The Pacific

[A-Tex Devil]

So the finale was tonight. I was a little wary of this episode, and some exchanges were a little on the nose. But it exceeded expectations.

While this was the same team as Band of Brothers, it was a VERY different miniseries. We didin't follow the same group of guys from basic to V-E day. It was three individual stories that at times overlapped.

Last week's Okinawa episode was one of the most unforgiving hours of TV I've ever seen. And the fact this miniseries spent so much time on Peilelu is important as that battle is so forgotten. I am reading With the Old Breed right now, which is E.B. Sledge's memoir. It's as brutal as The Pacific. The Pacific front was just so much different than the European theater. This is absolutley the best depiction of this. The Thin Red Line was close, but The Pacific tops it.

[Jarhead]

So the finale was tonight. I was a little wary of this episode, and some exchanges were a little on the nose. But it exceeded expectations.

While this was the same team as Band of Brothers, it was a VERY different miniseries. We didin't follow the same group of guys from basic to V-E day. It was three individual stories that at times overlapped.

Last week's Okinawa episode was one of the most unforgiving hours of TV I've ever seen. And the fact this miniseries spent so much time on Peilelu is important as that battle is so forgotten. I am reading With the Old Breed right now, which is E.B. Sledge's memoir. It's as brutal as The Pacific. The Pacific front was just so much different than the European theater. This is absolutley the best depiction of this. The Thin Red Line was close, but The Pacific tops it.
Mrs. Jarhead gave me a set of all of the Pacific DVDs for my birthday. We do not get HBO, so we have been waiting for the release of the DVD set. I have also put it in my Netflix queue and I'll watch the whole series on one DVD set or the other, which ever comes first. This is a story that every Marine has been waiting for the telling, away from the normal Hollywood influences.

While I am waiting, I have been reading the book written by Hugh Ambrose, and published as a companion to the HBO series. It starts out with the China Marines, specifically the 4th Marine Regiment, that were moved from China to the Philippines as World War II started for America. They were the main part of the prisoners of war in the Bataan Death March, and spent the whole war in Japanese POW camps. The regiment was later reconstituted with battalions of Para Marines and Marine Raiders for landings later on in the war. Starting out with the 4th Marine Regiment in the book was a stroke of historical genius.

[Lord Ash]

Hey all!

Well, finally watched the end of the Pacific (although I have 15 minutes left...)

I have to say, while I enjoyed the series, I didn't absolutely fall in love with it. It seems most people who watched it who I know felt the same way... it was well made, and certainly told an important story, but it didn't grip you the way Band of Brothers did.

I am not sure why that is... Leckie I thought was a fantastic character, as was Eugene... Basilone maybe I had a hard time getting to know; maybe it was the actor?

Still, it just didn't seem to have the same grip as BoB. One thing I did read from a Pacific vet was that it didn't have any of the humor that the boys relied on to stay sane... maybe it was simply TOO brutal, and we didn't get enough of the brotherhood that was SO central to BoB? I mean, Basilone was basically alone for most of it (at least we didn't get to know his mates) and Eugene really only had Fubar, who was not necessarily a very "sympathetic" character, and was fairly brutal to some of the other new guys... Leckie was the only guy who I really felt "connected" to. BoB, on the other hand, was chock full of guys who you felt like you would hop right in the trenches with... Hefron and Guarnere and Winters and Joe Toye and Buck and all the rest... maybe that lack of the feeling of brotherhood, the lack of the moments of fun and levity and care, hurt the overall series?

Overall a good series, but no BoB. I would give it a B as a grade.

[sagegrouse]

Mrs. Jarhead.

That's a "jarring" reference and image, given that the sobriquet came from the shaved sides of Marines' heads IIRC. Poor Mrs. J.

sagegrouse
'Enjoy your posts'

[Jarhead]

That's a "jarring" reference and image, given that the sobriquet came from the shaved sides of Marines' heads IIRC. Poor Mrs. J.

sagegrouse
'Enjoy your posts'

Sorry sage, but you have the history of the sobriquet Jarhead off somewhat. The name does not come from the vision of the closely shaved sidewalls of a typical Marine haircut. That haircut is a product of post WWII grooming preferences. Jarhead, as a nickname originated in the 19th century when the Marine uniform cap looked more like the cap on a jar, as in this image of Jon Philip Sousa in his band uniform after he retired from the Marine Corps. It stands with other names, such as Gyrene and Leatherneck.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/34/JohnPhilipSousa-Chickering.LOC.jpg/200px-JohnPhilipSousa-Chickering.LOC.jpg

[A-Tex Devil]

Hey all!

Well, finally watched the end of the Pacific (although I have 15 minutes left...)

I have to say, while I enjoyed the series, I didn't absolutely fall in love with it. It seems most people who watched it who I know felt the same way... it was well made, and certainly told an important story, but it didn't grip you the way Band of Brothers did.

I am not sure why that is... Leckie I thought was a fantastic character, as was Eugene... Basilone maybe I had a hard time getting to know; maybe it was the actor?

Still, it just didn't seem to have the same grip as BoB. One thing I did read from a Pacific vet was that it didn't have any of the humor that the boys relied on to stay sane... maybe it was simply TOO brutal, and we didn't get enough of the brotherhood that was SO central to BoB? I mean, Basilone was basically alone for most of it (at least we didn't get to know his mates) and Eugene really only had Fubar, who was not necessarily a very "sympathetic" character, and was fairly brutal to some of the other new guys... Leckie was the only guy who I really felt "connected" to. BoB, on the other hand, was chock full of guys who you felt like you would hop right in the trenches with... Hefron and Guarnere and Winters and Joe Toye and Buck and all the rest... maybe that lack of the feeling of brotherhood, the lack of the moments of fun and levity and care, hurt the overall series?

Overall a good series, but no BoB. I would give it a B as a grade.

The Pacific certainly isn't as uplifting as Band of Brothers. But it is very different. I'm not sure the two series can really be compared to each other. As mentioned before, it's like comparing Saving Private Ryan to A Thin Red Line. Both were remarkable movies, but driven by very different forces. The titles say it all. BoB was about a specific army unit and its tour in the European theater - a "Band of Brothers." The Pacific was about the war itself more than any one character.

In many ways it was superior to Band of Brothers (especially technically). However, watching it over the 10 weeks like I did, I can see how it seems disjointed. You are at Guadalcanal, then back in Alabama watching Sledge and his family. You are on Peleilu, then watching Basilone stump for war bonds. I imagine (as many critics - Sepinwall, AV Club - have said) that the viewing experience is less disjointed when you watch the series in a couple of sessions.

I'll watch it again on Blu Ray when it comes out. That was how I saw BoB for the first time, and it was spectacular.

[Jarhead]

I'm with you, A-Tex Devil. I plan to watch the BluRay probably 2 to 3 hours at a time. I sure hope they didn't screw this story up the way Clint Eastwood screwed up Flag of Our Fathers. My recollection is that the story of Iwo Jima was told in flashbacks. It wasn't a very good rendition of the book which, IIRC, told the story chronologically. Eastwood did a much better on the version of the battle from the Japanese side.

Changing subjects -- relative to my Jarhead explanation -- many of the legends of the Marine Corps go back as far as the Revolutionary War when the Corps was founded. A very persistent axiom of the Corps is that in any situation only ten percent of the troops gets the word. It is a call to raise up the leadership. Reportedly it originated when, in September, 1779, under the command of John Paul Jones, the Bon Homme Richard engaged the Serapis. The captain of the Serapis demanded the surrender of Jones and his crew. His famous quotation, "I have not yet begun to fight!" was uttered in reply to that demand. At this point, the one of Marine sharpshooters up in the riggings said to a comrade, "There's always some son of a b--ch that doesn't get the word." True story according to... gosh, I can't find that link.;)

[Billy Dat]

In reading Alan Sepinwall's weekly coverage of the series, he said that the creators were going to start the series with interview footage they had of Easy Company's Bill Guarnere saying "that as rough as he had it, the boys in the Pacific had it much, much worse." That's what struck me about the difference between the two series. War is, obviously, hell, and trying to debate the worse of two hells is kind of a pointless task, but the sheer misery of the conditions and the kamikaze nature of the Japanese military made watching the series really uncomfortable. Plus, I think there was some payoff in Europe in that they kept advancing and pushing on to their objective. In the Pacific, it never felt like they were able to make much progress. They'd basically go toe-to-toe for weeks and then be relieved, neither side giving an inch. Obviously, the island hopping effort was starting to pay off, but watching the series did bring home why the atomic bomb was utilized. Can you imagine trying to invade Japan? It also had never really hit home to me how the Pacific theater was a preamble to the wars in Korea and Vietnam. Watching the series, it often felt like a Vietnam film, minus the marijuana and rock music soundtrack.