World On Fire – 7.8

After a stunning setup in the first three or four episodes, the 7-part series drifts toward soap opera territory, which is cemented when the season finale turns from a true finale to a teaser for Season Two. Part of my letdown may also be due to the diminished role of Kasia, the Polish barmaid, who alone is reason to watch until her character is out of the picture, then used and abused. Most of the characters are a tad too extreme for my taste, and the disparate stories don’t always come together comfortably. One subplot, the American Webster and his Parisian jazz-playing boyfriend, I could do without; and Helen Hunt better serves her role as narrator for war events than as a plausible person in Berlin. In my book, Kasia, Harry and Douglas should all be honorably dead by now, in a resolution I could live with and admire. As it is, at the expense of plausibility and my patience, they live on for another year…or two…or three.