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Critic Reviews
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Like Season 1, there are a few times when the coincidences that put everyone in the right place at the right time can strain credibility. But somehow, the series never feels like it's trying to do too much, even when it is obviously straining VFX budgets to the limit.
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In the wrong hands, World on Fire could well be very boring – the Second World War is not exactly new narrative territory. But Bowker makes both the grand narratives and the minutiae equally vivid and stirring, and it becomes impossible not to be enraptured by at least one of them.
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I have been slightly spoiled for second world war dramas by the gregarious SAS: Rogue Heroes, and this does not share that bounce or spirit. But it does have an immaculate grasp of tension and character. As this is war, people come and go; they live and they die. By the end of the opening episode, I was fully invested in their fates.
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I'm not sure how many viewers will stick it through six episodes, which is a shame, because it gets better as the series progresses, the finale making a clear nod to another series. Luckily the performances of Wichlacz, Manville and Jonah Hauer-King as Harry are enough of an incentive to keep watching for now. And here's another: Mark Bonnar will be in it soon.
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The drama feels at its most refreshingly different when telling these other stories in Hindi or German or Polish. When we’re brought back to Lois, things feel disappointingly pedestrian.
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The truth is, if you were a big fan of the first season or are an avid connoisseur of World War Two dramas, then you'll still almost certainly find a lot to like here, not least in the immersive nature of the piece. It's just that for the rest of us, a series such as this needs a strong USP – and attempting to do everything may not cut the mustard.