Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for the Masters of the Air finale.
Thefinaleof Apple TV+’s epic World War II dramaMasters of the Airprovides many exciting and satisfying moments along with several harrowing and sobering sequences. We witness Gale “Buck” Cleven’s (Austin Butler)escape from Stalag Luft III, John “Bucky” Egan’s (Callum Turner) climb to the top of a flagpole to replace a Nazi flag with the U.S. stars and stripes in the process of liberating the POWs, and the confirmation that Chief Navigator Harry Crosby (Anthony Boyle) is having a baby with his sweetheart, Jean. But of all the main characters, it is Maj. Robert “Rosie” Rosenthal (Nate Mann) who has the most shocking moment of reality — one that is easilythe most meaningful sequence in the finale of the series. It puts the entire war squarely into perspective, reminding viewers of the main reason the Allies became involved, to begin with.
Masters of the Air
During WWII, five miles above the ground and behind enemy lines, ten men inside a bomber known as a “Flying Fortress” battle unrelenting flocks of German fighters.
What Is Rosenthal’s Mission in the ‘Masters of the Air’ Finale?
In the finale, Rosenthal flies a deadlyB-17 mission into the heart of Germany over Berlin as the Third Reich is close to defeat.After deploying the payload on the capital city, his plane is hit by enemy fire. The damage is severe enough that it requires the crew to bail out. Rosie, however, stays behind longer, trying to hold on long enough to avoid deploying his parachute into enemy territory.He jettisons just seconds before the B-17 crashes to the ground in a fireball, but immediately finds himself in the middle of a battle between the Germans and Russians, who are advancing quickly on the eastern front. He limps into a bombed-out crater to hide but is quickly discovered by a group of Russian troops. Before they can shoot him, Rosie identifies himself as an American ally, and he is taken safely away. It is the beginning of his journey back to Thorpe-Abbotts base camp in eastern England.
With his right arm in a sling from his rough landing, Rosenthal is riding with a Russian official headed back home on the “Road to Poznan” in Poland. The Russians are pushing further into and across Germany, and are transporting the American when the convoy formation encounters mechanical problems, forcing them to temporarily stop for repairs.Rosie gets out of the Jeep to stretch his legs and wanders into an abandoned extermination camp,discovering the remains of countless emaciated and charred human bodies. He staggers around in a stupor, shocked by what he has stumbled upon. It is a brutal reminder of why the"Bloody Hundredth"and 332nd Fighter group have been giving their lives for such an enormous cause.
The True Story Behind ‘Masters of the Air’s Tuskegee Airmen
We’ve been waiting for these heroes to arrive.
Still dazed, Rosenthal trudges into one of the tiny bunkhouses where the inmates were crammed together. On the wall, a scribbled message reads, “The judge of life will judge for life.“All the deadly missionswhere lives have been lost are suddenly put into more context. The horrific scene reaffirms whythey have been flying into the lion’s mouth — because ofwhat had to be done to stop the evil crimes against humanitythat were occurring all over Western Europe. Before, the pilots had been soaring above all the atrocities and fighting largely for each other, but this gruesome scene makes it all real in a very different way.
The Death Camp Is Still Etched in Rosenthal’s Mind Later On
Upon his safe return to Thorpe-Abbott base camp, Rosie is sitting with his friend, Chief Navigator Harry Crosby, sipping Coca-Cola out of a glass as he relays the story of his bailout and subsequent rescue by the Russians. Crosby is wowed by the anecdote, but when the navigator tells Rosie that he’s going to be a new father,he quotes Nietzsche about the monster staring into the abyss. Crosby has his own qualms about all the deaths that they were involved with and have been exposed to, worrying if he will be a good dad when he gets back home, but Rosie disavows him of those kinds of thoughts right away. He tells Crosby about what he has gleaned from his firsthand experience in Germany and Poland, and seeing all the devastation firsthand:“The things these people are capable of… they had it coming.“He pauses retrospectively for a moment and repeats, “Trust me. They got it coming.”
The vision of the dead and burnt bodies, most of whom were of Jewish heritage, has been etched in Rosenthal’s mind, and he will never forget it. It likely had something to do with why he reenlisted in the Air Force even after earning his discharge papers, and why he later returned to Germany tohelp prosecute the Nazis for war crimes at Nuremberg. Ultimately, thisMasters of the Airfinale scene is a harrowing representation of why the Americans and the rest of the world needed to intervene.
Masters of the Airis available to stream on Apple TV+ in the U.S.
Watch on Apple TV+
