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heavyartillery
Welcome to the Band of Brothers rewatch discussion post for
PART FIVE: CROSSROADS & PART SIX: BASTOGNE
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 you 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!
Spoiler-free thread.
Spoiler friendly thread.
Part Six: Bastogne
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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 Five: Crossroads [SPOILER-FREE]
Date: 09/11/2019 15:22 (UTC)For spoiler friendly discussion of the episode, please see the thread below.
Part Five: Crossroads [SPOILER FRIENDLY]
Date: 09/11/2019 15:24 (UTC)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 Six: Bastogne [SPOILER-FREE]
Date: 09/11/2019 15:24 (UTC)For spoiler friendly discussion of the episode, please see the thread below.
Part Six: Bastogne [SPOILER FRIENDLY]
Date: 09/11/2019 15:25 (UTC)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.
Re: Part Six: Bastogne [SPOILER FRIENDLY]
Date: 09/11/2019 15:34 (UTC)Re: Part Six: Bastogne [SPOILER FRIENDLY]
Date: 09/11/2019 18:47 (UTC)Re: Part Five: Crossroads [SPOILER-FREE]
Date: 09/11/2019 18:57 (UTC)At the other end of medical emergencies, you've got demands for paperwork in the middle of a dozen different things going on. I guess this is when Winters discovered the true joy of leadership. I can imagine how dry the reports might be compared to what actually happened.
At the same time, it occurs to me how easy it would be easy to spin what had actually happened, since I assume the men in a platoon don't ever see them. Plus, with the constant rotation of men thanks to losses and injuries, presumably the officer-in-charge remained the same and would have a lot of leeway in what got told.
Given that I am now five episodes in though, the main thing I noticed is that I still don't recognize most of the characters from one episode to the next. Sometimes I recognize faces, sometimes names, sometimes both. But given the way much of it is shot, plus the darkened faces, it makes it difficult to keep track.
It certainly makes me understand though why so many war stories focus on the officers. Besides the fact that they're privy to so much more information, it's easier to keep track of a few people in these kinds of changing situations, even if, as in Moose's case, they end up coming and going quickly.
I noticed when I looked at the credits that Michael Fassbender was apparently in this episode and I never realized it.
It was very odd hearing Nixon list off where all the commanders were with various ordinary things happening, given what they were in charge of at the time. I thought of it before, how odd it is for so many people to be going back and forth across countries in the middle of campaigns. Especially when I think of war today, with US troops in Afghanistan, half the world away from home, all of Europe could crowd into a third of the United States.
But given these distances, it is certainly easier to understand how someone could be in Paris one day, soldiers could be looking at movies, and the next thing you know they're back in battle.
I was glad that the soldiers took it upon themselves to strip the departing soldiers of ammo and equipment, even before Jimmy Fallon showed up with supplies. One of the things that bugs the hell out of me when I watch TV is when people drop or throw away weapons. You'd think they would carry all the weapons they could. So if your gun is out of ammo? Now it's a club.
Re: Part Six: Bastogne [SPOILER-FREE]
Date: 09/11/2019 18:59 (UTC)I am amused that I was just talking about medics regarding the last episode and now here's one focused on them.
I could definitely empathize with the cold when I watch this, given the weather and the fact that I was bundled up in a coat while seeing it. No wonder they needed so much silk in the war, given not just the paratroopers but the drops.
Little wonder that soldiers are surviving more these days, given the conditions this episode showed. I can't imagine what the sanitary conditions were like in treatment on the battlefield as well as in the field hospitals. I was watching them eat with those bloody hands and shuddering.
Good little background bit, when he drives to the hospital and we see that the pile of bodies outside it has gotten higher.
Boy, the insanity of that final drive into town, with the hospital bombed, that jeep on fire, and all that effort for nothing with the wounded men. And his visit there was supposed to be a respite from the battlefield!
Re: Part Five: Crossroads [SPOILER-FREE]
Date: 09/11/2019 19:15 (UTC)I really like the contrast with how incredibly comfortable with the guys Dick is in the first flashback scene with Tab and the dog, to his growing alienation and upset at being cut off from them on a daily basis.
Has anyone seen The Seven Sinners? I kind of want to watch it now.
Re: Part Six: Bastogne [SPOILER-FREE]
Date: 11/11/2019 20:44 (UTC)But great observations :)
Re: Part Six: Bastogne [SPOILER-FREE]
Date: 11/11/2019 21:15 (UTC)