Band of Brothers: Episode 2, Day of Days (2001) - TV Episode Review

In the second episode of Band of Brothers, Day of Days, we are shown what Easy Company went through when they did their first jump into Normandy on June 6th. The whole episode is well done from beginning to end. There are a few bits that were slow but if it weren't for them it would have been wall to wall shooting and it wasn't always like that.

All of the actors that had a part in this episode did a phenomenal job portraying their respective characters.

Since I already shared how well I liked Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, and all the others job in creating this exceptional series, I won't do so again. You'll just have to read the previous episodes review. What I will do is give you the scenes I liked over all the rest.

The first scene I liked was when Lieutenant Winters (Damian Lewis) hit the ground and realized he didn't have his weapon or some of his other equipment. Another paratrooper, Private John Hall (Andrew Scott), hits the ground near him. After introducing themselves to each other they realize that either one or both of them are in the wrong landing zone. Later they meet up with Carwood Lipton (Donnie Wahlberg) and two paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne, further displaying that the paratroopers of several outfits are in the wrong landing zone.

Several minutes later, at least in the episode, Winters, Hall and Lipton have picked up Don Malarkey (Scott Grimes), Bill Guarnere (Frank John Hughes) and a few others. On their way to the rallying point the group comes across several German soldiers. Winters gives the order to wait for his command to fire, Guarnere disregards this order and fires when he wants to. He does this because before the jump he gets news that his brother had been killed at Monte Casino in Italy and he wants revenge.

The third scene I like is when Winters meets up with Buck Compton (Neal McDonough) at the rallying point and receives orders from Lt. Colonel Sink (Dale Dye) to take out a nest of German 105 heavy guns at Brécourt, a nearby French estate. The guns are aimed directly at Causeway #1 at Utah Beach and are inflicting heavy casualties. Winters gathers two squads, one led by himself, the other by Compton. The Battle of Brécourt Manor follows and Winters proves himself an excellent tactician, using a small force to take out a larger one in a heavily fortified position. During the fight, Popeye Wynn (Nicholas Aaron) is wounded and is forced to leave the battle. Winters himself destroys three of the guns, using TNT and German "potato masher" grenades on the guns' barrels. Private Hall is killed in the trenches by a booby trap. Several of the men prove their valor in battle and Winters plans to recommend them for commendations. Lt. Speirs (Matthew Settle) takes out the fourth gun himself and the platoon retreats.

I'm gonna give you a fourth favorite scene. It's a small scene but I think it is a very important scene. Right before they arrive at the rallying point, they come across several captured German officers, one of whom is part of the "volksdeutsche" effort; German-Americans who returned to their ancestral homeland to join the German army. Malarkey himself is quite astonished that the man he meets is from his home state of Oregon. After Malarkey rejoins his company, he sees 1st Lt. Speirs of D company pass by. Malarkey hears heavy gunfire as Speirs (apparently) executes the captured German soldiers.

The episode gets 10 stars out of 10. The story is very well portrayed. The acting is great and the action is awesome.

Band of Brothers: Episode 1, Currahee (2001) - TV Episode Review

Band of Brothers is one of those mini-series that will be watched for years to come. The whole series was wonderfully done. Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks and the rest of the Producers along with HBO created one of the most realistic WWII television shows, ever. If you think about it, though, if it weren't for Stephen E. Ambrose writing the book that would eventually become the series, we wouldn't have this series to watch.

Not only did they do a phenomenal job creating this series but the casting of each of the characters was perfect. David Schwimmer as Herbert M. Sobel was great. After seeing Scwimmer as Ross Gellar for 10 years on Friends as the older brother of Monica Gellar (Courtney Cox) who was a nice guy, sort of bumbling, it was a nice change to see him be an asshole.

The best part of this series is that at the beginning, or end as in the case of the last episode, the men the characters of this series are based off of are presented to the audience. Not until the final episode, however, does the audience know who each man is, but getting to see these men in later life is a remarkable addition to the series. Afterall, why shouldn't they be a part of the series that tell the story of their experiences in WWII.

Currahee is the first episode of The Band of Brothers series. The episode starts out with Easy Company waiting to head to France from England to begin their part of Operation D-Day. In this episode we meet the many different characters, well most of them anyway. The audience learns that Currahee is the mountain that Easy Company, part of the 506th Infantry, trained. Currahee is also the motto by which these men follow, a Cherokee word meaning "stand alone".

So as it has become customary for me to describe my favorite scenes I will do so now.

The first scene I liked is when Sobel has Easy Company run up Currahee after eating spaghetti for lunch. Many of the soldiers throw up along the way, but they continue to run up Currahee. As they do so, and the fact that none of his men fall out, Sobel realizes that they are running up Currahee to spite him.

The different training scenes are my second favorite scenes. The two best scenes are those that depict Sobel screwing up. The first scene is when the company is in textbook position for an ambush, Lt. Winters (Damian Lewis) pints out this fact and suggests staying in position, Sobel ignores the suggestion and has the company move out... right into an ambush. The second scene depicting Sobel's incompetence is when he, and some of his men, are on maneuvers and he becomes lost. It is the way he is spurred into action that is the best part. Not too long after this scene is when several of the non-commissioned officers of Easy Company attempt "mutiny" by refusing to follow Sobel into combat.

The last scene I like is when Joe Toye (Kirk Acevedo) lists off all the equipment that he has to carry. "Three day supply of K-rations, chocolate bars, Charms candy, powdered coffee, sugar, matches, compass, bayonet, entrenching tool, ammunition, gas mask, musette bag with ammo, my weapon, my .45, canteen, two cartons of smokes, Hawkins mine, two grenades, smoke grenade, Gammon grenade, TNT, THIS bullshit, and a pair of nasty skivvies!" I like the fact that he is complaining about how much he is carrying, but either forgets of doesn't care that everyone else has the same or similar amount of equipment.

I give this episode 9 stars out of 10. There was no fighting in this episode, just training. For the most part it was still a pretty good episode.