Looking back, Apple TV has come a long way. When the service first launched in November 2019 (as Apple TV+), there was so little content that Apple was giving away year-long subscriptions with new devices, and charging just $5 per month for everyone else. Today, it costs $13, and Apple has picked up a number of Emmy wins, plus dozens of nominations. There’s plenty of worthwhile material to keep you invested.
A lot of the hype revolves around just a handful of shows, though, such as Severance, Ted Lasso, and Slow Horses. One I rarely see mentioned is Masters of the Air, and it’s high time you watched it if you haven’t already. Don’t worry, you won’t spend weeks playing catch-up.
What makes Masters of the Air so special
Reviving neglected history
Much of it can be linked to the show’s pedigree: it’s a co-production between Apple, Playtone, and Amblin Television. If those last two companies sound familiar, it’s probably because Playtone was founded by Tom Hanks, and Amblin by Steven Spielberg. More importantly, those companies produced two previous World War II shows — Band of Brothers and The Pacific — to which Masters of the Air is a spiritual successor. All this means a big budget (reportedly $250 million) with big talent, including Hanks and Spielberg as executive producers, and actors like Austin Butler, Callum Turner, and Barry Keoghan.
It’s not just spectacle, though. For me, the main attraction is that it illuminates a somewhat neglected aspect of WWII: the experience of US bomber crews over Germany, which you may have only ever seen on film in 1990’s Memphis Belle. Specifically the show narrows its focus to the crews of the 100th Bomb Group, and to a lesser extent the all-black Tuskegee Airmen.
The real 100th lost 177 aircraft during the war, and the show is arguably at its best when it recreates how terrifying those bombing runs were. Thanks to excellent acting, sound, and cinematography, you get a visceral sense of what it was like to sit in a tin can pounded by flak and strafed by German fighters. After a while, it feels like a miracle that anyone survived, never mind hitting useful targets.
Much like Band of Brothers, there’s a strong emphasis on the camaraderie the airmen develop, and tying characters into other aspects of the war — part of the show takes place in a German POW camp, and there are also plot threads referencing civilian life, rivalry with the RAF, and the Holocaust. One romantic subplot feels like a distraction, but does at least remind you that its characters are three-dimensional beings. Actually, the show as a whole does a reasonably solid job of humanizing its characters, giving them realistic dialogue and behavior while still allowing for profound moments.
There are just nine episodes, but that’s actually part of the show’s strength. Each one feels like an important chapter in a story with a definite ending — there are no plot points that exist solely to keep options open for another season. By the last episode, the war is over, and you get the satisfaction not just of a definite arc, but one that gives you more appreciation for horrors no one should have to live through.
A few criticisms and recommendations
Final thoughts
Perhaps unavoidably, there are compromises in the story. You don’t get to see all that much of the Tuskegee Airmen, who deserve their own prestige show. And while much of what you’re seeing is based on history, including real people, details have been compressed, rearranged, or invented to forge a compelling narrative that fits in the assigned runtime. It gets the gist of real events, but if you want pure facts, you’re better off reading the book the show is based on, or watching the companion documentary The Bloody Hundredth.
Naturally, this show also won’t change anyone’s mind if they dislike war themes. The texture of WWII history is the point — we’re just seeing it through a particular vantage point. Also, there’s very little time spent on the impact of the Allied bombing campaign, which intentionally targeted civilian infrastructure, killing thousands of innocent people. It’s not the show’s focus, to be fair — but it still feels like a conspicuous omission. My own step-grandmother was a little girl in Nazi-controlled Berlin, and told me about having to flee from one shelter to another with her mom in order to avoid Allied bombs. Including that sort of subplot might’ve helped Masters of the Air’s history feel more rounded.
In the grander scheme, these aren’t big setbacks. If you can maintain a critical eye, Masters of the Air may be Apple TV’s most rewarding watch.
