Awesome / Band of Brothers

Episode 1 - "Currahee"

• During the infamous spaghetti run, Sobel repeatedly taunts Easy Co. for being weak. Luz, having had enough, starts singing a marching song. Even when Sobel glares at him and tries to block his path, the normally easy-going Luz simply ignores him and sings louder, prompting the other men to join in as well.
• During the first episode, Sobel's attempts to break Winters leads to a spiteful attempt to accuse Winters of insubordination over latrine duty. He tries to stick Winters between two harsh choices: accept the punishment of a denial of 48 hour pass for 60 days (which would go on Winters' record) or request a court martial (which could make things worse for Winters if found guilty), thinking the lieutenant would take the lesser choice (as Winters was known for always spending his time on base). Winters' own sense of justice compels him to request the court martial, which stuns Sobel (who suddenly realizes the court martial would look bad on himself). The look on Sobel's face alone is worth it.
  • As an even better "fuck you" to the man, Winters takes Sobel's own pen, corrects his misspelling of the word "court martial," offers it as his endorsement, and salutes him—all while making it very clear just how little respect he has for the jerk sitting in front of him.
  • It indirectly leads to Sink - who figures the court martial would go badly for the Army - reassigning Sobel to a non-combat role and sweeping the whole matter under the rug. Sobel is genuinely broken by the loss of his chance at a battlefield command, but it frees Easy Company to receive more competent leadership (eventually under Winters).
  • The real life version of what happened is even more ridiculous. Sobel sets up Winters the same way (gives him a duty, then writes him up for court-martial by changing the duty orders without telling Winters), and Winters requests trial by court-martial. Sobel is surprised, but goes forward with it, until battalion officers work out a way to avoid the matter entirely with obscure rules because they don't need the distraction a couple of months before the invasion. Sobel then writes up Winters again, for basically a different aspect of the same "infraction", and Winters demands court-martial. Sink transfers Winters out of the company to kitchen patrol (which Winters resented) and, after the sergeants mutiny and threaten to turn in their stripes, Sink transfers Sobel out of the company as well.
• All of Easy's noncoms banding together to mutiny against Sobel, knowing fully well that this could result in them getting shot, but doing it anyway because they obviously don't want any of the men under them, as well as themselves, to be killed in battle under Sobel's command.
  Lipton: We all better be clear of the consequences.
  Martin: I don't care about the consequences.
  Lipton: John, we could be lined up against a wall and shot. Now, I'm ready to face that. And every one of us had better be too.
  (beat)
  Guarnere: I will not follow that man into combat.
  Bull: Me neither.
  Lipton: All right. Then let's do it.
  (They all begin writing their resignation letters)

Episode 2 - "Day of Days"

• Dick Winters, unarmed, walks up to Bill Guarnere, the most aggressive man in Easy Company, shoves him back, and chews him out for disobeying his orders. Bill, defiant yet obviously knowing he's being put in his place, only manages a gruff, "Yes, sir."
• The assault on Brecourt Manor, with Easy taking out four heavy guns so successfully that the maneuver is still taught at West Point as an ideal assault on a fixed position to this very day.
  • During the assault, Buck Compton throws a grenade with perfect timing to explode right as it hits a German. This moment got some criticism for being unrealistic, but it actually did happen; Compton had played baseball in college and was an expert at timing his throws.
    • The cool thing is, in the series, the grenade hits the German in the back. In real life, Buck threw the grenade the equivalent distance between home plate and second base on a baseball diamond with no arc^note a grenade is significantly heavier than a baseball and it hit the German IN THE HEAD. That's right: they had to tone Buck's awesomeness down because it would've been too damn unbelievable.

Episode 3 - "Carentan"

• During the battle to take Carentan, a German machine gun is firing up the road that Easy Company is using for their attack. The men take shelter in a ditch to avoid being shot. Dick Winter stands in the middle of the road screaming at the men to press the attack. And he doesn't get a scratch on him as bullets fly by. In fact, the only injury he takes is from a ricochet at the end of the battle.
• Resident sharpshooter Shifty managing to shoot not one, but two snipers, all while being pinned down behind a wall.
• When Welsh sees an MG firing at Shifty, he immediately runs out into the open, armed with only a grenade, lobs it into the German soldier's hiding place, and takes cover beneath the exploding building.
  • Another Welsh moment: firing at an oncoming tank with only a bazooka and McGrath for backup. It's no wonder the men are so delighted when he runs back to them.
  Liebgott: [smiling cheekily] You hit a homerun, huh?
• "Well, hello, Second Armored."

Episode 4 - "Replacements"

• Bull Randleman fighting his way back from behind enemy lines after the failure of Market Garden. This is where you really see why Richard Winters would later call him one of the best men he served with.

Episode 5 - "Crossroads"

• Winters leading a single platoon against two entire companies of German troops and manages to rout them with only one man dead and a few wounded. Winters even made the initial assault on his own as a diversionary tactic, with his men coming up several seconds behind. Winters doesn't even bat an eye at how many Germans he's facing. He just raises his rifle and starts shooting. The first thing the Germans do when they realize Winters is firing at them is to run for their lives.
• After the main battle, Easy Company captures a number of German prisoners and tasks Liebgott with escorting them back to base. Liebgott's enthusiastic reply makes Winters worry that he might just execute the prisoners instead, so he orders Liebgott to drop all of his ammo and leaves him with only a single bullet, telling him that if he decides to kill a prisoner, he'd have no way to defend himself from the others. The book mentions that one of the prisoners overheard the conversation, and Winters muses that he probably understood English due to the look of relief on his face.
• All 100 or so of the Red Devils (British Airborne) somehow managing to get within spitting distance of Easy without any of them noticing.
  • Subsequently, the victory party that they throw when the rescue operation is successful:
  Commander: Moose Heyliger and the American 101st have done the Red Devils a great service. Making it possible for us to return and fight the enemy on another day. To Easy Company: victory...and Currahee!
  Easy: CURRAHEE!!!
• Eugene "Doc" Roe giving an EPIC What the Hell, Hero? to Winters and Welsh after he sees the Worst Aid they gave Moose when he was shot.
  Welsh: We're sorry, Doc. He was in a lot of pain. We didn't know what to do—
  Roe: Yeah, well, you oughta! You know, you are officers, you are grown-ups, you oughta know!
  • That's right: quiet, gentle Roe absolutely unleashes hell on his superior officers, and neither of them reprimand him for it.
• This exchange from the end of "Crossroads":
  Lt. Rice: A panzer division's about to cut the road south. Looks like you'll be surrounded.
  Winters: We're paratroopers, lieutenant. We're supposed to be surrounded.

Episode 6 - "Bastogne"

• The ending title cards of "Bastogne:"
  "The story of the Battle of the Bulge told today is one of General Patton and his Third Army coming to the rescue of the encircled 101st." [next card] "No member of the 101st has ever agreed that the division needed to be rescued."

Episode 7 - "The Breaking Point"

• Bill Guarnere running out of his foxhole after a German assault when he hears one of his best friends, Joe Toye, crying for help. A second round of artillery starts to hit while he's trying to drag Toye to safety and he ends up having his right leg wounded so badly it needs amputating. Even so he's still worrying more about Toye and cracks jokes when others come to help them.
  Bill: Hey, Joe, I told you I'd beat you back to the States.
• During the Battle of Foy, Easy Company is pinned down in the open and Lieutenant Dike is completely frozen. Speirs runs in, immediately takes control of the situation, and then proceeds to run THROUGH a town full of German troops, hooking up with I Company before running BACK to reassume command of Easy. Keep in mind that this actually happened in real life. Lipton muses that the only reason why Speirs managed to survive was because his mad dash was so insane that the Germans had a hard time believing it was actually happening.
  • Horrified by how poorly the attack falls apart when Dike freezes up, Winters starts charging in to take direct control of the company. He has to be ordered back by Col. Sink who insists Winters has to fulfill his captain's duties outside of the firefight. When Sink tries to talk Winters down with "Now, Dick, I understand your attachment to Easy Company, but..." Winters ignores his superior officer and calls out "SPEIRS! GET YOURSELF OVER HERE!" to give him command of Easy Company. It's one confirmed badass calling up another confirmed badass to save the day^note In the actual event, Winters did start to charge down the field, but stopped himself when he realized that he had command responsibilities and couldn't risk getting pinned down with a single company (he had responsibility for the entire battalion). The rest of the scene otherwise plays out accurately.
• Shifty Powers taking down the sniper hiding in a bell tower with ease. What's truly amazing is that, in the book, when Lip and Popeye Wynn, Shifty's best friend, went to check on the body, the bullet was right between the man's eyes.
  Popeye: You know, it just doesn't pay to be shootin' at Shifty when he's got a rifle.
  • As with Buck's grenade toss in Episode 2, the distance with which Shifty shot the man was even further in real life.

Episode 8 - "The Last Patrol"

• Throughout the episode, everyone writes off Lt. Jones as useless since he's fresh out of West Point and has no battle experience. He then proves himself to be a capable leader when Private Vest freaks out over Jackson's injury, draws his sidearm, and points it at the prisoners Easy have just captured. Jones slams Vest against the wall, easily disarms him, and tells him they're not going to go back for more prisoners because he killed the ones they had.
• Winters defying Colonel Sink's orders and not sending out the patrol a second night after they lost a man on the first patrol.^note Due to the raid the previous night and the river starting to ice over from the cold, the patrol would have been easily spotted and possibly killed, meaning that sending them would be a huge risk for almost no chance of success. He feeds them the exact (fake) report they are to give him the next morning, explaining how they conducted the patrol and did not secure any prisoners, and tells them all to get a good night's rest.

Episode 9 - "Why We Fight"

• As the Germans make their march of defeat, Webster delivers an enraged "Reason You Suck" Speech that becomes surprisingly poignant at the end.
  Webster: Hey, you! That's right, you stupid Kraut bastards! That's right! Say hello to Ford, and General fuckin' Motors! You stupid fascist pigs! Look at you! You have horses! What were you thinking? [...] Dragging our asses half way around the world, interrupting our lives, for what? You ignorant, servile scum! What the fuck are we doing here?! Huh?!
• The scenes with Nixon and the German Officer's Widow. The two do not even exchange a single word during their scenes together, but the looks they share speak volumes:
  • When she first encounters Nixon in her home, she gives him a look of furious indignation for his trespassing. He looks slightly ashamed and leaves.
  • When he sees her being forced to move bodies at Landsberg, it is his turn to give her the "how dare you" look.
    • To which she responds by starting to help, while trying to retain as much dignity as possible.

Episode 10 - "Points"

• Upon securing Herman Goering's house in Berchtesgaden, Easy Company "impounds" the massive, and incredibly well-stocked, wine cellar.
  • The shocked look on Nix's face as he whips off his aviators and takes in all the liquor. The man looks like he'd just died and gone to heaven! And to make things even better, it's V-E Day, giving them all a very good reason indeed to celebrate.
• Even in the face of an angry Liebgott, Webster is still as unflappable as ever, calmly saying, "No" when Lieb screams at him to shoot the escaping Nazi commandant^note Web wasn't sympathizing with the Nazi, and was only restraining because they had no solid proof of his supposed background..
• Winters accepting the German colonel's formal surrender in Austria. While he doesn't share the colonel's fondness for war, he does respect the colonel's professionalism and decorum, so much so that he allows him to keep his sidearm and returns his salute.
• A small but memorable moment towards the end of the episode: while witnessing the official surrender of a group of German soldiers, Winters, now a major, encounters Sobel, still a captain. When Sobel curtly acknowledges Winters as he walks by, Winters coldly says, "Captain Sobel! We salute the rank, not the man." Deeply reluctant, Sobel salutes Winters. Winters keeps his cool, but Nixon and Liebgott, watching nearby, can barely suppress their laughter at this victory over their hated former CO. Winters himself considers this one of the most satisfying moments of his life.
• The moment the men of Easy have all been waiting for:
  Maj. Winters: This morning, President Truman received the unconditional surrender of the Japanese. War's over.