Band of Brothers

I've been watching The Pacific and I've got to say, other than the strange thrill of seeing Melbourne on film (hehehe, I know where they filmed some things!), it's not as good as Band of Brothers. Or at least, it's suffering in comparison given that I've been watching them end to end. Okay, BoB has the unfair advantage of being older and therefore subject to more viewings and I know what's going to happen, but I'll lay it out as to why The Pacific suffers in comparison.

1. The source material. Firstly, unlike some criticisms I've read, I will never, ever say that the Pacific theatre of WWII is less interesting than the European. That's just wrong. However,  unlike BoB which is derived from Stephen Ambrose's text of the same name, The Pacific is based on the biographies of two different men, Eugene Sledge and Robert Leckie, as well as recalling the experiences of John Basilone. While the three served in the 1st marine division, they did not serve together and so it seems more mashed together than a coherent following of different members of the same team, as we saw in BoB. This brings me to point 

2. A lot of the strength of BoB is seeing how the team bonds and suffers together through adversity, whether it be during training, through the various battles, loss of members to death and injury, to the end of the war. This team feeling is partly what makes BoB so powerful because it also feels as though we are a part of them, whether they're sitting in the snow in Bastogne, getting angry at Lt. Dike, or amazed at the badassery of Speirs. To me, there is less emotional involvement because it is following different teams in The Pacific.


3. Despite the subject matter, there are some surprising moments of levity. This is important because even though War is Hell, life can be pretty damn funny.

Those first few reasons are the main strengths and weaknesses comparing the two. But because I'm superficial, a very important reason is also...
4. The cast of The Pacific are just not as hot as the one in BoB. Ron Speirs sounds like he may have been an asshole in real life (possibly murdered POWs, rampant looter, his own men are slightly afraid of him), but played by Matthew Settle (aka Rufus from Gossip Girl), it seems kinda psycho hot! Take these gifs for example:

See? Hot! 

And then there's when we see how sad Doc Roe is, struggling not to bond with his teammates as they die in the snow and forest, it hurts!

Ron Livingston may always be slightly thought of as insecure Berger from SATC but he lends Lewis Nixon a certain charm despite the chronic alcoholism. And of course, BoB stars my favourite ginger, Damian Lewis, as the main character of the series, Dick Winters. I really love their scenes of platonic manlove in the last episode. Also, it's kinda fun to pick who the actors are now as the series features actors who were nobodies then and are people now - e.g. Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Tom Hardy...


4. With the team stuff and the hot actors, it's actually kinda slashy. This shouldn't be a reason for liking BoB more...but it is. Particularly Winters/Nixon. Just watch this clip.

Anyway, I'll try to repeatedly watch The Pacific until I feel a similar level of love. Otherwise, it's back to Europe with Easy Company!