I'm going to watch, because it's only one more. I bought Apple+ specifically for this show. I should get my money's worth.

I expect to be eyerolling the whole time though.

I'm not arguing in favor of less content, but it seems like there's a misconception that POW camps were chock full of exciting storylines and adventure opportunities for the prisoners. This is an odd complaint. If you want more action, you're going to get it in the final episode when the prisoners are marched out in the dead of winter.

I've gone back and forth. some episodes are good (3&4) and the rest are completely mediocre. This last one was so bad it made up my mind. this has so much potential but ultimately fell flat. it was said before by 71, but everything about this was mishandled. Timing, casting, writing, subject matter… they just tried to do too much.

Prime example: the two characters who get shot down and have to escape occupied territory…. we spent more than half an episode focusing on only them, only for it to be forgotten and then have them show up riding bikes on base. Someone said it earlier as aell. "we're going to use you as bait" and then we jumped to total air superiority over occupied France

overall i give this a B-, and it's the "How I met your Mother" effect. i'm so invested in it at this point i might as well finish it out

Ag Since 83 said:

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There are a few different examples of them teasing something and then having it happen off screen in the show, but I think the worst case is from the end of episode 7 to episode 8.

End of episode 7: "Rosie, we need to destroy the Luftwaffe before we can invade France, so you need to be the bait. Are you up for that challenge?"

Beginning of episode 8: Now at D-Day, having seen the bombers used as bait 0 times

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Such an odd decision….why not show the fighters taking down the luftwaffe? And D-Day takes place off screen, described by Rosie to Crosby? They decided to have the narrator sleep through D-day?! How do you not show them bombing Normandy? (And delaying their bomb drops over concerns of hitting the troops, thus not knocking out some of the gun targets).

They've established Rosie as one of the lead characters and we're invested in him. Why pivot back to Crosby and not Rosie who flew on D-Day??! Then have him come back and Crosby realize he slept through the invasion? I can't come up with another rationale for that choice except they didn't have the budget to short the Normandy bombing.

The intro of the Tuskegee guys into the camp, with some soldiers recognizing their units' skills and others being put off by black GIs in the camp is an interesting story - those characters could have just been introduced then and there. The CGI of their missions in France was laughably bad.

To me the actor playing Bucky seems to be doing a bad Ben Affleck impression. I find his performance worse than Butler's.

Sandra's story seems to be completely made up as Crosby had no idea what she did. Again…strange decision to show her doing vague resistance tasks in France instead of perhaps, SHOWING D-DAY?!
(Unrelated, The actress playing Sandra plays Miep Gies in "a small light" which is outstanding)

You guys are saying it better than me. The show turned into a mess. Some of the middle episodes suggested how great it could be, but the show couldn't maintain any focus. It's like a modern cartoon where every 30 seconds you're on to the next scene. No depth.

arrow said:

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You guys are saying it better than me. The show turned into a mess. Some of the middle episodes suggested how great it could be, but the show couldn't maintain any focus. It's like a modern cartoon where every 30 seconds you're on to the next scene. No depth.

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So many wasted minutes in these last episodes. The POW scenes should have been thought out better. This one had Bucky playing imaginary baseball for a couple minutes (yes, life was excruciatingly boring in those camps and drive you crazy) and Buck made a homemade radio that he sits and listens to (yeah, we get that but why so many times showing it).

And still another wtf on the "use you as bait" and then skipping over probably the tactics and events leading to the greatest accomplishment of the overall air campaign.

The two most anticipated shows for me this year on my list have been such disappointments: Masters of the Air and True Detective.

Southlake said:

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Show is having a hard time finishing, next thing you know we're gonna see a one-eyed polar bear…

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If it falls on a fat Nazi, it'll be worth it.

AJ02 said:

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The two most anticipated shows for me this year on my list have been such disappointments: Masters of the Air and True Detective.

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Start watching Shogun.

Heck of a good finale for me.

Yeah, that finale was good.

It should be noted that Rosie was shot down twice. The one they didn't show was more dangerous than the one they did show. The dude was a certified badass.

A lot to like about the finale. And I'm far enough into Crosby's book now to think overall his story was told pretty well. There was definitely more from the book that could/should have been included in the show, but budgets, time, etc....

But....what happened to Meatball?

Pretty solid final episode. I agree with others though that the pace at the end was just too quick. Needed a couple more episodes to fully flesh out some of the storylines and characters. Overall good series though.

I enjoyed the series, but it didn't hook me the same that BoB or the Pacific did. I just didn't connect well with any of the characters. In fairness, I felt the same after my first watch of the Pacific before really loving it on second watch. Maybe this one needs a second viewing to soak it all in.

I don't think I've ever seen a series with so much momentum jump the rails so quickly.

Overall I'd give it a B, on par with or slightly ahead of the Pacific but obviously behind Band of Brothers. I think it'll improve over multiple viewers as well.

The Air War in Europe was always going to be a very hard story to tell because of multiple factors, most notably the attrition of crews and that they were in combat from 1942-1945. Getting a continuous story for the entire length of the war based on a group of men was going to be tough because they either died so fast or were lucky to hit the mission limit and go home. Makes total sense why they latched onto the 100th because you had an opportunity to have 2 main guys from the beginning who flew 20+ missions and then finished the war in a POW camp and survived as well as having a guy like Rosenthal who flew 52 total missions. Even then, the pacing was going to be way too fast to cover everything.

I think they made mistakes by starting an evasion storyline, but not following it (other than an extra scene that said they made it home). The expansion of the Subaltern into being a spy was all made up for the show (Crosby never actually knew what she did) and was a waste. The inclusion of the Tuskegee men should have started at the beginning or it shouldn't have been included at all. They deserved more than being a footnote in the final 2 episodes. Overall, just really rushed (and it seemed they were running out of budget for the episode 7/8 CGI). Could have used at least 3 more episodes to slow it down.

I do think they did a very good job of showing how the bomber missions were flown and the dangers that came with that. I had no issues with the acting or casting. Nate Mann (Rosie) was the real standout for me. I thought he did a great job.

I do hope Spielberg & Hanks are able to continue doing shows like this although I have a feeling that companies aren't going to want to pay to make them. Sadly the men and women from that generation are rapidly leaving us. Most are in their late 90s now. I think its incredibly important to be reminded of what they did for all of us.

If you missed the interviews that BoB had, watch the documentary that Apple released today as well. Has interviews with Harry Crosby, Rosie Rosenthal, John Murphy and several other members of the 100th.

I put this show above The Pacific and below Band of Brothers.

Band of Brothers is just a perfect storm. One unit, with several continuously present members, together from before D-Day until after V-E Day, and several missions which lend themselves to being the focus of individual episodes.

Well I didn't have a dry eye more than 10 minutes at a time during that last episode, good enough for me.

There's a lot they could've done better but they made it and it's more than we had. I don't get the Butler hate, when I think of a flyboy from that era he looks exactly like what I think of.

Masters of the Air was fantastic for me, despite things that have been noted over the past 2-3 episodes. Given my life long love of WWII aviation, this likely gives this series a boost over the others. I loved both Band of Brothers and The Pacific, but I loved watching this one more. But that does not make it a perfect show. It has some flaws, particularly in the tangent storylines they followed when the entire focus should have been in the air over Germany. And I will maintain this should have included more episodes to flesh out details better.

I will rewatch soon. I hope to pick up on little details that I likely missed. I also strongly recommend watching the hour long documentary that debuted today.

The finale was good. After seeing how the show concludes I think it really just needed a tenth episode to let ep. 7 and 8 develop more depth.

Great final episode. It landed. 7 and 8 were horrible while 5 and 6 were right up there with the best ever. I'm blaming covid and the choices to use 4 different directors that made it so disjointed. I will
absolutely be rewatching annually and will probably land on 1,4,5,6,9 as a 5 hour watch.

Episodes 1-4 - Cary ***unaga solid but forgettable
Episode 5-6 Anna Boden and Ryan fleck ****ing amazing like on a whole different level
Episodes 7-8 Dee Rees horrible, sub-par
Episode 9 Tim Van Patten saved it. Solid ending

I enjoyed this quite a bit.

The guy who played Rosie did a phenomenal job

Loved it overall, a couple of weak episodes but overall top notch. Not quite BoB but really good still. The finale was damn near perfect.

For a show about Masters of the AIR one of the lasting impressions for me will be what life as like as a POW or trying to escape enemy territory through the underground network, etc. And that was really great. Also the uncertainty those guys who made it back to base had, and had to deal with, about their comrades who went down. They just didn't know. The Army or Marine perspectives were always much more clear. Not saying dealing with that is easier, but at least you know when someone is gone and can make sure their body makes it home (no one left behind). I never thought about the fate of the guys shot down in the air war.

The four leads or primary characters by the end anyway, Rosenthal, Crosby, Cleven and Egan were phenomenal. While it was hard to identify or relate to who was who on the early flight scenes with the masks on, etc. those guys really shined through. I suppose that was also kind of the point though, they were faceless and unfortunately replaceable (next man up). And they got the character development of course. But they were all really strong characters and performances in very different ways. Keoghan as Biddick was also great in the first 3 episodes before his death.