The Pacific

So far I've liked the series.

I believe the biggest reason most non history buffs have trouble wrapping their mind around the war in the Pacific is this:

In Europe, it was more or less a journey from Normandy to Berlin so to speak of retaking towns and landmarks, liberating people, etc. The Pacific was dropping off Marines on a speck of land no one had ever heard of with nothing more than a jungle and air strip, fighting to the death of the last man then being picked up to move on the next piece of crap island.

What's more mind catching, U.S. tanks rolling into Paris or a bunch of filthy guys staggering back to a landing craft? The flag raising on Iwo Jima and MacArthur coming back ashore in the Philippines being the exception.

Someone mentioned their wife thinking the heart murmur guy should feel lucky. My grandfather wasn't able to go because he lost part of his foot in a wood cutting accident as a child. While his brothers went into the Army and Navy, he was forced to stay behind and it bothered him all his life.

 

Different types of wars.

In the Pacific, we were facing an enemy that was willing to fight to the death on these little islands. And in Europe, the Germans killed countless civilians in London. So we didn't have any hard feelings about bombing the hell out of the enemy, regardless of any civilians. And we weren't concentrating on winning hearts and minds. We figured that the only way we would get them to surrender was to destroy them.

In our wars today, we're trying to get the people to take control of their own countries, instead of just destroying them and dictating to them how to set things up.

 

I thought Episode 3 was the best so far. Starting to get to know the soldiers as people.

 

It gets better every week. Be patient with it.

 

Funny, someone I know compared episode 3 to a Lifetime movie. (That obviously was not a compliment.)

 

Bad analogy. No one got pregnant, raped or died of ovarian cancer.

 

Anyone still watching this? I think the last three episodes dealing with Peleliu have been some of the best/toughest/most emotionally drianing war scenes I've seen. They are definitely showing the hell it was on that front.

 

Yeah, still watching every Sunday night. I still think coming ashore at Normandy was likely worse, but can't imagine putting myself in what these guys went through. In Europe, once they got off the beach, the hedge rows were bad, but it let off a little. The guys fighting the Japs never got a break.

I really don't think it's possible for me to have any more respect for the guys of WWII because they get every ounce I can give, but maybe watching this does take it to a new level.

 

Someone I know posted this on FB, a look at Peleliu, and it is quite interesting, especially now that I've seen those episodes.

http://thewiredjester.co.uk/2009/04/11/thousand-yard-stares-ruins-and-ghosts-of-the-battle-of-peleliu-1944-2008/

 

I thought last night's episode almost felt out of place after the tone that was being set with the previous two on Peleilu.

The Basilone story is very intriguing but after the excellent Guadalcanal battle scene and his being awarded the Medal of Honor it seemed to me that he became forgotten, and then suddenly they threw this episode back in and almost rushed through the storyline just to get some closure with his character.

I mean, in a little less than hour, he's having dinner with his family at home, becomes a bad ass drill sergeant at Camp Pendleton, hits on his future wife, gets married, ships off to Iwo Jima and then dies. That's an awful lot to cram into one episode after dragging his character out as long as they did, no?

 

Even though they implied that it wasn't by starting the episode by quickly concluding Peleliu, I believe the Peleliu and Basilone timelines overlap a bit. We saw him right before they started that battle and it probably would have been more awkward to cut in and out of the two story lines, especially considering how intense the Peleliu scenes were. It was rushed a bit but it was rushed in reality.

I liked the episode a lot. The look of shock on the faces of his Marines, who certainly felt he was invincible, when he goes down was perfectly done. Some of the complaints about this series compared with BoB is they haven't done enough character development. I think the whole arch of Basilone alone disproves that.

 

Very good points Roscalbo. I guess in that context, with the series sticking to the real timeline that makes more sense. And I was going to say something similar about character development with Basilone and Sledge as two really good examples. Heck, even the Skipper of Sledge's platoon was done real well. It sucked when he was killed by a sniper and I think with how that episode ended and the trailer for next week it's clear just how much he was holding them together. With him gone, Sledge and the others are starting to come apart at the seams.

It is much different than BoB with so many lead characters being heavily featured and then disappearing for a couple of episodes, like Leckie now. You haven't seen him at all in the last two since he got wounded.

Bottom line is I really like The Pacific and think it has been done very well.