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What powerful women in 'World On Fire'

Photo Credit: MASTERPIECE | PBS  / Facebook

We've survived two Sundays without "World On Fire." The first season had come crashing down to a cliffhanger. While we wait for the moment to find out whether Kasia will meet Harry at the top of the hill or if Lois will go through with marrying the dashing Canadian pilot, Vernon, let's use this time to spotlight the very different, yet very powerful women.

**SPOILERS AHEAD!!**


Lois


She's very headstrong. For instance, in the season finale (S1 ep. 7), she strongly tells Harry that she doesn't want him to be part of her or the baby's life.

Another trait to describe her would be spontaneous. After his return from Poland and even though she sensed he was hooking up with someone else, she decided to have sex with him resulting in an unplanned pregnancy at a very inconvenient time: World War II.

Despite the circumstances, instead of just weeping about it, it seems she easily accepted the complicated situation, which exemplifies her tough personality, and just carried on pursuing her love for singing by contributing to the war efforts. After finding out about her pregnancy one can say she grew up. However, she still needs to think before she acts upon decisions, such as when she said yes to Vernon's marriage proposal only moments after thinking he could be dead.

Kasia

Photo Credit: MASTERPIECE | PBS / Facebook

Viewers can all agree that Kasia is very loyal. Whether it's loyalty to her family or to her home, she puts others before her. For instance, she put Jan onto the train departing to England with Harry to ensure his safety so she could stay with her mother and wait for her father and other brother, Grzegorz, both of which joined in the fight. By pledging her loyalty to Poland, she joined The Resistance.

It's inarguable that she is courageous. As if joining The Resistance wasn't courageous enough during the time, Kasia was willing to use herself as bait to lure the Nazis. It was obvious that her beauty was their weakness -their lust- and she used that to her advantage to kill them.

Kasia is broken. The whole situation is devastating for all the characters, but for Kasia? Her mother was shot in front of her, she doesn't know whether her father and Grzegorz are alive or dead, and she hasn't seen Jan in so long. Can her situation get any worse? At the end of the season finale when she and Harry are fleeing from the Nazis, and she's at the bottom of the hill staring up at him, it most definitely seemed symbolic of her brokenness. Prior to this scene, she describes to Harry that the old Kasia is gone. She can't get the thought of her killing out of her head. It's going to take a while for Kasia to piece herself together again.

"As flattered as I am by your offer of prostitution, I'm going to decline...Schmidt, you're such a disappointment to me. I had you down for intellectually confused, morally conflicted, and a political coward...I'm in a position to stick a steak knife in your balls and make you squeal like a girl in front of your comrades."- Nancy Campbell

Nancy is brave. I don't think she's brave because she's a journalist, she's brave because it's naturally in her character. Her courage can be immediately drawn in the beginning when she questioned the Nazi at the Polish border even though he was armed. Then of course, there's that unforgettable scene in the season finale when she responded justly to Schmidt who attempted to sleep with her. He's a member of the Nazi Party and that still didn't stop her from speaking up for herself. 

"That's not me flirting." - Nancy Campbell

She's a survivor. Viewers were surprised when Nancy revealed to Webster in the season finale that she was raped by a civil servant in Portugal. Webster calls Nancy his aunt, but what if Nancy is his mother? Earlier in the episode, she revealed to Uwe Rossler that she has a grown son! 

She cares. It's no wonder why The Rossler family, especially Hilda, love her. Nancy is a kind person and is always willing to help. Hell, she even helped Uwe get rid of evidence of a murder he committed! 

Connie

Photo Credit: MASTERPIECE | PBS / Facebook

She's a true friend. She doesn't judge Lois for being pregnant and she was there for her when she was delivering the baby.

Robina

She's cold. It's no doubt that she's a cold person. She's rude and though she is not on the greatest terms with Lois, sometimes the cold hard truth is what one needs. "Harry's...not cut out for fatherhood. You've done the right thing," she says in the season finale as she hands money to Lois.

She's narrow-minded. She believes that her late husband, who committed suicide after the war, is weak. She doesn't understand the realities of the war or what war could do to someone. Another scene that illustrates her narrow-mindedness is that awkward conversation about race relations when Harry's friend Demba came over as he was making a stop over on his way to Scotland to train with the Free French.

Although she is bitter most of the time, she's caring. It's no doubt that she cares about Jan. She was willing to take care of him and even enrolled him in school. Viewers got to see another side of Robina when she defended Jan from the bullies at school as seen in season 1 episode 3. In the season finale, she tells Lois she's worried about Jan if he finds out that Harry, his brother in-law, had a baby with someone else other than his sister, Kasia.


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