Given a single episode of this series lasts under one hour, the producers tried to splice together far too many stories in this eighth episode, and the result is a disjointed effort that suffers from too many sharp breaks in the narrative.
The result is an episode that fails to satisfactorily explore any of the new material, and with only one more episode remaining in the series, one must wonder, if this is the sole exploration of the Tuskegee Airmen, then it seems too rushed to have made it worth the veer from the core subject.
The actors in the Tuskegee scenes appear too wooden, such as trying to portray a pilot snapping to attention while at the bar in the O-Club, something that would not happen as it was decorum in the Army Air Force that salutes are not given while in the bar.
Again, the POW scenes are the best in the movie and are the only sufficiently explored theme. Yet, the negativity of two of the characters coming to a fight in the yard, followed by no post-fight discussion, was not only out of place, but was not a good fit.
Simply put, the handful of field grade officers in a POW camp would have been far too aware of their role in keeping unit morale up, especially in captivity. So far, none of my research show these two close friends ever engaged in a fist fight, but even if they did, I cannot imagine it happened in the manner this episode portrayed.
The other issue is that episodes seven and eight lacked any significant presentation of the bombing missions, and that's supposed to be the main theme of the series. Taking one episode of nine off might be tolerable, but taking two off back-to-back diminishes the quality of the series.
While episode eight featured two aerial sequences involving the Tuskegee Airmen, what seems strange is that neither of them chose the more appropriate and obvious choice, which was to show the 99th providing bomber escort, something they were particularly valued for doing.
Another historical truth that would have made this natural plotline effective and accurate, is that Benjamin Davis ordered his pilots to remain with the bombers, vice chase after Luftwaffe fighters and leave the bombers unprotected.
This would have set up a nice series of scenes where you could splice an air battle from the perspective of the bomber crews combined with the perspective of the fighter pilots. This potentially satisfying presentation was not tried, and one is left to ask why that was.
There are a number of plot lines left to tie up the package, and with the final episode lasting only about 75 minutes, there is a lot left to finish in little air time to do it in. One hopes the producers can make it happen.
If they do, then good enough. If they fail, then one is forced to look back at the way episodes seven and eight were produced and call the producers' efforts into question.
