AllMovie

"Replacements," the fourth installment of HBO's docudrama miniseries, Band of Brothers, focuses on the new members of Easy Company who arrive as the unit becomes involved in the ill-fated Operation Market Garden. Some of the old-timers who jumped into Normandy with Easy are more accepting than others. Lieutenant Buck Compton (Neal McDonough) and company impressionist George Luz (Rick Gomez) are friendly enough, but hustle one of the recruits for his cigarettes in a dart game. Roy Cobb (Craig Heaney) loudly objects to one of the new guys wearing a company-wide presidential citation on his uniform, because it was given for the company's involvement in the Normandy invasion, and the replacements weren't there. Cobb, however, was hit in the plane and did not make the jump into Normandy himself. Sergeant Denver "Bull" Randleman (Michael Cudlitz) earns the respect of the new privates under his command with his quiet proficiency. The company parachutes into Holland in a massive drop. Their mission is to liberate some Dutch towns so British tank units can pass through into Germany. They expect little German firepower at first, but get less than that in the town of Eindhoven. Instead, a joyous crowd greets them, including women who throw themselves at the soldiers, and members of the Dutch resistance. "They all speak English; they all love us," notes Private Webster (Eion Bailey), one of the replacements, "What a fantastic country." But the next day, in a nearby town, they meet an unexpectedly strong force of German tank and infantry units, and after taking several casualties, they're forced to retreat. Sergeant Randleman is lost in the chaos and has to spend a harrowing night on his own, hiding from the Germans, while a few soldiers who fight under him contemplate a perilous rescue mission.