Not much of an “American Odyssey”
The new show on NBC could of been so much more than what it was. I was ready for a retelling of Homer’s epic…instead we were greeted with predictable drivel from the leftists. The creators of the show say as much in this Daily Beast article:
Armus and Foster who, along with Peter Horton, serve as creators as American Odyssey, view the show as one big critique of Citizens United — the relatively recent Supreme Court decision to allow corporations to bankroll political candidates.
Great, so the audience will be greeted with liberal boiler plate monologues and cardboard like capitalists, soldiers, and politicians. Not the story of an abandoned American soldier who seeks to return home. No, there has to be more drama that creates tension among predictable lines. In doing so where they actually reestablish the Occupy movement that so fantasticlly died out a few years ago.
Let’s start with the first problem that viewers, especially service members and veterans, run into. EVERYTHING REMOTELY RELATED TO THE MILITARY IS INCORRECT. Let me count the ways:
An Army Special Forces ODA would not necessarily have a female on it. This was a direct action mission and frankly Female Engagement Teams aren't necessary nor are they as effective/popular as everyone would like. Half of my dealings with them are personal so I won’t get into it but I will say that FETs serve a purpose, but not on a DA kill team- not the place for what FETs are designed for. The protagonist is a FET and she’s the one going ot be abandoned. Cool. Got it? She’s an intelligence specialist and apparently a medic. She’s capable of talking in Toureg. Total badass right? This is all a propaganda ploy to get you thinking women can be in Army Special Forces or infantry. Let’s see how NBC covers the women who will be in the upcoming Ranger School class… I doubt they’ll cover it at all if they start dropping out like the women in Marine officer infantry school . No I don’t care if they make it or not, I’m not nor was I ever a Ranger. My beliefs aren’t meant to pass judgement here… just show you that American Odyssey starts off with brainwashing and propaganda. And its bad at it.
Second… the bad guys are evil corporations and a complicit military officer. A Colonel at that. Who apparently manages off of TF 24, the fictional elite “Joint Services Operations Command” get it… JSOC… har har har, but doesn't answer to a three or four star. Ummmm… or that there wouldn’t be hundreds of people in TF 24's operations floor supporting all its operations there or back at Ft. Bragg and other locations. I see you NBC… your all powerful Colonel answers to no one but his corporate overlords. Long live another boring speech about the military industrial complex for one hour.
The PMC is a Blackwater/Xe-ish type group led by a former soldier who recognizes on of soon to be doomed SF team members. They have banter for only half a second all the while the PMC is willing ot kill the team. I have a better idea NBC… how about you have an insider on the team kill off everyone? Because that’s just as plausiable as having a corporation buy a hit squad and pay off a full bird Colonel who is willing to kill an entire team. Oh never mind the E-4 Air Force UAV pilot… yeah that’s right. Did you know that a simple airman in the Air Force now flies UAVs? Good Kill does a better job of depicting where (not Delaware) and who (not Air Force enlisted) are dropping live ordinance on their comrades in arms
So if you can make it past all that… you get to the Casualty Assistance Officer. The same Colonel who killed the team is apparently going around to all 12–15 member’s families and loved ones across the country informing them of the death of their soldier. Right. Can you guess where my particular bitch at this falls on? The berets… a pizza maker does not have an ad buy in this show so why in the hell are you showing berets of senior officers who look like they just walked into Ft. Jackson and fell into the CIF beret pit?! We’ve been wearing the damn thing for decades now and Hollywood insists on screwing this simple uniform item up every single time.
Cell coverage in northern Mali is amazing and faster than in Washington, D.C. In the scene where the protagonist and her savior from the evil PMC hit squad are about to set off on their journey. The savior takes a picture with his flip phone and sends it to Al Jazeera. I half expected it to be Gleen Greenwald but they let me down by now. Blue balls. He sends it out instantly from his flip phone. Earlier, she pulled out her personal iPhone (on her super top secret mission), and sent an email before being arrested by the locals. We’d still be watching that little wheel spin waiting to send an email.
NBC…its not just about how bad your military advisers are. I assume you paid someone to do this but you seriously need to get your money back. But you’re literally pushing a false narrative and bad propaganda. Your show will fail horribly because its the usual crap you and others have tried before. “The Event”… remember that. And bad PMC/contractors/military-industrial complex/corporations using military as pawns? Ask ABC about “Last Resort”.
I feel bad for the actors, especially @adewale , who played the best GI Joe and best prisoner in OZ. This show had potential, even with the horribly innacurate military issues aside. But when you make it a big propaganda piece about how evil corporations and George Bush (seriously, there’s a crazy man who’s a “hacker” ::insert eyeroll:: who has a link diagram where George W. Bush is at the center of everything)are… you’re just preaching to yourselves. You had to reinvent the Occupy Movement as some peaceful violin playing protest when in reality they were anything but. You had a nice diverse Army SF team made up all the right ethnicites to satiate your liberal palate that you killed off for what?
American Odyssey is every bit of liberal claptrap and bumper sticker campaigning that you’ve heard in some form over the past 30 years. Doubly so since 2008. You don’t need to watch it for the action scenes, they’re predictable. She has to survive and now we’re going to watch the government (and the military) cover everything up because… corporations. No. Just no. Stop. We’re not your punching bag and you created a self licking ice cream cone within this show. Please… kill it now before you spend any more money on it.
Better plot? Read Homer’s Odyssey.
