BAND OF BROTHERS Episode 1 Breakdown & Ending Explained

Band of Brothers is widely considered one of the best TV shows ever made in fact it's Fourth on the alltime list but if you remove the second and third ones which are documentaries so we won't count those that makes it the second best TV show ever and after watching it you truly do understand why with only 10 episodes released over 20 years ago this show is firmly cemented at the top and it will most likely always be up there focusing on easy company within the US Army 101st Airborne Division this first episode was focused on their training which started 2 years prior to their first mission when they dropped in Normandy touching on seven different dates in this episode over the course of those 2 years this is the first of the 10 episode breakdowns that I'm going to be releasing on the channel which will be focused on Band of Brothers so I won't hold back any longer let's jump into the first episode of The Incredible show which is Band of Brothers just to let you know this video will contain spoilers from the show like most of the episodes in the show it started off with veterans talking about their experience there was Joseph lilski Paul Rogers bill mayard Rod stroll and ol mclung these moments in the show were often some of the more emotional moments because for a brief few minutes out of the 1hour journey that we go on we get a real insight into what was going on through the words of the people that truly lived through it it also acts as a reminder that what we're about to watch actually happened in reality and how real human beings managed to survive the error Nightmare and life and death situations that they were in the real heroes get shown on screen here the words that were spoken at the start of this episode during the interviews gave us an insight into the mindset that people had at the time when being asked to volunteer to go off to war Bill gave an Insight in his interview into what initially made some people choose the Airborne Division as at the time it was a division that was relatively unheard of and also later on in the episode we heard Colonel sink mention how parachute military was a Brand New Concept in American military history so that extra $50 that people got for choosing the Airborne Division is probably something that enticed more people to sign up to that arm we even heard from Rod that some people who were considered forf that volunteered ended things for themselves in the small town that they came from because they couldn't go 4f is where a person is considered physically psychologically or morally unfit for military duty we also heard Elma clung say how they didn't do what they did for medals or recognition but they just did it because that's what had to be done showing the duty that some men felt in the situation when they were called upon obviously at this point in the show we didn't know what they specifically went through but as I said these interviews showed us the true heroes gave them a voice and allowed us to hear directly from them it's not often you see something like this in a show more specifically in a dramatic piece but both the interviews and the drama work so well together and they each hold complimentary value and allow each section to hit with more impact June the 4th 1944 the first part of the episode that we saw was set in Upper tree England and it's actually where the episode ends as well despite kicking us back 2 years all we really saw in this moment was the group getting ready to go on their mission and preparing for their first jump however it was called off due to weather conditions it was too rainy and foggy where they needed to land which was in Normandy so the men were put on a 24-hour standown it immediately cut to the men watching a film inside the cinema room which was onside and you could really tell the difference in mindset that a lot of the individuals had some looked like they were mentally ready to go up into the air and jump that afternoon and now that they were in a completely different environment they couldn't shake the mindset that they'd gotten themselves into some were engrossed in the film almost happy to not be doing the jump and others were sitting there looking like they were just completely numb it really made you realize how different circumstances can change outcomes and how all of those men were supposed to be landing in France at that point but instead they were sitting around watching a film men would have died that night had it not been cancelled but instead they got to live another day and maybe some other men died instead that wouldn't have done so it showed how small decisions make a big difference and alter not only the mindset of the paratroopers but also the fact if they live or die during this moment we were also first introduced to Lieutenant Winters and Lewis Nixon who were a partnership that we go on to see a lot throughout the season they both had slightly different mindsets and approaches during the episode winter seemed like a man who knew what he was getting himself into and knew the risk that his life would be put in whereas Nix was somebody who had optimism and wore it out there for example when he said we'll go to Chicago I'll Take You There It showed us that he was already thinking of what they'll do once they're back home before they've even gone on a mission whereas winter simply responded by saying we'll see showing that he didn't want to think too far ahead it was also in this moment where we were then LED on to the person that this episode was kind of specifically focused on Herbert soall as he was from Chicago go from here we went back 2 years earlier to Camp tcoa where soble was the captain of easy company and we saw that from the off he had extremely strict methods of training in order to get the best out of the men that were in front of him he would pick up on the smallest and finest of details such as rust on blades dirt being present where it shouldn't be and creases in trousers and if these things were found he'd punish the men for it this is something that caused hatred and distaste amongst the men towards him and that was present in the episode this is something that was Al so the case in real life too Herbert soble caused divided opinions amongst the men that he trained like in the episode he was strict a disciplinarian and it caused men not to respect him something which is vital in the military and ultimately contributed to what we saw later on in the episode where he was reassigned to command the Airborne School in chilon folad however despite that soel is praised and credited with being the person who made easy company tough and Richard Winters even said that easy company's discipline and teamwork began with Captain in soble at Camp tcoa so his foundations is what Made Easy Company what it was but there was just a point where he could guide them no longer during the episode in Camp tooa we saw the levels of his discipline where he'd tell them to not help each other if they were struggling whilst going up Ki and he also made sure that easy company were the only company that were walking 12 miles on a Friday night with a full pack in the pitch black showing that he demanded high standards and wanted to prepare the men for war to the best of his ability he said that he wanted easy to be the first and finest company that there was and by seeing all of these extreme methods and strict treatments and punishments it made sense as to why he was doing it during this time period though we got the first Glimpse that soall might not have been the best man in the role when it came to actually leading these men into war for example there was a scene where they were going up in the air to practice jumping and there was a slight look of fear in his eyes he wasn't reluctant to jump but considering he was the captain he looked more nervous than what many of the other men did this was the show letting us know that he may have been good in training and inflicting the right rules and practices to make a great paratrooper but maybe he just wasn't the best Captain when on the battlefield himself following this section we then entered the next time period which was June 23rd 1943 at Camp Mall it felt like this moment mainly occurred to support the idea that soble was losing the respect of his men and wasn't good on the field they were doing a simulated practice and it led them to the wrong position they knew the location of the enemy and Winters who was alongside him suggested that they stay put until the enemy got closer and then launch an attack but soble didn't agree and wanted to just get them an order that he commanded something which had no tactical thought at all he just pointed and said get them this led to them being jumped in the field and him losing the practice as 95% of his men would have been killed there was a conversation that took place after this where we heard a member of fey company say he's got no chance either the Germans will get him or we will this showed that he had no no respect from his men left and they didn't trust him to lead them into battle because they felt that he'd get them all killed this was something which was also supported in the next section on September the 6th 1943 when they were at the Brooklyn Naval Shipyard G said in combat the only person you can trust is yourself and the fellow next to you and then somebody said well if I'm next to sober in combat I'm moving down the line to what halig girl or wies this was a moment that showed us that Winters was garnering respect amongst the men where soble wasn't something which contributed to soil's own downfall in the position that he was in Winters was trusted and trust is something that's vital when you're going to walk into territory where you're going to be getting fired at on the outside of the ship the men were on the edge looking over at the Statue of Liberty this was a moment that I thought was quite powerful I thought this for a couple of different reasons the first is that this was the last time that these men were going to be on home soil so it was almost like they were getting a look at Lady Liberty for the last time and the other reason is because of what the Statue of Liberty stands for it's the universal symbol of freedom and that's the very thing that those boys were going to be heading over to Europe to fight for after this we were then at the next time period of September the 18th 1943 this was in alborn England and it was where there was another occasion of sober letting his men down when on the field it led them to the wrong location this was a mission where different teams needed to meet up for a synchronized plan where they'd capture somebody however soble LED them to the wrong field which meant that they were behind schedule it was Winters who arrived at the location on time showed initiative improvised on the plan at the tea Junction and captured the person who was part of the training exercise this was all done and then soble arrived late and looked a bit like a fool his men were mocking him and he was also made to look a fool because he cut a fence which caused cows to go loose showing that he wasn't competent enough to carry on in his position but it was when soble punished Winters for not carrying out one of his duties which felt like it was only really dumb because there was a disliking between them rather than Winters not doing the task where Winters then decided that he wanted to appeal it with a trial by Court Marshal something which caused a distraction amongst the company as well as that many of the men had reached a point where they were going to resign their ranks in protest because they refused to follow soble into combat they'd rather face the consequences than have him lead them over the line it almost felt like when Winters signed the paper to appeal the decision the look on sobel's face was one of fear like he knew something was going to go wrong similar to how it was when he was on the plane before he jumped because he knew that he didn't need to punish Winters for feeling to inspect the latrine and it almost caused that problem himself this prompted Colonel sing to reassign soel and promoted him to Commander School in Chilton folad thus meaning he was no longer leading Easy Company something that becomes a common theme in the show as many people lose easy company over the years and it takes time to find the right CEO even when he was reassigned Colonel sink mentioned how soble fielded one of the finest company of soldiers that he'd ever seen and in real life to this day that's something that's part of his legacy he made would have been the man that was going to lead them on the battlefield and be the one that they'd follow but he instilled the foundations and core values of how to be the best power trooper that they could possibly be the next time period that we were in was May the 31st 1944 in Upper tree England the same place where the whole episode started showing that we were almost at the night of the postponed jump there was a moment where Winters went to Lieutenant Mian and said on the last training jump I had a compass when he entered the tent I'm presuming that this was a phrase that was almost like a password which allowed them to verify the identity of each other and begin sharing the plans on the mission as from there they began to work out the jump that was going to be taking place in Normandy and how they planned on taking the town of Katen during this time period as well we heard the announcement where all of the paratroopers were being reminded to sign the life insurance forms which meant that their family would be able to get $10,000 if they died this was where it all became real and all of the training that they went through was something which was what they had to fall back on in order to not end up dead it was also at this this point in the episode where we found out that Bill's brother had died moments before he was supposed to jump showing us again that there were real world consequences to what they were about to do this wasn't a training simulation anymore the final time period that we were in was on the day of the jump which was June the 5th 1944 one day after the 24-hour standown that was at the beginning the footage that was being shown to us was almost like how you see soldiers during this time in archival footage them standing there being filmed by a handheld camera capturing every moment moment I thought that was a nice touch and something which not only felt appropriate but it changed the style at the right moment compared to how we'd spent the previous parts of the episode the final part of the episode was pretty quiet and there wasn't much dialogue we just saw the men getting in the right mindset and preparing to go on their mission where they' be jumping out over France there were nerves that were there and the close-ups to their faces was telling of that many of these men were stepping foot on land for the last time and it's rather haunting when you know that that's the case seeing the sheer amount of of planes that were up there in the air as the episode faded out it highlighted how serious this was for the characters now the two years that we followed them in this opening episode had all been leading to this moment and with it concluding right at the point when they took off and were in the air it meant that episode 2 was where we were going to see the mission actually taking place my review of the episode I think the first episode of Band of Brothers was so perfectly crafted by going back in time by 2 years and seeing how easy company grew together as one and the harsh training that they went through with soble it allowed us to learn about and connect with all of the characters at a real natural pace one thing that shocked me a lot when watching this was the sheer amount of famous actors that they got into this first episode I know they were probably not the household names that they are now back then but there must have been some good talent scouts when it came to recruiting actors for roles in the show having the episode centered around soble was a good way to have it I thought that David Schwimmer played the role so well I've not seen him in much but he was easily such a good cast in for the role the harsh Relentless and unforgiving attitude that he had came across the screen and you could almost understand why the men were so frustrated by the way that he was treating them having Winter's getting a main focus in the episode as well meant that we saw the opposite of soble on screen at the same time a man that they trusted and respected and felt comfortable leading them into battle it showed just how much they trusted Winters with their lives something that's probably the highest compliment you can give somebody the score is something that I feel also has to be spoken about to as I said the final part of the episode didn't have much dialogue in it and it really allowed the score to shine it captured the emotions so well it felt patriotic it felt Brave and it felt inspiring I thought having the message from Eisenhower appearing at the end in a way just like how we had the veterans being interviewed at the start it meant that we were also reminded that these were real people that actually did this got on a plane and did the jump at Normandy so whilst we're watching it in the form of entertainment these are true stories of what happened it's a brilliant first episode of a show and it did everything right to draw Us in and connect with a handful of characters that we got introduced to throughout the 10 episode run it was perfect just perfect so there you have it my breakdown and review of Band of Brothers episode 1 if you want to see all of the videos that I'll be doing on Band of Brothers then there'll be a playlist in the top corner and it will also be on the main page of my YouTube channel I'm also currently covering masters of the air and that's also in both of those places too my episode 2 breakdown of Band of Brothers will be out towards the end of the week so be sure to keep your eye out for it thanks for tuning into the video I really do appreciate it please let me know if you like this style of content covering older more classic TV shows and I'll see you in the next one

Channel: BrainPilot

Views: 158,628

Keywords: Band Of Brothers, Band Of Brothers HBO, Band Of Brothers Episode 1, Band Of Brothers Episode 1 Breakdown, Band Of Brothers Episode 1 Ending, Band Of Brothers Reaction, Band Of Brothers Breakdown, Band Of Brothers Ending Explained, Band Of Brothers Episode 1 Reaction, Band Of Brothers Episode 1 Review, Band Of Brothers Episode 1 Ending Explained, Band Of Brothers Explained, Band Of Brothers Ending, Band Of Brothers Episode 1 Recap, Band Of Brothers Episode 1 Currahee

Id: EFADmnGiQIs

Length: 15min 44sec (944 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 26 2024