"Bastogne" gives an excellent insight into the difficulty of being a military medic. The Battle of the Bulge is one of the most famous battles of World War II, so the choice to show it from the perspective of Easy Company medic Eugene "Doc" Roe was a risky, but ultimately successful one. Though every episode technically has one or two main characters, it's not until sixth episode, "Bastogne," that the format becomes sharper and more experimental. While the second half still contains some breathtaking action, it slows down and starts to really dig into single-character focus episodes. (It certainly doesn't hurt that they're played by actors, such as Damien Lewis and Michael Fassbender, who would later go on to greater fame.) These are high-stakes situations that Band of Brothers depicts, and seeing funny, likable characters thrown into them make them even more gripping. Though the cast is huge, and they initially seem like an amorphous mass of faces, the writers do a great job of giving each of them tiny flashes of characterization that are easy to identify with and latch on to. These are men who will do anything to protect the guys they're fighting with, and no matter how dire any situation becomes, it's always slightly leavened by the fact that these people are in it together. Throughout its 10-episode run, we're constantly shown that the safety of the whole matters more than the safety of the individual. It tells the true story of Easy Company, a crew of paratroopers in World War II, following their journey from training in Curahee to victory in Europe.
True to its name, Band of Brothers is about brotherhood.