8.1/1067 votes#1 - Saigon (1)
Season 2 Episode 1 - Aired 1/3/1989
Having received some warning of the upcoming Tet Offensive (In Angel of Mercy), Bravo Co. is still unprepared for what happens to them after they are transferred to Tan Son Nhut Base outside of Saigon. Zeke and Goldman catch up with one of their men in an opium parlor and have a run-in with some Vietnamese thugs. The situation is basically under control until a female wire service correspondent -- Alex Devlin -- butts in. Alex explains that she was following up on a story lead. Lt. McKay is introduced as a chopper pilot who will be shuttling Bravo Co. As they prepare to leave on a mission, Zeke opens a letter from his ex-wife who claims she will soon arrive in Saigon to see him. The company is landed in a hot-LZ and only gets saved from sure disaster when Lt. McKay uses his helicopter to fire machine guns at the hostile position. Alex meets up with Jake Bridger who tells a story about VC infiltrating the cities as peasants. McKay and Goldman start to ""argue"" over both their increasing
Director: Bill L. Norton
Writer: Rick Husky
7.8/1060 votes#2 - Saigon (2)
Season 2 Episode 2 - Aired 1/10/1989
Anderson meets with his wife and sees her off after her announcement that she is remarrying. Goldman begins a relationship with Devlin which almost ends as they are both nearly blown up by a VC bomb. Percell is fed up with the senselessness of the war and Ruiz becomes convinced that he is going to be the next to die. Johnson and Taylor go to check on Bridger only to be told that he is dead (he is faking it), while Stacy Bridger has arrived to find her father. Goldman is ordered to have Alex pull her story about the soldier who died in the opium parlor and Zeke runs into Stacy Bridger -- rescuing her from some Vietnamese punks. He takes her back to the hotel where Zeke ends up trying to save a suicidal marine deserter. The deserter has sold information to the VC and ends up killing himself. Meanwhile McKay sends Goldman on a ""snipe"" hunt so that he can be alone with Alex, and inadvertently exposes Goldman to serious danger.
Director: Bill L. Norton
Writer: Rick Husky
8.0/1055 votes#3 - For What It's Worth
Season 2 Episode 3 - Aired 1/17/1989
While out on a patrol, Anderson and Goldman observe some VC transporting an American prisoner and photograph him before leaving the area. Although they are badly outnumbered, Ruiz stupidly goes back down the trail after a necklace he dropped, tipping their position and getting a man killed. Alex drops by to see Goldman. Zeke goes to the hospital to try to straighten out some records and ends up saving the life of psychiatrist Jennifer Seymour from a homicidally insane LURP. An explosion in the latrine sets of Major Darling, while Anderson suggests that it might not be VC but an American solider who planted the grenade. Taylor gets accused -- falsely -- of doing the dirty deed and now it is up to Anderson and Goldman to find a way to clear him. Ruiz begins to completely breakdown. Anderson's budding relationship with Seymour is short-circuited when he betrays her confidence by sharing information he gained from her in an effort to clear Taylor.
Director: Edwin Sherin
Writer: Dennis Cooper
8.1/1057 votes#4 - True Grit
Season 2 Episode 4 - Aired 1/24/1989
Anderson risks court-martial to delay the return of battle-weary men to combat.
Director: Edwin Sherin
Writer: Steven Phillip Smith
8.0/1059 votes#5 - Non-Essential Personnel
Season 2 Episode 5 - Aired 1/31/1989
Alex sets out to expose a major whose questionable judgement has caused casualties.
Director: Jim Johnston
Writer: Elia Katz
8.0/1063 votes#6 - Sleeping Dogs
Season 2 Episode 6 - Aired 2/7/1989
Anderson goes into the jungle to find a disturbed friend who refused a transfer home.
Director: Stephen L. Posey
Writer: Jerry Patrick Brown
8.3/1055 votes#7 - I Wish It Would Rain
Season 2 Episode 7 - Aired 2/14/1989
Alex and a French correspondent investigate illegal incursions of Cambodia by U.S. troops.
Director: Bradford May
Writer: Rick Husky
8.3/1057 votes#8 - Popular Forces
Season 2 Episode 8 - Aired 2/21/1989
Anderson, Johnson and Ruiz train four Vietnamese recruits whose inexperience poses problems.
Director: Bill L. Norton
Writer: Jerry Patrick Brown, Dennis Cooper, Elia Katz
7.8/1057 votes#9 - Terms of Enlistment
Season 2 Episode 9 - Aired 3/21/1989
A new man -- Woods -- walking point accidentally steps on a pressure-activated mine. While they are trying to get him off it, they are told a squad of VC are heading straight at them. McKay finally arrives to lift them out of the hot LZ. Zeke plans an R&R in Tokyo with Jennifer but the plans go awry when Major Darling offers Seymour a teaching post and position back in the States -- and she only has 48 hours to make her decision. Meanwhile a homosexual GI tries to commit suicide when he is being blackmailed. Jennifer tries to help him -- at the cost of her own career. Meanwhile Woods ends up in a fight, and Taylor realizes the man has career-potential abilities.
Director: Charles Correll
Writer: Rick Husky, Dennis Cooper
8.1/10709 votes#10 - Nightmare
Season 2 Episode 10 - Aired 3/28/1989
Goldman searches for McKay after the Army gives up; Percell faces charges for killing a social worker's attacker.
Director: Tommy Lee Wallace
Writer: Steven Phillip Smith, Rick Husky
8.4/1054 votes#11 - Promised Land
Season 2 Episode 11 - Aired 4/4/1989
Word of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination lowers black soldiers' morale,
Director: Helaine Head
Writer: N/A
8.2/1054 votes#12 - Lonesome Cowboy Blues
Season 2 Episode 12 - Aired 4/11/1989
Anderson and Goldman find a leak in a top-secret operation; Alex must prove herself to a shady new boss.
Director: Charles Correll
Writer: W.K. Scott Meyer
8.2/1052 votes#13 - Sins of the Fathers
Season 2 Episode 13 - Aired 4/25/1989
Alex risks her life by investigating a prostitute's murder in which Taylor is implicated.
Director: Jim Johnston
Writer: Rick Husky
8.3/1059 votes#14 - Sealed with a Kiss
Season 2 Episode 14 - Aired 5/2/1989
Zeke considers a job offer as a mercenary for the CIA; Zeke and Goldman go on a dangerous mission with a Navy SEAL.
Director: Stephen L. Posey
Writer: Dennis Cooper, Elia Katz
8.4/1062 votes#15 - Hard Stripe
Season 2 Episode 15 - Aired 5/9/1989
While out on patrol, the unit stumbles across CIA recruiter Jim Doyle. He has taken possession of a case of Russian-made sniper rifles, and claims that finding him there was an accident. It is obvious that Goldman and his men have been used by Doyle to provide himself with an escort out of the bush. They get ambushed on the way out. They get most of the rifles back, but Zeke and Myron wonder why they were ambushed by Montagnards, a group known for their loyalty to Americans. Goldman decides to investigate Doyle and enlists Alex's help. Doyle learns he is being investigated and leans on Zeke to get the lieutenant to stop. McKay tries to convince Goldman that he should take a non-combat job ""for Alex's sake"". Taylor is upset because a soldier named Smith gets his sergeant's stripes before Johnson gets them, and Taylor think race has something to do with it.
Director: Jim Johnston
Writer: Jerry Patrick Brown
8.5/1060 votes#16 - The Volunteer
Season 2 Episode 16 - Aired 5/16/1989
A young desk clerk seeking to prove himself is assigned to Anderson's platoon.
Director: Stephen L. Posey
Writer: Steven Phillip Smith
The Best Episodes of Tour of Duty Season 2
Every episode of Tour of Duty Season 2 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Tour of Duty Season 2!
The trials of a U.S. Army platoon serving in the field during the Vietnam War.
Genres:War & PoliticsDramaAction & Adventure
Network:CBS
Season 2 Ratings Summary
"Saigon (1)" is the best rated episode of "Tour of Duty" season 2. It scored 8.1/10 based on 67 votes. Directed by Bill L. Norton and written by Rick Husky, it aired on 1/3/1989. This episode is rated 0.3 points higher than the second-best, "Saigon (2)".