Having seen Band of Brothers a million times before this, I would have to say I was very much into it from the beginning. Four episodes afterwards, I think I should have listened carefully to what Tom Hanks, one of the show's producers (of both mini-series) said. The Pacific is nothing like Band of Brothers. It's darker and the story lines are so much sadder, that I feel there's no redeeming value or something.
If the Veterans in Europe experienced hell and nightmare at the hands of the Germans, these Marines fighting the Japanese in the Pacific had it so much worse. The show made sure to let me see all that. I couldn't feel good after watching an episode. It was just sad.
Most of the heroes I would have hoped to care for? They all die in the battle. And the ones that lived, albeit emotionally or physically bearing the scars of the war, had their story lines so incoherently weaved together. With the constant flow of new characters, it was just hard to keep up and be invested on them. I still don't know most of the characters names, even now that it's over.
I'd watch this for a second and perhaps a third time though. It's history. And we can all learn something from it. Such as how pointless is war.
