Generation Kill, Episode 7, "Bomb In The Garden"

Four years ago, I would have parsed this series ad nauseam, but fuck it, I'll bite. Maybe it all boils down to a question of leadership. When management is good, whether it's at the Board of Education, in the call center, or on board the Death Star, everything runs like a well oiled machine. However, if you are unlucky enough to have Captain America in charge of your team, things can get rough.

I loved every moment of this series, and there was never a dull moment. After watching this episode, I'm glad they ended things in Baghdad, shortly after the liberation of the city. Peacekeeping is dull, and I don't think I would have had the patience to sit through a series about soldiers playing social worker while dodging mortar fire.

David Simon and Ed Burns really know how to bring the curtain down on a series. At first I wasn't crazy about the musical montage that finished the series. The Marines watching footage of their road trip to Baghdad was a little derivative, almost as if it were lifted straight out of the opening sequence of the Dawn of the Dead remake. They even used the same song by Johnny Cash, "The Man Comes Around".

And yet, it all made sense before the final credits started to roll. Just before the Marines watch the footage, Brad says:

People who can't kill will always be subject to those who can.

The Marines watch the home movie together, and one by one, each soldier leaves the room. The last man in the room watching the film is...Trombley, one of the most trigger happy Marines in the unit. If you agree with Brad, and at it's most basic, that is what the government does, that last shot is kind of...eerie.