The Pacific ep. 3: Melbourne
Last night I watched ep. 3 of The Pacific, entitled "Melbourne". Yes, it's been a few weeks since I've written about this miniseries. No, it's not just because my blog has been backlogged. I actually haven't watched the shows in almost 4 weeks. Frankly I'm finding this show much less compelling than Band of Brothers, which inspired it.
Episode 3, "Melbourne", is frankly an example of why this show is much less compelling than the other WWII miniseries. In this episode, the marines are stationed in Melbourne, Australia. to recover from the grueling Guadalcanal campaign shown in the previous 2 episodes and to wait for the US to produce & deliver enough weaponry for them to take on the next campaign. If that reads like it should be the crawl text in a quick montage that introduces the next combat-heavy episode, you're catching my drift. The problem is, that's the whole episode.
A few character-driven stories do occur here. Sgt. John Basilone, one of the viewpoint characters, is awarded the Medal of Honor. In case you don't know, it's the highest award for the US military. Two other viewpoint characters, Bob Leckie and Sid Phillips, both find girlfriends in Melbourne. While these could be compelling vignettes that convey larger issues rather than just character drama, the writers kind of whiff on that idea.
Episode 3, "Melbourne", is frankly an example of why this show is much less compelling than the other WWII miniseries. In this episode, the marines are stationed in Melbourne, Australia. to recover from the grueling Guadalcanal campaign shown in the previous 2 episodes and to wait for the US to produce & deliver enough weaponry for them to take on the next campaign. If that reads like it should be the crawl text in a quick montage that introduces the next combat-heavy episode, you're catching my drift. The problem is, that's the whole episode.
A few character-driven stories do occur here. Sgt. John Basilone, one of the viewpoint characters, is awarded the Medal of Honor. In case you don't know, it's the highest award for the US military. Two other viewpoint characters, Bob Leckie and Sid Phillips, both find girlfriends in Melbourne. While these could be compelling vignettes that convey larger issues rather than just character drama, the writers kind of whiff on that idea.
- The story of Bob Leckie's romance goes on way too long, particularly in that it reaches an abrupt and very unsatisfying dead end. Plus, the sex scenes are gratuitous to the point of feeling wrong.
- Sid Phillips' romance story errs in the opposite way. It's so short, basically just one scene, it's like, why even bother?
- John Basilone's story could have been fleshed out a bit more. The writers only gloss over the character drama of the Medal of Honor recipient realizing that he needs to act like a war hero now; he can't go all drunken-cowboy around Melbourne like his buddies anymore. And he's being sent back home to sell war bonds. There's the opportunity for some serious Captain America energy here, portraying the soldier's frustration with being assigned a responsibility he thinks is way less important than what he can do by leading a squad in combat. But again, the writers only gloss over that.