I also just rewatched the two original series. „Band“ is the most entertaining, and really a master class in how a 10 part series should work in terms of storytelling. Also Dick Winters was just an amazing human being and the archetype of what we imagine the „Greatest Generation“ to have been. But there is a sense in which „Band“, by foc…
I also just rewatched the two original series. „Band“ is the most entertaining, and really a master class in how a 10 part series should work in terms of storytelling. Also Dick Winters was just an amazing human being and the archetype of what we imagine the „Greatest Generation“ to have been. But there is a sense in which „Band“, by focusing on the best the U.S. Army had to offer, really is kind of propaganda, even if it’s basically all true. It’s a selective truth. „Pacific“ offers a useful corrective. All the major characters, even John Basilone, are flawed. Leckie at times is not even particularly likable. These are real men and more representative of the average American soldier in WWII. The „Pacific“ is also brutal and grinding, the Americans never get to see „why we fight“, the way Easy Company sees Nazi evil directly in the form of a concentration camp. It’s just a slog of kill or be killed. War at its most horrific. I was actually surprised how much more I appreciated „Pacific“ on a second watch. „Masters of the Air“ is a deep disappointment in comparison with either of its predecessors. I agree with all of your criticisms, and I also find it just tendentious at times. The show also looks simply fake. Whether it’s the CGI or a smaller budget, it never seems real the way the other two shows did.
I also just rewatched the two original series. „Band“ is the most entertaining, and really a master class in how a 10 part series should work in terms of storytelling. Also Dick Winters was just an amazing human being and the archetype of what we imagine the „Greatest Generation“ to have been. But there is a sense in which „Band“, by focusing on the best the U.S. Army had to offer, really is kind of propaganda, even if it’s basically all true. It’s a selective truth. „Pacific“ offers a useful corrective. All the major characters, even John Basilone, are flawed. Leckie at times is not even particularly likable. These are real men and more representative of the average American soldier in WWII. The „Pacific“ is also brutal and grinding, the Americans never get to see „why we fight“, the way Easy Company sees Nazi evil directly in the form of a concentration camp. It’s just a slog of kill or be killed. War at its most horrific. I was actually surprised how much more I appreciated „Pacific“ on a second watch. „Masters of the Air“ is a deep disappointment in comparison with either of its predecessors. I agree with all of your criticisms, and I also find it just tendentious at times. The show also looks simply fake. Whether it’s the CGI or a smaller budget, it never seems real the way the other two shows did.