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Episode: |
10 |
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Preceded by: |
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Subject: |
The end of the war |
"Points" is the tenth and last episode of Band of Brothers, with the main focus on Richard Winters once again.
Synopsis[]
The war is finally coming to an end, Hitler is dead, the Nazis have surrendered, and the U.S. government has started returning the men home. However, the men remaining have too much time, alcohol, and weapons on their hands. With the men slowly turning on each other and the new points system preventing most of Easy Company from returning home, can Major Winters get his men home safely or does the war in the Pacific have other ideas?
Plot[]
It shows the war calming down, starting with Winters relaxing by swimming in a river. It then shifts to the men arriving in Austria and taking the Eagle's Nest in Berchtesgaden, where all they find are dead German officers and a considerable amount of war loot. Winters, after announcing the war's conclusion in Europe, shows Nixon Hermann Goering's massive private wine cellar, and orders the vintage alcohol distributed to the soldiers by the truckload; he gives Nixon the first pick. The men then relax in the Nest until they have to move on.
While the anticipated SS guerrilla units never arrive, the men of Easy Company still suffer from fatigue, shaky nerves, and boredom, which produce dangerous results.
Liebgott seeks revenge for the Jews by killing a German officer who ran one of the camps. Webster and Sisk go with him. They go inside where Liebgott quickly interrogates the man. After confirming it is the right man, Liebgott starts to shout at the man in German and English. It gets too uncomfortable for Webster, who leaves the room, and goes outside to smoke to calm down. Despite Webster trying to convince him otherwise, Liebgott shoots the officer in the neck. However, the gun jams as Leibgott fires another round, allowing the officer to run away. A shouting Liebgott tries to get Webster to shoot the man, but he refuses. Instead, Sisk does it.
While going back, Liebgott says an officer wouldn't run away, but Webster justifies it, saying that the war is over and "Anyone would run."
With the war in Europe over, the men prepare to go to the Pacific. Winters tries to be allowed to transfer to go early but is not allowed due to his attachment with Easy Company. Since the men are stuck in Germany, they soon let drinking get the better of them.
A replacement in I Company becomes drunk and uses his sidearm to kill a British and German officer, and then wounds Staff Sergeant Charles E Grant with a shot to the head. Grant was then taken to a German doctor to have brain surgery while the replacement is hunted down. When found, Easy Company beats him until Speirs arrives. Speirs almost kills the soldier but turns him over to the MPs.
The next morning, the local regiment of German soldiers are all in a field for their formal surrender. Captain Sobel walks past Winters but looks away from him as an excuse for not saluting. Winters calls him back and tells him "We salute the rank, not the man." Sobel finally salutes and quickly leaves with Nixon and Liebgott slightly smiling in the background.
A German general (Wolf Kahler) approaches Lipton and asks if he may speak to his men. Lipton approves, and Liebgott translates the general's speech for Winters.
As the episode closes, Winters narrates what happened to each of the still alive soldiers and himself after the war. The men find out the war is completely over, and they celebrate with a game of baseball.
The series then concludes by showing footage of the real-life members of Easy Company who provided the interviews that opened many episodes, but for the first time with their names listed, including Major Winters.
Trivia[]
- Commander Ronald Speirs assigned Liebgott, along with John C. Lynch, Don Moone and Wayne Sisk, to eliminate the Nazi who had been the head of the labor camp. When they found the man at his farmhouse, Liebgott violently interrogated him, confirming that the man was guilty. Liebgott shot him once in the chest. Wounded, the Nazi ran up to a hill, and Lynch ordered Moone to shoot him. Moone refused, and Sisk ends the guilty man's life. In reality, Webster wasn't part of the incident at all.
- The point system referred to throughout this episode involves the members of Easy Company needing to earn a total of 85 points before they could request an honorable discharge and return home to the States. Points were earned through length of service, medals earned and being wounded in combat. The individual values for these and other factors are not mentioned in the episode. The point system would continue until Easy had been given new orders to fight in the Pacific Theater or the Japanese Empire had surrendered. The last scene set in Europe during the baseball game likely occurred on August 15th, 1945, the date Japan surrendered or in the next few days following.
- The rigged lottery that Shifty wins was held on June 6, 1945, one year after the 101st had participated in the Normandy landings. Unfortunately, Shifty was severely injured in a Jeep accident while being driven to the airfield and ended up recovering in a hospital and arrived home long after his comrades had.