Past-Tense Saul?

In the beginning of the series, in Episode 1-1 (Around the 8:20 mark) when Michael is introducing Saul to the audience, he uses all past-tense.

Observe....

• "Saul WAS a hell of a soldier." - Past tense
  
• "Sure, he always SPOKE his mind" - Past tense
  
• "and it often GOT him into trouble." - Past perfect tense, if my memory of English class holds up
  
• "If he had HELD his tongue" - Past tense
  
• "he WOULD HAVE outranked me by now" - Past tense
  
• "He CAME to our unit" - Past tense (this one might be said like this normally, because the arriving was done in the past)
  
• "I guess he GOT tired of the cold weather" - Past tense (again, might be normal, because the 'getting tired of' was done in the past)

From the beginning of the first episode we assume that Michael is reading this from his journal (it's implied from the very intro). So we know that Michael survives, but we have no evidence that anyone else does. Michael introduces Saul in a narrative way, just like how he describes almost anything. Why would he use past-tense if Saul was still alive? So either Saul (A) dies or (B) gets stuck in such a bad situation and isn't heard from for long enough that Michael assumes he is dead. I don't think this situation had come up yet, and I fully expect Saul to return for Season 3.

What are your thoughts on this? (My "Theory" is that Saul dies an early death at some point before the final battle, or he dies during the final battle)

Why wouldn't you describe how someone has been in the past when introducing them in the present? Gives you a better sense of who they were up to that point.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Osiris

Why wouldn't you describe how someone has been in the past when introducing them in the present? Gives you a better sense of who they were up to that point.

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I guess. It still struck me as odd that you would be saying "was" instead of "is" if the person in question is still alive.

But he really ceased to be a soldier after that point. Bear in mind when Mikey starts writing the journal. He's remembering events, not writing in present tense until much later in the story. Good ear though.

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