I'm watching Masters of the Air.

It's good.

Been looking forward to this one since I heard about it. It hasn’t disappointed so far. Jason Lambright is also watching it, even though he doesn’t normally dig on war fiction for the screen.

Imma let him give the reax.

I had a number of reservations, and there were things I watched out for while viewing the programming. The first two series of Spielberg’s WW2 trilogy were outstanding. Those were “Band of Brothers” and “The Pacific.” While Band of Brothers was very good, I preferred “The Pacific.” The latter series, I thought, did a better job of showing some of the effects of combat on ordinary people; this is an infrequently told tale. In my opinion, it’s the most important part of the story.

How do you live with yourself, when you thought you would die, but then you did not? When later you must face what you did? This is an important question.

With trepidation, I watched. I was alert for jingoism, platitudes, and cliches. I’m allergic to those things.

Fortunately, these flaws were low-key so far, except for a general reverence for our ancestors, who suffered so much.

You can read the whole thing at The Valley.

Most of the press coverage has been laudatory, with a lot of focus on the effects. It really does feel claustrophobic and chaotic in the battle scenes. The thing that struck me, however, was however the producers and writers did with a very limited canvas. Think about it, the action ether takes place on a single airbase, or within the cramped confines of a B-17, and when you’re on the 17, everyone is rugged up in flying gear and masks so it’s difficult to tell them apart. Yet somehow you can.