Thought you guys would enjoy reading (an even discussing) some well-crafted recaps/reviews written by Jacob Clifton as much as I did.
He starts the miniseries rather as a rather skeptical viewer. He doesn't like Ray's antics. The things some characters say (like Chaffin's racial humor), he initially takes at face value. But episode by episode, as he begins to analyze what's happening on the screen and to pick up the finer points, it starts to dawn on him how fantastic the series truly is.
I picked a few quotes from the first episode's review to share here:
Unlike the war that was its subject, this David Simon-produced HBO miniseries had a singular vision, a clear purpose and — most importantly — an end date.
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The unbelievably irritating Cpl. Ray Person drives the Humvee for Iceman's team. It's Ray and Brad in the front, insane Trombley (the youngest and deadliest shooter in Bravo Company, and the one most likely to compare shooting somebody in the stomach to Grand Theft Auto) in back, and Gabriel Garza up top, manning the gun turret. They don't talk about it, because if you thought about it for five seconds you would freak out like Captain America, but what this means is that the entire platoon balances on Ray, because he's the driver of the lead vehicle. Tactically and practically speaking: If Ray dies, everybody dies. Sometimes it's hard to understand how they manage to love his unholy ass but I think that might be part of it.
***
Rudy Reyes may or may not own clothing. [...] Rudy's whole life is like everything is going fine, and then somehow his pants get caught on a nail or something, or maybe just spontaneously they rip right down the middle and a bird swoops down from the sky and steals his shirt so he's naked, just as he's accidentally spilling motor oil all over himself. Half the scenes of this episode he's in the background like that: "Oh, I forgot to put on pants under these chaps. Better do some martial arts."
***
Rolling west, Brad tells the gents to stay frosty. Garza exclaims something, up on the roof, and Brad perks up. "I just waved at an Iraqi and he waved back," Garza says happily. "That was cool!" Iceman talks to him like a beloved pet: "Good, Garza. Be magnanimous." Fuck does that mean? "Lofty and kinglike." And never let it be said that Ray doesn't pick his moments: "Hey buddy, it's ten in the morning! Don't you think you oughta change out of your pajamas?" Both lofty and kinglike. Brad is charmed, as usual, by Ray's bullshit. Me too, kinda.
***
Ray starts the Humvee, Garza sits atop it, and they head out. The Company drives across train tracks, heading northwest, away from Basra; the surrenders walk down it, into death. It's a hot day, bright. A total of 200 men took the coward's way out, and surrendered. They got letters from the sky, like manna, promising life and safe passage, and the men fled into the arms of America. The dream they were following got sour and bitter, and they decided that, as long as the US was going crazy anyway, they might as well believe in it: that Captain America story, that idea that America was there to help them, to save them. That's what psy-ops does best, and that was the point of the safe passage offer: not to save lives, or to help people, but to attack Saddam's army where it counts, and take it apart before the fighting could begin. It worked, and they split, and they walked into the sun, toward America. And when they got there, First Recon turned them right back around, and sent them to the one place they couldn't ever go again. They sent them into death, and headed northwest, toward deaths of their own. How's it feel to be fucking dead? It feels sad. And very alone.
Submitted October 03, 2019 at 11:25AM by Phigwyn https://ift.tt/2n81y0r
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