Anyway, um, yes. As I've said before, Speirs is terrifying and awesome and terrifyingly awesome. One of life's natural born killers. I love the way the series finds a way to establish him well before he joins Easy, with the rapid growth of the mythology surrounding him - for a lot of the time, he's more this distant legendary figure than a real person, and when we finally get to know him, he's still a bit reserved, keeping his distance because it's important to maintain his image. I don't think we ever see him let his guard down; you see a couple of smidges of humanity when he's keeping an eye on sick Lipton, or going through the German high command with Welsh and Nixon on the balcony, but most of the time he's a bit distant even with the officers. There's a reason I draw him as a robot, y'know.
The Sparky thing was a nickname the real guy had. Don't ask me why. As for Spina's hat, that's an old fandom in-joke predating my involvement - I still haven't worked out the original source. Amusingly, Spina's jeep cap is pretty standard army issue, nothing unique to him, but I don't think he's ever seen without it so it's considered one his defining features. He does rock it pretty hard. But I'll save saying more about him for when it's appropriate.
And nice one bringing up the silverware. I do think of my favourite moments in the series is when Speirs barges in on Janovec, and his remarkable composure throughout.
Of course. How could I forget that. It was such a beautifully composed moment, in every sense. I just LOVE that men under is command knew that even if they were in the middle of humpins, they had to salute him!
Thanks for clearing up the Sparky/Spina hat thing ;)
I think it's very telling that he keeps forgetting the names of the soldiers in his new outfit.
It's also interesting to track his trajectory from this near-legendary force of pure violence to a guy who gets swindled out of Hitler's photo albums by Alton More of all people, the guy patting Grant's hand. The guy who doesn't shoot the scumbag from I Company. Once he stops being ruthless, he becomes less formidable.
Interesting point you raise there - he is rather more human in Points, and you finally get to see some other facets of him.
Just love his little look of surprise when Harry prevents him from taking a share of the cutlery. I have this theory that Harry and Speirs are actually very similar in some regards - they're both thoroughly fearless, dedicated and strongly loyal to those they consider important, and the speeches they give to Blithe on how to deal with war are essentially the same thing framed in different terms. It's just that Harry is optimistic and extroverted, and Speirs seems at times to be very withdrawn and downright nihilistic. (Though once he joins Easy, we see that it's not as if he can't get along with others perfectly well.)
Yes! The "cutlery sulk off and steal Nazi flag instead" bit is just priceless. It shows that how much Harry adores Winters by sharing ONLY with him, and also that he's got a serious set of balls!
The Blithe conversations were a real slap in the face. Very interesting to see how Speirs functioned as a soldier.
Ah, Speirs. Definitely one of my favorite characters, though we don't see much of him until the last half of the series. What fascinates me most about him is that he has so many facets to his personality: there's scary!Speirs, angry!Speirs, compassionate!Speirs (though we see that part very rarely), magpie!Speirs, happy!Speirs (usually seen with magpie!Speirs)... He's tricky to compartmentalize, although without a doubt he is a tough SOB and a BAMF. His run through Foy always makes me flail wildly no matter how many times I see it, and reaffirms the fact that I would hit it so damn hard. (This series, especially after more recent rewatches, has caused me to develop a huge crush on Matthew Settle, to the point where I will, on the very rare occasion, watch Gossip Girls *shudder* for a glimpse of him
( ... )
I know! My initial reaction to that was, "Woman, what is wrong with you?" and then I just felt really, really sad for Speirs. He manages to get through the war relatively unscathed (what his state of mind was I haven't the faintest idea, but then there are just some minds you don't want to delve too deeply into) and then that happens to him. "Suck" doesn't even begin to describe it, and not just the kid part; Speirs must have had some sort of affection for her to begin with to marry her.
You think Gossip Girls is bad? Ever seen Matthew Settle in that godawful Justice League TV pilot? Now that's atrocious.
Also, a lot of the guys don't have their home situations mentioned much. Speirs, Penkala, Johnny, Lipton - all married men, I think, but it's not said. Just as Winters doesn't talk about his family in the baseball scene epilogue for some reason. Time constraints, I suppose - too many men, too man backstories, and only 10 hours or so. Pity.
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I'll come back with something more intelligent later. ;)
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Anyway, um, yes. As I've said before, Speirs is terrifying and awesome and terrifyingly awesome. One of life's natural born killers. I love the way the series finds a way to establish him well before he joins Easy, with the rapid growth of the mythology surrounding him - for a lot of the time, he's more this distant legendary figure than a real person, and when we finally get to know him, he's still a bit reserved, keeping his distance because it's important to maintain his image. I don't think we ever see him let his guard down; you see a couple of smidges of humanity when he's keeping an eye on sick Lipton, or going through the German high command with Welsh and Nixon on the balcony, but most of the time he's a bit distant even with the officers. There's a reason I draw him as a robot, y'know.
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And you also reminded me of the most increible moment: Running through Foy past the Germans and then /back!!!
In-freaking-credible.
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(Also, off topic, hooray for the Fifth Doctor.)
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(Your icon just made me flail with glee.)
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As for Spina's hat, that's an old fandom in-joke predating my involvement - I still haven't worked out the original source. Amusingly, Spina's jeep cap is pretty standard army issue, nothing unique to him, but I don't think he's ever seen without it so it's considered one his defining features. He does rock it pretty hard. But I'll save saying more about him for when it's appropriate.
And nice one bringing up the silverware. I do think of my favourite moments in the series is when Speirs barges in on Janovec, and his remarkable composure throughout.
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Of course. How could I forget that. It was such a beautifully composed moment, in every sense. I just LOVE that men under is command knew that even if they were in the middle of humpins, they had to salute him!
Thanks for clearing up the Sparky/Spina hat thing ;)
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It's also interesting to track his trajectory from this near-legendary force of pure violence to a guy who gets swindled out of Hitler's photo albums by Alton More of all people, the guy patting Grant's hand. The guy who doesn't shoot the scumbag from I Company. Once he stops being ruthless, he becomes less formidable.
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Just love his little look of surprise when Harry prevents him from taking a share of the cutlery. I have this theory that Harry and Speirs are actually very similar in some regards - they're both thoroughly fearless, dedicated and strongly loyal to those they consider important, and the speeches they give to Blithe on how to deal with war are essentially the same thing framed in different terms. It's just that Harry is optimistic and extroverted, and Speirs seems at times to be very withdrawn and downright nihilistic. (Though once he joins Easy, we see that it's not as if he can't get along with others perfectly well.)
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The Blithe conversations were a real slap in the face. Very interesting to see how Speirs functioned as a soldier.
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Also, a lot of the guys don't have their home situations mentioned much. Speirs, Penkala, Johnny, Lipton - all married men, I think, but it's not said. Just as Winters doesn't talk about his family in the baseball scene epilogue for some reason. Time constraints, I suppose - too many men, too man backstories, and only 10 hours or so. Pity.
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