Masters of the Air: Episode Discussion 1 & 2

[muccamukk]

For all your chatting needs, as the show comes out. I'll hopefully post one of these every Thursday.

Rules:

1. Don't be a dick. Specifically (but not limited to):


1. Not liking something is fine, and negative comments are fine. Please do not directly tell other participants why the thing they like is bad or that they are bad for liking it.


2. Kink shaming will be deleted.


3. Racism, homophobia, transphobia, antisemitism, misogyny, etc will be deleted.


2. Discussing material from the books is fine, but if you're going to discuss something that happens in future episodes, or the fate of historical characters, please put it under a cut and title the comment Book spoilers! or something similar.


3. Likewise, wanting to treat the show as a self-contained unit and not engage with the books/history is perfectly valid.

How to do an in-comment spoiler cut:
<details><summary>Describe what you're spoiling here</summary>All the spoilers go in this part.</details>

Comments

[muccamukk]

So those dropped early! Refreshing the page every 20 minutes paid off!

Pretty solid so far for the action stuff, especially the technical details around flying. All of the bombing runs felt very real and immediate.

Curt's probably my favourite so far, though I'm having trouble telling the guys apart, as usual. The masks are not helping! I hope we get more with Lemmons and the cute kids.

I'm finding the plots and characterisation a little thin, but hopefully they're just setting things up. (The I don't gamble because of my dad monologue felt a little obvious.)

The shipping situation has potential. Gale/John obviously, and Curt/John, and Bubbles/Crosby.

No woman has yet gotten a first and last name. Though I ship the Peggy/Marge situation from the opening scene.

I did find having an opening scene to establish that the co-dependant pilots who have managed to name themselves after each other do in fact like girls a bit much, especially with all the homophobic comments from the RAF pilots. Queer content zero, so far.

[wearing_tearing]

(The I don't gamble because of my dad monologue felt a little obvious.)
I had to pause during this part to go: really? Is this how we're doing it?

especially with all the homophobic comments from the RAF pilots.
UNNECESSARY TO THE MAX. It's a 2020s production, we're over that.

[partypaprika]

Here are my stream of conscious thoughts that I wrote down in my phone as I watched. Not much coherency, but I'm still digesting a bit haha:

1. Boy, I am really not feeling the bromance between the two guys. It's a lot of telling me that they're bff but their body language seems weird. Maybe it's me?

2. Oh boy, I need to learn a bunch of new military jargon. I will be googling a lot.

3. Everyone looks vaguely familiar, actor wise. I can't tell if they're actually familiar or if they just look generically actor-ish.

4. Dog is my favorite character. May he be featured often.

5. First fifteen minutes of episode 1, I am not feeling it. Once we got into the mishap over France, I'm more invested.

6. When did antibiotics for tuberculosis come out? (That's how it's treated right? I know nothing)

7. I really am not understanding the combat tactics. Welp.

8. More women! Will there be an episode that passes the bechdel test?

9. Whoever this officer that got stuck with the air exec job is, I like him.

10. The slow emotional moments between the two guys are not doing it for me. Especially while watching the firefight above in the distance. Also, does that count as taking shelter? Seems like being out in the open is the opposite of shelter.

11. People I'm a fan of: that officer promoted to air exec, Crosby, Bubbles, the one named ground crew guy. Maybe the pilot whose name is Brady? The dog.

[muccamukk]

They had basic antibos by then, the stuff Egan is sprinkling on the navigators wounds in the first combat scene is a very basic one (sulfa powder). Penicillin had just been discovered, and they were struggling to mass produce it. By the end of the war, it would be a thing.

This is more or less where I'm at, tho.

[partypaprika]

I did not realize sulfa was an antibiotic! Although that makes sense that's what they would put on wounds haha.

[kore]

We see Roe (MEDIC BAMBI ILU) using it in BoB too, right? I had forgotten.

[wearing_tearing]

I think ground crew guy's name is Lemmons! I also really liked him as a character and I hope we see way more of him.

Will there be an episode that passes the bechdel test?
Here's hoping!

And I think the dog, Meatball, is all of our favorites.

[muccamukk]

I hope we get more Lemmons! The narration was like, "Lemmons is really important!" so I was hoping the episode would be about him. But no.

[wearing_tearing]

Going to start this by saying that Meatball is definitely my favorite character so far!

First episode didn't really hook me, mostly because I'm having trouble telling who's who? Everyone looks sort of the same and the mustaches and masks don't help. The Bucks got nothing on Nixon and Winters so far, either. However, the action was pretty well done and intense!

And I love that planes were basically metal stuck together with gum and duct tape back then.

[muccamukk]

I couldn't tell anyone apart in my first watch through of BoB or TP either. So I'm vibing with that, but the face masks are definetely upping the difficulty level! I thought helmets were bad!

MOAR MEATBALL!

[wearing_tearing]

I was more familiar with the peeps from BoB and TP from other works (and Tumblr gifs!) by the time I watched those shows, so I was able to keep track of everyone lol This one is difficult since I only recognize 2-3 people.

Meatball, the one fan fave :D

[partypaprika]

Many of the same feelings. I liked the action (although really felt out of my depth for the tactics) and the group that I was watching with, we kept constantly reiterating: "they are flying in tin cans! Tin cans!"

I do really miss the ease and chemistry that Nixon and Winters had.

[wearing_tearing]

TIN CANS! They really were, though, it's wild.

I wonder if the MotA peeps did chemistry reads during casting, because they sure needed it...

[impala_chick]

The mustaches do not help at all!!

[wearing_tearing]

Glad to know I'm not the only one having issues with the facial hair! It really makes everyone look the same lol

[impala_chick]

Having a hard time telling everyone apart (as expected). Is Crosby the one narrating?

What is up with Buck and that blue scarf??? It's funny that the two most recognizable guys are called Buck and Bucky, and also they feel like Nix and Winters facsimiles a bit. Which is to say that I'm already shipping them pretty hard.

I realized that I recognized Marge from 1883! She's a great actress, I hope she gets more screen time.

I am not immune to this soundtrack, though. And all of the close ups inside the planes are so damn pretty.

[muccamukk]

Crosby is narrating (not that helpfully, because he just intros a PILE of characters whose names I immediately forget).

MORE MARGE! I have written fic in this line.

I also like the soundtrack. It's very pretty and retro.

[impala_chick]

YAY! I hope we see the ladies again.

[sovay]

In no especially assorted order—

That is indeed what Boyd McDonald would have called an egregiously heterosexual show. I've seen movies from the Second World War which didn't spend so much time establishing their no-homo bona fides. Especially coming off Foundation which just drops two pairs of husbands into the main cast of its second season as indeed it ain't no thing, somebody better express some homosexual tendencies is all I can say.

I predictably like Crosby with his nerves and his airsicknesss ("I could make overthinking into an Olympic sport") and I am not convinced the show needs any kind of narration, even his. I have also developed affection for Curt, the reluctant air exec even if it took me forever to catch his name, and the ground crew dude who's good with kids. It is normal for me to care less about protagonists, but the Buck(y)s feel very standard-issue.

Barry Keoghan with an American accent is very confusing. Ditto Stephen Campbell Moore, James Murray, and Edward Ashley, who are the other actors I can recognize shouldn't have one. Could have used a wider range of period-accurate accents, if only because of how weird some of them sound to modern ears. Keoghan is at least doing Extreme Brooklyn, which is a valid archetype in this genre.

All of the technical stuff in the air is compelling to me, especially the tin cans and baling wire aspect. No complaints. Moment of familial nostalgia for the flight computer.

More with the clubmobile girls, please.

On the other hand, I am probably going to rewatch The Way to the Stars (1945).

[wearing_tearing]

I've seen movies from the Second World War which didn't spend so much time establishing their no-homo bona fides.
EXACTLY! They should be worried about other things, not the audience thinking someone would be queer. We're gonna do that anyway lol

Barry Keoghan with an American accent is very confusing.
I find his accent so off-putting. It doesn't match his face and confuses me so much. I do appreciate that he's going all in, though. Makes him stand out in between all the other white men.

[sovay]

They should be worried about other things, not the audience thinking someone would be queer.

I mean, statistically someone should be, anyway.

We're gonna do that anyway lol

Fair point! And it really does give the production as strong a contemporary flavor as if everyone's hairstyles were from last year. The history of aviation pictures is intertwined with the history of dudes kissing onscreen, all right? I don't make the rules, I just saw Wings (1927).

I do appreciate that he's going all in, though. Makes him stand out in between all the other white men.

I am one of the people who had no difficulty telling apart the three dark-haired young white male leads of Dunkirk (2017) and I feel this series is doing its best to discourage me from identifying any of its characters. They should absolutely have cast for more distinctive accents or voices since half the time it's just all eyebrows.

[muccamukk]

I think in WWII, and Band of Brothers for that matter, they weren't worried about people thinking the characters might be queer, so they didn't bother to explicitly point out in the first scene LIKES GIRLS! But yeah, my teeth were grinding. That they're doing this off the bat, plus the jokes from the RAF guys, doesn't make me feel optimistic about any queer inclusion. So far it feels like a bit sign that says NO GAYS ALLOWED!

I'm a little salty.

The narration didn't establish anything that couldn't have been shown to use with other storytelling. I'm probably slightly in the minority, but I didn't like any of the narration in BoB, either. Except maybe Webster, because he was SO Webster! It just feels like lazy storytelling.

I'm going to go find out what The Way to the Stars is, and how to watch it.

Episode 2

[impala_chick]

I was not impressed at the beginning and then w/ the breakfast scene, I'm like this is pretty predictable? Kinda felt like a rehash of BOB tropes. Why does Buck's voice sound so fake?

But THEN the mission goes off, and they keep up the tension and I'm on the edge of my seat with that landing. Crosby is totally growing on me, he might be my fav with those awesome eyebrows.

And when Bucky asks everyone if he should sing, they all say no, and he does it anyway - and I find myself charmed. OOPS.

Wait, did they ever actually tell us who those two women were? One was an Admiral's daughter or something? If not even one of these women becomes an identifiable/important character, that will be so silly. They are just throwing more women in at seemingly random times for the hetero-normativity of it all?? :/

Buck calling Bucky "John" at the end was such a fanfic moment and I'm here for it.

Re: Episode 2

[muccamukk]

I think Austen is pitching his voice down, possibly to not sound like Elvis. I appreciate it because the rough edge means that I can tell him apart when they're all wearing masks.

All of the flying scenes are really good! I just wish they could keep it up on the ground.

The women were American Red Cross workers! One of them was Tatty Spaatz: https://mercurygray.tumblr.com/post/741118622563500032/friends-i-have-failed-you-all-ive-seen-a-lot-of

Re: Episode 2

[impala_chick]

On rewatch I caught the Col. saying that Croz might still fly with them when they're lead, so now I understand his promotion scene. And he was only there to come up with that route because Bubbles got sick!! This is hitting me extra hard now. And Bucky and Buck staying with Curt :'(