REVIEW: ‘Masters Of The Air’ Episode 1 – 2

sWith a two-episode premiere, Masters of the Air brings the audience into the cinematic scope of the Apple TV+ limited series. We meet the characters, we hear the rousing score, we take in the thoughtful costumes. But we also see the horror of war and grief fall from the sky. Masters of the Air episodes hit hard in their first outing, and it’s sure to continue as you get to understand the men’s stories unfold.

Masters of the Air marks a return to telling the stories of war from producers Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, who brought audiences into the trenches with Band of Brothers and The Pacific. WWII stories aren’t new territory (last year brought many iterations of its own in TV and film), but Masters of the Air brings audiences into a different space. This nin-episode limited series is set in the iron bellies of the B-17 flying fortress. Large and intimidating, the B-17s are responsible for bombing Nazi targets, but while they can be triumphant machines of flight, they can also be graves. 

The Masters of the Air premiere episodes are truly stunning achievements that showcase the technology of WWII and the human cost of piloting them. The most compelling moments of the series, much like Band of Brothers and The Pacific before it, come from highlighting how soldiers react to the tragedy around them.

The series starts bright and exciting, with young pilots ready to fight. In all honesty, they’re itching for a fight. But then, they’re just gone. In an epic aerial battle, we see the B-17s become tombs. They’re shredded by shrapnel. They’re shot out of the sky. The planes are too big to maneuver and rely on each other to stay alive. But as each one falls one by one, the danger for the remaining planes increases. The action sequence itself is coupled with a rousing score, but it’s the cutting gunshots and loudness of inside the planes that shake you.

As the entire fleet reduces to almost zero, we see the pain inflicted. We see bodies torn and burned. The flying fortresses are terrifying. A hole in the turret means a pilot can freeze. An overheating gun can scorch palms. All of it unfolds like a cascading tragedy and not a triumphant battle.

Masters of the Air Episodes 1-2 must be watched together. You see the excitement to join the battle. But there is also a real human cost of that fight there too. Until you finally see the weight of grief that comes from watching everyone you flew with never return. It’s this latter point that makes the series stand out. It balances the brashness of battle with the tenderness of grief. It turns the most cocky pilot into a scared child, and that’s gutting.

Episode 1 ends with Buck (Austin Butler) asking, “Why didn’t you tell me it was like that?” It’s all Buck can manage when he lands after losing 30 of his fleet. To which Bucky (Callum Turner) responds, “I didn’t know how to.” The terror of being in the B-17 is something that has to be experienced by the airmen. It can’t be told, but the audience and the men have to experience it.

But the moments after are just as traumatizing. They’re taken away to debrief and relive watching their friends die. Masters of the Air Episode 2 kicks off with the triage station and the loud and chaotic interrogation of the men who survived the fight. It’s a counting of casualties and not just the dead. There is a newfound respect for the air but also anger for the losses. Masters of the Air Episodes 1-2 capture that there is a weight to the world. The casualties are one thing. The guilt of survival and the fear of returning also run deep.

What begins as a glorious tribute to airmen morphs into trauma and just that. There is nothing glamorous about going up in the air or coming back down. All of it is traumatic, and barely any of the airmen know how to cope, or at the very least, do more than just move past it or crumble under the weight of losing friends. It’s a stark reality that offers a promise to the series. Each man is carrying pain beneath their bravado, and you see that in every actor before and after they’ve gone up in the air.

From a cast perspective, Barry Keoghan, Austin Butler, and Callum Turner are stellar. Stoic or brash but cut equally by losses, the actors’ chemistry is undeniable. They each carry the weight of the war with a somber flare. Their quiet moments are as strong as the time they spend fighting. Their conversations about the world, about home, questioning if they’ll survive, those are the special moments. Realizing that the Royal Air Force gets to do their missions at night while the Americans make suicide runs is stunningly handled. But it’s not about giving up for the men. It’s about making a resolute promise to make it through.

Masters of the Air Episode 1-2 are a stellar and gutting kick-off to the limited series. They offer spectacle and emotion in equal measure without ever missing the dread that comes from war. Each of these men is scarred, and it’s clear that these episodes are only the beginning of it.

Masters of the Air Episodes 1-2 are streaming now exclusively on Apple TV+, with new episodes every Friday.