Not ‘Masters of the Air’ Making Me Want Anthony Boyle’s (Married!) Crosby to Hook Up With Bel Powley’s Sandra Wesgate!

Masters of the Air is a show about real-life heroes. The Apple TV+ series is about the men and women, but mostly men, who sacrificed all to defeat the Nazis during World War II. It’s also a show that attempts to show us the nuanced, emotional sides of these people whose exploits might otherwise make them seem like myths. Masters of the Air Episode 6 seemingly makes this its primary focus. After the disaster over Munster in last week’s episode, Robert “Rosie” Rosenthal (Nate Mann) and his crew find themselves sent to a psychological rehab facility, while grieving Group Navigator Harry Crosby (Anthony Boyle) is sent to a conference for Allied soldiers in Oxford. What Crosby doesn’t expect there is to find that his roommate, subaltern A. M. Wesgate, is actually a woman: Alessandra “Sandra” Wesgate (Bel Powley). While she cleverly remains mum on her work for the British army — joking at one point that she is a “punter” — it’s clear she’s someone important, probably in intelligence. The two kick off a lovely, flirtatious friendship in Oxford that culminates in a bittersweet dance.

From the moment that Sandra and Crosby meet, she points out that there should be no issue with them rooming together as he is married. We haven’t met “Mrs. Jean Crosby,” but we’ve read her letters. Between Jean’s absence and the incendiary chemistry actors Powley and Boyle have, I couldn’t help but kind of, sort of want them to have an affair. But that would be wild, right? And mean to Mrs. Jean Crosby. So why am I rooting for Bel Powley and Anthony Boyle’s Masters of the Air characters to hook up??

Masters of the Air is Apple TV+’s epic World War II series, made in the vein of Band of Brothers and The Pacific. (Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg have executive produced all three.) The Apple TV+ show specifically follows the men of the 100th Bomb Group, nicknamed the “Bloody Hundredth” because of their insanely high casualties. One of the few men to survive his time with the group was navigator Harry Crosby. He would go on to write a memoir about his experiences called A Wing and a Prayer: The “Bloody 100th” Bomb Group of the US Eighth Air Force in Action Over Europe in World War II. That book, along with Donald L. Miller’s Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany, serves as the source material for the show.

Now I say all this because it’s important to remember that Harry Crosby was a real person. He and his beloved wife Jean would be together for the rest of their lives. They were incredibly involved with their church and community. By all accounts, they had a happy marriage. And I want to stress, they had a real marriage. And yet — and yet! — I really want the TV show version of Harry Crosby to break his marriage vows and hook up with the sassy subaltern Sandra.

The way I see it, this is all Bel Powley and Anthony Boyle’s faults.

From the moment that Sandra arrives onscreen, stumbling in on an undressed Cros practicing his best Spencer Tracy in the mirror, Masters of the Air transforms into something akin to a scintillating rom-com. Sandra is snappy, confident, and full of sly jokes that tiptoe into innuendo. Crosby is at first slightly unmoored by her, but he soon finds himself drawn deeper into her orbit. Watching Powley and Boyle banter off each other feels like a heavenly hybrid between the classic and the modern. They’ve got the sizzle of screwball comedy duos with the unspoken respect that contemporary platonic buddies share.

More importantly, Sandra is the first real friend Crosby has had to talk to in the wake of his bestie Bubbles’s (Louis Greatorex) death. Jean might happily send her husband weekly letters from the homefront, but it’s clear from her chipper post-scripts that she has no idea of the horrors her husband has endured. Sandra does. And because of that, the two can talk plainly about the situation (even if Sandra refuses to spill the beans on her top secret work).

By the end of Masters of the Air Episode 6, Sandra and Crosby have established an emotional intimacy, leaving the little romantic weirdo in me hungry for more. I want more jokes about punting, more shirtless Spencer Tracy impressions, more waltzes at Oxford parties, and more Bel Powley and Anthony Boyle bouncing off of each other.

If Masters of the Air didn’t want me to root for these two, then they shouldn’t have made them so intoxicating to watch together.