As the episode begins, we jump to March of 1939 in Manchester and Harry Chase (Jonah Hauer-King) attends a speech by Oswald Mosley (Jonathan McGuiness). Harry and Lois Bennett (Julia Brown) sing and interrupt the event until Harry is attacked and they’re thrown out. Harry is bloodied and taken to the hospital. Moments later, Douglas Bennett (Sean Bean) arrives at the jail so he can bail them out. The officer doesn’t want to let Douglas’s daughter go but she is released alongside Harry a short time later. Robina Chase (Lesley Manville) shows up a bit later and ridicules her son and Lois. She is introduced to Douglas and she isn’t impressed with him. Robina calls her son a diplomat but he corrects her and calls himself a translator.

Harry kisses Lois and tells her he loves her but she says it doesn’t make any difference since he is going away and she isn’t. Harry promises to write, they kiss again, and Lois tells him goodbye. Then, we jump forward five months and Nancy Campbell (Helen Hunt) drives down the road. She stops by the road and finds two dead soldiers. She searches the bodies until hearing two soldiers in the distance. She looks in the distance and sees two soldiers with several hostages. The hostages are executed in rapid succession before Nancy finds the enemy camp. Moments later, she is stopped by a man speaking German asking why she is there. She explains that she is an American journalist and he orders her to come with him but she runs for it.

She gets into her vehicle, he fires, and we jump forward. Nancy speaks about the build-up of German troops along the German-Polish border and Hitler’s threat to take Danzig by threat. The American Radio International journalist doesn’t believe the Germans are trying to negotiate for peace. She tells Harry what happened to his vehicle and the weaponry the Germans have. Nancy encourages Harry to convince his waitress friend Kasia (Zofia Wichlacz) to get out before leaving. Next, Connie and Lois meet with Douglas and board his bus. She sings at a club while Harry receives orders at work. Harry and Kasia go for a ride on his bike before dancing in town. Next, Harry takes a picture of Kasia and her family. Stefan explains he is not going to let the Germans take the city back before Gregor begins coughing.

Gregor tells Harry that he is going so he can look after his father before Stefan arrives with rifles. The picture is taken before Lois returns home to her father and looks through the mail. Then, officers arrive and tell Lois that they’re looking for her brother. Lois says she has been looking for him too before Stefan catches Harry telling Kasia that he likes her parents. Stefan speaks with Harry about the war and whether or not the British Army is going to help but Harry wonders if the Polish army is going to help them in Danzig. Stefan tells Harry to keep his daughter safe. Later that night, Harry visits his boss and tells him that they need to do something to help the Polish with the invasion. He is sent away and overhears Nancy chatting on the phone but he continues to his room. He finds a letter that he has been writing to Lois but hasn’t written more than a sentence.

Then, we see Tom Bennett (Ewan Mitchell) outside of his home. He doesn’t knock on the door and ends up climbing through the window instead. Lois tells him about the police visiting and dad waiting for him downstairs so he climbs out for some fresh air and runs down the street. Nancy calls Webster and encourages him to get out of Europe. Webster O’Connor (Brian J. Smith) doesn’t want to listen to her though. Stefan and his son ride in an army truck before Harry gets a call and Lois gets angry because she hasn’t received a letter from Harry. Tom arrives home and Douglas asks him where he has been. He leaves the room and Douglas admits he is too soft on him. Stefan and Gregor arrive at their station and meet up with Konrad (Borys Szyc). They have about 40 rifles and wonder if they can hold off the Germans until the British arrive.

Stefan speaks to the group and tries to give them encouragement. Meanwhile, Kasia speaks with Jan about their father, Harry, and chess. Douglas goes to the theater so he can watch the news about the Germans invading Danzig. Nancy tells Harry that he’ll have to marry Kasia to get her away from the Nazis. He says he is deciding whether he wants to save this girl’s life or not. Meanwhile, Stefan, Gregor, and the others engage in a firefight with the Germans. Back at home, Jan asks him mother about Stefan, Gregor, and whether they will have won yet. Stefan and Konrad contemplate what they should do next. The men want to fight on so they agree to wait it out. Harry speaks with his boss about Nancy and the invasion of Danzig. He doesn’t get the answers he wants. He leaves and tells Kasia that the Germans will likely attack Warsaw and that she needs to leave with Jan and Maria.

She wants to wait for her father and brother but Harry believes she should move out as soon as possible because they would want her to live. She doesn’t have anywhere to run to so she isn’t going to go anywhere. Lois gets desperate and goes to Robina to ask her about Harry. Robina uses the opportunity to try to convince Lois that she is not right for Harry. We also learn that Robina has a soft spot for Oswald Mosley so she won’t be attending the march against the black shirts. Lois leaves angrily and tells her father what happened. She explains that she just wanted to make sure that Harry was safe. Lois implies that her father is shell shocked. After that, Konrad speaks with Stefan about his family and such. They’re attacked by the Germans moments later.

They’re forced to retreat before Stefan steps outside with a white flag to surrender only to be shot dead. While Kasia serves a few customers, she hears sirens overhead. Harry steps outside and sees plans flying overheard while Maria and Jan hide inside. Harry tries to get to Kasia and nearby gets blown up before telling her that he wants to marry her so she’ll leave. Kasia doesn’t want to do that since she won’t have time to think. Harry explains that she doesn’t have time to think. Lois gets dressed up and goes to the pub so she can sing for the audience. Kasia and Harry get married while Nancy packs her luggage. Lois returns home and looks through the mail once again. Gregor and Konrad walk through the sewers together until Gregor begins coughing. Konrad threatens to kill him if he doesn’t stop. Konrad says that Stefan died a man and that they didn’t leave him behind.

They climb out of a sewer hole later that night and are nearly caught by soldiers. Meanwhile, Webster buys a drink for one of the musicians on stage. In the morning, he goes to the hospital where he works as a doctor. Kasia wakes up with Harry under covers. She confesses that she is scared but Harry says that English will love her and his mother will be fine. We see that Konrad and Gregor found a place to hide out and Konrad is convinced that there aren’t any reinforcements. They hear noises before watching soldiers storm the building. They find a spot to hide while the soldiers look around. Gregor coughs and gives them away. Back at home, Maria tells Kasia that they’ll be back tomorrow and Kasia tries to convince her brother to stay home for the day. She is mean with him so she tries to smooth things over with him later.

Robina gets in touch with Harry and he tells her that he is coming back home. Tom and Douglas speak with Lois about her attitude and Harry. The news on the radio convinces Tom that a warn is on. Police arrive at the door so they can speak with Tom before we jump over to Berlin. Nancy speaks on the radio about Britain declaring war and other things. Webster is awoken and told about a man who was by Action Francaise. Albert Fallou (Parker Sawyers) enters and Webster works on him a bit later. They chat about the war and the fact that Albert isn’t leaving. They talk about Webster being at the club every night and Albert believes it might be something more. He thinks Webster might have a bit of a passion for him. Albert knows what he is and he wonders if Webster knows what he is. The embassy closes so Harry is forced to move elsewhere.

Gregor and Konrad are taken prisoners by the soldiers. Next, Nancy runs into Frau Rossler and chat about the war. Frau says it is illegal to listen to her broadcast but she did anyway. Frau has a picture of a soldier on her shelf. Gregor tries to give the German soldier English cigarettes. He distracts the soldier and they manage to make a run for it while Kasia packs her belongings back home. Konrad and Gregor find a place to hide once again while Tom does push-ups in a jail cell. Lois tries to comfort her father at home. Harry waits for Kasia at the train station but he doesn’t think she is coming. She arrives with her brother and says he came to say goodbye. Kasia puts her brother on the train and closes the door.

 

World On Fire Review

I really wanted to like World on Fire and I am not ready to give up on it just yet. However, I can’t say that it is one of the best things I’ve watched in the past few months. There were a few good moments but there were mostly overshadowed by the show’s clutter since there is too much going on simultaneously. Some of the storylines are far more interesting than others and I am not sure some of the casting decisions were good. Helen Hunt seemed out of place and Zofia Wichlacz appeared too young for the role.

Parts of the show were interesting. I’ll likely watch a few more episodes or just finish the season to recap it here but I am not blown away by any means. The opening episode scores a 6.5 out of 10.