Something went very wrong in episodes seven and eight of Apple TV+’s excellent new series “Masters of the Air,” about the Eighth Air Force’s legendary 100th Bomb Group. The show regains form for the series finale in episode 9, but by then, it has taken too much damage to successfully complete its mission.
“The Bloody Hundredth” So called because of the heavy losses it suffered when flying B-17s from Thorpe Abbots Air Force Base in England from 1942 to 1945, it attracted an unusually diverse and close-knit group of individuals. It seemed like it was. “Masters of the Air” assembles a stellar cast that more than up to the task of portraying them, giving a human face to the Allied strategic bombing campaign in Europe.
“Masters of the Air” marks the final act in popular culture’s long farewell to the generation of Americans who fought in World War II.
Up until the penultimate two episodes, it all but abandons this central story to become a disjointed mix of prison drama, spy thriller, human-on-human conflict story, and, ultimately, war It is concluded (we assume) only because it occurs.
Why, for example, does Masters of the Air suddenly focus our attention on the affair between navigator and narrator Harry Crosby and dull British secret agent Sandra? Indeed, such narrative meanderings perhaps serve to humanize the protagonists and make their heroic deeds more memorable. The problem is that the series often spends a lot of time on these subplots and doesn’t depict the main action at all.
Instead of showing us a devastating mission to hollow out the 100th, “Masters of the Air” tells us about it through expository dialogue and, worse, expository narration. Masu. Inexcusably, even D-Day is downplayed. Our characters face the nightmarish pace of his 200 air missions in his first three days of the invasion. A scene in which one character returns to the base and talks about it to another character in a 60-second exchange was cut.
It’s impossible to discern whether this is a choice dictated by the writers or by a depleted effects budget. If it’s the latter, some may question the plan’s failure to capture the central moments of the war in the West.
This is all the more frustrating given that “Masters the Air” is a painstakingly accurate depiction of what it chooses to include. Those who know their history will note with interest the friction between members of the Royal Air Force and the United States Air Force depicted in early episodes.
This viewer was drawn to the story in which the opening episode depicted friction between Royal Air Force and US Air Force personnel, with the Royal Air Force actually refusing to provide Spitfires as long-range escort for a devastated B-17 fleet. I expected it to be assembled.
It’s certainly a rich conflict to explore, as it led to the failure of General Ira Eaker’s YB-40 gunship experiment, which in turn led to the development of American drop tanks, and the shift in bombing operations aimed at killing aviators. changed it to something other than its long-term purpose.
But that’s not the case. Later in the series, the P-51s simply appear and we only know them as weapons. deus ex machina. (But we’ve got the most improbable P-51 bailout in history here, proof that the effects budget has dried up. Viewers will soon find out.)
Even if they keep the focus on air combat, these two episodes pack in too much with the abrupt insertion of the Tuskegee and aviator subplots. This method of cramming fighter jets into a story about bombers could have been done in an interesting way. For example, as a way to highlight the aforementioned drama of fighters and escorts.
Instead, it just throws in characters we don’t really know, and therefore don’t care enough about, as a nod to standard Hollywood diversity.
The Tuskegee Airmen’s presence at the German POW camp Stalag Luft III, where much of the series culminates, is historically accurate and could have been used in a dramatically more convincing way. Once again, watch the drama of abandoned fighters and escorts. Why the series chose to include them as an afterthought is a mystery. These aviators deserve either their own show or a prominent role in this one, but they don’t get either.
Surprisingly, the Tuskegee subplot is then utilized for questionable set pieces. Nazi interrogator This remark is used to convey a left-liberal anti-racist critique of America, and then prompts the captured Americans sitting in front of him to make provocative remarks. Double V campaign speech.
In reality, all of the Tuskegee airmen on Stalag Luft III were integrated into the general population of the camp. An organic introduction without the throat-watering narrative would have worked better both as storytelling and as history.
It is not unheard of for television and movies to omit parts of historical narratives. So why complain about two substandard episodes out of nine? To answer that, we have to understand ‘Masters of the Air’ in its proper context . That is, as the final act of a long popular cultural farewell to the generation of Americans who fought in World War II.
This farewell has been a long time coming since 1998’s Saving Private Ryan (when that generation was in their 60s and 70s), 2001’s Band of Brothers, and 2010’s The Pacific. It will last 40 years until its completion in 2024, when a small number of veterans will retire. People over 90 years old.
These works are representative works. Their purpose is not to tell stories wherever they go, but to inspire humility and reverence in generations who live comfortably because of the suffering, sacrifice, and courage of their ancestors.
It was like this.
They thus occupied the Brecourt mansion..
This is how they crossed the airfield on Peleliu Island.
ThThis is how they flew from England to Regensburg and then to Africa and fought all the way.
Your grandfathers were giants. Of course.
The history of the masses is both a memory of yesterday and a lesson for tomorrow. Masters of the Air comes to its senses in the final episode, but it’s too little, too late.
Stories like 100 Days of Blood are part of America’s fading civil liturgy, and we would be wise to treat them with the respect they deserve. Otherwise, they will simply disappear into a mass of “content” that only serves to appease or distract an increasingly fragmented population.
Joshua S. Treviño He is Director of Information Research and Director of Texas Identity at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. His other experience includes consulting with Booz Allen Hamilton, serving as a speechwriter and international health expert in the George W. Bush administration, and as an officer in the U.S. Army.
