With Joe Mazzello’s well-honed acting skills and with Timothy Van Patten’s impressive directing, Part Seven just took The Pacific to a whole other level. This has to be the best episode so far! I was so hooked; I even unabashedly increased the volume to forty to drown out the unnecessary outside noises. I was careful not to miss anything. Every part of this installment just soared high and flat-out captivated me.This episode leads us to the war at the hills of Peleliu. I think the hills are the reason why the Japs wiped out from the landing and the airfield. The hills in fact, had more than five hundred underground holes – all unexpectedly occupied by those sly Japs. And now that they’re officially back to battling it out against the US Marines, the war is even more frightening than before. I never actually thought that the Japs would be even more daunting than their artillery. Though don’t get me wrong: the Japanese resistance was strong. In fact, it was so strong that the US Intelligence can’t even get past it. Truly, it was something I’d never forget. It’s a “fight to the finish”.
The flashbacks got me. That’s for sure. Like that part wherein Sledge was scribbling sticks on his little notebook as memories of the war he’s fought started flickering before him; haunting his thoughts. The other one occurred in a John Basilone scene, in where Basilone, still at loss with the Famous People World, turns over a golf course to take his chances. Reminiscences of Guadalcanal entered his mind – and he suddenly sees Manny and JP subtly calling out to him. I love that part! Especially when the scene forwarded towards the evening and Basilone becomes aware of of his blistered hands. And when some truck’s headlights flashed behind Jon Seda’s silhouette – I have to admit, that was wonderful.
A lot of changes has come upon Eugene Sledge. He's not that shy Southern boy from Mobile, Alabama anymore, but is a full-fledged man exposed to the bitter realities of war. In addition to that, he now takes a cigarette time and again, accepting anything Gunny Haney offers him. I am starting to see that Sledge is becoming even more cautious with his surroundings. I thought it uncanny of him to be the aware one, when he heard the Japs talking in the underground hole. Part Four came back to me then: when Sledge was still in training and shot two of his cardboard friends. Nonetheless, I was amused. This scene led to the most brutal fights against the Japs. When Snafu told Sledge to check a particular side of the Jap hole, one Jap soldier showed up - and it scared the holy moly out of me! Of course, Sledge isn’t as bad-ass as Basilone was in Guadalcanal, but you should have seen him handle that Jap with his gun: the Jap fell on top of Sledge before drawing his last breath! It was appalling and amusing all at the same time. The best part has to be the flamethrower: Japs were scampering out of the hole - in flames! It was merciless. Even Sledge grows quickly disturbed with the sight of this.
I was surprised when Sledge’s division met the First Marines. William Sadler makes another appearance as Chesty Puller with the injured leg. Still standing, for all I know. I just can’t say the same about Chuckler, who even makes the more surprising appearance. I was hands-down shocked. He was being carried on a stretcher; a little unwary, smoking a cigarette butt! And when Sledge asked if he was all right, he merely cringed in excruciating pain. I wonder how Leckie and Runner would take that, considering that they’ve been waiting for poor Chuckler to return to them.
I was also shocked with the demise of both Ack-Ack and Hillbilly. Especially Hillybilly’s though. I wasn’t very sure where he got shot (I’m thinking it was by the ribs, or just below the heart), but they poured salt on the spot before he died. That has to be a terrible predicament before fading! And even though a lot of Marines had tears in their eyes when Ack-Ack was getting carried off on a stretcher, his death seemed a little extraneous to me. I was happy with Gunny Haney; he wept on both occasions. Now that those two are gone, Gary Sweet definitely has to step up a little more and play a much bigger role.
So far, I’ve also been impressed with Martin McCann and Brendan Fletcher playing the roles of RV Burgin and Bill Leyden. And when that grenade exploded right on Leyden’s face – that was the shiz! If he ever shows, I’d like to see his outcome in the next episode; I heard he has a tough Irish ass and that he’d be back as soon as possible.
Rami Malek portraying Snafu Shelton is very interesting. He still demonstrates this curiosity on Sledge. He even performs Sledge’s indirect command to “put the dead Japanese soldier out of its misery”. There also was this scene in where Snafu was showed snatching a Japanese flag from a dead Jap soldier. It suddenly takes me back to the earlier parts of the show when a packer was asking for a Japanese souvenir so he can go home - plus he’ll pay them really big. Meanwhile it did surprise me that Snafu was the one who stopped Sledge from removing a Jap’s gold tooth because of “bad germs”. They had a slight argument in which Eugene left Snafu speechless. It was a nice sight seeing Shelton savor the air, though. And become happy once he'd realized that they'd been given the morning off.
I never thought that Jay De L'eau would break down – especially not in front of Sledge, who I thought was rather the more anxious one – so yes, it was a little surprising. When he said he’ll get hit but doesn’t care anymore, it made me think a little bit. But when he cried out that Japs are everywhere (like a bunch of roaches, I presume), his intolerance of his emotions nearly got me. It's a good thing that I had this touch of comic relief in this scene: Jay, supposedly going to do his “business”, goes to a hole, takes his pants off – and gets jumped at by a Jap! Not only did the group take a long time to shoot the Jap, but Snafu also gets the audacity of making fun of Jay (“You looked like you were in a sack race, Jay… you left a trail, boy. They’re gonna find us now.”).
After such a depressing sight, watching them march; deadbeat, it made me glad that they eventually had a peaceful AmTrack ride back to… Pavuvu! As soon as they did, beautiful ladies stand in wait, handing out lemonades to the clapped-out Marines. I don’t know if Sledge fell in love or something like that. But some random guy definitely ruined the moment for him. Best episode ends. It actually is now my favorite one now. It is definitely a must-see. Big kudos to Tim Patten. I heard he’s directed Part Nine as well. Now I have to watch that. I also bagged a lot of wicked quotes watching this episode. My only complaint is the run-rime; I think this one went for fifty minutes or less. But anyway, I am on great expectations now. I am waiting to see which next episode will top that.
"Never run when you can walk. Never walk when you can stand. Never stand when you can sit. Never sit when you can lay down. Never lay down when you can. And never pass a bucket of clean water. Amen."
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