The Marines experienced their first taste of battle in Iraq in last night’s episode as they moved north towards Mesopotamia, the ‘cradle of civilisation’.
The episode, the second in FX‘s seven-part series, showed the confused nature of the war, with some Iraqis waving at the troops as they passed by in their Humvees, while others waited in ambush in the city of Nasiriyah (the scene of one of the first major battles of the war).
Generation Kill tries to stay true to the real-life experiences of the Marines by paying attention to the details. For example, it shows the advancing troops getting stuck in a military traffic jam, Baptista causing frustration by chattering into the radio in Portuguese when he gets excited, and a Marine admitting his first kill felt good.
Generation Kill isn’t an easy watch, but its grittiness is its appeal as it tries to do more than simply entertain.
