Geofferson

What a powerful episode. Not a whole lot to say about this one as I was pretty much left speechless. A nice touch, I thought, was to have the episode begin and end with the man playing that sad melody on the violin. It fit in very well.

Blaster1

how did they get those people to look so skinny and dead like that?

huzefa

I was wondering the same thing. It's probably CGI or makeup or something, but it looked so real. Great episode! I didn't quite get the Capt. Nixon thing at first, but it was very nicely done at the end.

Static Cling

Looks like Nix's fondness for the bottle has crossed over into addiction, possibly. You can see how his character has changed since the first episodes... smug, wise-cracking Nix in the first episodes vs. jaded, rarely-cracking-a-smile Nix in this one.

Fire bad!

GoldenJCJ

My guess would be finding already skinny people and using make-up to make them look really skinny. For the dead ones they had to have used dummys for the most part.

Very powerful episode. I was glad to see Capt. Nixon in the show for more than a few minutes.

I can't imagine how shocking and disturbing it would have been for all the soldiers who found the camps.

It's a shame the series is almost over, it's just about the only thing worthwhile on TV these days. I Can't wait for the DVDs to be released...hopefully they'll include the documentary "Standing Alone Together" (I think that's what it's called)

huzefa

See, I don't get that. In my opinion, this show does not have too much replay value. I'm glad it's on TV, and that I'm watching it, but I don't think I'd ever watch it again and again. I have too many DVDs I don't watch again and again including Sopranos season 1 boxset, which I've only ever seen once. I guess, what I'm trying to say is, there better be some amazing extras on the DVD for me to buy it.

Ian11

I'll be glad when the series comes out on DVD.

1. My lame cable company doesn't offer DD. The battle sequences will have a lot more impact once I get my grubby paws on the discs.

2. Having to wait a whole week for the next episode was too long. It really broke up the pace for me. It was like reading a chapter in a book and having to wait a whole week to go to the next one.

3.There were a lot of excellent scenes I'd like to see again and again (like SPR). Plus it'll be interesting to watch all the characters from the beginining now that I'm familiar with a lot of them.


*Pvt. Webster venting his frustration was great, esp. when he pulled out his .45 and the baker denied being a Nazi. German citizens being forced to "clean up" the camps was a good move on the part of CINC. Whether or not they learned from it I don't know but they "consented" to it and it was a fitting though inadequate punishment. I believe most Germans (like most Japanese) were very much for their Gov't and their methods. Many are still only sorry they lost to us. Ha. Ha.

GoldenJCJ

The reason I would like to have the boxset is so I can see the character development from the beginning. I've seen every episode but I didn't really have a feel for many of the characters until the fourth or fifth episode (hell, I'm still figuring out who's who). With a mini-series that runs so long (9 weeks) it's hard to remember what happens to each character throughout and how each event changes that particular soldier.

I don't own the Sopranos boxset for the exact reasons you mentioned above. Come to think of it, I don't own any season boxsets for those same reasons, but Band of Brothers seems like I could get a better understanding of this tiny part of WWII each and every time I rewatch it.

Either way, I have a lot of DVDs I want ahead of this so it'll be a while before I pick it up anyway, and by then I will have forgotten much of it, so I'll watch it over again for the first time.

[Edited to add] while I was typing Ian11 posted some of my same points for wanting the DVD set...So now it'll seem a lot less sincere when you read my post

Cheddarmuff

Wow...what an episode..it had to be absolutely crazy to find one of the prisoner/concentration camps as a soldier, especially if you didn't know about them. As I was watching I was thinking to myself that it was a concentration camp and why couldn't they figure it out...then I realized that I have the benefit of history and these guys are seeing it for the first time, wow!!

I would buy this on DVD in a heartbeat...I love history and this was very well done. I have enough stupid movies on DVD that this would be a nice break from time to time on a cold nasty saturday..

The scene at the end when Nix sees that lady whose son was a Nazi general cleaning up the bodies is so perfect. The woman saw what her son was truely about.

G. Noel Gross

Son? I figured husband. Oh well.

It was powerful, but there was some instability to this episode. Why is Nix suddenly off the deep end? He didn't know about his wife. Maybe we're supposed to believe it's over his not seeing combat? Why was he demoted? We just sort of leap from him being a social drinker to a raging alchie. I guess it works like that in real life, but it threw me anyway. Also, why'd he go back to the camp at the end? He's blazing through the woods in the jeep ... rushing to get to the camp?! What, so he could just happen upon the old broad?

Why's Mr. Ivy Leage suddenly flipping out and yammering about horse-drawn wagons? He's shouting at the Germans like a mad man. That was weird. Nothing about his character really indicated he'd do that. Again, the "madness of war" rationalization could come into play.

Wow, I'm picking nits here, eh? It was such a fantastic episode that I guess this question marks that formed over my head bugged me more than they normally would. Can't wait for the DVDs!

Tesiae

You know, it's one thing to view the Holocaust through archival footage or Schindler's List in black and white, but it's uttetly alien to see it in full colour.

I'm also glad to see the series showing "our boys" in a not so gentlemanly fashion.

Only one episode left...

Jadzia

I really liked this episode, because I think most of us forget that during WWII we really didn't what was going on by the Nazis. I thought it was great how the one guy laughed about the simplistic "Germans are bad" statement but then later they really saw the full extent of what was happening. We all have the hindsight now of the Holocaust, butthese soldiers who were fighting and risking/losing their lives had no idea what evil they were truly battling until this point.

I think it was great how the episode first painted their disenchantment with the war: "what has this all been for?" "why are we fighting?" to them discovering the camp and finding out.

I also got tears in my eyes when that one old concentration camp victim hugged the soldier that freed him.

I was also cheering when they made the well-dreesed and well-fed German townspeople bury the bodies. It was justice, to make them absolutely aware of what the true cost of their comfort and silence was.

The only thing that was jarring was the disparity between the dead bodies and the live victims. In real life, the victims looked much worse than the skinny actors and more likethe dead skeletons they showed. There was no real way to correct this without making totally CGI humans, but it was the only thing that prevented me from really believing the moment. Everything else about this show has seemed so real, and that wa sthe one moment that reminded me I was watching a TV show.

Tesiae

Sorry, but I don't see anything to cheer about here. Though, I don't believe that the German people living near the concentration camps knew nothing about them, I don't think there was much they could do to stop it. Were they supposed to go to their nearest armed goose stepper and ask them to desist murdering Jews? Nazi Germany was not a good place to voice your concerns about human rights.

I completely agree with showing the German people what their government had done, I can understand why they would be forced to bury the dead, but I couldn't take pleasure in watching them.

das Monkey

In the credits, they recognized some animation company for doing the body effects. I couldn't see who it was because it was scrolling too quickly. While some of the main actors had some meat to them, many of the backgrounders were nothing but bones blowing in the wind.

das

das Monkey

I think a lot of this is the fact that the war is drawing to a close, and he's now questioning why he's there. He's given up his life as he knows it, and for what? He hasn't even fired a round. This goes to the whole 'Why We Fight' theme.

This is definitely just a spazz moment but one that makes sense. Mr. Ivy League is an intelligent guy, and seeing those German soldiers and horses brought to the forefront how insane the entire war was. It's impossible for him to rationalize what's happening, so all he can do is yell at them. The horse/car thing is something he can physically rationalize to point out how stupid the Germans are in his mind, so he latches on to that and goes apesh!t.

das

Jadzia

I diasgree. Most of the neighbors of concentration camps have widely denied knowing their existence, yet the soldiers who liberated them reported the stench was obvious from miles away.

These people just were in denial. They knew what was going on, but they just didn't want to even acknowledge it.

If they said they knew, but were afraid to speak up that would be one thing. But to deny even knowing about is the ultimate arrogance. Even if they were afraid, they had more of a voice to speak out than others did. These were respected, upper-class Germans. These townspeople had friends, relatives in the Army.

Sorry, but I found poetic justice in making these people come face to face with the stench and the hooror of these camps. Making them clean it up was only the least thing they could do, since they had "covered it up" for so long.

Tesiae

Re-read what I stated earlier. I stated that I doubted that they knew nothing about the camps. ;-)


I wouldn't say that it was arrogance. More like fear of the condemnation, or worse, that they would receive for not acknowlegeing or ignoring what was happening. If an invading army puts a gun to your head and asks why you did nothing, you're natural response will be to deny knowledge.

The human conscience is one the greatest unseen equalizers, but unfortunately, most people are more interested in giving a swift kick. BTW, this statement is reserved for the general populace who didn't actively participate in the Holocaust, despite maybe knowing about it.

Cheddarmuff

Hix's wife....what a biatch..."Hi, I know your off fighting a war, but I'm lonly and I want a divirce.." WTF!!

TruGator

i missed this episode...is there a website or something that has a summary of it?

GoldenJCJ

check out:
www.hbo.com/band

Cheddarmuff: Unfortunatley, that happened to a lot of the young men while fighting in WWII. Sad but true.

Static Cling

I will always give this site props for the best episode recaps I've ever read...

www.mightybigtv.com

It rules!

Fire bad!

Static Cling

She even wants the dog! She HATES that dog! Poor Nix.

Vat 69 good! *buuuurrrrrp*

MrN

Reminds me of In the Mood with Patrick Dempsey.

JonTurner

My dad's first wife (that still sounds so weird to me since I only found out about this a year or so ago) divorced him while he was in Vietnam - and for only one year.

I don't really know enough about it to go into how he or she felt and all, but suffice it to say, that it's more than believable.

Jadzia

And on the other side of the story, my dad was in World War II (he was 46 when I was born) and he was married right before he left to his high school sweetheart.

While he was gone, he heard that she was cheating on him around town and such, so when he got back he promptly divorced her.

The weird, sad thing is that they had a daughter, which to this day my dad does not acknowledge. I think he wonders if she is his or not.

But what's weird about it, is I have this older half-sister whom I have never met.