Band of Brothers Episode Guide Episodes 001–010 Last episode aired Sunday November 4, 2001 www.hbo.com c c 2001 www.tv.com c 2001 www.hbo.com c 2001 televisionwithoutpity. com The summaries and recaps of all the Band of Brothers episodes were downloaded from http://www.tv.com and http: //www.hbo.com and http://televisionwithoutpity.com and processed through a perl program to transform them in a LATEX file, for pretty printing. So, do not blame me for errors in the text ^¨ This booklet was LATEXed on June 28, 2017 by footstep11 with create_eps_guide v0.59 Contents Season 1 1 1 Currahee . .3 2 Day of Days . 13 3 Carentan . 21 4 Replacements . 33 5 Crossroads . 41 6 Bastogne . 49 7 The Breaking Point . 59 8 The Last Patrol . 73 9 Why We Fight . 85 10 Points . 95 Actor Appearances 109 Band of Brothers Episode Guide II Season One Band of Brothers Episode Guide Currahee Season 1 Episode Number: 1 Season Episode: 1 Originally aired: Sunday September 9, 2001 Writer: Erik Jendreson, Tom Hanks Director: Phil Alden Robinson Show Stars: Michael Cudlitz (Denver ’Bull’ Randleman), Ron Livingston (Capt. Lewis Nixon), Tim Matthews (Alex Penkala), Scott Grimes (T/Sgt. Don- ald Malarkey), Donnie Wahlberg (2nd Lt. C. Carwood Lipton), Neal McDonough (1st Lt. Lynn ”Buck” Compton), Ross McCall (Joseph D Liebgott), Frank John Hughes (S/Sgt. William ”Wild Bill” Guarnere), Rick Gomez (George Luz), Kirk Acevedo (SSgt. Joseph Toye), James Madio (Frank J Perconte), Richard Speight Jr. (Warren ’Skip’ Muck), Dale Dye (Colonel Robert Sink), Damian Lewis (Richard D. Winters), Dexter Fletcher (John), Shane Taylor (Eugene G ’doc’ Roe), Phil McKee (Major Robert L Strayer), Tom Hardy (Pfc. John Janovec), Matthew Settle (Capt. Ronald Spiers), Philip Barantini (Wayne ’skinny’ Sisk), James McAvoy (Pvt. James Miller), Rick Warden (II) (1st Lt. Harry Welsh), Matthew Leitch (Floyd ’Tab’ Talbert), Nolan Hemmings (Charles ’Chuck’ Grant), Nicholas Aaron (Robert E ’popeye’ Wynn), Peter Young- blood Hills (Darrell C ’shifty’ Powers), Robin Laing (Edward J ’babe’ Heffron), Mark Huberman (Pvt. Lester ’Leo’ Hashey), Peter McCabe (IV) (Cpl Donald Hoobler) Guest Stars: Michael Fassbender (Sgt. Burton ”Pat” Christenson), David Schwim- mer (Lt. Herbert Sobel), Jamie Bamber (Jack E. Foley), Rocky Marshall (Earl J. McClung), Alex Sabga (Francis J. Mellet), Simon Schatzberger (Joseph A. Lesniewski), Joseph May (Edward J. Shames), David Crow (Corporal), Jordan Frieda (Replacement), Luke Griffin (Sgt Terence ”Salty” Harris), Jason O’Mara (Lt. Thomas Meehan), Tom George (Pvt. White), Simon Pegg (William S. Evans), Marcos D’Cruze (Joseph P. Domingus) Summary: Easy Company is introduced to Captain Sobel, who has the group un- dergo hard drills and exercises. As a result, Sobel comes into conflict with his men, including Richard Winters, his executive officer (X.O). The company is shipped to England to prepare for D-Day. Sobel is eventually reassigned to jump school for medics among others. The hyped ”Band of Brothers” series starts with interviews with World War II veterans – ostensibly, the real-life ver- sions of the scrappy soldiers we’ll come to know and love – introduce each episode with reminiscences about their experi- ence. One man recalls the disbelief he felt when the U.S. went to war, and another claims this war inspired a different level of passion than did Korea or Vietnam (which hadn’t happened yet, but what- ever) because we were attacked, and it made people eager to volunteer and fight 3 Band of Brothers Episode Guide back. Man Three recalls signups for every military branch they’d heard of, and then some oddity called the ”airborne,” and no one was quite able to dissect the word and fathom what the hell ”airborne” was. Man Four remembers three men from his small town committing suicide – sep- arately – because they weren’t able to enlist; apparently, if one can’t die for one’s country, one will bloody well go and die in one’s garage with a shotgun to one’s throat. ”We did things not for the medals, or the acculades; we did what had to be done,” Man Four theorizes. Man Three is still laughing that no one wanted the airborne job until the man running signups revealed para- troopers would make fifty bucks more than everyone else, for a total salary of $100, but we don’t know whether it’s per month or per week, and I don’t know which makes more sense because my knowledge of the era’s economics is roughly nil. The credits are a prolonged sepia-toned sequence of shots from the series, set to typical Greatest Generation music. They run for two minutes and twenty-two seconds, which seems a tad overblown to me, but then again, so was all of A.I., so this vanity is to be expected. Don’t get me wrong, they’re lovely, but...snore. June 4, 1944. Upottery, England. An airborne regiment is loading its planes, and men are marching somberly in packs, their faces darkened with black camouflage paint. A man cradles his dog tags and a cross in his palm while another soldier gets his hair trimmed into a very timely Mohawk. Breathing smoke from his mouth and nostrils, a squinty man stares into the camera and gives a little nod, as if to let us know that he’s flirting with the fourth wall, but that he’s not quite ready to take it out for dinner and a movie. Colors are muted; most of what we see are greens and grays and flesh-tones. ”Easy Company!” bellows a male authority figure, standing atop a military Jeep. The group congregates. ”The channel coast is socked in with rain and fire, and there’s high winds in the drop zone,” Authority Figure barks, adding that there is no jump tonight and that the planned invasion has been postponed. Dejected, the troops turn back toward camp, swearing softly and staring at the ground. Even a Cary Grant movie, screened in one of the tents, can’t boost Company spirits. One man is so distracted that he can’t stay put, opting to leave the recreation tent and wander out into the dusk. It’s Lt. Richard ”Dick” Winters, played by British actor Damian Lewis, who impressively only betrays his heritage by sometimes sounding too American. Winters is a tall, fair-skinned redhead with a serious expression that never seems to lift. Now, we don’t find out Winters’s name right now, mind you; I’m just trying to save my pronouns for later. Anyway, Ron Livingston from Office Space is waiting outside, leaning against another tent. ”Think it’s clearing up?” he asks. Winters says no, and the two start casually walking together, both tense, obviously expecting to get The Call any second. ”It’s 5 PM in New York. 4 PM in Chicago,” Ron notes. ”Happy hour,” muses Winters. That puts it at 10 PM in England, which doesn’t jibe at all with how light the sky is. Ron grins that, in the States, it’s time for drinks and a little dinner before the theater. War Is Hell Platitude, incoming: ”A civilized place for civilized men,” Ron says grimly, gulping from a silver pocket flask. The two sit quietly, staring off into the distance, Winters with the pensive squint of a man drinking in the gravity of it all. ”Should’ve been born earlier, Nix,” he says to Ron, who we’ll now call Nixon, because the writers finally threw us a moniker bone. And...what? I guess Winters is lamenting that they’re at a draft-eligible age. Nixon smirks, ”What, and give all this up?” He takes a drag on his cigarette. ”We’ll go to Chicago. I’ll take you there.” Winters just squints with a faint smile, because he knows a Post-War Promise That Only Serves To Tempt Death when he hears one and he can’t believe Nixon just totally jinxed himself. Nixon, apparently, doesn’t understand the rules. Nixon realizes both men know someone from Chicago. ”Oh, him,” Winters says, disdainfully. ”712 days with that son-of-a-bitch, and here we are,” Nixon sighs. Camp Toccoa, Georgia, two years earlier. That Son Of A Bitch, Herbert Sobel, barks that he wants his men at attention. Pacing madly like the Polly Prissy Pants he is, Sobel inspects his trainees and stops at a short lad called Pvt. Perconte. ”Have you been blousing your trousers like a paratrooper?” Sobel wails, over-enunciating in his bid to act ferocious and missing badly. They really needed to cast someone who could bark. Hell, Lassie would’ve been better. Sobel revokes Perconte’s weekend pass because of his sloppy uniform. Fussily, Sobel picks spare threads off the sleeve of Pvt. Lipton, or as we know him, Donnie Wahlberg. Donnie’s pass gets revoked as well. Next, Sobel picks on another familiar face: Scott Grimes, or Bailey’s pal Will on Party of Five. Will introduces himself as ”Malarkey, Donald P.” Sobel barks, ”Malarkey. Isn’t that slang for ’bull- shit’?” Malarkey confirms it. Sobel yells at him for having rust on his weapon, and docks him the weekend pass. The shrapnel up Sobel’s ass then reams Pvt. Liebgott for having a rusty bayonet. 4 Band of Brothers Episode Guide ”I wouldn’t take this rusty piece of shit to war, and I will not take you to war in your condition,” screams Sobel, charging around in a complete tizzy. David Schwimmer is completely miscast, coming across less like a tyrant than Ross playing dress-up and then running around screaming ”we were ON a BREAK!!” Thus, this character is hereby rechristened Ross.