Masters of the Air [Apple]

Theboinkmaster

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121810608#Comment_121810608

If you’re not enjoying it why stick with it for 6 episodes ??? You should’ve given up by 3rd episode but then I guess if you did you’d have nothing to give out about on the internet.

Mr Disco

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121811745#Comment_121811745

I’ll do as I wish not as you please thanks very much

Quiet Achiever

Probably been said already , but the portrayal of the Brits in this is a bit much

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121817468#Comment_121817468

True Nearly dropped my monocle old chap...

Quiet Achiever

It's just not cricket!

Quiet Achiever

Anyway, I'm enjoying it but it all feels very... schmaltzy

silverharp

A bit of a filler/setup episode (no planes this week) , they didnt really do a lot with the airmen on the run, more like a cut scene from a computer game to set up the next level at the camp, making a point that sometimes the civilians killed the airmen that had just bombed them out shocker. They definitely tried to cram too much in , just about every scene this week has been done much better in some old movie or another.

ejmaztec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121817468#Comment_121817468

If it were that bad the British actors playing American airmen wouldn't have taken part in it, or perhaps they sold their souls to Apple and didn't care. 😝

setanta1984

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121817696#Comment_121817696

Yeah this episode was a bit frustrating, I think they could have made a full, exciting episode of the downed crews in Germany rather than the minute or two vignettes sprinkled throughout. Those scenes were good, but needed proper fleshing out. The interrogation with the Luftwaffe officer was a bit cartoony also.

A couple of scenes at the beginning/end showing Rosenthal on respite and Crosby on his holidays in Oxford, would have been enough to get that point across. Nobody watches these kind of shows/films for the quiet scenes back home.

silverharp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121818468#Comment_121818468

I cant remember the movie now but there was an old B&W one (might even have been a US military training film) where they showed how the pilots could be manipulated when captured. "Herr Flick" seemed to know a lot about the pilot without showing where he got the info so they could have developed that a bit more. It was all a bit rushed like they were tick boxing the scenes. 

Quiet Achiever

Yeah i was interested at where Flick may have got all the info, and a bit impressed. O think maybe they'll come back to it given who was at the end of the episode.

Homelander

I actually thought it was a pretty good episode and finally gave a bit of depth to a few characters sorely lacking in previous episodes.

I agree that the caricatures are a bit much regarding the Germans and the British. They come across as exactly that - complete caricatures and not real people. Would expect better from a show of this calibre.

Still though I liked the episode. It made me start feeling invested in some of the characters for the first time.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121818468#Comment_121818468

The Luftwaffe officer was very Otto Flick.

I see now I'm not the first to spot it.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121821027#Comment_121821027

Its good that some of the characters not called Buck are coming to the fore.

silverharp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121820109#Comment_121820109

if my movie history is accurate (lol) the Germans would have done things like put a group of airmen in a room, maybe after boozing them up a bit and listen in to what they are saying, th airmen would likely talk about other fliers without thinking they were giving vital information away

Quiet Achiever

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121822369#Comment_121822369

See that is interesting

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121822369#Comment_121822369

I never knew the Luftwaffe had dedicated airman camps.

Could be listening in down there too.

silverharp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121822440#Comment_121822440

True about the listening part, The Great Escape and this show is based on the same camp, Stalag Luft III , it was a camp run by the Luftwaffe primarily for captured airmen. The TV show in fairness gave a better sense of scale of the place, it looked huge, whereas the movie made it look more Mosney scale

bog master

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121786609#Comment_121786609

Yes have read the book. Show tries too hard to balance Hollywood and reality. But am enjoying it and will see it out and then comment.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121822369#Comment_121822369

How many 18-25 go drinking and talk about work. Seems like a plan thought up by a HR person. Private Helga, maybe.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121822525#Comment_121822525

Always thought there was an awful bang of HR officer of those Gestapo lads.

Sleepy

I think you have that backwards @breezy1985 ;)

_Kaiser_

My main question from the last episode was what is/was the story with yer man's (I can't remember the character names either which is probably a bad thing) "roomate"

• Female officer "accidentally" ends up sharing quarters with a male officer in an era when this wouldn't have happened but lets it go?
• Complains about the limitations for women of the era but has no bother bantering with other male/senior officers in the bar?
• Very mysterious about what her job actually is
• Disappears suddenly at the end

Or maybe I'm reading too much into it and it was just a random needed convenience for yer man to process his feelings and not an intelligence agent from our side or the Germans?

Also, how lucky were the lads that they didn't end up on that other train 😥

silverharp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121824550#Comment_121824550

he got her address so I'd guess she will pop up again

Sleepy

The actress is only listed as being in one episode on IMDB so I'd imagine that's the last we'll see of her.

I'd guessed she was included as a plot device for Crosby to deal with his grief over the death of Bubbles but after doing a bit of googling it seems that she was real though they've changed her name slightly from Subaltern Alexandra M. 'Landra' Wingate to "Sandra M. Westgate" and yes, they did initially meet after being assigned as roommates at this conference in Oxford. Apparently in his book, Crosby speculates she was in intelligence or covert ops but she revealed her role to him despite them hanging out together a few more times while on leave in London (and apparently yes, they.

Bubbles' death is also premature in the series, he didn't die on that raid but on a different one 6 months later. No doubt changed for dramatic pacing reasons.

silverharp

Good episode, it zipped by, are they all only 43min? an hour would be better , it feels rushed again, I thought the Sandra character( if thats her name )would pop again and she does with next weeks episode preview indicating she is an SOE agent. Nice story overlap with the Great Escape story too and their weekly exposition of "interesting facts about US airmen"

Mr Disco

Very poor overall

youcancallmeal

I don't think it was very poor overall. Everyone(including myself) will always think of Band of Brothers and even The Pacific to a lesser extent when considering Masters of the Air. If the previous 2 series were never made I think this series would be held in high regard right now

Agent Coulson

Finished it this morning and I would say overall it was disappointing and would put bottom of the three series.

Sleepy

I enjoyed it I have to say. Doesn't have the heart of Band of Brothers but it's level enough with The Pacific imo.

_Kaiser_

So that's that.. Overall I think it's definitely the weakest of the 3 series anyway.

I probably expected a bit more from the air battles and flying in general (the last third of the series is predominantly in the POW camp or back at base).

About the best part of the finale was the montage at the end showing where they ended up in real life.

Decidedly average unfortunately but then BoB is a show that'll probably never be surpassed.