I just watched this episode again, and I liked it just as much. Some comments: --I love how innocent Malark seems in this episode. From trying to get a Luger to being all chummy with Pretty!Eugene!Boy, it's a combination of refreshing and sad because we know what happens in the end. --Somehow I never get used to Lipton being the one to say, basically, "OK boys, let's loot our own soldiers for supplies!" It just hits me the wrong way. --The battle scene gets a bit confusing at times. Is that just me? --I love how Speirs comes in all Rambo-like going "I SMELL BATTLE!!! FOLLOW MEEEEEE!" --I read somewhere that Nixon basically landed ON Utah. Is this true? And how on earth did he manage to borrow 2 tanks? --I thought it was interesting that Lorraine, Sink's jeep driver got a Silver Star for Brecourt. It just shows how well trained the 506th is. --And, for the first time in the series, we see how people rag on Malark for his cooking. Even Winters notices it. --Does anybody else notice Winters wince as he swallows the booze at the
The battle scene gets a bit confusing at times. Is that just me?
Depends on how many times you've seen it, and if you've ever played a WW2 shooter :D. It's pretty straightforward once you get the hang of it. Two teams lay down covering fire, there's an assault team led by Buck, and a team to blow up the guns, and Winters in the middle of it all. As each gun is taken, everyone advances, forcing the enemy to pull back or get hit.
- The one thing that always gets to me, and which came back to me as I'm rewatching now, is that when they watched it at the Normandy premiere, the Toccoa vets probably saw what might have happened to Lt. Meehan and Company HQ for the first time
( ... )
"Flash!" "Shit!" "I don't think that's the correct reply, trooper. I say 'flash', you say 'thunder'." "Yes sir thunder sir!" If you have to explain something in dialogue (in this case, the sign/countersign), this is a good way to do it.
It is, and I give them a lot of credit for managing to get background info into the story like that in a few places. I've seen people complain about the lack of narrator/voiceover in a couple of places, and I honestly prefer the requirement that the viewer do some of the work.
Never realized until now just how close the German guns were to where 2nd Battalion was regrouping. I mean they ducked right through that hedgerow and there they were in the de Valleville's cabbage patch!
They said it was something like 300 yards, right? That's not far at all--although that a big piece of it was through fields with little cover probably made it seem a lot longer.
So what was in the stew?
Cabbage, definitely. I mean, they already had it shredded from Brecourt, might as well use the stuff. *g*
It is, and I give them a lot of credit for managing to get background info into the story like that in a few places. I've seen people complain about the lack of narrator/voiceover in a couple of places, and I honestly prefer the requirement that the viewer do some of the work.
I agree. However, there are well-known examples of really bad exposition-in-dialogue. Staying in genre and time period, ever listen to the dialogue for Flags of Our Fathers? The more I watch it, the tinnier it gets, which is the opposite of what usually happens when I watch something multiple times. Apparently, Paul Haggis seemed concerned that the casual viewer wouldn't be able to pick up anything other than the obvious, so he had the characters recite explanations from the prose of the book and try to sell it as real talk. That only works in briefing scenes. He's so concerned that his viewers follow along with his Very Important Points that he doesn't even realize he's condescending. I'm glad I noted this because I have to mind it for my own work.
Paul Haggis seemed concerned that the casual viewer wouldn't be able to pick up anything other than the obvious, so he had the characters recite explanations from the prose of the book and try to sell it as real talk.
*snerk* No, sorry, it is a concern--but Paul Haggis has ALWAYS sucked at explaining events. He had characters recite a stock reply for twelve episodes in due South, and then in Black Donnellys the narrator routinely broke the fourth wall while making stuff up. I'm not surprised he couldn't write natural dialogue--I suspect that he's never even tried.
I love his stuff, but he wouldn't recognize decent exposition if it walked up and hit him with a brick.
I think that's most of what's refreshing about BoB, for me at least--I've spent so much time in fandoms that spell out every detail that I'm really enjoying going back to the research and figuring a few things out as I watch. And for all that I focused on the action the first time I watched, it's the dialogue and character interactions that impress me the most.
Comments 36
Some comments:
--I love how innocent Malark seems in this episode. From trying to get a Luger to being all chummy with Pretty!Eugene!Boy, it's a combination of refreshing and sad because we know what happens in the end.
--Somehow I never get used to Lipton being the one to say, basically, "OK boys, let's loot our own soldiers for supplies!" It just hits me the wrong way.
--The battle scene gets a bit confusing at times. Is that just me?
--I love how Speirs comes in all Rambo-like going "I SMELL BATTLE!!! FOLLOW MEEEEEE!"
--I read somewhere that Nixon basically landed ON Utah. Is this true? And how on earth did he manage to borrow 2 tanks?
--I thought it was interesting that Lorraine, Sink's jeep driver got a Silver Star for Brecourt. It just shows how well trained the 506th is.
--And, for the first time in the series, we see how people rag on Malark for his cooking. Even Winters notices it.
--Does anybody else notice Winters wince as he swallows the booze at the
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Depends on how many times you've seen it, and if you've ever played a WW2 shooter :D. It's pretty straightforward once you get the hang of it. Two teams lay down covering fire, there's an assault team led by Buck, and a team to blow up the guns, and Winters in the middle of it all. As each gun is taken, everyone advances, forcing the enemy to pull back or get hit.
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That's totally what he's saying in his head.
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It is, and I give them a lot of credit for managing to get background info into the story like that in a few places. I've seen people complain about the lack of narrator/voiceover in a couple of places, and I honestly prefer the requirement that the viewer do some of the work.
Never realized until now just how close the German guns were to where 2nd Battalion was regrouping. I mean they ducked right through that hedgerow and there they were in the de Valleville's cabbage patch!
They said it was something like 300 yards, right? That's not far at all--although that a big piece of it was through fields with little cover probably made it seem a lot longer.
So what was in the stew?
Cabbage, definitely. I mean, they already had it shredded from Brecourt, might as well use the stuff. *g*
Reply
I agree. However, there are well-known examples of really bad exposition-in-dialogue. Staying in genre and time period, ever listen to the dialogue for Flags of Our Fathers? The more I watch it, the tinnier it gets, which is the opposite of what usually happens when I watch something multiple times. Apparently, Paul Haggis seemed concerned that the casual viewer wouldn't be able to pick up anything other than the obvious, so he had the characters recite explanations from the prose of the book and try to sell it as real talk. That only works in briefing scenes. He's so concerned that his viewers follow along with his Very Important Points that he doesn't even realize he's condescending. I'm glad I noted this because I have to mind it for my own work.
Reply
*snerk* No, sorry, it is a concern--but Paul Haggis has ALWAYS sucked at explaining events. He had characters recite a stock reply for twelve episodes in due South, and then in Black Donnellys the narrator routinely broke the fourth wall while making stuff up. I'm not surprised he couldn't write natural dialogue--I suspect that he's never even tried.
I love his stuff, but he wouldn't recognize decent exposition if it walked up and hit him with a brick.
I think that's most of what's refreshing about BoB, for me at least--I've spent so much time in fandoms that spell out every detail that I'm really enjoying going back to the research and figuring a few things out as I watch. And for all that I focused on the action the first time I watched, it's the dialogue and character interactions that impress me the most.
Reply
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