As the second series of SAS Rogue Heroes begins, it is Spring 1943 in Newtownards, Northern Ireland. Paddy Mayne (Jack O’Connell) writes to his mother Margaret to say he will not be able to attend his father’s funeral. Paddy, who is in Cairo, writes that the refusal left him in a poor frame of mind. He flips over a table, causes a scene, and says GHQ Cairo has his goat. Paddy beats up a couple of MPs. In October 1942, the long stalemate in North Africa has finally broken. General Montgomery threw 200,000 fighting men of the Allied Eighth Army at Rommel’s Panzer Divisions. At El Alamein Rommel began to retreat. The desert war in Africa was won. Then, the attention turned to the liberation of Europe and the Americans finally joined the effort. At the Ghadzi Military Prison in Cairo, Paddy is told he has a visitor. Lieutenant Colonel Bill Stirling (Gwilym Lee) introduces himself to Paddy as David’s older brother.

He mentioned that David is in a Gavi prisoner-of-war camp in Northern Italy. Bill wants Paddy to help him prevent GHQ from disbanding his regiment. They’re planning to do that in the next two days if they don’t stop them. They argue as Bill says he’s been working for British military intelligence for the last two years. They’re not allowed the luxury of reputations. Bill asks if he wants to save the SAS or not. Bill warns Paddy that he made his critics happy when he blew his top. He reveals he’s already secured Paddy’s release. When they reach the lavatory, Bill gives Paddy a memorandum with two paragraphs. The first explains that the military campaign against the Axis powers is moving to Europe. Rogue brigades operating behind enemy lines will become redundant. They will be considered a liability. Bill says it also explains that Paddy is experiencing difficulties with command. Bill suspects they refused Paddy leave to attend his father’s funeral so he would act the way he did.

Bill tells Paddy about the next phase of the war and his possible involvement in it. Paddy could be the first to set foot in Nazi-occupied Europe. Bill says he needs to prove to the GHQ that Paddy can obey orders. In London, England in June 1943, Eve Mansour (Sofia Boutella) frolics in the rain. At the unofficial headquarters of The Free French Government, Eve enters and speaks to Dudley Clarke (Dominic West). They go through documents together. Eve gives Dudley a request from General de Gaulle. She also gives him an invitation to a cocktail party at The Ritz. They begin talking about David. Eve says he wrote to her every day once he found out she survived. Now, he’s concentrating on finding ways to escape. Dudley says Bill Stirling is the one who did not fall from a tree and land on his head. Eve learns they’ve changed the name of the regiment to the Special Raiding Squadron.

Dudley says Paddy accepted the idea because the Scottish toffs scare him to death. He says Paddy better be whipping that unruly mob into shape because the Europe campaign is going to be much worse. At the Eighth Army Forward Station in the Port of Suez, the new recruits are getting to know the originals. James “Jock” McDiarmid (Mark Rowley) argues with Reg Seekings (Theo Barklem-Biggs). Johnny Cooper (Jacob McCarthy) tells Reg they’re going to be late for the briefing. Withers jumps out of the truck despite being told to stay there. His owner tells him he can’t come with him to Europe. Paddy interrupts and offers to shoot Withers for Bill Fraser (Stuart Campbell). He says there will be dogs in Sicily. Dave Kershaw (Bobby Schofield) and the others join them for a meeting. Paddy tells them they’re going to hate him soon. He tells them about Capo Murro Di Porco. Paddy explains they’re being chewed up by the great big Italian pig.

John Tonkin (Jack Barton) speaks up. Paddy believes Jock is on something. Then, he admits their next mission is going to be madness so they’re going to need madmen. Reg and Jock get into an argument again. After more back and forth, Paddy talks about Romans using dogs to attack enemies. They don’t use dogs now. Instead, they’re going to use the SRS. Bill arrives moments later. Paddy’s men continue being rambunctious while Bill tries to speak to them. Then, Bill introduces himself to everyone. Jock goes on a rant about his boots. Bill says an assault on the Italian forces will result in a casualty rate of around 50%. Paddy asks for the briefing because his men would like to get a drink in before they die. William gives them a rundown of the operation. Later, John tells Paddy they should get the men ready because they’ll go in an hour. Paddy doesn’t take it seriously. He tells John that his men are always ready.

Paddy says three squadrons of gliders took off from Tunisia an hour ago. They’re in the sky above them now. They will land on the interior of the island to cut off communications and supply lines after they’ve reached the cliffs. Paddy admits some of them have fallen short and crashed. That will not be a good outcome for the men onboard. Paddy says they will encounter British soldiers adrift at sea and they will do nothing to help them. He’s adamant that orders will be obeyed. Paddy tells the men they have an hour. Before long, they’re 10 miles off the coast of Sicily. Operation Husky is nearly underway. Bill Fraser tells Withers to stay on the ship and he’ll return. As they approach land, they see British soldiers pleading for help but they ignore them. One man hangs onto their boat and pleads for help. Paddy orders them to cut him loose. Dave apologizes to the man. The man is cut free and left to drown. Then, they begin taking enemy fire.

They reach the shore and begin trying to kill the Italian soldiers. In London, Dudley goes to the party at the Ritz Hotel. Eve dances while Dudley receives a note. He burns the note. Dudley asks Eve why she invited him to a party on July 9th. She tells him how an American sailor mentioned that date. Meanwhile, Paddy and his men continue dodging bullets and shooting at Italians. Jock storms the pillbox without any resistance and kills the soldiers inside. Eve tries to find out what is going on from Dudley. Eve says her superiors insisted the British and Americans would never embark on such an operation without their knowledge. She says there won’t be a next time for her. Dudley tells her the SRS is spearheading the operation. On the water, one man clings to a piece of wood. He’s shot in the head. Paddy’s men kill the shooters. A group of Italian soldiers surrender to Paddy’s men.

As they try to surrender, someone opens fire from the pillbox. Those soldiers are killed moments later. Paddy learns that some of the surrendered soldiers have flesh wounds. He tells his men they have to take the whole hog. Paddy shoots off a flare. He tells the others to come in and take all the glory. David Stirling (Connor Swindells) is told the invasion of Europe has begun. He’s told the SAS has scored the first goal.

 

SAS Rogue Heroes Review

The opening episode of SAS Rogue Heroes second series left a lot to be desired. The first series was just okay, but it already looks like the quality has dipped significantly. For starters, the episode dragged for an eternity and really went nowhere. The SAS or SRS group is pretty obnoxious and immature making them very difficult to care about.

If the Italians had slaughtered them all, there’s a good chance no one would shed a tear. The arguing back and forth is not interesting or entertaining. It’s annoying. There’s a lot of jumping around to stories that don’t seem to matter and don’t add interest in the big scheme of things.

Throughout the episode, Paddy and his men kept being told that storming Sicily would be very dangerous and the casualty rate would be 50% or so. In the series, they really didn’t face any resistance at all. No one was shot and there was no risk that any of them would be injured.

The show doesn’t put any of the characters in danger so there is no suspense. It’s really a shame that real names were used when none of the characters really resemble those individuals. The best ways to describe the first episode are dull and obnoxious. The dialogue-heavy scenes often just repeat the same things and go nowhere.

Keep a remote nearby to skip through those scenes as well as the idiotic bickering between Paddy’s men. With lots of skipping, the episode may possibly be watchable. It scores a 4 out of 10. Recaps of SAS Rogue Heroes can be found here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising with us here. Join the discussion here.