[TP REWATCH] Part Seven and Part Eight

[thrillingdetectivetales]

Welcome to the rewatch discussion post for PART SEVEN and PART EIGHT 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 Seven
Spoiler-free thread.
Spoiler friendly thread.

Part Eight
Spoiler-free thread.
Spoiler friendly thread.

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

To participate in discussions about previous episodes, you can visit the posts below:

Part One & Part Two
Part Three & Part Four
Part Five & Part Six

* 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

Part Seven [SPOILER-FREE]

[thrillingdetectivetales]

This is a comment thread for spoiler-free discussion of The Pacific: Part Seven.

For spoiler friendly discussion of the episode, please see the thread below.

Re: Part Seven [SPOILER-FREE]

[yourlibrarian]

Interesting moments in this episode, with Eugene first killing someone with friendly fire, and then saving his troops by spotting the uncleared bunker. The waste of ammunition due to panic and adrenaline must have been enormous. I wonder how common the grave-robbing of men not yet dead was. I guess with the rain at least their water problems were solved.

The plight of the stretcher bearers, where they are particularly likely to be hit, only to create more of a need for evacuation, must have been a constant problem. Risky job, and it would seem only creating more casualties. It surprises me that they would try to evacuate injured soldiers during a firefight, rather than after trying to secure an area, especially for those who were probably not going to survive the delay in treatment anyway.

The mental strain in the sorts of situations they were in seemed to be a focus of the episode -- both people trying to deal with the situation and also deal with morale and the physical toll.

Shame about the Skipper. I can see now why there were various moments dedicated to showing his humanity with the men. Easy to understand why it was such a blow for them.

The moment when Eugene is attempting to eat in the middle of the carnage, then switches to digging out gold, wow. I imagine that quite a few people did get sick, given the amount of bodies out there rotting.

I thought that scene of them returning to base was so good in the call back that it provided to their departure. And what we saw among the returning soldiers -- we now understand everything that was behind it.

I imagine the women dispensing the juice seemed so surreal and incongruous in a place where the soldiers had experienced so much that was awful.

Re: Part Seven [SPOILER-FREE]

[thrillingdetectivetales]

Interesting moments in this episode, with Eugene first killing someone with friendly fire, and then saving his troops by spotting the uncleared bunker.

I feel I should clarify that Eugene saw who was responsible for the friendly fire but did not kill anyone, himself, lol. The bunker moment always sticks out to me—not least because seeing a flamethrower in use (even just on-screen) is absolutely horrifying.

I wonder how common the grave-robbing of men not yet dead was.

That's a great question. I know there are some characters in some of the books, like "Souvenirs" from Leckie's book, that didn't seem to give a damn whether they were looting the bodies of the dead or not, but that was mostly in regards to Japanese soldiers rather than the men buying the farm on the U.S. side... Hm...

The mental strain in the sorts of situations they were in seemed to be a focus of the episode -- both people trying to deal with the situation and also deal with morale and the physical toll.

For all its flaws, I will say that this is largely why I think I prefer The Pacific to Band of Brothers at the end of the day. I appreciate a piece of media—even one that is, admittedly, scattered and doesn't always succeed in its efforts to tell a coherent story—that focuses on the mental strain of combat and what it can do to a person. There was a little of that in BoB but they didn't get into it as much as they do in TP. Maybe if they'd had two more episodes to play with, as we sometimes posit in the Discord, lol.

I imagine that quite a few people did get sick, given the amount of bodies out there rotting.

From what I understand, several illnesses were very common, including some intestinal issues and, of course, good ol' malaria.

I imagine the women dispensing the juice seemed so surreal and incongruous in a place where the soldiers had experienced so much that was awful.

That scene is one of my favorites in the show. It does such a tremendous job of showing without telling just how disparate the reality of being in combat was to the general American mindset of the time period, imo. Plus Eugene staring down Mac when he tells them to move along just makes my day. xD

Re: Part Seven [SPOILER-FREE]

[yourlibrarian]

I feel I should clarify that Eugene saw who was responsible for the friendly fire but did not kill anyone, himself, lol. The bunker moment always sticks out to me—not least because seeing a flamethrower in use (even just on-screen) is absolutely horrifying.

Ah, I didn't realize that. And yes, I can see why the flamethrowers were needed but it's definitely sickening to think about. I'm glad the Allied troops shot men leaving them on fire because better that than to continue burning.

One of many things, I imagine, that forms that mental strain. The smell of those battlefields must have been horrific.

Part Seven [SPOILER FRIENDLY]

[thrillingdetectivetales]

This is a comment thread for spoiler friendly discussion of The Pacific: Part Seven.

By participating in this thread you acknowledge that you may encounter spoilers for later episodes in the series. For spoiler-free discussion of the episode, please see the thread above.

Part Eight [SPOILER-FREE]

[thrillingdetectivetales]

This is a comment thread for spoiler-free discussion of The Pacific: Part Eight.

For spoiler friendly discussion of the episode, please see the thread above.

Re: Part Eight [SPOILER-FREE]

[yourlibrarian]

Unbelievable that all that suffering and loss was for nothing. I wish they'd said a little bit more about how the Philippines were retaken though.

Also amazing to think that the Japanese took even more casualties, given what was said about Iwo Jima.

It's interesting to get a look at the wartime propaganda through Johnny's story. Looks like we'll finally get some insight into training as well.

I noticed that Lena said that he would want seconds of the French toast, but it looks like neither she nor Johnny actually ate anything!

The looks on his men's faces when Johnny fell were pretty understandable. He must have seemed superhuman to them, undaunted by anything, and their lucky token to survive the war.

Re: Part Eight [SPOILER-FREE]

[thrillingdetectivetales]

When I first watched The Pacific I fast-forwarded through most of the Basilone bits, largely because they felt very tonally disparate from the stories of Leckie and Sledge. I've definitely developed a greater appreciation for them after sitting through them but I still feel like, overall, the creative team did Basilone a disservice by trying to jam his story in alongside two others.

I would have loved to see it have the space to really detail how heroic the stuff he did truly was, or seen it from Lena's POV or something. As it is, I definitely feel for his men, and for Lena, but the show doesn't do a very good job of explaining what exactly John did or why it was so heroic and I think his storyline overall suffers for it.

He would have made more sense in a series that had a slightly more guts-and-glory focus, like BoB, I think, though Jon Seda is a very pretty man and I didn't mind watching him one bit.

Part Eight [SPOILER FRIENDLY]

[thrillingdetectivetales]

This is a comment thread for spoiler-free discussion of The Pacific: Part Eight.

By participating in this thread you acknowledge that you may encounter spoilers for later episodes in the series. For spoiler-free discussion of the episode, please see the thread above.