SAS Rogue Heroes - Binger Pace, Fully Spoiled

[Oblomov22]

Watched episode 1 &2. Cast is good. Soundtrack fab.

Connor Swindells is very sexy 🤩❤️

I love his posh accent.

My grandad started out in Tobruk but was moved to Burma as a behind-enemy-lines operative so I watched out of interest. He told some mad, mad stories, and my mum always used to tell him to shut up. I wish I’d heard more of his stories and noted them down, but never did. SAS Rogue Heroes has a lot of mad things in it, but all entirely plausible given the times.

yes episode 2 dragged a bit but episode 3 was excellent

Hated the soundtrack but otherwise enjoyed this.

It was interesting to note the M/F couples ages. Connor Swindells is 26 and Sofia Boutella is 40. For a show that has been criticised as being too macho this casting is quite progressive.

I almost didn't watch this as I thought the title was boring . Glad I did though, only seen ep 1 so far. It's good and I like the humour laced through it .

Really enjoying this. Not massively interested in war stories, but this is about psychology and innovation.

ITriedToStopSwearingButICunt

Totally agree. Total toxic masculinity bollocks. I’m appalled that the this trope is being perpetuated. WW 2 was utterly terrifying and mentally broke many who were involved. This is bollocks and contributes towards the bullshit of what is expected from men in our society

DH is vaguely related to one of the founders of the SAS. The family is obviously very proud of this connection and so there has been much reading of books about his relative and the founder members.

TBH, we wish we hadn't read them. It really came across that the war and the SAS gave an opportunity for a bunch of psychopaths to thrive and have a purpose. Some of the work after WW2 as the Empire was declining also felt a lot like highly trained and equipped soldiers shooting at brown people armed with pointy sticks.

There was also a long section where you could tell everyone had PTSD.

The family legend was a lot better before we explored it.

war is ugly, no doubt about it
also full of bravado

'TBH, we wish we hadn't read them. It really came across that the war and the SAS gave an opportunity for a bunch of psychopaths to thrive and have a purpose.'

Yes after loving the first 2 episodes and then seeing episodes 3 I think you may be right with 'psychopaths'. Is it bravery or utter recklessness?! The landing scenes were horrific and they'd been warned exactly what would happen. The scene in the Italian camp where Paddy says 'good evening' was a bit wtf too.

@LookingAtYou DH reports, that even with out seeing the episode, he knows exactly what event you are referring to.

It's not fictional, it really happened and WTF indeed.

The scene in the Italian camp where Paddy says 'good evening' was a bit wtf too.

I felt both the book and the show did try to show that not everyone was comfortable with what Mayne did and that many people felt it had crossed a line.

Episode 4 was a corker.

I watched the first two episodes last night and although it was okay I can't say I found it riveting or particularly exciting. I'll probably give episode 3 a go, as it looks like the action is due to amp up, but I'm not sure I'll continue if that one doesn't grip me.

I guess I just don't feel it's been written to appeal to a female audience - and I say that as someone who loves war films usually and has a degree in history - so this is stuff I usually find really appealing as subject matter.

I just don't feel it's been written to appeal to a female audience

That’s an interesting comment because, what does something written for a “female” audience mean? I’m female, love an OTT violent series (Punisher, Banshee etc) and would have had no problem at all if they hadn’t inserted a female character into this show. I wouldn’t have said that programmes need a certain hook to make them more palatable to a “female” audience - many women are just as happy to watch violent films, just as many men will love a rom-com.

Some shows are just about what they are about. This is a show about the founding of the SAS. It’s funnier than you might initially expect (though reading the book, some of the early missions were naturally amusing anyway) but I don’t imagine many people are going to come into this show, after seeing the trailer, expecting it to be about that much more than very violent men setting up a regiment during war…

Yeah, I don't really know what I mean by it either @TheOtherBoleynGirls, because I don't have a problem with war or violence and things written specifically for female audiences often don't appeal to me at all. I don't need female characters either and don't find the one in this particularly interesting or appealing. I dunno. It just didn't grab me. I don't find it gripping. And I agree that some of the characters are psychopaths and really quite unpleasant.

but that is the SAS isnt it?
how would they be defined?

'I guess I just don't feel it's been written to appeal to a female audience'

Being female hasn't got anything to do with it. I can certainly tolerate violence and of course you accept it as part of war but as @AnnaMagnani says they seem psychopaths, this isn't about war and the trials and tribulations it seems to be about men who not only took massive risks but also seemed to do it recklessly rather than with any great plan.

All initially amusing and impressive and as I said ep 1 and 2 were brilliant but ep 3 with the predicted botched, horrific landings and naked men singing in the dessert seemed not so much who dares wins but what a bunch of egotistical fucking idiots.

I'll see how ep 4 goes!

well it is based on a true story, so perhaps they were egotistical idiots

Yes true and being an egotistical idiot is fine if they have the skills and intelligence but they seemed so hapless in ep 3. Perhaps it was a blip, I half expected Baldrick to pop up in the dessert and say he had a cunning plan.

I'll reserve final judgement until I've seem them all!

I too object to the being written for female audience. I like it. It's loosely based on RL. The notion of to love killing, and re the bird in the cage: war allows men to behave badly / Meanly and get away with it, makes sense. Plus they were all quite rebellious and not straight laced and a bit mad and thought outside the box and I like that about them because the whole thing was absolutely dangerous and ridiculous but very cleverly well done and that makes complete sense to me.

I don't especially have a problem with them being egotistical fucking idiots. There are some blokes (because this is essentially blokes) who are amazing in a war and totally dreadful out of it.

Another example would be Douglas Bader who managed to lose his legs before the war, through his own reckless flying, then was absolutely brilliant during the war. And a nightmare to live with once the war was over.

I suspect I object the soundtrack making it seem aspirational.

'Plus they were all quite rebellious and not straight laced and a bit mad and thought outside the box'

Yes clearly not ones for rules of any kind. Just one of them should have said hang on let's go tomorrow night when there isn't a sandstorm. Time wasn't of the essence as they then spent days wandering round the desert trying to find each other and get equipment.

Dessert*

Desert even 🙈

There are some blokes (because this is essentially blokes) who are amazing in a war and totally dreadful out of it.

I heard a really interesting talk from a forensic psychiatrist a while ago who talked about how there’s probably a societal/evolutionary reason why humans suffer from sociopathy and psychopathy - in pretty much all of human existence we’ve needed the kind of people who would be excellent at fighting, and they would be the war leaders, the heroes.