If we're talking about the first time I saw "Band of Brothers," I can say in all honesty there were no episodes that had me thinking, "Well, that was kind of disappointing." And that happens rarely for me with a miniseries; even "The Sopranos" and "Breaking Bad" had some clinkers. But I didn't feel let down by any of the BOB episodes, because each one added depth and color to the overall portrait of Easy Company.
The only real gripe I had with "Crossroads" was a directorial decision by Tom Hanks to intercut the battle itself with shots of Winters typing his report. There are about seven cuts between Winters at his typewriter & the actual events he's writing about; I can understand why a filmmaker would want to establish a contrast between Winters leading Easy Company (in one of its finest hours) and the now office-bound Winters tied to a desk - but SEVEN cuts? Four or five would have been sufficient, especially since the overuse of edits tended to interrupt the flow of action.
But this was a minor stylistic misstep, since the overall sequence still packs a punch.
Everybody's gonna have their own take on the episode, but I would never call it boring; it has too much good stuff in it - starting with that hilarious bit where Winters gives Nixon the kind of early morning shower nobody wants to get. And after the "Crossroads" battle, it's economic storytelling all the way, with Operation Pegasus, Easy changing hands from Winters to Heyliger to Dike, and Winters' brief sojourn in Paris. Along the way there's Doc Roe's explosive outburst (where he reads the riot act to Welsh & Winters), followed by the enjoyable absurdity of Luz's "Got a penny?" moment, and finally the mood shattering announcement of the German breakthrough in the Ardennes - coupled with a quick glimpse of Compton's post-hospitalization instability. Then there's the bumpy ride into the outskirts of Bastogne, followed by one of the show's best lines of dialogue: "We're paratroopers; we're supposed to be surrounded."
It may have a few weaknesses (in addition to what I've mentioned, the Paris Metro scene could have been shot more effectively, and somebody should have remembered to give Bull Randleman a paddle in post production), but "Crossroads" is still a very good episode.
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