Review: Masters of the Air

When preparing a novel, I like to read books and watch programs that give me a glimpse of the people, places, and times I'm writing about. I find the easiest way to understand another world is to escape to that world, if only for a few hours. This past week, I did it again.

For nine episodes, I watched Masters of the Air, an Apple TV Plus production that the BBC calls "a big old-fashioned war drama, glossed up with dazzling special effects and stocked with some of today's hottest young actors." I immersed myself in a different age.

For those who have not seen the series, Masters is part drama, part history, and part spectacle. It is exactly what one would expect from Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, who produced the series along with Gary Goetzman of Playtone fame. It is a gritty offering that takes chances and pushes boundaries, as I suggested in a review of historical works in May 2024. It is what television should strive to be.

Though the series features countless characters, it focuses on Maj. Gale "Buck" Cleven, Maj. John "Bucky" Egan, and Lt. Harry Crosby, three American airmen who are capably portrayed by Austin Butler, Callum Turner, and Anthony Boyle, respectively. The men are part of the Eighth Air Force's Bloody Hundredth, a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber unit stationed in England during World War II.

Based on the book by Donald L. Miller, Masters is the 2024 companion piece to Band of Brothers (2001) and The Pacific (2010), two sweeping series I also enjoyed. Along with the earlier works, it offers viewers a gripping, if not always accurate, portrayal of history's worst conflict.

Though I liked the big picture, I liked the little stories, too, such as Crosby's dalliance with Sandra Westgate, a saucy British spy played by Bel Powley, and the heroics of the Tuskegee Airmen, who lend a big hand to the Allied effort in Episode 8. Each of the subplots added texture and substance to a massive entertainment undertaking.

Like Band of Brothers and The Pacific, Masters of the Air documents the trials of actual people, whose real-life resumes are compelling by themselves. It also gives viewers a thrilling, often sobering glimpse of the daily lives of genuine American heroes. For those reasons and more, I would recommend the series to anyone. Rating: 5/5.