Calthrop has spent his entire life trying to please his father by going to military school, West Point, and then heeding his country's call to the trenches of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, just for a pat on the back from the general. Unfortunately, because he is too afraid to die to be an effective soldier, he has never been able to live up to his father's expectations.
----

At sunrise, Lt. Calthrop shows up for his execution, noting the pack in the trench behind him, refusing the blindfold, and giving a dignified final speech in which he says he knows what Shakespeare meant when he said, [[Theatre/JuliusCaesar "Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once."]] However, as Milligan gives the firing squad their orders, Martin notices his father look away... and realises, seconds before Milligan gives the order to fire, that the general lied about loading the guns with blanks. He is blown back into the trench by the force of the bullets, and Milligan tells the general, "He died like a man." Calthrop proudly declares that now everyone knows his son is not "yellow", and the camera closes in on the inscription on Martin's hip flask: "To Martin, Let courage be thy name. Love, Dad."

* ActorAllusion: General Calthrop mirrors one of Creator/KirkDouglas' most famous roles as the French Colonel Dax during World War I in ''Film/PathsOfGlory''. However, whereas Dax was a moral character who deeply cared for his men and tried to protect them from the capriciousness of the Generals, Calthrop ''is'' one of those Generals with little to no concern for the lives of those under his command, even sentencing his own son to death for cowardice.

* WarIsHell: It's UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, in the trenches of northern France, a campaign that in real life gave hitherto unseen depths to the notion that war is Hell. The battlefields are soaked with the blood of the dead on both sides, and we see numerous characters, ranging from nameless extras to major characters, dying messy and undignified deaths from enemy fire (Sgt. Ripper's death is especially gruesome, as half his intenstines are on the ''outside'' of his body) or covered in blood-soaked bandages and lying on makeshift stretchers in the trenches.

* AlmostDeadGuy: After Ripper is blown across no man's land by a German grenade, Lt. Calthrop leaves him for dead and flees back to the trench, insisting he fought bravely against the Germans but was overwhelmed by superior numbers. However, Ripper is not quite dead, and holds on for just long enough to return to the trench and tell General Calthrop the truth: his son froze with panic and left Ripper and the wire men to die.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: No US Army soldier was sentenced to death and executed for cowardice during World war 1.

France, 1918. As UsefulNotes/WorldWarI lurches grimly onward, on the 49th day of continuous battle, an American battalion suffers heavy casualties as the soldiers try to take a hill near their trenches. The courage of Sgt. Ripper (Lance Henriksen), who leads his men from the front, is offset by the cowardice of his immediate superior, Lt. Martin Calthrop (Eric Douglas), who hides in the trenches and drinks heavily from a hip flask. Convinced the charge is doomed to fail, the lieutenant orders the enraged Ripper to signal a retreat.

Meanwhile, the local commanding officer and Martin's father, General Calthrop (Kirk Douglas), receives an intel report from Captain Milligan (Dan Aykroyd) regarding the movements of the local German commander, General von Furstenburg. However, taking the hill is a crucial part of the general's strategy to counter von Furstenburg, and when Ripper reports that the charge failed because Lt. Calthrop ordered a retreat, the general moves to a backup strategy involving another company. The other company cannot be reached, as the communication lines have been cut, and Calthrop orders the lieutenant to take Ripper and two wire men to repair the breach; Milligan advises against this idea because, as Ripper explains, the general's son is [[DirtyCoward "yellow"]]. The general summons his son to explain himself, and Martin tells his father that he doesn't want to die or to be in the Army anymore. General Calthrop says he cannot give Martin a discharge, but if he goes out with Ripper and the wire men to repair the broken communication line, he will transfer him away from the front. Martin agrees.

That night, the lieutenant leads Ripper and the wire men into no man's land, but panics when he sees the breach is close to the German front line. Ripper persuades him to stay back and signal if he sees any Germans, while he takes the wire men to fix the cable. Moments later, a German squad emerges from their trench; the lieutenant freezes in terror, and when he drops the whistle, the Germans see Ripper and the wire men and open fire. The wire men are killed, and though Ripper holds the Germans off for a few seconds, he is blown across the field by an exploding grenade to land on top of Martin, whereupon he begins berating the cowardly lieutenant for not warning them about the approaching Germans. Martin pushes Ripper aside and flees back to the trench, exclaiming that the repair squad were ambushed and that he shot as many Germans as he could. The general tells him he did all he could, and he will still get his transfer... until Milligan leads in Ripper, barely clinging to life (and his intestines), who exposes the lieutenant as a liar and calls him "yellow" one last time before dying. The general inspects Martin's revolver and discovers it has never been used, and he orders him arrested, to be court-martialled within the hour.

At the court-martial, Lt. Calthrop is found guilty of dereliction of duty, desertion under fire, and cowardice in the face of the enemy, and is sentenced to be executed by firing squad at sunrise before the soldiers under General Calthrop's command fall back. Later that night, the general visits his condemned son, and Martin says [[WellDoneSonGuy he has spent his whole life trying to please his father]], but he knows now that he can never do so, as his father wanted a soldier for a son, and Martin is openly afraid to die; he berates his father for caring more about the stain on his reputation caused by having a coward for a son than about Martin's welfare. However, General Calthrop confides that he'd never order his own son's execution, and he will be loading the firing squad's rifles with blanks and putting a full pack in the trench behind the execution site so that Martin can escape to a new life. His only request: FaceDeathWithDignity.

At sunrise, Lt. Calthrop shows up for his execution, noting the pack in the trench behind him, and giving a dignified final speech before refusing the blindfold. However, as Milligan gives the firing squad their orders, Martin notices his father close his eyes and turn his head away... and realises, seconds before Milligan gives the order to fire, that the general lied about loading the guns with blanks. He is blown back into the trench by the force of the bullets, and Milligan tells the general, "He died like a man." Calthrop proudly declares that now everyone knows his son is not "yellow", and the camera closes in on the inscription on Martin's hip flask: "To Martin, Let courage be thy name. Love, Dad."