Band of Brothers

This is actually my favorite episode, except for the finale, of course. In this episode you get to see a lot of story on one of the main characters: Winters. He's by far my favorite character, and this episode really is a tell-all about him.



One of the best parts of this episode is the Typewriter/army transitions. The plot really charges ahead and we get some good character development going on. Also, the transitions between the story and the fighting are very smooth.



The use of humor in this episode is the best. It really comes to the front and seems to lighten the mood all around. Fantastic episode!

For one the narrative was off. They tried some new techniques in this episode and it didn't work very well because it was too different from the other episodes. When you're only doing ten episodes you can't keep trying new narrative techniques all the time, it makes the show disjointed. If you want to be creative, pick a different forum. The jumping back and forth in the timeline was not done smoothly enough and it caused some confusion. Plus, when did Guarnere (sp?) hurt his leg? Could they PLEASE try and be a little more clear in what they're doing. In addition to that the interviews in the beginning felt out of place. They kept talking about someone going into the water first, setting up that scenario in the episode, yet it never came. They were out on a river but we didn't get to see who went in the water first, or even that it was that big of a deal. That was really annoying to me, don't plant a gun if you don't plan on using it.



What I did like about this episode was that it brought on some interesting character development with Winters. I think this is the first time on the show that they've adressed the internal conflict of having killed someone, even if it was an enemy during war. They did that storyline very well through Winters, and the actor did an especially good job. On top of that Winters was moved to administrative duties, which one would think would be every soldier's dream since it's safe, but it's not quite so easy in real life. I was impressed with how they portrayed his longing to be back in the field with his soldiers and his moral conflict with having killed so many people. It's an interesting paradox.

The plot-arc of this mission focuses on the challenges presented to a Commanding Officer C/O, both during combat and the lulls inbetween engagements. It also combines the viewpoint of Winters (the c/o) when promoted up the chain of command and what it feels like to leave the company of men you've grown to rely on and they you/him. In that sense, the episode works well.



Flashbacks pepper the episode as we also get to see how when taken off the frontline, soldiers had to deal with what they had seen, endured and done. In the particular case of Winters, we see that returning to "normal" life doesnt remove the mental appartus a soldier relies on, when in midst of frontline action. Furthermore, memories of the dead begin to haunt a soldier and in some degree begin to merge with reality. In Winters case, a young soldier that he shot in ambiguous circumstances, that for an instance we are led to believe, he perhaps could have taken prisoner. The combat that takes place though, against an enemy SS battalion emphasises well, the changing circumstances of combat providing us with a demonstration of day-to-night action, an ambush and artillery support, counter support fire. This event occurs near the start of the episode and is in the middle of another setpiece firefight, which is the highlight of the hour - at least for me.



Unfortunately, I did find the scenes after Winters' promotion stale. There isnt enough going on, though it does serve its purpose. I also agree that the narrative style taken on by this episode doesnt compare to what has come previous. Thankfully that changes back in later episodes.



The ending is a slow paced affair, doing more to setup the anticipation of the next episode, than provide any meaningful conclusion to this episode. However, it does highlight another important aspect of fighting a war - the less than perfect conditions that a military theorists would send a company (mil. unit) into combat, is more than likely never going to be achieved.



Any other series, Id consider this a filler episode, but as it is - overall this is a great episode if not to the extremely high level of quality of the first three of this short but brillant series.



If you want to be setup perfectly for the next episode, do watch this one.

I guess you can classify this episode this one as a flashback episode. While this one shows events of operation Market Garden. It was split into two parts. One the actions that lead to the promotion of Winters to Regiment Executive Officer and the days after it. You see how he leads the men with once again bad intelligence. Even though the action scenes flash in and out as Winters types out his report, its your imagination that fills in the blanks. The second part was a low time in the war and it portrayed very well as you see the men of Easy Company relaxing and scenes of a liberated Paris. The last few minutes setups the next episode very well. As you see the men ill equipped but ready to fight.

I like the way the episode was set up. It opens with Winters shooting a teenage German soldier, after some slight hesitations. Winters is promoted after an "against the odds" attack over the Germans. That particular attack was great and the way it is presented into the episode was great too. Winters typing his report as we discover more on the attack. It was very interesting to see how Winters is affected after killing that young German soldier. It tells a lot about the character. Even if they were enemies, a teenage is a teenage and this will normally haunt anybody. The final scenes are more of a set up for the next one. Easy company are preparing to defend the crossroads of Bastogne with very limited ammo and shortage of food...all this under terrible weather conditions. There`s a lot of momentum as this particularly delicate defense is about to take place.

So another episode filled with intensity and energy and also a lot of character development of Winters.

Another well written episode.

Winters is promoted and now works behind a desk. I hope that this doesn't last too long as I don't think it is very well suited to him. I like him on the line with his fellow soldiers. He is a great leader.

Another great leader is Buck. He seems to know how to get the job done and take control.

It is good to see that the soldiers do get a bit of R&R but they didn't seems to have too much to do really and looked a little bit lost.

It is amazing to see they types of tasks they were made to do with basically nothing. No ammunition or resources but they did as ordered, no matter how dangerous it was.

this episode starts off with the sound of hard breathing and running feet. this is the sound of winter's leading a mission with a handful of soldiers following closely behind. he finally reaches a hill, and a german soldier, who appears to be a boy just freshly into his teens. winter's shoots and kills this boy and starts to kill many others. his men join and they finally secure the area and take prisoners. because of his bravery, winters is promoted. he proves to be a great leader and the men follow him without question. it's apparent that winters misses being with the men of easy company. he's uncomfortable and discontent behind a desk. he even has his own assistant.



throughout the whole episode winters has many flashbacks of the mission that got him promoted. he is continuously haunted by the image of the boy whose life he took in the name of war. this episode is less action packed, and more about one man's inner demons during a time of war.



overall an A