The Legendary Actor - Chapter 52

As one of the most highly anticipated dramas of this spring, “The Pacific” immediately became a hotbed of discussion upon its debut, especially with the appreciation of critics and the mixed audience response, which slightly cast a shadow over the miniseries’ future.

“Two hundred and twenty-three million dollars of investment, is HBO going to float belly-up this time?”

This article from US Weekly was a bit alarmist, but it did reflect the major concern after the series aired. With the frenzied praise of “Band of Brothers”, “The Pacific” was under a tremendous pressure and seemed to be struggling. What’s worse, there was no turning back now, and the show had to go on anyway, even though it had just started.

Every week, the airing of “The Pacific” had become the center of attention. Although the ratings had fallen, and the number of viewers waiting for the premiere had decreased as well as more people had chosen to record the show or wait for the DVD; however, the discussion in the Yahoo community, IMDB, etc. had risen instead, and the controversy had grown as the episodes continued to heat up.

Especially after the first three episodes had been broadcast, the criticism index has increased, and the disappointment, anger, dislike, and accusation of “The Pacific” only magnified.

The story line that focused on Robert Leckie and John Basilone gradually unfolded, revealing the full picture of the plot and ideas, but failed to move the audience. The audience began to lose patience, as the core ideas were weak, the main plot was scattered, and the war scenes were repetitive. As high as the expectations were before the show began, it was replaced with as much anger.

The internet controversy against Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg was spiraling out of control, with some even sarcastically saying, “It cost twice as much to make a show that’s less than half the quality of its predecessor, HBO really lost out this time.”

This trend was reflected in the IMDB score, which was originally a disappointing 7.7, but now continued to fall, dropping to a low of 7.3 after the third episode had finished airing.

People seemed to have lost all confidence in “The Pacific”, and a large portion of the audience gave up watching it, and it was hard to vent their hatred for the series; others continued to watch it in a desperate attitude, angrily wanting to see how much worse it could be, and whether it could even pass.

This is bad news for HBO.

While HBO has never cared about ratings or viewership, now that subscriber satisfaction was plummeting, this was an absolute fatal blow. They don’t care about ratings; they don’t even care about the Emmys, but they can’t ignore the complaints of their subscribers.

And now the situation was so dire that US Weekly article was really going to come true? If that were the case, HBO would really suffer some.

When the fourth episode of “The Pacific” aired, the number of viewers had already dropped below two million, just 1.83 million, and the rating was directly below two, giving a rating of 1.6.

Of course, this result was still the best of all the other dramas on TV, and even in the cable TV showdown, “The Pacific” was ranked among the top three that night, which is far from being “bad” to describe. However, compared to the overwhelming popularity of the premiere and the critical acclaim of “Band of Brothers” the difference is unacceptable.

The situation seemed to be so dire that it couldn’t be delayed, but surprisingly, the feedback for the fourth episode actually started to pick up!

The central focus of the fourth episode remained on Robert Leckie, whose trauma from the previous fights finally came to a head and forced him to be hospitalized for psychological observation.

After the episode aired, the outpouring of praise from critics, whose admiration for “The Pacific” remained unchanged from the first episode, even surpassed that of “Band of Brothers”. Even the ratings surprisingly began to rise, and on the Internet, the public outcry seemed to be showing signs of abating, with many people exclaiming, “The quality of the episodes is finally starting to come back after the start of the show! This is “The Pacific” we want to see, and hopefully the episodes after that will build on top of it!”

Although “The Pacific” is still in a precarious state, HBO has finally been given some breathing room. Many professionals have speculated that it was because Robert Leckie’s dark threads were finally uncovered and the audience finally understood the purpose of the series, and the praise began to emerge.

The following episodes, five and six, did not show much of an uptick in ratings and viewership, but the critical acclaim grew at a visible rate. If, after the fourth episode, the critical acclaim was just a spark, scattered and uneven, this time, it was clear that the feedback from viewers was picking up in places like the Yahoo community and IMDB.

Episode 6, in particular, received numerous accolades, the first episode to feature Eugene Sledge as the protagonist holding up the entire episode, as Eugene takes to the battlefield, finally experiencing a battle that jumps wildly between the lines of life and death, and personally witnessing the death of a fellow soldier up close that night – the soldier screaming out from nightmares, surrounded by fellow soldiers who couldn’t stop him despite their best efforts, and killing the soldier themselves in order to avoid revealing the location of the entire company.

Eugene’s world was rocked to its core; the real world of the Internet erupted in the first frenzy of acclaim.

“Brilliant! A truly amazing episode! In the midst of the baptism of fire, Sledge’s shock education was so cruel and intense, watching a pure and good soul slowly being torn apart by blood and killing, but there was nothing he could do, the unseen wounds and pains were clearly visible in Sledge’s eyes as the whole world was falling apart! This is “The Pacific” we’re talking about, this is “The Pacific” we’ve been waiting for!”

“In the middle of the night, Eugene just sat there quietly and still, staring at the lifeless body of his comrade, while his innocent and pure soul flew further and further away. God, this episode rivals “Band of Brothers” greatest classic, “The Battle of the Ardennes”! Also named Eugene, also with innocent eyes, also sincere and kind, also helpless in the face of the passing of life, Renly Hall gives a more delicate, deeper, richer emotions than Shane Taylor did back then, hitting the chest so hard it takes your breath away!”

“Classic! A true classic! “The Pacific” has finally earned itself a real ticket to be among the classics after being useless for so long! The shock of showing the torture and depravity of a soul in just one episode, as we watch Eugene being destroyed bit by bit, is far more powerful than mere death, and Renly’s performance illuminates the entire screen. It is brutal and bloody, bringing tears to our eyes and tightness to our chests.”

…

Among the discussion posts of Yahoo community, one had been completely crowded by the netizens, the second discussion post from 8,000 page exceeded 10,000, overnight came to 13,000 pages. The heat once again created a new high. This time, without waiting for the official Yahoo lockdown, the users spontaneously opened a third discussion post. The opening title of the thread reads, “Tribute to Eugene Sledge, tribute to Renly Hall, giving “The Pacific” a real and vivid soul! I’m not sure if this is a better episode than “Band of Brothers”, but I’m certain that it’s an episode that won’t lose to “Band of Brothers”.”

The following posts at the bottom of the page expressed their agreement, and in the blink of an eye, they were heading straight toward a thousand pages, and the hubbub of the discussion could not be quelled at all. It did help that Renly’s performance was unanimously praised by the netizens!

At this point, it dawned on people that something interesting happened: Eugene’s second appearance was in episode 4.

In the fourth episode, Eugene finally passed the medical exam and was able to enlist in the army, which was not much, but it was indeed Renly’s second appearance after the first episode, and it was also the first time that the show’s reputation picked up.

So what does this mean? Is Eugene the flash point of the entire series? Did Renly Save “The Pacific”? Was Renly able to turn the tide on his own?

This … is really unbelievable.

Although Tom had said that Eugene’s character was the soul of the miniseries before the series officially began, not only at the premiere but also in previous press interviews; no one had ever really thought so, because it was a group show, because it was a show that belonged to Tom and Steven, and because Renly was just a newcomer who wet behind his ears.

It would have been laughable for everyone to say, “A newcomer? Saving a Spielberg and Hanks tv series? Even though it’s only April, it definitely qualifies as the best joke of the year.”

Coincidence, it must all just be a coincidence, and Episode 6 was just a coincidence, and it was the solid quality of the episode itself that really explains the pickup in audience word of mouth! But was that really so?