[TP REWATCH] Part One and Part Two

[thrillingdetectivetales]

Welcome to the rewatch discussion post for PART ONE and PART TWO of The Pacific.
You are welcome to discuss any and all aspects of the episodes in the comments on this post. Please recognize that others may hold different opinions than yours and continue to abide by our #1 rule: don't be a dick. Additionally, I ask that y'all take care to keep spoiler content off of spoiler-free threads. Otherwise, have fun!

Part One
Spoiler-free thread.
Spoiler friendly thread.

Part Two
Spoiler-free thread.
Spoiler friendly thread.

If you'd like to chat about the episode in real time, join us over on Discord.*

* Please note that during this rewatch, we have done away with spoiler friendly and spoiler-free Discord channels and will simply be using the dedicated channel for The Pacific. As such, if you participate in the discussion on the Discord server you may encounter spoilers.

Comments

Re: Part Two [SPOILER-FREE]

[thrillingdetectivetales]

I enjoyed the dinner sign of all the things the rice came without. Little wonder they raided the Army supplies.

That bit was totally hilarious, agreed.

I wasn't clear why Leckie threw up the peaches. Were they spoiled or was it that his stomach couldn't handle it?

For some reason I'm fairly certain that it was Leckie's stomach that couldn't handle it, though I've just skimmed the book and can't find specific mention of the incident in question. I think I assumed that the Marines were so used to eating basically just rice with weevils at that point that the sudden introduction of rich foods like peaches in syrup pretty thoroughly wrecked their systems.

Where did the dog come from after the bombing?

So, it's not made super clear, but the Marines did have canine units with them on the islands. The dog runs into the shelter with them just as the bombing starts—Hoosier grabs him, I'm pretty sure. My assumption was that he was one of their unit dogs, though again, the show is relying on a lot of intricate knowledge that a read unfamiliar with Sledge or Leckie's books or the general history of the USMC in the Pacific won't have so it's not a very effective narrative choice.

Shame about the loss of Rodriguez. What an odd contrast that must have seemed compared to the news of their publicity stateside.

It is my great shame that I watched this series like six times and never once recognized Manny as Jon Bernthal until I was informed by another person, lol.

Leckie talks a lot about how isolated they felt on Guadalcanal and how damaging it was to their morale to be so sure that their country had probably forgotten about them. That scene strikes me as one of the saddest in the series in a weird way, because even after they're told by the sailor that everyone back home knows who they are and has heard of their exploits, they keep sitting there in that kind of gobsmacked silence because they really can't believe it.

So glad you're participating in this rewatch too! Really looking forward to more of your insights~

Re: Part Two [SPOILER-FREE]

[yourlibrarian]

Yeah, my first instinct was that it was too rich for a stomach shrunken by bare survival level food. But he seemed to be the only one getting sick so that made me think it was the can.

Ah, no wonder! My first thought was -- this is an uninhabited island, where did a dog come from? I wondered if I'd somehow missed an earlier scene but I'm glad it just wasn't introduced. I mean they were Dog unit but until the bombing scene I didn't recall seeing any dogs and then wondered if it was somehow a mascot since it seemed to be the only one.

Yes, that's another thing that I'm sure the troops in Europe never felt, not only because of their proximity to England (and later the liberated countries) and various communication sources, but because they were moving over inhabited areas.