As the most high-profile drama of this spring, "War in the Pacific" immediately became a hot topic of discussion as soon as it debuted, especially the praise of the critics and the disagreement of the audience, which also cast a layer on the prospects of the miniseries shadow.
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"With an investment of 223 million, is HBO going to waste this time?"
This special feature from "US Weekly", although a bit alarmist, does indeed reflect the main remarks after the premiere of the series. Under the crazy praise of "Band of Brothers", "Pacific War" is under enormous pressure and seems to be struggling. A layer of fog. What's worse is that now there is no turning back, and no matter what, this show that has already started must go on.
Every week, the broadcast of "War in the Pacific" has become the focus of attention. Although the ratings have dropped, the number of viewers who insist on waiting for the premiere has decreased significantly, and more people have chosen to record and broadcast, or wait for the DVD; but the Yahoo community, IMDB, etc. The upsurge of discussion did not drop but rose. The heated discussion continued to heat up with the broadcast of the episode, and the controversy became more and more serious.
Especially in the broadcast of the first three episodes, the criticism index has risen from wave to wave, and the disappointment, anger, disgust, and accusation of the "Pacific War" have become more and more.
The story lines focused on Robert Letch and John Basilone gradually unfolded, and the plot and ideas revealed the whole picture, but they failed to impress the audience. The audience began to lose patience gradually, the weak core idea, the dispersion of the main plot, and the repetition of war scenes. The whole drama seems to lack a cohesion and the spirit of "Band of Brothers", which caused netizens to lose. Their strong backlash - how high the expectations were before the broadcast, how turbulent the anger at this time.
The controversy over Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg on the Internet is gradually getting out of control, and some people even sarcastically said, "It took twice the cost to shoot a series of less than half the quality of the previous work. , HBO really lost a lot this time."
This trend is reflected in the IMDB score. The original score of 7.7 was a big disappointment, but now it continues to decline. After the third episode was broadcast, the score fell to a trough of 7.3. "Poor review" is no longer enough to describe the mood of the audience, "terrible" is the real portrayal, like a nightmare that can't be woken up.
People seem to have completely lost confidence in the "Pacific War", and a large part of the audience gave up watching directly. It is really difficult to vent their hatred of iron becoming steel; some of the audience continued to watch with a broken can and a broken attitude. Indignantly want to see how bad this work can be, is it not even the passing line
This is bad news for HBO.
Although HBO has never cared about the ratings and the number of viewers, the satisfaction of subscribers is now plummeting, which is definitely a fatal blow. They can ignore the ratings, they can even ignore the Emmy Awards, but they cannot ignore the complaints and complaints of subscribers.
Now the situation is extremely serious, is the "U.S. Weekly" feature really going to come true? If so, HBO really hurts internally.
When the fourth episode of "War in the Pacific" was broadcast, the number of viewers had already dropped below 2 million, and it was only 1.83 million.
Of course, objectively speaking, this result still beats all other TV dramas. Even in the showdown of cable TV, "War in the Pacific" can successfully rank among the top three of the night. This result is far from being "bad". to describe. However, compared with the crowds at the first broadcast, and the rave reviews of "Band of Brothers", this gap is really unacceptable.
The situation seems to be too serious to be delayed, but unexpectedly, the feedback for the fourth episode has begun to pick up!
The core line of the fourth episode is still focused on Robert Letzie. The psychological trauma he suffered in the previous war finally broke out, and he had to be sent to the hospital for psychological observation.
After the broadcast of this episode, the praise of the film critics came again as scheduled. Their admiration for "Pacific War" has not changed since the first episode, even more than "Band of Brothers"; but unexpectedly, the audience The evaluation of the TV series has also begun to slowly pick up, and the scolding on the Internet seems to be showing signs of weakening. Many people exclaimed, "After the broadcast, the quality of the drama has finally begun to come back! This is what we want to see" Pacific War', I hope the next episodes will be able to make persistent efforts!"
Although the current pattern of "War in the Pacific" is still very dangerous, it finally gives HBO a little breathing space. Many professionals have speculated that perhaps because the dark thread buried in Robert Letzie was finally revealed, the audience finally understood the purpose of the show, and praise began to emerge.
In the fifth and sixth episodes that followed, the ratings and the number of viewers did not show much recovery momentum, but the praise was increasing at a speed visible to the naked eye. If we say that after the end of the fourth episode, the praise is just a spark, and it is scattered and unreliable, but this time, the Yahoo community, IMDB and other discussion gathering places can clearly feel the feedback from the audience.
In particular, the sixth episode received numerous compliments. This was the first time that the series featured Eugene Sledge as the protagonist to support the entire episode. After Eugene stepped onto the battlefield, he finally experienced a frenzy on the line of life and death. dance, and witnessed the death of a comrade up close that night - the soldier screamed because of nightmares, and his colleagues around him tried their best to stop him, in order to avoid exposing the position of the entire company , they killed the soldier with their own hands.
Eugene's world has been shaken by earth-shaking; the online world in reality also broke out the first craze of praise.
"Wonderful! Really wonderful episode! In the baptism of artillery fire, Sledge's shocking education is so cruel and strong, watching a pure and kind soul slowly torn by blood and killing, but we But nothing can be done, the invisible wounds and pains clearly show the disintegration of the whole world in Sledge's eyes! This is what we call the 'Pacific War', this is the 'Pacific War' we expect !"
"In the darkness of the night, Eugene just sat there quietly and numbly, staring at the dead body of his comrade-in-arms, and at the same time sleeping, his innocent and pure soul. God, this episode is wonderful The level is comparable to the most classic 'Ardennes Battle' of 'Band of Brothers'! Also called Eugene, also has a pair of deer eyes, is equally sincere and kind, and is also helpless in the face of the passing of life, but Renly-Hall has given More delicate, deeper, more emotional than Shaaylor's, slammed into the chest so hard that it's breathless!"
"Classic! A true classic! 'Pacific War' has finally earned itself a ticket to the classic after so long! It's an episode to show the torture and depravity of a soul that we can't help but watch With Eugene being destroyed bit by bit, the shock is far more impactful than a simple death. Renly's performance illuminates the entire screen, showing the whole process brutally and bloody, making people teary-eyed. , and at the same time a little tightness in the chest."
…
The discussion thread in the Yahoo community has been completely crowded by netizens. The second discussion thread broke through the 10,000th floor from the 8,000th floor, and reached the 13,000th floor overnight. The popularity has once again reached a new high. This time, without waiting for Yahoo to officially lock the building, netizens spontaneously opened the third discussion thread, and the opening floor wrote like this, "Salute to Eugene Sledge, to Renly Hall, and bestowed" Pacific War' True and Living Soul! I'm not sure if it's a better show than 'Band of Brothers', but I'm sure it's a show that won't lose to 'Band of Brothers'."
The threads at the bottom of the floor expressed their approval one after another, and in a blink of an eye they went straight to the thousand floors. The discussion could not be calmed down at all. In their discussions, "Renly" undoubtedly became an absolute keyword. Not only because the sixth episode was the first time Eugene completed the series as the protagonist, but also because Renly's performance was unanimously praised by netizens!
At this moment, people suddenly discovered an interesting thing: Eugene's second appearance is the fourth episode.
In the fourth episode of the story, Eugene finally passed the medical examination and was able to enlist in the army. Although he did not have many roles, it was indeed Renly's second appearance after the first episode. A recovery; the subsequent two episodes continued this upward trend, especially in the sixth episode, Eugene and Robert completed the transfer of role tasks. The previous narrative main line was always undertaken by Robert, but after this, the narrative main The point of view is switched to Eugene.
So, what does this mean? Eugene is the shining point of the whole series? Did Renly Save the 'Pacific War'? Did Renly turn the tide just by himself
This... this is really incredible.
Although it is said that before the official launch of the TV series, Tom said that the role of Eugene is the soul of the entire mini-series, not only at the premiere, but also in previous media interviews; but no one has ever said so. Really think so, because it's an ensemble series, because it's a series for Tom and Steven, and because Renly is just a fresh, fledgling rookie.
This kind of judgment is said, I am afraid that everyone will laugh out loud, "A newcomer? Save the drama jointly produced by Spielberg and Hanks? Although it is only April, it can definitely be said to be the most popular drama of the year. Good joke."
Coincidence, all of this must be just a coincidence, and the sixth episode is just a coincidence. What really makes the audience's reputation warm up is the solid quality of the episode itself. This is the most reasonable explanation! But is it really so