With Wright (who is portrayed by Lee Tergesen from "Oz"), we intimately observe the deployments of the 1st Recon Battalion, sitting right beside the sleepless boys of the Bravo 2 platoon as they zoom through the sand in Humvee convoys, announcing "Yes, we are the conquering heroes" to Iraqi locals standing by ruined homes. And, as the days pass, and the superior officers fumble, and supplies wane, we can easily see the soldiers' dawning realization that war in Iraq will not be a slam-dunk against Saddam Hussein, as they face insurgents and jihadists and the vagaries of enemy fighters in civilian clothing.
But we don't just witness; that is the grim beauty and power of this miniseries. Like "The Wire," "Generation Kill" unfolds chaotically, with none of the narrative cues - explanatory dialogue, musical-score manipulations - we've come to expect from mainstream storytelling. As viewers, we are at times left to feel confused and poorly led, like the American soldiers with whom we travel. We yearn for a clearer narrative arc, just as the soldiers hunger for a solid idea of where they are going, and why. But in the first five episodes, all we get is an awesome and troubling accumulation of vignettes and moral challenges, including the shooting of peasant farmers and the destruction of a grammar school.
Like "The Wire," "Generation Kill" also gives us no formal introduction to the men - played by little-known actors - or what each one is responsible for. But slowly, and quite surely, the significant characters grow distinct and vivid, and the performances deepen. Corporal Ray Person is the most quickly distinguished soldier, a hyperactive Humvee driver who sings at the top of his lungs and issues stream-of-consciousness theories about war, "South Park," and why soldiers love to make homoerotic jokes. Played with an undercurrent of heroism by James Ransone, who was so out of control as Ziggy in season 2 of "The Wire," he is a motor-mouth absurdist comic.
