Episode 6 of Masters of the Air saw Bucky being captured by the Nazis and then being forced to walk through a German town that had been bombed by the Brits. He was nearly killed and was about to be buried in a forest. But he used that opportunity to make a run for it. Sadly, he was too exhausted and disoriented to make it too far and was re-captured by the Nazis and taken to Frankfurt to be interrogated by Ulrich Haussman. When that didn’t work, he was sent to the Luftwaffe-controlled Stalag Luft III, which was where he reunited with Buck. Crosby spent some time in Oxford, where he formed an amicable relationship with his roommate, Wesgate. Rosie Rosenthal went to the Coombe House for an extended therapy session under Dr. Huston so that he could re-enter the cockpit with a renewed sense of confidence and vigor. Let’s see how their stories progress in today’s episode.
Spoiler Alert
Buck and Bucky Make a Radio
The seventh episode of Masters of the Air begins with Buck, Bucky, and the rest of the prisoners of war going about their day in Stalag Luft III. It’s not shown very explicitly, but they are eating cats for their daily supply of protein. They have a makeshift radio to listen to the state of the war, thereby helping them ascertain if the Nazis are as powerful as they are pretending to be. That’s interrupted by an inspection, and the radio is confiscated. Back at Thorpe Abbotts, Rosie Rosenthal assumes the duty of training the new recruits. Quinn and Bailey conveniently make a triumphant return and are sent home. The reasoning behind that is that they know too much about the Belgian and French resistance. If they are captured again by the Nazis on the field of war, they’ll probably be questioned until they reveal something substantial about what is happening under the Nazis’ noses. What the hell happened in France? How did the nervous Quinn make it through Nazi-occupied spaces without having another breakdown? What happened to the girls? No clue. The show doesn’t address this at all. I’d like to assume that it has been left on the cutting room floor because these two side characters got enough screen time in the previous episodes to deserve a proper return. But, by doing so, I’ll be giving the writers a pass. So, I’ll say that it’s entirely possible that this is a case of shoddy writing.
Crosby and Rosie discuss the fact that there’s a quota on the number of missions that pilots and their crews have to hit, after which they’ll be allowed to go home. Rosie prepares to go for a bombing run on Berlin (which has apparently been hit multiple times already) but is asked to stand down. The mission ends up being partially successful because, while they do hit their targets, they suffer heavy losses and brutal injuries. That doesn’t stop the Americans from sending more young men into Berlin. By the way, amidst all this, Crosby resorts to adultery with Wesgate. How did they go from being casual friends to intercourse buddies? I have no clue. Is this arc on the cutting room floor, or is this how he has been written? I don’t know, and, either way, this is bad storytelling. Buck and Bucky plan to acquire raw material to make another radio, but their conversation is interrupted by the bombing in Berlin. The happiness is short-lived, as one of the prisoners is shot by the Nazi guards while another is mauled by a rabid dog. This ignites a sense of urgency in Bucky as he starts acquiring the parts that Buck needs for his radio. While waiting and preparing for their next move, Buck reveals that he has proposed to Marge, thereby making that his source of motivation to get out of the hellhole alive.
Major Jack Kidd Gets Earful for a Change in Plan
While Crosby is writing condolence letters to the families of the deceased, Kidd informs them that he has to chart a route for yet another bombing run over Berlin. When Lt. Col. Bennett tells the airmen about this, they become vocal about their criticism of these missions. Bennett assures them that he is going to be up in the air with them. It’s not clear if that quells the doubts of the airmen, but the introduction of the P-51 Mustangs certainly makes a difference because they are as fast and as lethal as the Nazi fighter jets. The Mustangs manage to keep the Nazis at bay while the B-17s drop their bombs on Berlin. Rosie’s crew makes a triumphant return. Kidd informs him that he is allowed to go home because he has done 25 missions. But the quota has been raised to 30 missions. So, the new recruits and those who haven’t done 25 missions have to stay and do a total of 30 bombing runs. This angers Shoens, and he gives Kidd an earful because they are being sent to die without a second thought. The balance between critiquing war and celebrating war in Masters of the Air is off. The showrunners put a lot more effort into making the action-heavy scenes feel inspirational and don’t give an equal amount of screentime to scenes like the one where Shoens reprimands Kidd. I understand that this is a propaganda show, but it’s wild that everyone is trying to pretend that this is a prestige show aimed at winning Emmys or other awards.
After all this, we get yet another “romantic” scene between Crosby and Wesgate. This whole arc is so weird and off-putting because Crosby is supposed to be the audience surrogate. And, out of nowhere, he turns out to be a cheater (he’s married, by the way). So, how am I supposed to relate to him? I don’t know if the real-life Harry Herbert Crosby did all this stuff. If he did, maybe he shouldn’t have been the narrator and the audience surrogate of the show. If he didn’t, then I wonder why this is even a plot point. More than any other episode in this show, episode 7 has revealed that the team behind it put all the effort into getting popular actors and period accuracy while completely ignoring the writing and the storytelling. Anyway, Buck’s radio doesn’t work. So, Bucky suggests that they should come up with a plan to escape from the place instead of waiting for help to arrive. Buck says that he doesn’t want to risk it because he wants to return to Marge in “one piece.” So, he tries to get his radio working again, and he succeeds. Later on, after a late-night inspection, Buck, Bucky, and their fellow inmates learn that the British prisoners have apparently made an attempt at escaping by digging a tunnel for over a year. Since this has been discovered, it’s obvious that the inspections are only going to increase, thereby decreasing Buck’s chances of doing anything substantial with that makeshift radio or playing the long game by waiting for help to arrive.
Did Rosie reenlist for more missions?
At the end of Masters of the Air episode 7, Buck and Bucky’s conversation about getting out of the Stalag Luft III is interrupted by a call to meet Simoleit. The Nazi jailer informs the Americans that 50 of the British escapees have been recaptured and then executed. He says this so that the Americans feel discouraged and don’t make a similar attempt at running away from the prison. That’s not all, though. Simoleit says that he wants to get a headcount of all the Jews in the American camp. The colonel of the American camp says that they are all Americans so as to send the message that they don’t discriminate between prisoners of war. Simoleit clearly doesn’t like to hear “no” as an answer and reiterates the Gestapo and the SS’s stance on the extermination of Jews. Buck finally realizes that Bucky’s plans of trying to escape are better than his own plans of waiting because the longer they wait, the worse they’ll be treated by the Nazis because inhumanity is the one thing they have perfected.
Back in Thorpe Abbotts, Rosie Rosenthal requests Bennett to reenlist him instead of sending him home because he can’t tolerate sitting and relaxing while his fellow airmen die. Bennett is ready to accept his proposal, but there is a catch. Apparently, the latest strategy is that, while the Mustangs are more than capable of taking down the Luftwaffe, the German aircrafts have to be baited. That bait will be provided by the B-17 bombers. Which means that the bombers have to go up in the air without a clear target just so that they can be shot at by the Germans because it’ll give the Americans time to shoot back. It’s a suicide mission, and Rosenthal doesn’t hesitate before saying “yes” to this strategy. I don’t know if this is a result of his therapy sessions or not, but it does look like Rosenthal is ready to give it his all. He is done relaxing, and he only wants to be beside his fellow airmen for five more missions. Maybe the next two episodes are going to reveal if Rosenthal’s gamble is going to pay off or not.
