Day Of Days

S01E02

A plane cruises through the air; then an explosion disintegrates its front half. Easy Company troopers tumble against each other; bits of plane debris assault other jets in the air. "Jesus Christ!" someone screams. A fiery blast of shrapnel zips through the hatch and, with a fearsome crackle, hits one of Easy's men, one of the nameless, faceless many. He shrieks and collapses against the side of the aircraft. Planes are completely throbbing at this point, and if not for the hooks connecting them to the plane, it's unlikely any of the solders would be able to remain upright. Pilots battle flaming engines and try to dodge hazards in the atmospheric chaos.

Here's where it gets confusing. From what I've gleaned after my romance with the Rewind and Pause buttons, it appears Meehan and Winters are on separate planes; however, it's unclear which Easy members are on which plane with which leader, so it's tricky to make sense of the images. Meehan's pilot spies his engine aflame and screams -- using Meehan's name, thankfully -- for immediate evacuation of the troopers. As he says it, fire engulfs the plane bit by bit, and it's hard to tell who, if anyone, escapes. One plane crashes in the countryside. The air is a minefield of shredded metal, bullets, fire, and out-of-control aircraft, but it's computer-generated just enough that, visually, it evokes the old Atari game Asteroids. My sister once got a high score on that game while controlling the joystick with her feet. Not that I'm suggesting WWII pilots should have done the same.

A green light flashes, and paratroopers plunge to the ground. There's TrooperCam action showing how dizzying such leaps can be; the pilot on Winters's craft screams when his windshield is cracked. The co-pilot begs him to flip on the green light. "They can't jump at this speed!" shrieks the pilot, turning to address his partner, who is promptly shot through the head. Terrified, the pilot flips on the go-ahead light and Easy Company commences its jumps. Bullets clog the air; it's incredible anyone made it down without being struck by the whizzing projectiles.

Winters sails over flaming wreckage and lands safely on a barren, bleak field; explosions periodically light the sky. Patting himself down to determine what of his equipment is missing, Winters growls in frustration when he realizes many of his ropes frayed and broke, dropping his supplies over Normandy. Another man falls near him. "Flash," Winters whispers. "Gordon!" answers the man. Except, no, he actually says, "Shit!" Winters wryly notes the incorrect code response, and Hall grudgingly supplies the correct one: "Thunder." As they remove their life vests and disentangle themselves from their chutes, the man whispers, "Coach?" It turns out this kid, called Hall, played on Winters's inter-regiment basketball team. Calmly, Winters dons his helmet; Hall prepares his weapon. "Follow me," Winters says, leading them one way and then doubling back to seek shelter when it becomes apparent that walking upright in an empty field is not the best way to travel covertly. They traverse the brush, stopping to blend with a pair of trees, as bullets continue to pepper the area. Winters spies the guns being fired. "Wait until they reload," he whispers, then curiously regards Hall and realizes he's not from Easy. Hall reveals he's Able Company. "I guess that means one of us is in the wrong drop zone," Hall says sadly. "Or both of us," Winters sighs.