Wrong – As this episode of World on Fire begins, Lois Bennett (Julia Brown) tells Connie to be quiet because she thinks she can hear something. Above, Ralf and his comrade receive new orders. The men hear sirens so they rush to their planes. Harry Chase (Jonah Hauer-King) and Kasia (Zofia Wichlacz) hear the bombs being dropped on Manchester. David and Shortbread engage in a dog fight. One plane is hit and goes down as the pilot attempts to bail. Robina Chase (Lesley Manville) checks on Jan who has been sitting on the stairs since midnight. They’re excited when Harry and Kasia arrive at the door. When Harry asks about the bombing, Robina says it hasn’t been anything alarming yet.

Kasia is introduced to Robina. She reminds them that she has been telling Jan not to speak Polish so he fits in. Lois tries to help people impacted by the bombing. Kasia has a nightmare and awakes Harry. He tries to calm her. Ralf and his comrade talk about their families. In Berlin, Marga (Miriam Schiweck) sings patriotic songs with her classmates. Her teacher asks her to stick around so she can talk to her about something. Later, her friend asks what Frau Ley wanted with her. Marga explains that Frau told her what she could do for the Fatherland. She wants her to marry a man so she can preserve the Aryan race. Gordon (James Backway) talks to Shortbeard about whether David was able to bail.

Grzegorz is told that it doesn’t look like David made it. They’re happy when a vehicle pulls up and David gets out. He says he landed in her father’s field and he didn’t tell her that he is Jewish. Connie complains about Lois risking their lives and whether she thought about what would happen to Vera if they died. She questions when Lois is going to talk about all of this. Lois pretends there is nothing to talk about. In Egypt, Captain Briggs (Jonathan Harden) talks to the men about how the Italians have scattered the route with land mines. They’re told they’re going to be protecting another route to the oil supplies and they don’t want Hitler getting his hands on that. Rajib begins defusing land mines out in the field.

He tells another man that he wouldn’t ask his guys to do something he wouldn’t do himself. Jan shows Kasia what he did and explains that he wants to show it to Harry. He believes they will win in North Africa and the Nazis will have to leave Poland. Kasia is sorry that he had to come there on his own. Robina comes in to talk about Kasia about her nightmares because the whole house heard them. Harry said Robina was afraid of strong emotion although she denies that. Lois tells Vera to be a good girl for her grandmother. Tom (Ewan Mitchell) talks to the local kids and says he killed loads of Germans. Then, he learns about the bombing and the death. He speaks to Lois about it. Tom complains that she left their dad alone when she knows how he gets scared.

She believes he is upset because he treated his dad badly and can’t make it up to him now that he is gone. Lois says it was a direct hit. If she and Vera were there, they’d be dead too. Lois visits Robina and learns that Harry and Kasia are there. Once she goes inside, Kasia tells Lois that Jan wanted her to meet her and the baby. After Kasia says she is sorry about her father, Joyce comes in to take the baby. Lois says hello to Harry when he enters the room. Jan invites Lois to have tea with them later, but she can’t because she has a shift. Harry tells Jan he is sorry because that isn’t how he wanted her to meet Lois. He mentions that there is so little time left before he has to return to the front. Robina is asked whether Jan knows she is Harry’s child. She says no.

While working to find land mines, Rajib and his men are shot at. He asks Basu how good his aim is. Basu can’t hit what he can’t see. He says someone needs to run across the field. They might lose one man, but they’ll save the rest. Rajib takes the risk and it works. Kasia gets to see her brother again. He asks when they should tell Jan about their mother. He wanted to tell him, but he hasn’t been able to. Kasia asks the man behind her to move his chair. He gets upset and says he isn’t moving anything for a bunch of refugees. The man asks who she robbed to afford this. Kasia gets upset and hits him. At home, Harry tells Kasia that the family solicitor might be the one to smooth this over. Robina warns her that the man still wants to press charges although he may calm down.

After Kasia argues with Robina, Harry tries to comfort her. Kasia believes she is the woman he got trapped with because his timing was wrong. Connie tells Lois she should go see if Tom is okay. Lois asks if she wants her to curl up in a ball and cry. She reminds Connie that she doesn’t get to say how she grieves. David and the others try to find the bombers to get payback. Ted is asked to help Lois fix the vehicle. When a bomb goes off behind them, she checks on him and he admits he is scared. Kasia approaches Jan to see if he wants to play chess. Jan says Grzegorz told him thinks about Poland. He claims that it is not the same there. Jan thinks his mother is dead. Kasia admits she is. Kasia says she was hurt in the bombing and she died in her arms, but a flashback shows her being shot.

Jan says he wants to fight, but Kasia thinks he is too young. Rajib and his men talk about their successful day. In the morning, they see a sandstorm in front of them. Rajib thinks they have two hours, but he wants to tell the soldiers that they only have one. Basu tells them and says they have to speed up. Robina asks Harry if he can help his wife settle into the English life before he escapes to North Africa. Harry says he brought his wife to a place of safety and has no choice but to fight for his country. Marga thinks her friend Gretha is going to try to talk her out of it. Marga admits it is true before telling her about the Lebensborn. She thinks it is an honor. Gretha threatens to get it stopped. Marga slaps her and says she will do no such thing.

The teacher interrupts and tries to find out what is going on. Rajib notices that one of his men is getting nervous so he tries to calmly walk him through defusing a land mine. Instead, the man gets blown up. They frantically try to save the man. Stan Raddings (Blake Harrison) arrives and tells Joe to check on the injured man. He tells George he has more driving to do. Stan informs Rajib that they have a second vehicle with their CO a few miles back. They want to get Sadiq in the truck but it won’t start. Gretha tells Herr about Marga and asks how she can stop it. He doesn’t think she can. Frau and Herr Kuhne arrive and go inside. They learn about Marga. Herr would hope they would try to dissuade her. Herr Kuhne worries that she’ll report them to authorities and they’ll be arrested.

Her mom accuses him of lying. She suggests he is one of those liberals they hear about so much. Herr Trutz is asked to stop at once. On their way out, Frau Kuhne tells Gretha to stay away from Marga. Later, Marga and her parents wait for someone. They tell her it might not be a good idea to mention the Lebensborn idea. Her brother arrives moments later. The men try to get the truck working in the middle of a sandstorm. Stan wonders why the CO has stopped. If they’re going to save Sadiq, they’ll have to get to him. David asks Shortbread to cover for him if he doesn’t make it back for the briefing. Rajib and his men slowly move to the other truck. Gordon approaches Shortbread and learns that David isn’t there. Shortbread covers for him.

Harry meets Lois and says he should apologize for the way he met Kasia. They talk about her father who was a good man. She argued with him on the night he died and didn’t get to make it up to him. She doesn’t want him to make the same mistake with Kasia. Lois tells him not to pretend like he wants to stay. It’ll be easier for Lois if things are right for him. Gordon tells David that his next leave is canceled for missing the briefing. David jokes he could die before his next leave just to annoy him. Then, he tells Shortbread that they have to make the most of every minute they’re not terrified. They hear that Jerry is on the move so they have to scramble. Harry tells Kasia that he loves her. She worries she might not be able to find a way back.

Lois learns two girls have been injured. She wants to get the woman to the hospital, but the woman is worried about Pop. Lois runs into the rubble to look around. She tries to escort the man out, but he doesn’t want to leave without his teeth. He goes with Arnold while Lois goes back for the teeth. Shortbread has a fuel leak and has to bail. David tries to draw the enemy’s fire while Shortbread gets out of there. It appears Shortbread is unable to bail and goes down. The building crashes in on Lois. Kasia watches Harry leave. Lois is found in the rubble.

 

World On Fire Review

Unfortunately, World on Fire leaves a lot to be desired and I can see why I never finished recapping the first season. It is really surprising this ever got renewed for a second series, but this is hopefully the end of it. The series is riddled with issues including the fact that there really isn’t any focus with the show jumping from one uninteresting story to the next. War dramas shouldn’t be this tedious even if they’re not insane, over-the-top action.

The thin characters don’t give viewers much to cheer for or even care about at this point. Many aspects of the story don’t feel authentic to the point that some of them are even cartoonish. There is really too much going on so the show feels all over the place at times.

There are some decent performances scattered among the mess, but they’re going to be easy to miss. When you begin cheering for the bad guys to win, you know the show has gone wrong somewhere along the line and that is an issue with World on Fire.

If there was more focus, this might’ve been different. The opening episode scores a 4 out of 10. Recaps of World on Fire can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising on Reel Mockery here.