Congratulations to Michaela, who has won the Christmas V-MAIL Competition! A Season One DVD set (region-free) will be on its way shortly. The winning V-MAIL was picked at random from a total of 31 entries, and we swear it’s complete coincidence that it’s such a long one. Here it is below:

Hi fellow fans,

I stumbled across Bomb Girls by accident. I have been sent by my employee to work in the UK temporarily and of course, I had to discover wonders of mythic Neflix – fruits forbidden to me in my homeland. And after relatively short period of time the service recommended me this unknown show. Oh goodness, I knew this will be right my alley the moment I read the description.

And it was. I have been longing for well-written female characters and while last years were very fertile, there is never enough of these. Bomb Girls are full of them. At first I took a liking to tomboyish Betty and eventually fell for all girls. They all behave like adults, act different and all of them try their best to be good at their jobs. They are not perfect but they are able to elbow their way through life and bond with their female co-workers instead of be all catfighty. Many of them are actually like my friends or colleagues. You could almost hear me purring.

My favorite still remains Betty. I am a gay woman in my late twenties and the pre-modern era always scared me for its strong restrictions towards women and especially queer people. I always viewed a war as a mixed blessing due to social and technological advances it made possible yet it was still hard to live as a person surpassing social expectations. A lot of works, be it literature or cinematography, telling stories from that era about such persons focus on tragic nature. That’s the reason I try to stay away from them. I had my fair share of them in my adolescence and after certain amount, they began to be just downers. I don’t seek WW2 shows or movies because they are almost always about front lines or Hitler’s suite and never about other aspects of that period of our history. Bomb Girls reminded me of books written by Austrian writer Johannes Mario Simmel. He wrote about human fates during WW2 that were played out in cities or small villages and were all about non-soldiers. They were dramas and you could always expect something bad to happen (not necessary related to war-ignited incidents), though.

I like that Adrienne Mitchell and Michael MacLennan created the show that tried to be unique. It’s about WW2, about civilians, about women and it can be lighthearted and funny. And one of main characters is lesbian that is brave, tender-hearted and doesn’t want to end her life with a man or kill herself. Just wow.

I find even more fascinating that other characters are forward-thinking and when a word gets out, they are supportive. In my life, I had met or been a part of groups of women that showed that cohesion and I missed it so much in TV. For example, Lorna acts in kind of old-fashion way yet as episodes go, she displays very clearly where she stands and I as a viewer couldn’t keep my admiration for her away.

Gladys is another fascinating character. I like how she cut into the middle-class sphere and while she offers audience a peek, she manages to balance between being refined and raw need to work manually to change the situation. When I was watching these carefree parties, I couldn’t help thinking how bizzare it is. Cities were burning in Europe and on American continent the biggest wound was one attack at Pearl Harbor.

Vera was seriously surprising. I expected her to be a sad reminder of how hard a life of mutilated woman can be. Her arc is almost a love letter to someone who is able to pull together and value what they have.

And Kate. My another mistake in judgement. I thought she will cause these tense situations and make Betty suffer either by condemning her or playing a naive object of live forever. Her transition from a pack of full of shame and uncertainty into an individial who can stand on her own and keep questioning a realities of life for right reasons was beautiful.

The settings, storylines and most importantly characters are fabulous and I would love to see more of these. When I discovered that the show was cancelled because I even started watching it, it broke my heart. Luckily, creators are working on movie and I can’t wait to see it. At the time of its release date, I will be back in my country and my access will be limited again. Never mind, clicking on movie pre-order button on Amazon or wheresoever is sure thing. If this is going to be read by anyone having any decision powers, please consider adding subtitles. I would say my English is solid. I listen to podcast and watch some shows without subtitles however sometimes it can be a challenge to understand and it’s frustrating to miss something, especially if it’s a line in the show that matters.

I am really grateful this series exist and I would like to thank everyone who made it happen. It is one of my favorites now and I look forward to discover how Betty, Lorna, Gladys, Kate, Vera and others are doing.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year… or whatever feast days you are about to experience.

Kind regards,
A fan from Czech Republic