Heavy Artillery

Oh, yay! I'm glad you managed to catch the episode!!

I was curious about the fact that it seemed to have an active fandom despite being almost 20 years old now, and is a prestige show based on actual wartime events.

While it was the train scene in this episode in particular that originally got me interested enough to look—thank you Tumblr for sharing it—I will absolutely admit to being baffled to find as active a fandom as there is based on exactly these criteria.

And speaking of that, I was puzzled by why the flashback structure was used for Ep 1, since it seemed to me that it could just as easily be told in a more linear fashion and really gained nothing from jumping around. In fact, I thought it rather decreased tension because you know that Dick Winters is going to be the central character because he's there in England on the eve of the invasion. Especially since the central clash in Ep 1 is between Dick as a leader and Captain Sobel as a detriment to morale, knowing that he's still with the company later on detracts from our concern that Sobel will head up the group. We also don't wonder as much if a lot of the Company ends up dropping out.

This is an excellent point and I completely agree. I'm not a big fan of flashbacks unless they're used to do something really cool or unusual or employed particularly well. (One of my personal favorites is in the first season of True Detective, which I won't go into to much, but suffice to say it was and absolutely chefkissingfingers.gif use of the trope.)

The decreased tension is definitely a bit of a bummer. If Hanks et. al. hadn't leaned into the flashback mechanic there would likely have been more room to introduce the "background" (by which I mean, non-Winters) characters, too, and build up a bit of emotional attachment and, exactly as you said, concern that they may not make it through. For a piece of media with limited room in which to tell a fairly comprehensive ensemble story, I agree that it maybe wasn't the best choice.

I think it could have used a bit more with the wider Company, which is another reason why I think it would have been better to tell the story linearly since it makes it easier to keep track of people as there is a large cast.

Hear hear, I say!

There's definitely a sense of relief that the challenges to Sobel end up paying off, even if the Airborne has to CIA in getting him back into recruit training.

I was so thrilled when they managed to oust Sobel, even though it took some serious action. I'll admit, I felt a little bad for him, too. Schwimmer did a really excellent job of portraying a man who probably did care in his own deeply bizarre way—about his own reputation and capability if nothing else—and just couldn't hold up under the pressure of preparing to keep men alive in war.

The end scene is very humbling, as well, and does a pretty decent job of conveying the enormity of the invasion on the whole. A few of us were chatting in the Discord about how surprisingly well the effects in this series have held up over time, so far, too.