I totally agree - it was brutal, extra humiliating and completely over the top. It made it much worse when I realised what "punished, as a boy" meant. Jesus, they used to flog children like that? Barbarians indeed.
I do wish I could understand some of the dialogue better too. And someone should tell TV people that dark scenes are incredibly difficult to see and figure out what's going on top of the fact these guys are so bundled up you have almost no idea who they are. I don't appreciate having to squint to try to see what is going on, lol!
BTW, I think the whole "bear" thing is a bit silly. I mean, it cuts men in half and then places their corpses aboard the ship like they were one person? Yeah, pretty ridiculous though I do realise this series is based on a book and not totally on the real expedition itself. It's not enough they had to endure extreme cold, not much food, half a year of eternal night and being totally lost with no hope of rescue? Have we heard at all what happened to the party they send out (south, I think) to try and get help?
Still, I am enjoying the show immensely and am looking forward to the next episode.