MASTERS OF THE AIR: Episode 8

 

 

            I feel I have to reemphasize that I looked forward to this series for years and got Apple TV in order to watch it. I wanted to love it, although I was aware it would likely not live up to Band of Brothers and The Pacific. The series started off well with episode 3 being possibly the best depiction of bomber combat ever. Since then the series has unsuccessfully attempted to juggle several subplots which have either been ill-developed or uninteresting. Some of the subplots have been dropped for no reason. Episode 5 was another good one because the show took to the air again, but it turns out that was just a tease. Episodes 6 and 7 were huge disappointments and episode 8 has continued that trend.

 

            Band of Brothers followed a company of soldiers from boot camp to the end of the war. We got to know the characters and the series had a nice flow to it as it alternated character development with combat. It was also a great study in command as Dick Winters anchored the series. It focused on the effect of war on a group of comrades. Its theme was comradeship. The Pacific took the approach of following three Marines from Guadalcanal to Okinawa. It also alternated from character development to combat. And the combat was some of the best ever shown. The theme was the dehumanization of war. It is hard to understand why the screenwriters for Masters decided to abandon the formula that made those other miniseries great. The series should have combined the templates from the other two. Focus on Buck and Bucky for the leadership perspective and several crews to show how difficult getting to 25 missions was. The show was supposed to be an homage to those airmen. Instead, we have gotten several threads that have been jammed together, none of which have jelled.

 

            Episode 8 was a fiasco. We finally got the appearance of the Red Tails, but it was painfully obvious the unit was thrown in to diversify the audience. This is an insult to African-Americans and an unforced error since there have been two movies about the unit already. Taking time away from the bomber boys for a taste of the Red Tails was a bad mistake, especially since the episode was another shamefully short one. It is infuriating that the episodes are running at less than 45 minutes. (This episode was 42 ½ minutes!) Are they leaving the best parts of the short scenes on the cutting room floor? It seems like it. Oddly, the screenwriter makes a point of having Benjamin Davis, Jr. mention that they have lost some of the bombers they were escorting. This is an attempt to refute the myth that they never lost a bomber. But why go out of the way to point this out? All of this is to get three of them shot down and sent to Buck and Bucky’s prisoner of war camp. This is how the series justifies including the Red Tails. There is no attempt to tie the unit to the 100^th. We get a cringey scene where a German interrogator points out to the trio that America is racist. Check that box off.

 

            Besides the Red Tails, the other two threads that we get in brief scenes involve Buck/Bucky in camp and Crosby/Sandra. The camp scenes are boring. Buck and Bucky have a brief bout of dysfunction, but that is soon dropped. The characters are not trying to escape. For God knows what reason, the series continues to focus on sad sack Crosby. We are supposed to care about a REMF. In a laughable development, poor Cros has not been getting enough sleep, so he is given a full month off.  That’s right, instead of us following crews that are on suicidal missions, we get a guy who needs a month off from his stressful desk job! As far as his romance with Sandra, it turns out she is a secret agent, but she does nothing that is interesting. As far as leadership, the unit is now on its fourth commanding officer and we know nothing about any of them.

 

             I know it might seem that I am being unfairly harsh in my reviews. Some will argue that the series is meant for the general public, not for war movie fanatics. That may be true, but I find it hard to believe that a casual viewer is finding the series interesting and well-plotted. And it is very hard to believe that after the third episode, viewers were wishing for less combat missions and more underdeveloped subplots. One more to go.  I predict a whimper, not a bang.

 

GRADE  =  F