Band of Brothers Bastogne
 

I was not all that impressed with this episode. I liked everything up to this point, but this episode I found myself looking my watch a lot.

This episode kind of dragged on for a bit. Guess it was because you were never quite sure what the heck it was about. I mean, sure it was about WWII, but besides that it had no real plotline.

i want them to tell who each of old guys in the beginning is, they just sit there nameless and talk about this stuff, but i don't know who each one is

Hmm... Interesting. I found this to be one of the best hours of television I've ever seen - if not the best.

I found the way the "love" story (if you can even call it that) was merged in to be brilliant... and the direction at the end was remarkable.

The scene with the supplies being dropped gave me chills.

Although as usual, you could never keep up with all of who's who the whole time, I really felt for the medic who we followed most of the episode (I'm bad with names) as his story was very well told and cohesive.

Another great moment - when the explosion came (it built from the surrounds) when they built that small fire... gave me the same sense of inevitable horror as the soldiers there surely faced.

The passages at the end (or whatever you call them) had me welling up... the last line was quite a testament to the courage of the American Armed Forces that I certainly would never have known had it not been for the show. And the way that also summed up everything we saw in this episode was just perfect.

Anyway, great episode (definitely my favorite so far). This is a must buy on DVD.

I'm interested in combat medics & military medicine, so I wasn't totally bored. But this episode seemed slower than the last few. From the promos for the episode, it seemed like this episode was going to be non-stop combat, but I think this had the least combat of all the episodes (other than maybe the first). Seems like NEXT episode should have lots of action... but then again, that's what I thought about this one.

The scenes between Renee and Ro (?-- the medic) were nice.

http://communities.msn.com/_Secure/0...Oy/frankie.gif

I think there was a program on tv a couple of weeks ago on bravo if I am not mistaken which went through who each of the characters in the show are in real life.

This is something I meant to record and save for a later day, as I dislike watching making of type features before I see the show.
Maybe HBO will air something similiar.

As to the episode I think it really was all about the medic's and how they weren't really soldiers, they appeared to sit apart, and that they were not really medic's either.

Btw watching this and watching ER, I have no idea why someone would want to go in to emergency medicine.

It was impressive that so much of the forest was actually a set, but overall I thought it was the weakest episode yet (but still good).

Of course, the 101st was pinned down, and all they could do was skirmish, wait, and hope for resupply or reinforcement.

I thought the thing with the nurse was pretty predictable.

This is my second favorite episode of BOB so far, my favorite being episode 3. I thought this was incredibly engaging and realistic. Having the story follow one character the medic through the entire episode was very powerful. Can you imagine being a medic back then I mean if anyones sanity was really tested it was the medics. The amount of carnage they see and the fact that they are always needed really came through in this episode.

The acting writing and production of this series is simply unsurpassed.

I think a big part of the intent of this episode was to show what "foxhole life" was like, and I thought it achieved that brilliantly. Yes the pacing was slow, but the constant look of anxiety and dread on the medic's face was priceless. . .

I was really dissapointed that we didn't get to see more of the battle as the krauts advanced with vehicles. I saw the filming of this segment in the Making of that aired on HBO and they exclaimed how this was one of the biggest scenes in the series, yet it was reduced to only a few seconds. For action, Episode 3 is still the best.

They're not out of the woods yet (literally). It's only the end of December, so there may well be some more battle action in the snow next week.

I'll say one thing for this ep: the gore level was quite high. Seeing that poor bastard with part of his throat ripped off was really disturbing. Good thing too.. WWII has been romanticized too many damn times.

Was I the only one who thought (up until the halfway point or so) that the medic was going to turn out to be a morphine addict?

So far I've liked every episode a lot, the second one though I thought might have been the weakest but it's all still good.

Why does HBO rock so much? :)

I think though, one thing that I wish would change a bit is how every single episode is shot with the same not-as-colorful look as Saving Private Ryan. I mean it's ok and all, in fact it looks great most of the time.. but I dunno, I guess I just like seeing more color sometimes :)

No, you're not... I was fairly sure of it at one point, then I took a second to think about it, and I figured there was no way a Spielberg production of WWII was going to include a focus on a morphine addict... but as I said, it definitely crossed my mind.

And necros, if you want more colorful imagery, watch something that's NOT about WWII ;) - And I agree, the second was the weakest so far (though the opening sequence with the planes being shot at night was breathtaking)

I gave up after four episodes. This is the most disappointed that I've ever been in an HBO show.....Especially with all the hype months in advance...

I liked this episode simply because it was different from the others. Focusing on the medic, his insecurities, and his brief friendship with the nurse all added up to a character type who can easily get lost among the fighters and leaders. Very human, very real. This may be the best mini-series ever.

Is this a thread crap? -ptth- I thought this episode was slow, but still entertaining. I to thought the medic was pilfering the morphine on occasion. It was a different look than SPR, where the medics seemed unfazed by the carnage around them. This guy seemed to freeze up more and more

Dave

Not at all. I really, really wanted to like this series. Maybe I'll give it another chance when it re-runs....

Did anyone else find it hilarious that the character who asked about "Lulu's" last week now is "pissing needles?" ;-) I guess he got a little going away present.

I wondered the same thing. I really started wondering that when that dude asked him if he was using it on himself.

I thought that was hilarious! rotfl
And the way the medic "Eugene" kept telling him that he couldn't help him right now... :p

I too loved the way they highlighted Renee and Eugene's relationship into the episode... Great series so far.

-BT