John Basilone, both from a character perspective and from an audience perspective, finally snapped out of his funk in this week’s installment of The Pacific. Not only does he finally leave the war bonds tour behind him, he gets a posting where he can help shape the men that will win his war. Oh, yeah, and there’s the whole getting hitched thing; can’t beat that with a stick either.
Most people will point to his meeting his wife-to-be Lena that helped Basilone change directions, and while she certainly played a big part of it, it was finally finding real purpose after Guadalcanal that did the trick. Basilone was born to lead men, and the enthusiasm that he showed for his time instructing at Camp Pendleton exemplifies that. As much of a Big Damn Hero that he was, I wonder how effective he would have been staying Stateside to become a more permanent instructor. As much sense as that would make, though, that’s not what heroes do.
I don’t mean to discount Sgt. Lena Riggi, though. She was, in every way, a perfect match for Basilone. They were both Italian and seemingly raised in similar households, but the bigger connection would be that she buy into the myth that seemingly followed him around. Put in a more direct way, she didn’t take any of his crap. He failed, miserably, in his first several attempts to court her, and when it finally happened, it was on her terms. You’ve got to love that, eh? The wedding and honeymoon were portrayed so bittersweet on screen, I felt pretty stupid for not seeing the writing on the wall.
Just when I think I’ve seen the most brutal battle scene imaginable, The Pacific serves up something even more vicious. The landing at Iwo Jima was incredible to watch, especially seeing Basilone’s heroism on display again. He was a man’s man, the type of Marine, husband, brother, and son anyone would be proud to have. All of which serves, obviously, to make his death all the more tragic. He found himself, got married, and then opted to go back to war, only then to pay that most final of sacrifices. Tom Hanks was, most assuredly, all kinds of right.
Notes & Quotes
Clacked by Ivey West 
on May 02, 2010 @ 23:44 EST5EDT
For me, by far, the best episode of Pacific. Interesting that Basilone became so much more remarkable after he came home and got his head right. He was so likeable in this episode. I have to keep reminding myself he was a real person. Subject to all the available flaws like the rest of us. It’s difficult to put into words, but I’m glad he was able to find his purpose and love before dying.
I was kinda thinking he might get a “happily ever after” too. Very sad.
*POST AUTHOR*
Yeah, it sucked. Like I said, I should have seen it coming, the way the whole episode was structured. I wish that they’d focused on this type of story the whole way, instead of long shots of Sledge looking at random stuff.
I saw the writing on the wall, but even so was still disappointed to see it play out. Not disappointed in the broad sense, but in thinking that so many men that fought in WWII made the same sacrifices. Its just great that we get to see the stories of these men, as we did in Band of Brothers.
Its amazing how much our sense of country and courage have changed in what is really barely two lifetimes.