Lt. Rosenthal joins the 100th just as one of its crews reaches a milestone. The U-boat pens at Bremen become a target for the second time. While Buck leads the 100th on the mission, Bucky enjoys some much-needed R&R in London where he comes face with the costs of aerial warfare. Quinn and Bailey begin their perilous journey to escape from Occupied Europe, joined by Bob, an airman from the 306th Bomb Group.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene: This episode has no air combat scenes from the perspective of the aircrews, and instead follows what everyone is up to on the ground. Bucky does find himself in London during a German night-time air raid, discussing the ethics of bombing civilian targets.
- Ambiguous Situation: At the end of the episode both the troops back at the base and the audience are left wondering what happened to the missing aircrews. We hear reports from the surviving aircrews but they might not be 100% reliable due to the heat of battle. Both the characters and the audience are left to wonder who lived and who died.
- Buzzing the Deck: The episode begins with a B-17 that has actually managed to reach the magic 25 mission number buzzing the airfield in celebration.
- Cover Identity Anomaly: A "Blink-and-You-Miss-It" one. After the interrogation, the Belgian Resistance members ask "Bob", the suspected German Infiltrator, for a light. The cigarette lighter "Bob" pulls out is not a classic "Zippo" lighter ubiquitous to the US Military, but rather an IMCO model made only in Austria, something that wouldn't make sense for an American to have on hand. Once the Belgians see this, they shoot "Bob" on the spot.
- Double Tap: The Belgian Resistance Members shoot “Bob” in the head with a revolver after concluding he’s a German Infiltrator. After “Bob” falls to the ground, they put another bullet in him to make sure he’s dead and won’t report them to the Germans.
- The Engineer: Lemmons demonstrates why Crosby spoke so highly of him a few episode ago when he repairs one of Buck's engines while Buck is taxiing to takeoff. This requires him to hang off of the landing gear strut while he works, at risk of falling under the wheel.
- Foreshadowing: Nash and Helen's flirting, making it very clear to anyone who has ever seen a war movie that one of them will die.Nash: Think you might be the last pretty face I ever see.Helen: Don't say that.
- He Who Fights Monsters: Discussed: Bucky meets a Polish woman whose husband died fighting the Germans. While they watch London being bombed in the middle of the night, Bucky reflects on how he's certainly subjected others to the same thing. The widow, having endured years of the bombing after her husband's death, is not sympathetic to the plight of the German civilians.Polish Cafe Patron: I believe we should be as merciless and severe as they were to my people. That would be fair.
- After witnessing the effects of an air raid on civilians first hand, Bucky seems shaken at first, until he learns that Buck was shot down. He ends the episode eager to be on the next mission.
- Impostor-Exposing Test: The downed airmen are taken to a back room and told to give their names, both verbally and in writing, and are quizzed about various details like sports trivia, asked about statues in London, and if they can name and sing the American National Anthem. Notably, all of the airmen struggle to answer every question and sing the (notoriously difficult to sing) "Star-Spangled Banner". The exception is "Bob", who is exposed as a German Infiltrator because he sang the National Anthem almost perfectly. He also wrote the date in the European style rather than the American style.
- Internal Reveal: Late in the episode, Quinn finally tells Bailey the truth of what happened to Baby Face, confirming Bailey's suspicions. After hearing the story, Bailey assures Quinn that he did the right thing, and that he would have done the same.
- Life/Death Juxtaposition: Bucky and the Polish widow have sex while a German air raid is happening outside. Further, they discuss the trope while they do it.
- New Meat: Lieutenants Rosenthal and Nash are two new replacement pilots assigned to the 100th. Unlike the original pilots from the 100th, neither was a pilot before the war, and they learned to fly in Texas as part of their training. When Rosenthal asks Buck and Bucky for advice, the best they can offer is to try and survive his first eleven missions.Rosenthal: Yes, sir. What, uh... What happens after that?Buck: Ah, you beat the odds.Bucky: Or you didn’t. You know?
- Rewatch Bonus: Watching the Belgian Resistance scenes again make it easy to see the signs that "Bob" is a German Spy. He has an oddly calm demeanor compared to the other two American Pilots, particularly for someone who (supposedly) recently escaped a violent plane crash, is now stuck in German-occupied territory, and is being interrogated by the Belgian Resistance (as though he was expecting to meet them). He writes the current date the European way rather than the American method. And finally, when he is shot, the lighter he drops is an Austrian Model instead of an American Zippo lighter.
- Shot/Reverse Shot: Both the interrogation scene and Rosie's second conversation with Buck and Bucky are done this way, with neither scene featuring all of the characters in the same shot. This goes to show that the more experienced pilots of the 100th aren't fully comfortable with the new crews replacing their fallen comrades, much as the Belgian Resistance isn't willing to trust the American airmen who come to them for help without first testing to see if they are German infiltrators.
- Survivor Guilt: Quinn is guilt-stricken over saving himself after he couldn't save Baby Face, and initially lies to Bailey about Baby Face's fate rather than admit to what happened.
- Walking Spoiler: It's near-impossible to talk about "Bob" without revealing the fact that he's actually a German Infiltrator pretending to be a downed American airman.
- Watching Troy Burn: Being on the receiving end of an enemy bombing raid during his leave in London clearly has a profound effect on Bucky, making him ask himself some uncomfortable questions about the morality of the bombing raids he's participated in himself.
- You Did Everything You Could: After Quinn confesses the truth of Baby Face's death to Bailey, Bailey assures Quinn that he did what he could to try to save him and that if he hadn't bailed out at that moment he would've died too.
