# The Pacific - 5/16 (spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 17, 2010, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pacific-5-16-spoilers/539748 "2010-05-17T11:57:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pacific-5-16-spoilers/539748/21 "2010-05-18T22:59:02Z")
> [@JerseyMarine2092](#): > > It was Sledge’s wive. Are you sure? I watched the OnDemand bios of various guys from the show and it has Sledge’s wife - I don’t think that’s her. ---
**Author:** ![Pedro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/919ad9/32.png) [@Pedro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pedro)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pacific-5-16-spoilers/539748/22 "2010-05-18T23:45:44Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Here’s a wiki quote: Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pacific-5-16-spoilers/539748/23 "2010-05-19T00:33:46Z")
I really wanted to like this, I just couldn’t connect. During the bios, I had no idea who most of those people were, or where they died. Basically other than Sledge, Leckie, and Sledge’s Friend, they were all just generic muddy miserable marines. And Snafu, who was so ultra-creepy I fully expected him to either murder everyone in their sleep or rape Sledge one dark and lonely night. I ended the show very surprised that neither of these happened. Basilone must have had the most obvious and expected death in the history of warfare. I know it actually _happened_ that way. I just wish there was some way they could have avoided making his entire life an incredibly overdone war movie cliche. I dunno. The whole thing just left me cold. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pacific-5-16-spoilers/539748/24 "2010-05-19T01:43:52Z")
I liked it, but to some extent I agree with your critcicisms. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pacific-5-16-spoilers/539748/25 "2010-05-19T13:19:19Z")
> [@interface2x](#): > > Are you sure? I watched the OnDemand bios of various guys from the show and it has Sledge’s wife - I don’t think that’s her. By the way, someone linked to a picture on IMDB - that wasn’t Sledge’s wife, that was Leckie’s wife, Vera, and one of his daughters. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2010, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pacific-5-16-spoilers/539748/26 "2010-05-19T15:10:15Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I don’t know the statistics, but I’m sure that far more soldiers have been killed/wounded by other-than-head wounds and can see where a helmet would become less of a concern in situations other than when in one’s foxhole. IIRC, most casualties are caused by artillery. > [@Hello Again](#): > > I really wanted to like this, I just couldn’t connect. During the bios, I had no idea who most of those people were, or where they died. Basically other than Sledge, Leckie, and Sledge’s Friend, they were all just generic muddy miserable marines. And Snafu, who was so ultra-creepy I fully expected him to either murder everyone in their sleep or rape Sledge one dark and lonely night. I ended the show very surprised that neither of these happened. If found it touching when Snafu stopped Sledge from mining for Jap gold. Mostly I agree with you though. I felt Band of Brothers had more identifyable characters. And because it was just the one company, it seemed like a more cohesive story. The Pacific just felt like episode after episode of generic Marines and Japs slaughtering each other on barren rocky/muddy volcanic islands. At least the soldiers in the European theater got to fight in pretty European countryside. ---
**Author:** ![rowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@rowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowe)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pacific-5-16-spoilers/539748/27 "2010-05-21T19:40:21Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > I really wanted to like this, I just couldn’t connect. During the bios, I had no idea who most of those people were, or where they died. Basically other than Sledge, Leckie, and Sledge’s Friend, they were all just generic muddy miserable marines. And Snafu, who was so ultra-creepy I fully expected him to either murder everyone in their sleep or rape Sledge one dark and lonely night. I ended the show very surprised that neither of these happened. > > Basilone must have had the most obvious and expected death in the history of warfare. I know it actually _happened_ that way. I just wish there was some way they could have avoided making his entire life an incredibly overdone war movie cliche. > > I dunno. The whole thing just left me cold. And they didn’t even portray Basilone’s death remotely accurately. That made no sense to me - why change it?? ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2010, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pacific-5-16-spoilers/539748/28 "2010-05-21T22:32:50Z")
I suppose since the Leckie and Sledge books are so good that’s why they focused on more than 1 group rather than just Easy company in BOB. If they had a good book on 1 unit they could have done that story ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pacific-5-16-spoilers/539748/29 "2010-05-24T13:21:48Z")
> [@rowe](#): > > And they didn’t even portray Basilone’s death remotely accurately. That made no sense to me - why change it?? From the writer, Bruce McKenna: > [@](#): > > As for Basilone’s death. I’ve interviewed dozens of guys who claim they saw him die…and all of them are suspect as witnesses. We relied on the offical medical report – unseen by anyone until Hugh Ambrose dug it out of the archives. It clearly states that he died from GUNSHOT WOUNDS. So that’s why we went with bullets instead of mortars. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pacific-5-16-spoilers/539748/30 "2010-05-24T14:34:45Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > Basilone must have had the most obvious and expected death in the history of warfare. I know it actually _happened_ that way. I just wish there was some way they could have avoided making his entire life an incredibly overdone war movie cliche. Basilone’s life is where we GET a lot of our WWII cliches. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pacific-5-16-spoilers/539748/31 "2010-05-24T14:44:10Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > Basilone’s life is where we GET a lot of our WWII cliches. Right but you can’t ignore the cultural accumulation of that which has gone before. You can’t just repeat the narrative in the exact same way it has happened a million times before, and expect an emotional impact. You have to find a new way to tell the story, otherwise it descends into unintended satire of itself because the audience cannot help but overlay the extreme cheese of the imitators on top of the original. Which “The Pacific” did, in my opinion w/r/t Basilone. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pacific-5-16-spoilers/539748/32 "2010-05-25T00:09:11Z")
Out of curiosity, what could they do to tell his story in a “new way” without changing the facts of his story, thus not only changing history but also pissing off all the people who want to see his real story on-screen? Aside from slightly short-changing him on screen time, I thought they did his story relatively well and treated his character and his situation with a great amount of respect. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2010, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pacific-5-16-spoilers/539748/33 "2010-05-25T11:34:26Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > Right but you can’t ignore the cultural accumulation of that which has gone before. You can’t just repeat the narrative in the exact same way it has happened a million times before, and expect an emotional impact. You have to find a new way to tell the story, otherwise it descends into unintended satire of itself because the audience cannot help but overlay the extreme cheese of the imitators on top of the original. Which “The Pacific” did, in my opinion w/r/t Basilone. This is similar to my complaint about Sledge’s nickname “Sledgehammer”, which to a modern sensisbility is awkward and clunky. Today it would be just “Hammer.” While I don’t share your view of the way they handled Basilone, I feel your pain. I think consciously avoiding this kind of pitfall was one of the key things that made Deadwood so compelling. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pacific-5-16-spoilers/539748/34 "2010-05-26T13:42:40Z")
I looked forward to it with a lot of anticipation but found it incredibly disappointing. I tried and I tried but could never watch a whole episode and gave up in the end. I found it boring and the characters uninteresting, I got so that I couldn’t careless what happened to them. But B.oB.s I can watch over and over again. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2011, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pacific-5-16-spoilers/539748/35 "2011-04-21T03:48:12Z")
> [@eenerms](#): > > The wife and daughter who spoke of the nightmares. Who were they talking about? I missed it. > [@interface2x](#): > > They never said, which is kind of annoying. There were also at least two older guys that talked at the beginning of the episodes that were never identified. One was Bill Leyden, who died in 2008, but I still don’t know who the other guy I’m thinking of was. > [@JerseyMarine2092](#): > > It was Sledge’s wive. > [@interface2x](#): > > By the way, someone linked to a picture on IMDB - that wasn’t Sledge’s wife, that was Leckie’s wife, Vera, and one of his daughters. We just finished watching the series on DVD and are now into the Special Features. When we saw the wife and daughter at the beginning of the final episode, then watched the final episode, we too thought it must be Sledge’s family. But no, they are interviewed more extensively in the Special Features, and it is indeed Leckie. Seems he died of Alzheimer’s, and it’s really sad that while he ended up forgetting his family completely, he never forgot fighting the Japanese. Toward the end, he kept thinking the Japanese were attacking the house. Looking up threads on _The Pacific_ because we enjoyed this series immensely and only now watched it. Like many, I only had vague notions of the Pacific battles and knew just the big names like Guadalcanal. I see there’s a poll in another thread about preference between this and _Band of Brothers_, which we plan to watch in the near future. I will vote in that when the time comes. In that poll, almost everyone like _BoB_ better, so we’re looking forward to it. The wife is fascinated with stuff like this, because Thailand played so little a role in the war, and no one here is taught very much about it. Visiting the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor while we were students deeply moved her. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pacific-5-16-spoilers/539748.md?page=1)