Which heroes come home from World War II?

The big picture

  • The Pacific on Netflix is ​​a captivating series that tells the story of the United States Marine Corps’ attack on Japan during World War II.
  • The show features three main characters whose personal struggles during the war are interwoven and told with emotional weight.
  • Rami Malek’s portrayal of Snafu steals the show, his undeniable presence and amazing acting skills shining through in every scene.


The Pacific has shot up Netflix’s top TV shows charts in the last week. The epic five-year account of the United States Marine Corps’ attack on Japan is produced by the same creative team that brought us here Band of brothers with executive producers Steven Spielberg And Tom Hanks Another riveting tale of the plow and the horrors of battle as the Americans and Allied forces attempted to defeat the Japanese in the South Pacific in the early to mid-1940s. With the help of an incredible score by a renowned composer Hans Zimmera handful of very capable directors including Tim Van Patten, David NutterAnd Graham Yost to bring a product to the small screen that can compete with what Spielberg has done The soldier James Ryan about 12 years ago. The gruesome and haunting images of bloody battles are omnipresent and it paints a very realistic and heartbreaking portrait of the atrocity that has claimed so many lives. In this article, we will try to tie up the loose ends of the main cast’s storylines and explain the final scenes.


Soldiers on the beach in the miniseries The Pacific.
Image via Max

There are three main characters whose struggle through World War II is interwoven and told through their unique and personal experiences. There is also a fourth character, who was a relatively unknown young actor at the time, who later won an Oscar and played a Bond villain. He absolutely steals the show. But let’s start with our three featured players, starting with Robert “Bob” Leckie (James Badge Dale), which carries the emotional weight in the first half of the season. After starting in the Battle of Guadalcanal in 1941, then moving through the South Pacific and spending time in a mental institution suffering from shock (PTSD), the dashing young man found love with a young girl named Stella Melbourne while on vacation. He manages to survive it all, and after the Japanese surrender in 1945, he returns to his small hometown, where he moves back in with his parents, who have turned his bedroom into a storage room. It’s hardly a sexy, postcard-worthy Times Square kiss from a girl-in-waiting for Leckie. He’s back working in a newsroom as a sports beat writer and pursuing a childhood love named Vera. Leckie is perhaps the most grounded and consistent of all the characters we see returning from the Pacific. He takes Vera to a romantic candlelight dinner and seems quite happy, but the audience knows exactly what he saw and went through during the war.

RELATED: These 10 minutes of “The Pacific” are the most heartbreaking in the series

Eugene “Sledgehammer” Sledge makes it back to Mobile, Alabama

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In the first episodes of the series, Eugene Sledge (Joseph Mazzello) is the most unlikely soldier of all the main characters and his arc is certainly the most dynamic. After being kept out of the war by his fearful doctor father, he finally reaches the Pacific about halfway through the show. After returning to his hometown of Mobile, he is an ironclad killer, but also feels distant and suffers from terrible night terrors. When he goes hunting with his father in the morning, Eugene literally buckles under the weight of his post-traumatic stress disorder. His father is compassionate, hugging him and vouching for Eugene along with his mother as he sits at the base of a large oak tree, traumatically reflecting on what he has been through and what life has in store for him. The final shot of Eugene shows him slowly strolling through the tall grass of the Sledge’s large property, climbing a hill alone with his troubled thoughts.

John Basilone lives up to his reputation as a hero

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John Basilones (Jon Seda) The triumphant and tragic story is told in two separate parts, beginning in the opening episodes and ending with his heroic assault on the beaches of Iwo Jima in 1945, just months before the end of the war. Basilone was named a war hero of the First Battle of Guadalcanal, although he agonizes over whether he deserves the honor and mourns the loss of his close friend Manny Rodriguez (Jon Bernthal). He finds love for Lena (Annie Parisse) while he serves in the United States as a figurehead for the successful effort in the Pacific and marries her, but eventually the soldier in him longs to escape the media spotlight and return to where he feels comfortable as a gunnery sergeant. Upon his return to active duty, he is assigned to Iwo Jima, where he can make amends for the misplaced hype he did not deserve in Guadalcanal. His heroic turn in his epic beach storming scene in Japan more than makes up for any doubts we had about his inner strength and leadership. But while leading a successful attack with his young Marines, he is shot through the chest, bleeds to death, and dies, becoming the only one of our main characters killed in combat. Lena returns to his hometown in New Jersey to inform his parents and mourn with them.

Rami Malek’s “Snafu” steals the show

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Image via HBO

The most emotional moments in the 10-part episode of The Pacific almost always include Rami Malek as Merrielle “Snafu” Shelton. Whether it’s a light-hearted joke, a playful dig at nonsense, or his silence in the direst of situations, he has an undeniable and dazzling presence that provides an amazing taste of the Oscar-caliber actor he will become would. Snafu steals every scene he appears in as a character who started out as a supporting player and grew exponentially by the end of the show. It should be noted that we don’t really think the very experienced showrunners expected a relatively unknown actor to be so damn good. Maybe they did, because after only joining the fight in Episode 5, he’s part of 95% of all meaningful scenes as his role continues to grow until the finale. His relationship with Eugene becomes the anchor of the second half of the series as the Marines move ever closer to Iwo Jima. Although he returns to New Orleans unscathed, it’s a little disheartening to see him get off the train alone while Eugene sleeps and there’s no one there to greet him. A beautiful turn from Malek that you have to see.

Dustin Huang

Dustin Huang is a 24ssports U.S. News Reporter based in London. His focus is on U.S. politics and the environment. He has covered climate change extensively, as well as healthcare and crime. Dustin Huang joined 24ssports in 2021 from the Daily Express and previously worked for Chemist and Druggist and the Jewish Chronicle. He is a graduate of Cambridge University. Languages: English. You can get in touch with me by emailing: dustinhuang@24ssports.com.

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