- Kutuzov asks Andrei to come by, and when Andrei shows up he runs into...Denisov! Remember him? He proposed to Natasha when she was 15 and he was Nikolai’s commanding officer? Good times.
- Denisov offers some sympathy for Andrei’s dad’s death. (Clearly he didn’t know him that well.)
- Anyway, Andrei knows about Denisov and Natasha from her stories. Both of them have some bittersweet memories about the old days, but then it’s quickly on to talking shop.
- Denisov tells Andrei about the campaign plan he made up, about cutting off French communications. Hey, that sounds pretty good to us. Apparently that’s why Denisov is here – he wants to share this plan with Kutuzov. You know, just in case the army’s commander in chief doesn’t already have a plan of his own.
- Kutuzov rides up.
- Andrei tells him about him about Prince Bolkonsky, and Kutuzov sheds a few tears for his former friend.
- But then it’s back to business. Denisov lays it all out, and it really sounds good. Kutuzov asks him to stick around.
- Andrei watches Kutuzov deal with some army business and has a little moment where he starts to really get the whole Kutuzov thing. Andrei realizes that Kutuzov instinctively has it in for youth and intelligence and self-assuredness and is bored with Denisov and all the other idea men surrounding him. It’s not a malicious thing, and he’s not mad – he just has so much life experience that he knows better.