The Pacific episode 10
I thought that was a very lovely end to the series and did justice to all three of the central characters. There were less of some characters than we would have liked, obviously (HOOSIER!!!! CHUCKLER!!! I'm sooo glad they both lived, augh) but they had to be true to history. There simply was no time in which the soldiers got to be "normal" again together (though it did seem like we skipped a period of time with the Sledge crew, since they were arriving home later than others) and they left each other when they did. And Leckie apparently didn't go visit his team, which is uncool, LECKIE. >:( It makes me so sad that Snafu didn't talk to any of them again for decades. D: And that Sledge didn't even really get to say goodbye to him. DDDD: But Burgie and his family were SO CUTE, omg. When he picked up his little brother my heart went all smushy! And he told them they were good Marines! Eeee, Burgie - loved him. (It's so, so sad what a tiny little group they were though, when you think about how many of them were hangin out as Peleliu began. Gah.)
Ok, disorganized thoughts! I thought that the part where Lena went and visited the Basilones was the most affecting of the whole episode. I made the mistake of starting the episode in the morning when I was getting ready for work, so I didn't have time to watch the whole thing and didn't get into the right emotional ~space. But that scene hit me directly where I lived - I was sobbing, messily and full-on, like could-not-eat-my-cereal sobbing. It's true of me in general that one of the things that affects me most emotionally in films and television is characters dealing with the loss of loved ones (see Dean Winchester (the first time!), Zoe Washburn, Buffy's "family" reacting to her death (...the second time!), Buffy reacting to her mother's death, Malarkey, etc etc ad nauseum) and so just thinking about all the turmoil and agony and grief that must have been roiling behind everyone's faces in that tense, fraught scene just completely pushed me over the edge. Lena was an extraordinary character, one of the best of the series I think, and I'm very impressed that they developed her so thoroughly in such a short period of time. (I told RyanJ that I loved that episode at the Empires show last night, and he was like "Well of course you would, it was a romantic storyline and everything!" and I was like "ACTUALLY I HATED THE LECKIE ROMANTIC STORYLINE AND I AM MORE THAN JUST A BAG OF ESTROGEN *THANKS*". Um, maybe a little calmer than that?) ANYWAY. I was a total mess and I thought that was a lovely last grace note on Basilone's tragic story.
I genuinely liked Leckie for the first time here! I still thought some of his mannerisms and lines were obnoxiously cocky and whatnot, but overall I could see why Vera was charmed, and it helped that I REALLY liked Vera - she was smart and self-assured and you could see her switching gradually from amused to intrigued to thoughtful as she learned more about Leckie and how he thought of her. I thought the scene where they held hands during grace and just gazed into each others' eyes was really lovely, and I also liked that his mother saw them and did this little head tilt of fondness and recognition of the reality of what she was seeing. It went a good way towards humanizing a prickly character. And in general, Vera just made Leckie into a more likable person, which is I think one hallmark of a good relationship. I was happy for him and glad that he went on to live a good life. I'm also glad he stayed friends with Team Leckie, even though we didn't get to see that! (OH AND HIS CABDRIVER WAS A PARATROOPER WHO JUMPED ON NORMANDY. WHAT WHAT, REPRESENT!)
And gah, last but certainly not least, EUGEEEEEENE. *clutches heart* I want to rewatch all of his parts of this episode because there was so much there, so much pain and trauma and a kind of quiet despair. But starting from a shallow place, OMG SID AND EUGENE DFKLSDFKLJLK BOYFRIENDS. Oh, my HEART. When Sledge got off the train and the camera showed Sid just standing there, fine as can be in his dapper clothes and fancy car, I actualfax SQUEALED. Oh I had missed his smirky faaaace! There wasn't the big reunion hug I was hoping for (come on boys, last time you WRESTLED) but you could see everything in their faces. And then Eugene's all "The prettiest girl is marrying YOU? LOLNOWAI" and and Sid asks him to be BEST MAN and Eugene FLIPS OUT and almost crashes them off the road. EEE I LOVE THEM.
Eugene's reunion with his family was quiet and gorgeous and it was so hard to watch them hugging their little boy when you can see that that spark was indeed gone from his eyes. The scene where his father just stood outside of his room and listened to him cry from nightmares was so affecting - the manifestation of his father's worst fears. Also, Eugene's conversation with his brother was so telling. I loved how appalled his brother was that Eugene made it through the war with his virginity intact, though if he had seen the Pacific islands he wouldn't have been so quick to joke about it. And I think that there, the dichotomy of their experiences was a nice encapsulation of what the BoB and Pacific series are each supposed to portray, and why in the end they were so vastly different.
The scene where Eugene told the poor recruiting girl that "They taught me to kill Japs." was so painful. You could see that he was trying to muster some enthusiasm about making a plan for his future, but with every question the poor girl was just grinding down all of his hopes and making him feel worthless, nothing but his worst fear - a killing machine. Augh. Joe was astonishing there - his face as he crumbled and all the walls came slamming down once again.
And the dance scene! Siiiiid. In your fancypants dress blues, gah. I find him so handsome. ♥ I loved that as soon as Eugene slipped out, Sid immediately followed after him - with two drinks, of course! Their conversation was really lovely, and at the same time felt so universal, like thousands of returned soldiers were having the same conversation all over the country - the world, really. Sid said some really good things, but it really could only make the slightest dent in Eugene's despair. Gah, they are the sweetest and I want to read all the fic about them being besties for the rest of their lives. <333 (HOW NIXTERS OF THEM, HEE.)
And then, oh then, Eugene's father took him HUNTING. GAH, WHAT. >:( It's hard to comprehend the sheer blindness it took for him to think that was a GOOD IDEA. Especially since he was a soldier himself and so obviously realized how deeply traumatized Eugene was! I don't even understand at all. I think... I think he saw hunting doves as this recreational activity, and somehow didn't even make the connection that it would be the same activity (shooting a rifle) that Eugene had been doing to kill PEOPLE for months. That's the only explanation I can think of. But Eugene's resultant breakdown was so poignant and well-done. Seriously, bravo Joe Mazzello - I really think he'll become a huge star, because he's immensely talented.
So that was that! I am overall very satisfied with it. The fact that I didn't like Leckie wasn't Spanks' fault. Some of the pacing issues at the beginning were, but I understand why they did it the way they did. (If only Hoosier had been the one to write a book! MOAR JACOB PITTS!) Ahem. Overall, it accomplished just what it was supposed to - a stark, unflinching look at the reality of WWII in the Pacific and the unimaginable toll it had on the thousands of young men who were forced to endure hell on earth. It doesn't diminish the importance or gravity of what occurred in Europe, but it does the other half of the war justice in a way that doesn't often happen, because it was so ugly and people have such a hard time facing it head-on. This was not an easy series, it was not a clean series - it was messy and jagged and harrowing. Just like the actual experience was. So once again - bravo Spanks. A triumphant piece of historical documentation that I think will go down in history as one of the definitive records of the American experience in the Pacific Theater, just as Band of Brothers will for the European Theater.
On a different note, I'm not sure how much I'm going to be around in the near future. I'm leaving for Dublin in a week, and in the meantime I'm trying to get a set of experiments done in my lab so I can have the results for Jason before I leave. At the same time, I'm trying to have more healthy sleeping habits - I went to bed at 12:30 on Monday because I had received an upsetting email at 11, shut off my computer and didn't open it again, and as a result I was happy and rested all day yesterday. It was a really nice feeling and made me realize that I really do need to cut down on the internet if I hope to be successful in my work, at least right out of the gate. I've already been falling behind on my flist, so here's the official heads up that that's likely to continue. I've pretty much quit Tumblr already. I'll still be around, just likely with less frequency. Perhaps no one would notice? But maybe putting it down in writing will actually encourage me and I'll start getting 7 hours of sleep a night instead of 5. And obviously while I'm in Dublin I'm not going to be on the internet all the time! So... yes. Play nice, kids! ♥