Where I spout off on entertainment again.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010 at 8:31AM Episode 2 of The Pacific. Well. What's just slightly above "meh" on the scale?
Here's the thing, I think. Band of Brothers (again, if HBO didn't want the comparison, they could have taken steps to avoid it)...yeah. Band of Brothers was just way, way better. I have no idea what the real critics are saying about it, but I think I know what the problem is.
First, what the problem isn't. It isn't the actors, it isn't the production value, it isn't the directing. It's the story. It's the script. In BoB, most of the episodes focused on one, specific character and told the story from his perspective. We saw the war through the eyes of a captain, a sergeant, a medic, a displaced Harvard English major (ah, poor Webster). In The Pacific, we're too far back. Nothing is personal to us. It's awful when someone is killed, but we don't know who he is. The battle scenes are horrific and believeable, but it's clear that this is all happening to someone else.
Maybe it will get better. I think there was similar criticism of BoB when it premiered. So many characters, it was hard to keep track. But I think we always knew who was telling the story.
Is anyone else watching this? Does anyone have a different opinion of it? I want so badly to say good things about the series, because I have such personal respect for the story and such professional respect for the creative team that is telling it. (Yes, I had to differentiate. I try not to have personal feelings about people I don't actually know. Sometimes that's really hard; but I try.)
Reader Comments (1)
I hear what you're saying, yet so far, I tend to agree with the critics. (And to be fair, it's been a long time since I watched BoB). I think I'm reserving overall judgement until all 10 eps are in. Like you, though, I have such respect for the story and the creative team--maybe that's clouding my opinion of the work itself. More after next Sunday...