Sorry but am I the only one that thought that episode…sucked? Like it was straight up bad. Horrible pacing, no wrap up of all the random characters and plot lines they’ve thrown around all season (the tuskegee airmen, Westgates spying, literally all the guys beside like the main 4). (Seriously it makes me so mad that the three redtails got all of 5 seconds of screen time, almost no lines. Literally what was the point of introducing them other than to pretend the show was iNcLuSiVe) Even at the end of BoB and the Pacific you get a much better idea of what happened to all the remaining guys. In this they’re like what happened to DeMarco or Hambone or Brady or (insert character here) we don’t know! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ The concentration camp scene felt shoehorned in compared to how it was done in BoB. Unless that actually happened to Rosie (which i haven’t heard anything about) but it was just like.. ok? It all felt so rushed and emotionless to me. Maybe I’ve just fallen out of love with MoTA but it’s been downhill for me since episode 6 or so.

i already made a little (read: long) post-finale write-up here, where i talk about the use of the tuskegee airmen, l'sandra, and overall editing/pacing issues i felt the show had. but i don't agree with the notion that adding the redtails was in any way insincere or trying to halfass being "iNcLuSiVe", i just think they suffer from this show's obvious time constraints. and to summarize what i wrote in my linked post, there's a limit to what white writers/directors/producers can do when creating a story about black people. there are some stories i'd feel uncomfortable with them telling on their own, truth be told. dee rees wasn't the sole nonwhite director, but she Was the only black one. i think she did her job well given the limitations and i appreciate that they let her direct those episodes, rather than leaving it up to a team of white people trying their best to tell a black story.

the worst i can say about the finale is that it didn't feel like That strong of finale, tho i wouldn't go as far to say it "sucked" or call it "straight up bad". i liked it plenty, it's just the weakest of the hbo war finales imo.

as for the concentration camp scene, artistic license was taken with both shows. unlike what's seen in the BoB, easy company wasn't the first to arrive at kaufering, and there's 0 mention of the all-japanese american 552nd who helped them liberate it). similarly, rosie rosenthal did assist in liberating those camps, though it would've been after the events shown this episode. idk if he saw one in that up-close way seen in this episode, but he could've (i should research this when i have time). plus, it would've felt weird Not having him acknowledge them at all. "shoe-horned" is an odd term to use here imo, as both scenes more-or-less center a jewish character (BoB's liebgott and MotA's rosie). the former show has survivors the characters can help, the latter shows no one left to help. the former has all of easy company there, the latter has rosie there all alone. rosie's scene felt deeply personal in that way. at the end of the day, both scenes are communicating different things. that doesn't make one better than the other when they aren't trying to be identical. (disclaimer, i'm not jewish, so i'd be interesting hearing from the perspective of someone who wrt whether or not they felt it was "shoe-horned")

i can understand if you've disliked the show post-episode 6 (and episode 6 was a very strong episode i'm ngl). eps 7 and 8 were weaker in many ways, even to me, so i get it. everyone's entitled to their own opinion (i'd be a hypocrite saying otherwise). just understand that this blog is run by someone who overall enjoys this show despite its flaws! basically, i encourage you to take this energy and make your own posts.

HI LIZ plz may I trouble you to share any thoughts at all about mota 🎤

OF COURSE

ok so we're only a couple eps in but i am already <333 about so many of the characters. bucky and crosby especially my beloveds. i really love all the comparisons being drawn between bucky/nix buck/winters and crosby/webster but i also love how the mota boys are distinctly their own characters. i don't want to say they're cocky and full of themselves because like... some of the easy boys are too lmao. but it's a very different dynamic between the characters than i'm used to seeing in the other hbo war shows and i am living for it

on that note i was a bit wary about most of our main charas being officers but after 2 eps i don't mind a bit! honestly sometimes it's hard to tell rank with all their goddamn fleece lmao but i love how despite being a literal honest to god major bucky is still so chaotic. bless him. the singing scene took me out, and the bike race when they crashed and he and buck were like pulling at each other's clothes to try and get in the lead before the air raid siren went off..... cinema.

can't believe they called out the heavy petting <3 the raf boys are just like me fr <3

crosby is such a silly goose thank you for the silly goose representation. he really works as the narrator and i love him bc he is genuinely so relatable, my overthinking bestie. also him still being starry eyed over his wife signing her name mrs jean crosby oh my word.......... it's giving harry dragging his reserve chute halfway around europe for kitty's wedding dress <333

i also really love the variety of characters/roles in the war they're showing! there's obviously more scope to do that than in bob but also it's a different television landscape and i am so excited to see ncuti on my screen <3 i hope we get a lot more of lemmons too! i can't remember who made the post but someone compared him to doc roe and i was like OH that's why i liked him so much uh huh uh huh. so true. also NINETEEN YEARS OLD?

i had a hard time adjusting to austin butler in ep 1 but he really pulled through in ep 2 for me and i'm very keen to see where he takes the character! and i have LOVED callum turner since channel 4's glue (which i watched a fucking decade ago but still think about bc of how powerful it was and he was in it) and he is absolutely killing bucky. it's giving nix without impulse control. honestly all the cast are amazing, the only one i really struggle with still is isabel may as buck's gf......... i literally cannot see her as anyone but katie from alexa and katie, so in my mind she's literally still a 15 year old girl. but who knows, she could win me over in the future

the score and title sequence are so good too!!! the pacific still has my absolute fav opening titles and band is second but even though the score is obviously new it still feels a bit... nostalgic, i guess? similar vibes to the other shows and i am HERE for the way it makes me feel <3

there's like so much more but that's all i can put into words rn. cannot WAIT for the rest!!!!!!!!!!!!!!