Hogan’s Heroes Episode Review: “LeBeau and the Little Old Lady”

Guest stars include Celeste Yarnall and Sivi Aberg.

One of the things I do find I like about this particular classic television show is, even though Hogan (Bob Crane) gets top billing, the ensemble cast is what really manages to make it memorable. And, some of the best episodes are those that feature some of the other inmates at Stalag 13.

In this particular case, I loved how LeBeau went out of his way to keep his fellow prisoners/conspirators in the dark about his contact, Wilhelmina (Yarnall), even going through the effort to convince them he hated going out of the tunnel to meet up with her just so they didn’t catch on. And, when he tells her he is the only one visiting because nobody else would volunteer, he was telling her the truth.

The fact he defies Hogan’s orders and sneaks out was also somewhat interesting because, at least for the most part, the prisoners don’t seem to be willing to question their leader. So, seeing one of them ignore him to the point he puts himself and possibly their whole operation in jeopardy was somewhat unique and made the episode a little more entertaining as a result. Of course, that being said, I was a little disappointed Hogan didn’t come down harder on him considering what could have happened had he been caught by Major Hochstetter (Howard Caine).

I think the most memorable scene from this episode had to be Schultz (John Banner) taking that whole “I see nothing” thing to a new extreme by choosing to ignore Hogan when he tells him LeBeau has escaped. Even though it probably shouldn’t have been surprising given that character’s nature, it was still somewhat unexpected and very funny. I know I was laughing pretty hard when I saw that.

The plot, in all honesty, was a little simple compared to some I’ve seen from this series. But, the overall concept and some of the jokes that came as a result of LeBeau’s efforts definitely made it worth watching and I would recommend this episode as a result of that.

My Grade: B