Grid Effect

I don’t know about anyone else, but that was a pretty eventful weekend. It’s amazing how much more active you feel when you’re sitting on your fat ass at a multiplex instead of at your house watching moving images on a screen. Seriously, it really felt like I was accomplishing something by going to three movies in two days, in addition to watching football in a bar instead of at mine or a friend’s house.

Yes, I am aware that this is basically what I've turned into. And I'm OK with that.

But anyhow, here are the five best shows from 2008. We will have left several off of here for various reasons, of which we’ll explain after we post.

5) The Office

It feels like this series has run its course at the end of every calendar year, yet it manages to sneak into our top five regardless. More so than any other series, The Office was a victim of the strike (having the biggest gap in between a single season). But they managed to handle it better than anyone else, providing great story arcs and quality episodes after the strike, that didn’t feel hastily put together or contrived (like so many of their counterparts). The first half of season five has been predominately successful, with obviously a few exceptions. Still, you’re not going to find a better comedy for your time and money on television right now.

4) The Shield

Yeah, we’ve stated a number of times that we haven’t watched this series, at least not on a regular basis. But the final season sounded like a rewarding one for its audience and a devastating one for it’s anti-hero Vic Mackey. It sounded as if the Tony Soprano of police departments finally got his comeuppance (something Tony himself never encountered, at least not in any tangible way), and that in itself makes this critically acclaimed series worth watching. We will get around to it at some point (potentially this summer), but for right now all we can do is assume that The Shield lived up to expectations and trust the opinions of critics we’ve found to be reliable in the past.

3) Mad Men

During any other year that was absent a Sopranos or Wire season, this would have been in the top spot. The atypical story of a 1960’s Madison Avenue executive struggling with identity and life in an ever-changing and hostile world, only improved on its debut season. Mad Men, a show that has gained notoriety through style more so than substance, is chock full of the latter. Season two managed to encompass every imaginable reaction to the turbulent beginning to the 1960’s. There are those that adapt accordingly (Don, Peggy), those who desire to but are unable because of either forces beyond their control or stubbornness (Salvatore, Pete Campbell, Joan Holloway) and those who are reluctant to accept it at all (Roger, Harry, Paul); All while everyone copes with the turmoil of their own lives. Mad Men has always been an atmospheric and a successful one at that, but when the narrative turned into the best thing on television for the second half of the year, this has officially taken the crown from recently retired series as the best show on television.

2) Generation Kill

We might be cheating with this a little, because it’s a miniseries with a completely different scale and much tighter focus. Unfortunately, we do not give a shit. The show adapted from the Evan Wright novel of the same name gave us layman a factual and (mostly) unbiased and honest look at the Iraq war and those engaging in it on our behalf. Was it critical? Yes. But it also portrayed the majority of those on the front lines with a degree of affection, that lent you to believe that it wasn’t personal, just frustrated. David Simon’s follow up to his magnum opus basically took the rank and file of the streets of Baltimore and placed it in Iraq with the US military and gave you a dramatized look at the inner-workings of these men’s experience, and all that entailed. The good and the bad.

1) The Wire

Was the serial killer storyline far and away the most sensational story this series has ever done? Absolutely (and don’t give me Hamsterdam as a counterpoint, because it’s not even close). Did the addition of the Sun to the cast feel hammed up and suffering from tunnel vision about fabulists whoring themselves out for pulitzers? At times, definitely. But this is The Wire we’re talking about. For whatever complaints you may have had about how they handled their final season, their was still plenty of subtext about the corrosion of the American city. Not to mention what most people are primarily concerned with: We got closure and a relatively happy ending for the characters we’ve grown so fond of over the past five seasons. I’m on record as saying this was my least favorite season from David Simon, but it was still better than anything else we watched in 2008.

As for series’ that didn’t make the cut:

-Entourage: For a series that prides itself on the number of insider jokes they churn out in a given episode, they didn’t really seem to apply the nature of Hollywood to it’s protagonist Vince Chase. We don’t believe for a second that any “star” of his caliber would be shunned from the industry after one bad showing at an film festival. But when they decided to go in that direction, it really felt like they had to stick with it and not redeem his entire career in the closing minutes of the season. We always say with comedies that as long as we’re genuinely laughing at what’s taking place, then we’re content with the effort. Problem being, Entourage wasn’t terribly funny in 2008, either.

Rescue Me, Damages, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Flight of The Conchords: Did not air any new episodes in 2008.

The Life and Times of Tim: We would have put the first half of the season at #5 or #6, but was bored senseless in the second half, to the point we opted to keep it off the top ten altogether for those that exhibited a little more consistency.
Probably it for today, and potentially the rest of the week. We’ll post again if anything comes across the wire but most only pretend to work in the final months of each year, those in the television industry are no different. Have a happy new years if you don’t hear from us again in 2008.

“Bomb In the Garden” really had everything. Half political, half personal, as frustrating as it was relieving and was akin to The Wire in as many ways as it contrasted it, and even a literal bomb in a garden. We were just completely and unnecessarily hooked by this episode, and even rewatched it immediately afterwards, putting Mad Men on the back burner. Read previous write-ups for the past six installments here.

What was amazing about the storytelling, especially from the political/tactical side of things, is that you knew what kind of state they would leave Baghdad in, but we were still captivated in seeing it develop/devolve. You knew the Marines would wind up in the heart of the city being its at least temporarily ruling class, while everything around them fell to shit without having the power to do anything about it. But seeing an interpretation of it from ground zero is something that has been sorely lacking.

A telltale sign of things not going according to plan was every time they ventured away from the friendly confines of whatever building they were held up in (Saddam’s sons cigarette factory for most of it), their safety was always in question. People could be hiding in any building, in any alcove dressed as everyone else and you would have no idea. The entire landscape was entirely too tenuous to actually consider it safe or conquered or liberated. Though we did get to see Evan Wright’s ridiculous Serpentine run from the sniper.

If the marines or the US’s entire foreign policy was ran by people like Nate Fick, Brad Colbert, Doc Brown and the like instead of Encino Man and his superiors, the outlook might be a little more sustainable. They might have more than one, indifferent and untrustworthy translator, for instance. While things are improving now, we can understand why it was such a long time coming: people like Encino Man dolling out absurd orders and Captain America types following them. At least we got to see Encino leveled by Patterson under the guise of a football game. How can someone be so fucking oblivious?

It wouldn’t have been Generation Kill if we didn’t get one more needless tragedy, this time two of the marines, one losing a limb and the other an eye on the pointless marking of a mine field at Encino Man’s orders and Captain America’s complacence. The bottom lime is, EM is in over his head as a captain and CA is unfit for command. Of course this is all only one man’s opinion (Evan Wright) filtered through another’s (Simon), but considering how untenable the situation was for about four years after the fall of Saddam’s army, we are inclined to believe it.

Ultimately it is better for people like Colbert and Fick to be out of active duty. Or rather, better for themselves, not necessarily for the world. If they weren’t present to counterbalance the utter fuck-uppery that makes up so much of Battalion, all of the ill-advised orders that were altered by the capable underlings without Battalion’s knowledge would have been carried out as requested, just doubling up on the tragic scale. Look at the bomb Colbert detinated in the garden. He does it cautiously yet hastily, and accomplishes it successfully but does so at such risk that it is out of frustration as much as it is out of a sense of obligation. He isn’t Doc, his specialty is reconnaissance. But since the war and command is such that those skills are rendered useless, he is in a garden playing EOD (what our best friend from high school is trained in and currently putting to use in Iraq.)

Also in Baghdad, we finally got to see a recon mission. Albeit it was to break into a building to spite some other marines only to turn some random executives office like only a team of frustrated marines could, but it wasn’t until that scene that we realized what Brad Colbert was pissed off about. He is as effective as hell in traditional battle, can you imagine what he is capable of if put in his trained environment?

Evan’s final conversation with Godfather (Ferrando) was quite an eye-opener but still ambiguous. We think Godfather brings up an interesting point in terms of responding to complaints from his unit, but at what point does a complaint actually warrant attention? Does Captain America have to kill someone? When Evan suggest he considers his sources, is he supposed to value one soldiers distress over another’s. In the scope of the series, obviously Fick was capable of managing and any complaints about his were done out of personal animus rather than actual issues with command. But how is that supposed to be addressed, particularly when the majority of those who have Godfather’s ear are like-minded in that they are nothing like Fick.

His revelation that he enjoys the thrill of being fired at were kind of disturbing. If something like that is so appealing to him, it seems like his judgment can be considerably altered to the point that he is putting his division in harm’s way. I mean, if you enjoy the thrill of being shot at and actively seek it out, then obviously when everyone is following your lead, they will be under fire as well. And being that he is Battalion commander, he isn’t literally on the front line like all of his command is. Evan Wright, appropriately, looks disgusted.

The last twenty minutes of this episode are really what put it over the top from a great episode to maybe the episode of television we’ve watched in the past season. After the conversation between Wright and Godfather, we are privy to all the camaraderie and frustration from all of the soldiers. The football game kind of tipified that on both the personal and professional levels.

Patterson clocking Encino Man for being a dipshit was obviously on the professional, considering EM’s orders had cost one soldier a leg and another an eye just minutes earlier. And his enthusiasm and success in the pickup football game I think got to Patterson more than the incompetence itself. Encino Man would be an ideal corporal, he rivals Rudy in physicality and he certainly seems capable of doing grunt work, but putting him in charge of people like Patterson, who sees every angle like Encino Man could only dream of, is insane. Basically, EM’s height as a marine is a rich man’s Manimal.

But Ray attacking Rudy in a pent-up form of aggression stemming from his high school years was done out of a sense of lost identity. If he isn’t the stud CPO for Bravo Platoon’s 2nd team, then what is he? Or rather, what does he think he is? It seems the only other identity he’s ever assumes is as the eccentric high school kid who used to get picked on by the meathead jocks, who don’t necessarily act like Rudy but at least look more like him than Ray. In about a thousand ways we felt bad for him, because you can’t do what he did in the past three weeks for a lifetime and expect to live a long, happy life. And he most certainly did not look forward to going back home.

Person on the left, Ransone on the right. Nothing pithy. I just thought you would want to see the uncanny resemblance.

And the final scene, with the ongoing story of Lilley making his movie about the war finally airing it for Bravo two was just high art. As great as all those season ending montages were on The Wire, they had nothing on this. Mostly because this was contextual (a video made by one of the soldiers). We couldn’t figure out if there was a reason the soldiers left in the order they did, as they all seemed to file out of the mess hall either out of boredom or disgust. But naturally Colbert isn’t interested in seeing a millisecond of it and Trombley’s lunatic ass was still sitting there till the credits rolled, because nothing excites him as much as death, destruction and carnage as Johnny Cash’s “The Man Comes Around” Chillingly plays over the video. We would kind of like to hear a follow up on Trombley. As well as the rest of them for that matter.

Other notes from “Bomb In The Garden”:

-Speaking of Trombley, his “see, we do kill dogs in Iraq” after asking Colbert if he could shoot any strays for the past three weeks was meant to be amusing, it was also somewhat troubling. As in, what rules aren’t made to be broken.

-Also in Baghdad, we finally got to see a recon mission. Albeit it was to break into a building to spite some other marines only to turn some random executives office like only a team of frustrated marines could, but it wasn’t until that scene that we realized what Brad Colbert was pissed off about. He is as effective as hell in traditional battle, can you imagine what he is capable of if put in his trained environment.

-The letters from home really seemed to dictate the behavior of the soldiers for the rest of the episode. Person fell into a mild depression after not getting any letters, and Manimal pissed all over a stranger’s office after the callous divorce letter he got from his either horrible or horribly vindictive wife.

-Espera’s letter was just brutally honest and sad. For the first time since Colbert’s exposition on his relationship with his best friend and ex-girlfriend we saw a lot of vulnerability amongst any of the soldiers.

-All of the interactions with the civilians brought something to the table. Either they were funny (bartering for valium) or depressing (all the despair, the sick children and the people stealing candy from them) or interesting (everything with the translators).

-Fick discussing writing a book with Wright seemed a little too meta for a series that is already heavy on it. But since we tend to believe the conversation actually happened, it worked.

While we thought this miniseries was utterly depressing as many ways as it was interesting, we are disappointed that our Sunday nights will be cut in half. We will probably end up reading the book now just for a deeper understanding of everyone involved, as we’ve been lead to believe that the book goes into much greater detail.

But if the first six episodes felt a little meandering to you without a point, they really gift wrapped it last night. Our only complaint was much like with The Dark Knight, it seemed to venture into being too heavy-handed at times. But since this series is portraying real people and real soldiers, I like the notion of acknowledging what they went through with some hyperbole, especially when so few people in this country seem to acknowledge it themselves (as pointed out in the final conversation or forum or whatever it was that rolled over the credits).

Back tomorrow with posts about unicorns and ice cream to lighten the mood.

The penultimate episode of this miniseries was brilliant as always. Read about part five here.

For the great majority of the time we have been watching this, it has been apolitical. There have been suggestions of bias here and there, but it is recorded material from a non-fiction work as documented by an embedded Rolling Stone reporter and adapted for television by a man staunchly opposed to the effort. In other words, a little bias is fine and expected. I think at this point most people would concede that the invasion was a mistake. Even Bill O’Reilly admitted that if we were able to do things over, there’s no way we go into Iraq. “Too costly” were his exact words.

And while this episode was still as exceptional as always, all the backhanded comments seemed really distracting. Let’s run them down:

-The Iraqi woman venting to Brad, followed by the fellow soldier pretending to agree with him so she will smile at her or something.

-Evan’s speculating as to why we went into Iraq if there weren’t any WMD’s (something we’re still trying to wrap our heads around), followed by Trombley’s insane retort, “because we get to kill people”. Which makes since to him since he’s under the impression he is playing Grand Theft Auto.

-Espera recognizing that if they were civilians in the states, they would be going to prison based on what they did in Iraq.

I don’t think Simon is putting all this material in to be partisan. It serves an actual narrative purpose about the tragedy of war and the untenable situation all of these marines were put in by their superiors. But when the only people still supporting and fully on board with the effort are Trombley (lunatic), Encino Man (nitwit), Godfather (kiss ass) and Captain America (spaz), while the people showing trepidation are everyone we are supposed to admire (from Fick to Kocher to Patterson), the point is glaring.

Again, this is all documented and verified information from the people being portrayed, but Simon selectively edited plenty from the book I am sure, but left all of this in. I’m sure his point could have been made without alienating viewers. Then again, how do you document an ongoing war without alienating some sort of ideology?

Okay, onto the episode itself. Which we’re doing in bullet point form to save time:

-This episode focused primarily on the partnership (or lack there of) between Iraqi civilians and American military. Establishing any sort of rapport or building up any foundation is difficult to do when people like Captain America feel threatened every time and Iraqi makes eye contact with him. But every situation from helping them leave Baghdad to stumbling onto the robbed farmers, they did everything they could, even if it wasn’t enough. This, much like everything else, is a criticism of the command and whoever else above them, in that we invaded a country with little preparation or thought as to how we maintain the civilian trust over there.

-Seeing Ray cover for Walt about the Whopper Jr. reference was a great recognition from Ray of what line not to cross with someone. He can rag on any of them for just about anything, but Walt is almost too normalized to be out there. Everyone else seems to think he should just take the situation with the civilian and brush it off, but he’s clearly having a hard time coping. When this episode wasn’t about communicating with civilians, it was about the camaraderie between servicemen.

-I say servicemen, because any woman they come into contact with is immediately berated. I don’t know how any one couldn’t feel sympathy for the female marine on the back of the truck, it was like watching the new kid at school try to adapt. But she wasn’t new, and had probably been tolerating similar “advances” since she enlisted. If you can make Sixta look admirable, then I can only imagine what you had to deal with.

-Seeing Colbert finally letting loose after five and a half installments was unsettling and refreshing all at the same time. He is such a machine while in combat you almost began to wonder if it had gotten the better of him. But no, watching him run around like he’s at a Dead concert with that monstrosity of a tattoo radiating off his lower back, then fetching chef boyardee and porno mags for everyone might have been the most surreal experience to date. We wonder if he is still in the military, but with Fick getting his MBA we suspect many of the careerists were turned off by this experience.

Pretty much it for now, this episode had a more linear focus than the ones that preceded it. The finale is next week and we are kinda, sorta looking forward to it. It is difficult to watch such great filmmaking about something so tragic, at least if it was awful we could just ignore it, but this is David Simon’s wont: brilliant devastation.

Maybe back with more later.

Tension was palpable this episode. Everyone, in one way or another, was expressing trepidation for their safety and how the command was endangering it. And rightfully so. Not that this was the first time any one has shown concern for the lack of common sense and direction. But from beginning to end we saw more unnecessary action, my foot was shaking during the entire night combat scene at nightfall, up until they retreated from the foot of the bridge.

The episode kicked off with the bombing of a civilian location housing several women and children. It appears Godfather ordered in the air strike without even observing the situation, and the rest of the battalion feeling the grief over it. “We keep making the same mistakes over and over again” says one of the soldiers as he watches the smoldering heap that was once a civilian household. I agree, it can be quite discouraging knowing that your superiors are as completely unaccountable and reckless in any line of work, particularly one in which lives are being needlessly lost via sheer incompetence.

This episode we saw the two soldiers who are eventually kicked out of the military at their most disgruntled, and you can actually guess how things are going to turn out for them solely in facial expressions. I really felt like Kocher might return to camp and put a bullet in Captain America’s head after getting stranded in the town on the ill-advised mission. His frustration looks like it has reached a boiling point, and within the next two episodes we imagine he’ll break the chain of command one way or another. And in something more tangible than threatening to knock out a superior officer in private.

Too late.

Espera seems to have more restraint on his vocal cords, but is extremely passive-aggressive and makes his opinions felt none the less. What makes Colbert and Fick so apt at what they do is not only there concern for the men following their lead, but also their ability to sense when that lead is necessary. Colbert doing everything he can to cheer up Espera, only proved to be ineffectual. In other words, if even Brad Colbert is incapable of improving morale, then it is at an all time low.

With Fick now taking the orders from Battalion and doing so with a smile, it is almost discouraging to see him towing the company line, so to speak. Everyone is shocked at his enthusiasm along with the viewer and once again he is like Daniels, except in reverse. Daniels grew more and more defiant throughout season one, realizing the danger that was inevitable with being negligent during the Barksdale case. Fick realizes this danger, but also recognizes how his command could lead to more and more confrontations and that can be dangerous in its own right. So he is doing everything he can to put a happy face on the idiotic instructions he is contracted to follow.

The numerous orders that prove to be consequential seems to be motivated by public image. Everyone their knows that Saddam’s army is no match for the US and that victory was inevitable, so what is the rush? It looks to be to assure the American public that everything is on the up and up, and there is no cause for concern. In other words, it’s to help secure Bush’s re-election. Much like Daniels’ orders were always politically motivated, so they are in foreign policy.

This mini-series seems to recognize the general disconnect between what is presented as a successful venture and the actual process. While it looks impressive that we are tearing through a country in a limited amount of time, no one away from ground zero seems aware of the actual consequences to such actions. Which appear to include avoidable civilian deaths, US troop endangerment, and dismissal and ordered ignorance of enemy combatants posing as civilians. Basically, everything the general public hopes to avoid. But since there is a lack of communication between everyone participating and everyone observing, this is all plausible.

Given the dire conditions, it gets to a point that even holding marines accountable for obvious mistakes becomes difficult. Being sleep deprived, almost starved and in a war zone creates for some unsettling positions. So when Walt shoots a civilian who is like a millisecond late to responding to the blue smoke, what is there to say? You know it wasn’t intentional, but Colbert never gave the order and now a bystander is dead as a result of his negligence. This is probably why they see students coming into Iraq posing as Jihadists.

A few other notes from “A Burning Dog”:

-Loved Ray’s rants about famous marines and moving Starbucks into Iraq being the cause for war. In fact, we loved that entire scene, particularly Evan’s involvement with John Wayne Bobbit. While the series is highly critical of the tactical deployment, it has great effection for its subjects, flaws and all.

-It is amazing how Godfather’s voice can fool you into believing his orders are wise and recommended. You can always tell because Sixta’s sole job in this war is to nod his head in agreement with whatever his commanding officer commands. Despite Sixta’s completely subjective approval, the orders are actually misguided, irrational, and completely motivated by appeasement. Given how many times he claims that any marine would die to be in their situation, me thinks he doth protest too much.

- I would love to see the reaction of Evan Wright’s (ex?) girlfriend during this series. All of the following lines are from Colbert and Person: “Hey, hey, hey”…”I think its safe to say we all know her intimately at this point”…”You pimped her out”…”She is a dirty, little hoochie”…”It’s a picture of the reporter’s girlfriend, not of J-Lo’s cum dripping twat”. I can’t even imagine all the spam I’m going to get from this paragraph.

-We know it wasn’t the intention, but we couldn’t help but laugh at Encino Man’s end zone dance. How in the hell did he become a commanding officer?

Anyhow, we thought this was their best effort to date. We have no idea how this is going to be received come awards time, but it remains politically neutral for the majority of the series so that should help its cause. The lone downside to this episode means that there are only two left, and this is when we are glad to have not read the book, because we are already speculating on what kind of note they leave it on.

Maybe some links later.

You can see why Simon or whoever makes these decisions went with a different director for this installment, since half of it told a different story than what we had been watching. No complaints though, the following of Alpha team to find the missing Marine was imperative, particularly since Bravo didn’t accompany them into the liberation front. Here’s part three, if you need to catch up.

This episode was entitled “Combat Jack”, which is barely a euphemism for masturbation while on duty. It was uttered once early in the episode and I didn’t quite follow the meaning because I’m an idiot, but when Ray Person was pounding one out with about a million things going on in plain view over his shoulder, and someone interrupted him, forcing him to blurt out “That was my first combat jack”, it wasn’t exactly vague.

But in all honesty that scene was disturbing on so many levels. I’m pretty sure I’ve had nightmares like that, where I’m jerking off and there’s an auditorium sized crowd spying on me. Sounds horrifying. The fact that everything usually done in private is done so openly and proudly is probably the hardest thing to adjust too. Outside of killing people, enemy combatants or otherwise. Maybe that is why Simon went with this as the episode title, to illustrate how the marines and Iraqi civilians are both dealing with a degree of an invasion of privacy? Or something. Nevermind, that sounds ridiculous.

Semi-related, but when you do a google image search for "Combat Jack", this is the first thing that comes up. Enjoy, it could have been a lot worse.

This episode was kind of split into three parts: One was preparing to head out and everyone voicing complaints about their commanding officers (Encino Man and Captain America got it without an intermediary), only to be scolded by Godfather, who apologized for having “their colors” stolen along with everything that wasn’t burned to a crisp in the utility vehicle. He’s either missing the point of their concerns or electing to ignore them, I really can’t figure out which.

Seeing Colbert’s borderline meltdown impact Bravo team was astonishing. Even with Doc and several other capable peers, just by foresight and competence he has been appointed de facto team leader. Part of the reason he was in such disarray is because of his capacity for war, he seems to understand the cost of what they are trying to accomplish, and is duly troubled by it at all times.

Oh, and the bombing of approaching republican guard, that turned out to be a town that the air force completely whiffed on, turned out to be an improvement on some of the other missions. Whatever it was, that seemed to be what snapped Colbert out of his trance.

We moved from there to Alpha’s search for the missing Marine, in which features much looting by civilians and two truckloads of “guerilla” pulling away without even questioning by orders from above. It was actually kind of chilling as they watched them pull off, waving goodbye, only to know that every last one of them will return much more ambiguously with the hostile intentions they left with: kill American servicemen and everyone who doesn’t want to do the same. It seems that a debriefing is at least in order.

As is his wont, the final portion of the episode ended on a down note: the roadblock. Put in an undermanned, over-worked precarious position, anyone who doesn’t respond to warning shots by stopping or showing signs of neutrality, they have to fire upon. Incidentally, many several Iraqis either aren’t familiar with this formality, or are ignoring it out of spite, but a girl, no older than five, ended up being shot dead. The following conversation between Rudy and Meesh proved to be less enlightening, because we never know if Meesh is being forthright in his translations.

Other notes from “Combat Jack”:

-Since we have such a proclivity for comparing everything to The Wire, we figured we’d ask you if there was any equivalent to Godfather from the series. Someone who is ultimately good-intentioned, even if it is only at the behest of the chain of command, but fucks up an inordinate amount of time. Mind you, this person has to be in a position of authority. The closest we can think of his early first season Daniels, where he is still treating Burrell’s (Mattis’) expectations and orders like gospel. Thing is, we don’t expect Godfather to improve on his performance.

-The dressing down of the Chaplain seemed a little excessive, even if it was an accurate portrayal. The far right is obviously going to claim this series is leftist, the last thing they need to be doing is mocking a healthy amount of conservative’s lifestyle. Just seemed a tad unnecessary. Even though it would be a bit troublesome that the military deemed such a service as a necessity, given everything else they are lacking. And yes, we thought it was hysterical.

-Speaking of which, we finally got Trombley opening up as to why he is so fucking crazy to your average citizen, or even properly trained and experienced marine: he’s borderline suicidal. I can’t imagine being that unphased by gunfire landing a couple feet in front of where I’m standing, but his lack of a reaction seemed in step with his character. Anyone whose more calm facing that down than watching “The Price Is Right” is probably someone you want in the marines. As Person said last episode, “At least he is our psycho”.

Top to bottom, it was pretty fucking gripping television. It’s a shame we have to feel like such an asshole trying to dissect each episode. Kind of related to that, we have a hard time watching these episodes twice. Our trepidation has mostly has to do with the content, which is a shame because we would (along with these recaps) benefit a lot from a second viewing. We’ll just consider that an indicator of the series’ authenticity.

Maybe some links later, probably not.

“Screwby” is where David Simon and Ed Burns apparently thought it would be appropriate to ratchet up the tragedy, because it took on a whole new level last night. This is where usually it gets tricky to write about without inadvertently stepping on any toes, but the tone of this series makes it as such that you can sympathize with the position many of the soldiers are put in, even if they are themselves at least partly responsible for some pretty horrific shit. Read about parts 1 & 2 here.

That isn’t to say there wasn’t anything to feel good about in the installment. Fick, Iceman, Person and several of the peripheral figures all seem to have their heads on straight and a moral compass that at the point of a dying child (who is dying as a result of direct orders) is unwavering. Godfather seems to be the only superior who has even an iota of sense. even though he is often cold-hearted and isn’t infallible. He demonstrated plenty of ignorance himself by abandoning the utility truck.

But that is what makes this miniseries so intriguing and different from everything else we’ve seen depicting this war: virtually everyone has the capacity for competence and incompetence, for remorse and for celebration. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule, most notably Captain America on one end of the spectrum and Iceman and Fick on the other. Shit, even Encino Man, as incompetent as he is, stood with his fellow soldiers in silent protest of Godfather’s initial decision to not provide medical attention for the kid that Trombley shot.

With people like Captain America, it's best you always have that helmet on.

One thing I wasn’t clear on, nor am I certain I was supposed to be clear on it, was if Trombley realized he was shooting at civilians, if he thought he was shooting at enemy combatants or just camels. Either way, his virtual non-reaction to his victims ordeal was chilling, but probably how he has been trained to carry such weight. Even in his awareness that his itchy trigger-finger might very well cost Iceman his career, he seemed more concerned with how his actions may have effected his overly-understanding commander and less so with the welfare of the child he had just gunned down. Never the less, seeing that side was at least somewhat refreshing.

It has been said by many outlets that Trombley is essentially where the term “Generation Kill” is derived from. He represents a sort of desensitization to violence and mayhem that is induced heavily by Grand Theft Auto, rap music, etc.  Generally speaking just an over-exposure to violence via all the outlets that have been available to a recently weened youngster like himself, basically since he was able to develop independent thought.

But that isn’t the sole cause of his behavior. Part of it is immaturity, he is constantly harangued for being the least experienced member of the Bravo team. Part of it is his limited training, and part of it is his obviously fucked up dad. He often comes off as psychotic, and sometimes it is deservedly so. But naivete and a lack of guidance seem just as critical to his underdevelopment.

There is so much to cover in these episodes and I have neither the time nor the attention to detail to cover it all in one post with no notes on one viewing. I haven’t even touched on how close Encino Man came to bombing US soldiers or his shoot-up of several abandoned cars and almost of civilian huts. Captain America’s behavior is petty at best and deplorable at worst.

We’re pretty much at the point where we need to read the book to see how much (if any) Simon embellished, because the indifference and/or incompetence with superior officers is too eerily similar to upper and middle management. He has to be taking some liberties with the material, and at this point we are almost he is.

Sorry this is later than expected, but we’re taking on an entirely new detail at work in addition to what we’re already responsible for. If you want to read part one’s recap, you can do so here. This episode is entitled, “The Cradle of Civilization”.

I think it is safe to say that much like The Wire, Generation Kill is the greatest thing ever made in the history of the world. This is as apolitical of a depiction you will ever see detailing the specifics of a war, especially one that is still ongoing. While our confusion as who some of the members of Alpha and other channels of this mission are, we know who we like and we know who we aren’t supposed to like. And rest assured, we’re willing to bet that Captain America wasn’t involved with production all that much.

Having never read the book, I can only imagine what we saw last night was a tip of the iceberg. It seems like the further they get into Baghdad, more and more liberties are taken as to what constitutes a viable threat and what doesn’t. The situation is so murky that trying to find right and wrong, while occasionally obvious, doesn’t have a clear cut definition. Essentially, it’s The Wire in the middle east.

Here's the book's cover, in case anyone wants to bother reading the secondary source.

When the closing line of an episode is (paraphrasing), “These officers are going to be the death of us”, it’s safe to assume that David Simon looks at the rank and file system in the military similar to that of a city police department. Or at least Baltimore’s. Person does everything that McNulty would do sans out and out defy his commanding officers (save for an untucked shirt). And the only reason for that is probably due to the fact that lives would be in imminent danger if he did, as it seems like much of their safety hinges on communication, not self-righteousness. McNulty was never in any crossfire.

Speaking of our driver, James Ransone is no longer synonymous with Ziggy Sobotka. For such an often obnoxious character he played on The Wire, he has really shown some versatility portraying Ray Person. Never did I think chiming in to a David SImon miniseries about the invasion of a country would have so many quality comedic scenes, namely the tank realization (as we’ll call it) and the explanation as to why he (women), Iceman (cheap ads) and Trombley (blood lust) all signed up for the marines. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve laughed so hard in weeks as when Person expounded (paraphrasing), “Iceman here joined because of the commercial with the guy in dressed blues slaying the dragon. Man, that commercial got so many people…Maybe you should have invaded Iraq in dressed blues and a sword”.

Between him and Alexander Skarsgard as Iceman, we might see not only a devastating and brilliant portrayal of the opening days of the Iraq war, but also two careers born out of Simon’s and Wright’s work. Iceman’s character is much more subdued. Partly because he has a naturally calm demeanor (hence the nickname), and partly because he isn’t hopped up on Ripped Fuel for the entire run. Colbert’s knowledge of the situation and the people he’s experiencing it with, one would think he would be a little more rattled. But no, the alias is well deserved. And Skarsgard plays it flawlessly. Next to Fick, he’s probably the most impressive in this bunch.

Rudy Reyes continues to carry his screentime, and I’m not sure if its his familiarity with the subject matter, the fact that he is playing himself, natural talent or a culmination of all three, but his return from taking out the RPG team stands as the most chilling thing we’ve seen so far. Their first encounter with enemy combatants that the entire platoon has been waiting for, he is directly involved and sees everything first hand, and while he takes a degree of pride in his work, he is noticeably shaken but still manages to conceal it well. We would never last a day in these people’s shoes, because if we had watched that guy’s head explode like a Gallagher watermelon all over the place, we’d be undoubtedly horrified.

Other notes:

-We’ll be honest, we were so mesmerized with the setting and the tone of his voice and every other detail surrounding Godfather’s soliloquy that we kinda sorta completely missed what he said. Anyone want to help a DVR-less friend out?

-We have a feeling that the intimate setting of the hummer contributed directly to the added tension during the ambush, because the danger and vulnerability (particularly of the turret gunners) was palpable. We might not make it through the end of this if every battle scene is so…vivid.

-Iceman’s backstory with his friend and ex-fiance is yet another reason we are content being so universally reviled by women. We watched Jarhead last night and honest to god, is there a serviceman in the armed forces who hasn’t been completely fucked over by a girlfriend or wife?

It seems worth noting that every marine from every walk of life is attesting to the authenticity of this piece. At this point, it seems like anyone with a level head could benefit from taking this miniseries in. Because if such a limited number of Americans are going to be tangibly effected by the consequences and accomplishments of our foreign policy, and obviously a very limited number of us ever read, then we can at least, on a superficial level, introduce ourselves to the multiple intricacies of a battlefield via a TV show.

There is way too much news from the weekend to bring it all to one post, so we’ll limit it to six or so links as to keep things relatively organized.

It has been speculated ever since his divorce, and is now official. Larry David is bringing back Curb Your Enthusiasm for a seventh season in the first quarter of 2009. We assume the film he was doing with Woody Allen is all wrapped up, hence the announcement. No word yet as to whether or not the Blacks will be part of the cast, but we are kind of assuming — nay, expecting — they will be. This was announced on Friday and we’re still giddy about it, that’s why we’re winners.

This seems like too much sense that we assumed it would never happen.

Elizabeth Moss and January Jones claim to have restarted smoking again as a result of being on Mad Men, which isn’t all that surprising. If you were actually addicted to smoking, a picture of a banana or some gay porn could probably get you back on the wagon, much less being around take after take of people smoking herbal cigarettes while you’re at work. Either way, it’s a small price to pay to be apart of the series. Before this January Jones was best known for being in American Wedding, which was like the sixth installment of the American Pie franchise. A franchise we loathe of the highest order.

David Simon is not making a Wire movie. Saying, “It would be like dragging a flag through the mud.” Well then, that should put all rumors, speculation and ideas to rest. Particularly the ideas, I have to imagine that David Simon shooting down one of your scripts is akin to Michael Jordan telling you to go out for track and field instead of basketball.

Speaking of David Simon — and the fact that we’re still pretty enamored with what we watched last night — Generation Kill was screened at Camp Pendleton prior to its airing, and for anyone questioning its authenticity, you should know that it was widely received by the several hundred marines in attendance. This instills more anticipation than any review we could ever read, because it is coming from the ground floor.

David Simon is just all over the newswire these days, as his new series about Jazz musicians in New Orleans, Treme, will star Wendell Pierce a New Orleans native and Wire alumnus himself. This news, beyond all else, is just fantastic. Are we wrong to hope that he also has a casual, borderline destructive drinking problem?

And finally, more good news, Martin Scorcese is bringing his talents to HBO for a series about the corruption that plagues/plagued Atlantic City. We live by few rules, but if it involves Scorcese, corruption, crime and legalized gambling then we make a point to see whatever it is.

Back with a Weeds review/recap and some more links tomorrow.

The title of the opening installment to David Simon’s and Ed Burns’ miniseries is actually “Get Some”. Which, as far as I can tell, is the military’s forget about it, in that it can qualify to mean just about anything. So we just went ahead and threw in which part of seven the post was going to cover.

First off, it’s worth mentioning that early reviews told us that in many cases it was difficult to distinguish one character from another. This actually turned out to be relatively true. There’s a number of characters we were able to distinguish for varying reasons. There’s a couple familiar faces with James Ransone (Ziggy Sobotka) playing Corporal Ray Person and Lee Tergeson (Tobias Beecher) playing Evan Wright. Every other actor is virtually unknown so we have to rely on generic and distinguishable physical characteristics for everyone else, and this is where it could have been a problem.

We recognize Godfather because he’s old, and earned his name due to his raspy voice as a result of throat cancer. We can recognize Corporal Trombley because he’s significantly younger looking than his peers and has a little too much blood lust. He reminds us of the kid from Unforgiven, another movie that David Simon has referenced in his past. Rudy Reyes is playing himself, and since he looks like a marine (and a little like an oversized, younger Don Draper), has a really eccentric personality and hair we can pick him out of a lineup. Any and all minorities are still minorities in this unit, so that helps our cause to some extent.

Another reason it might be hard to recognize some of the characters? You hardly ever see their faces.

But everyone in between, meaning every bald-headed, twenty-something white guy we struggled with for sometime. More notably, Lt. Fick and Brad “Iceman” Colbert. Colbert was much more central to part one, and being in the humvee with Wright, Person and Trombley, we knew who he was then. But in the build up to that, when they were all essentially dressed in military garb and there was little assistance with the audience, we were occasionally at a loss. Basically the one everybody went to for answers was Fick, and the one who looked exactly like him was Colbert.

Still, we’ve talked for way too long about the unidentifiable character issues. We really enjoyed what we saw and the lack off audience hand-holding only makes the series better on a second watch. The series seems to be doing everything it can to humanize these people and portraying them honestly, pointing out their enviable traits as well as their flaws, so that the audience identifies with their plight/mission. It really has certain affection for all of these men and honors Evan Wright’s book to the fullest extent.

This is definitely looking to be a fresh take on the Iraq war. Simon utilizes the same themes of institutional failure and inept leadership that he used on The Wire, often leaving the underlings as the ones who suffer most greatly as a result of such erosion. We haven’t seen or even heard about anything remotely this honest and unbiased about the Iraq war, and there have been a number of Hollywood projects dedicated to it. We know Simon is adamantly opposed to the war, but he seems to let his own beliefs take a backseat for the sake of the people he is characterizing and his own professionalism.

As was par for the course on The Wire, the series is peppered with humor so as to alleviate much of the tension to what’s going on. And also, for the honest, realistic, nuanced portrayal of the situation at hand. Ransone plays Cpl. Person like a more reliable and articulate Ziggy. He, in just about every way, was the stand out in the first installment for that reason alone: his humor and his perspective. Other than that, Rudy Reyes claiming he and his wife are moving to San Fransisco when his tour is up because there are no fat people there were the comedic highlights.

But if you’ve watched The Wire, then you know that this is all building to something much greater and potentially tragic. Along with the Battalion we received a glimpse of it last night, as they were ordered to send about sixty Iraqi civilians back to what was most likely the death squads that were killing anyone who surrendered to the Americans at the behest of Saddam.

There wasn’t any explanation as to why this was done, supposedly to supply outnumbered troops with backup. But the situation was complicated and handled in a simplistic manner, leaving everyone at least somewhat perturbed. Especially after they waived off two trucks of who they later found out to be the members of the death squad themselves. Ray Person had one of the more comically apt lines about his commanders, “You know what happens when you leave the Marine Corps? You get your brains back”.

We might be selling it too much to say that we’re now expecting a masterpiece. Despite any confusion between who’s who, we are completely engaged with what’s taking place in front of us. We remember when we first tuned into The Wire, we weren’t entirely sure who was important and who wasn’t, but after three or four episodes everything started to gel into something unlike anything else we’ve ever seen before.

Simon often references the Stanley Kubrick film Paths of Glory as the greatest war drama ever made. In it there is a Daniels, a McNulty, a Rawls and a Burrell. We might not see a breakdown of parallels quite like that, but we can certainly expect to see the military critiqued simultaneously fondly and harshly just like any other institution that he has held to a higher standard.

Some links to end the work week.

More Mad Men news: Reportedly there are life-size images of Don Draper on a train that runs to and from Times Square and Grand Central Station. First off, anyone who would go out of there way to look at artwork of a TV character on a subway cart should probably get a hobby or some other interest before Darwinism gets the better of you.

Secondly, I’m sure the cart will stay in mint condition. Not because it’s on an NYC subway or anything, everyone knows those are havens of model ethical behavior, but because 1.1 million people watch the show every week. We all know what a deep passion high school kids who tag subway carts have for 1960 atmospherics that 1.1 million people watch every week. Naturally they will know exactly what they’re looking at and treat it with the utmost respect.

It’s so authentic they don’t even allow black people on it.

I think at this point it is safe to say that the $25 million marketing campaign was totally worth it. Because while Mad Men is categorized as a current “it” show (translation: something that everyone in inner-circles talks about but no one outside of those circles watches), at least one reporter seems to find everything and everyone involved with the series devoid of personality. I’m all for cynicism. Fuck, this blog thrives off of it. But this reporter seems like the Jay Mariotti of entertainment critics.

Despite previous reports, the Mad Men five season plan is not set in stone. In other words, if AMC or some other larger network throws enough money at me I’ll totally sell out my as of now masterpiece. Obviously I’m kidding. But thanks anyhow Mathew Weiner, for making me look like a dipshit. I like how a report can come about speculating about the future of a series, then a completely contradicting report can come from a different publication but the same source. It looks like whoever was responsible for the the previous report, basically took their interpretation of it an ran wild, instead of asking clarification from a reasonably vague Weiner. Just how drunk are they getting at this press tour?

If you think I’m being too crass, something similar happened with a reported riff between Evan Wright, David Simon and a dispute over writing credits for Generation Kill. It’s a he said-she said betweem Wright and the writer of course, but is there anything valid coming out of this press tour? The whole thing is like a giant hoax. If I was on either side of this tour , the media or the talent, I’d be half expecting an empty room with a nothing but an inflatable clown doll when I showed up to a Q&A.

Also on the HBO front, because nothing ever ends when it should, Ricky Gervais is now saying that Extras might be in line for a return to the airwaves. Not that we would mind, we think the entire series run totaled maybe sixteen episodes as the British are wont to do. Still, this is like Elway returning to the NFL in that it’s the last retired series we would ever expect to see new episodes of. Seinfeld is due for a comeback before Extras.

See you on Monday with a review/recap of the first installment of Generation Kill.