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The new Apple TV+ World War II miniseries Masters of the Air returned with its seventh episode this week. Part Seven is an emotionally gripping, slower-paced episode that wraps up some storylines, explores the trials and tribulations of prisoners of war, and sets up the series for the Masters of the Air finale.
Recap
Much of the latest Masters of the Air episode is dedicated to following the story of the prisoners of war at Stalag Luft III. Buck (Austin Butler) and Bucky (Callum Turner) have been reunited at this camp, and they are debating whether to make an escape attempt or wait out the war.
The prisoners have built a makeshift radio through which they receive updates about the conflict. Unfortunately, they aren’t hearing much good news. The British forces are struggling to make progress at Monte Cassino, and the Americans are pinned down on the beaches at Anzio.
A surprise inspection comes and the German guards find the radio the prisoners have been using. After the radio is confiscated, the prisoners are concerned that they will receive harsher treatment. A voiceover explains that airmen were often treated better than other prisoners, particularly in camps run by the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) because the Luftwaffe had men shot down and imprisoned on British soil.
Bucky raises the idea of making an escape attempt with Buck, who shuts it down and says that his only goal is to make it out of the prison camp alive. Buck receives a letter from Marge that is delivered to the camp by the Red Cross. He tells Bucky that he had proposed to Marge before the raid on Bremen, and she said yes. Bucky offers his congratulations, and Clevin asks Bucky to be his best man.
The prisoners learn that British POWs have been digging tunnels for over a year and nearly 100 men attempted to escape. The Nazi camp commander calls the senior officers of the POWs into a meeting and informed them that 50 of the British prisoners who have been captured were executed.
The camp commander also insists that the prisoners reveal the identities of all of the Jewish POWs. At first, the American commanders refuse, saying that they are all American POWs, and refusing to make the distinction. There is little doubt they are aware of what will happen to the Jewish prisoners.
The Nazi commander responds that the SS and the Gestapo are considering taking over the camp. He says this would be an outcome that neither of them wants and implies that nearly all of the prisoners would be tortured or executed if the camp fell under SS or Gestapo control. The show doesn’t explicitly say what happens, leaving it as a cliffhanger for the time being.
Towards the end of the episode, Buck appears to come around to the idea of making an escape attempt because he believes that the Nazis will eventually execute all of them as the military situation deteriorates.
Rosie completes his 25th mission, but there is a catch
Back at Thorpe’s Abbott, the men of the 100th learn that they are being ordered to attack Berlin for a second time. We see that they are taking a nearly identical route to the one they flew during a previous attack on Berlin, which leads to some of the airmen questioning the wisdom of this approach. Some of the flyers openly wonder whether the high command really cares if they live or die.
Rosenthal survives the raid, as the 100th is accompanied by newly arrived P-51 Mustang long-range fighters. Rosie buzzes the tower on his return to celebrate completing his 25th mission, a milestone that earns him a ticket home.
The rest of the men in the 100th are relieved to see that somebody actually made it through all 25 missions alive. However, their brief sense of relief is cut short as they learn that the mission threshold has been increased to 30. This leads to airmen lashing out against their higher-ups in command, frustrated that their lives seem to hold such little value.
After hearing this news, Rosie decides to reenlist. He doesn’t feel it is right that he will get to go home and an inexperienced rookie flyer will take over and likely get shot down. If the men he has developed a bond with are still flying and fighting, he wants to be alongside them.
Rosie is told that the arrival of the P-51s means that the mission for the bombers has changed. Rather than striking targets, they will serve as bait to get the Luftwaffe fighters in the air so that the P-51s can destroy them. Without complete air superiority, the Allied invasion of Europe will not receive the green light to proceed. Rosie takes a moment to process this news and decides to follow through with his pledge to reenlist.
Review
This was a slower Masters of the Air episode, but also one of the most emotionally gripping of the series. We saw the prisoners struggle to survive and keep their spirits up. The showrunners did a great job of portraying the lengths that the senior officers would go to in order to keep the men under their command in good spirits.
The prisoners relied on each other and worked together to survive despite the conditions. We also got a glimpse into the mentality of the German camp guards and the psychological games they would play, alternating between threatening the prisoners and attempting to come off as their friends.
Although the aerial combat took a backseat in this episode, we did get a brief glimpse of a battle scene that was very well filmed. The wide shots gave the audience a great view of what it was like to see the flak burst of flak and the fighters swooping in for dog fights against each other.
The arrival of the P-51 marked a turning point in the air campaign and seemed to improve the spirits among the men of the 100th. However, we can see the horror that lies around the corner: the bombers will now be used as bait essentially to lure out the German fighters so that the P-51s can target and destroy them in preparation for the D-Day landings.
It is impossible to imagine the dread that the flyers of the 100th must have felt to know that they are now going to be used as bait after surviving repeated strikes deep into Nazi territory that could only be described as suicidal.
During this episode, you can’t help but feel sadness and frustration on behalf of the flyers when they learn that their threshold to return home has increased from 25 to 30 missions, and even those who are already in the middle of their enlistment will still see an increase of 28 missions. That had to be an absolute gut punch for pilots who thought that they were close to going home.
Throughout Masters of the Air, we have seen countless flyers die. Rosie survived his commitment to 25 missions but didn’t want to leave his men behind. We’ll see if that decision leads to his name being added to the body count as the strategy shifts and the 100th is used as a sacrificial lamb to degrade the Luftwaffe.
