My Review of Boots: "The Pink Marine"

 

Written by Andy Parker

Directed by Peter Hoar

Sergeant Sullivan (to Platoon 2032): "Time to kill the enemy."

I know it's been nearly a month since this comedy military gay themed show debuted on Netflix but I'd been busy, so I'm only catching up with it now. I was going to do a series overview but opted to review by episode instead.

Our protagonist of the piece would be barely closeted gay kid, Cameron Cope (Miles Heizer). He's tired of getting shit on by everyone in his life, including his own mother, Barbara (Vera Farmiga). Cameron's solution for this was to sign up to the Marines with his straight best friend, Ray McAffey (Liam Oh). Needless to say, Cameron didn't think it through.

Cameron was so desperate for a change that a recruiter, Sergeant Pitowski (Brett Dalton) saw something in him but Cameron was pretty horrified by what actually being a marine. It included being repeatedly screamed at, berated by drill sergeants and fellow recruits and also some internal battling with his sexuality.

While this show might be heavily focused on Cameron, there's a lot of other recruits to also take an interest in. There's the somewhat abrasive Nicholas Slovacek (Kieron Moore), the kleptomaniac Thaddeus Beau Sterling Hicks (Angus O'Brien), Cameron's bunk mate Santos Santos (Rico Paris) and a potential love interest in Isaiah Nash (Dominic Goodman). Oh and there's twins John (Blake Burt) and Cody Bowman (Brandon Tyler Moore).

It's a lot of recruits to look into for this first episode but there's good hints as to who these lads are and how they'll interact with both Cameron and Ray as the show will progress. As for the sergeants, they're a bit more stereotypical. There's mostly a focus on Staff Sergeant Marcus McKinnon (Cedrick Cooper), who certainly enjoyed exerting his authority over the recruits.

Of course while homophobia (mostly internalised) was touched upon with this opening episode, there was also a look into racism. In particular with Sergeant Knox (Zach Roerig) and the way he treated Ray. Knox's exit led to the introduction of Sergeant Liam Robert Sullivan (Max Parker) and his 96 game. While he doesn't seem as bad as Knox, it's clear he's going to be a challenge for Cameron, Ray and the rest of the recruits in this season.

- Originally this was titled The Corps. It's also based off The Pink Marine by Greg Cope White.

- Aside from Barbara, the only other female regular on the show is Captain Denise Fajardo (Ana Ayora). Cameron also talks to another version of himself.

- Standout music: Queen's I Want To Break Free and Bananarama's Venus.

- Chronology: 1990s, Parrish Island, South Carolina. The source material was set in the 1980s.

The Pink Marine was a frantic but great way of opening this series. It's fast paced, extremely funny in parts. It's also not unexpectedly shy of the male physique or it's commentary on masculinity either.

Rating: 8 out of 10