So I got around to watching Over There on Friday night. It was bad. Real bad. As in, it didn't strike me as being realistic in the least bit. The cliches and stereotypes came thick and fast. I'm not sure there was a single part that I thought was well done.
:
Basically the show struck me as Vietnam set in Iraq. One of the Black soldiers is disaffected and smokes a lot of weed. The generals running the war care more about looking good than winning or the welfare of their men. The lieutenant is an idiot. No one wants to be in the military, and all wound up there through some kind of misfortune. Everyone has a nickname and the sergeant screams a lot and acts like he hates all of his soldiers.
:
Even the combat scenes were poorly done. A mosque full of heavily armed insurgents is surrounded by -- get this -- a squad of troops with nothing heavier than a machine gun and no air support. Yeah, right. Then when the troops attack it's in a line abreast rather than staggered formation where they are basically sitting ducks. Then after the mosque seige ends the episode concludes with a truck hitting a mine/IED and the casualties are medevaced -- in keeping with the Vietnam theme -- by a Huey helicopter.
:
Unless I hear that the show undergoes a radical improvement I don't plan on watching any further episodes.
:
Read another review by a Marine stationed in Iraq here.
No comments:
Post a Comment