Grid Effect

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.