The Man in the High Castle

[bytown]

Great series!

Have season 4 but have not watched it yet.

Wayne

[Yubari]

I absolutely love the show!

[stonemint]

Great series, but the ending seemed rushed and left a lot of unanswered questions.
Such as: was there an actual man in the high castle, and how did the films get to the Nazi America reality? Who were all the people walking out of the portal, and why didn't they acknowledge anyone and/or act surprised that they were no longer in their own reality? What message was Tagomi sending? Why=would the American Nazi General not attack the west coast?

IMO, they could have had a Season 5, with Smith going to our reality (to replace the Smith that was killed), and Kido trying to escape the Yakuza, and then our reality invading the Nazi one--the possibilities are endless.

[Rick C]

The 'nazi General' question ~ remember he was a US soldier (with Smith) when the surrender took place. He was the one suggesting a coup to Smith in order to reestablish an independant US with nukes. Presumably, when it became known Smith was dead, he, as senior military commander in the US, decided, as next in command, it was time to reunite the US.

Like you, I think the series could've gone another season or even two. Perhaps they decided to pull the plug because of pressure over the 'possibility' of an American 'reformed' nazi like tyranny being something they couldn't/wouldn't explore given the PC culture we're in.

For the record, there’s a hard cover book on Amazon about the making of High Castle. It’s detailed about character development, etc. but sucks regarding the props/militaria ~ everything’s blanked out that had a swastika on it. I reviewed it ~ said it sucked so you probably don’t want to buy it if you notice someone pitching it but it does answer a couple of those unanswered questions.

[bigschuss]

If you haven't seen season 4 do not read any further......also if you haven't seen Star Wars 9 RoS also stop reading.


Big time fan of MitHC. I did not like season 4. Slow and laborious...like the writers ran out of ideas. Up to episode 9 I still could not imagine how they were going to wrap up the entire story in a single episode. Felt totally rushed.

The big question in MitHC for me at least was always "is John Smith redeemable?" The villain (like Darth Vader or Kylo Ren) who in the end is redeemed through self sacrifice? I did see that coming. Thought for sure somehow John Smith would be redeemed bay sacrificing himself to save Helen and his kids. But no, although he was reflective of his wrong-doings, he was unrepentant to the end. Kido sacrifices himself for his son. Helen for her kids. Not not so with Smith.

Did not like the weird ending at all. All that building up and foreshadowing in season 1 of Julianna's visions of the post apocalyptic Lackawanna coal mine scene with the ash fall-out raining down seems to have gone nowhere? Same with the vision of Joe Blaze pointing a gun at her and saying "trust me" in that same mine...never came back to it at all.

Then all of the civilians pouring through the portal. Weird. Would have been way better if they were at least all American GI's pouring through in full combat gear.

After all, it's not like all the Nazis are suddenly gone? They controlled all of Europe and most of North America. The one guy ripping off his Iron Cross leads us to believe it's simply all over? Weak.

I have a feeling the actors who played Joe Blake and Tagomi did not agree to return. The way Tagomi was written off defied all logic. I think probably Joe Blake was supposed to return somehow in the coal mine but that ending had to be changed without him in the cast.

Rambling. Sorry.

Loved the series. Just wished season 4 was better.

[Peter_Suciu]

If you haven't seen season 4 do not read any further......also if you haven't seen Star Wars 9 RoS also stop reading.

Big time fan of MitHC. I did not like season 4. Slow and laborious...like the writers ran out of ideas. Up to episode 9 I still could not imagine how they were going to wrap up the entire story in a single episode. Felt totally rushed.

Loved the series. Just wished season 4 was better.

This is a problem of American high concept TV series, but also a problem of the source material. TMITHC was based on a book by Philip K. Dick, who wrote the books that became Blade Runner and Total Recall among others. While he had solid concepts a lot of critics agree he never was the best at coming up with solid endings.


The series also introduced the concept of these alternate universes and travel between them. In Dick's original story it isn't films, but a book that describes the world where the Allies won.


So the show takes the basic premise but didn't have to work with in my opinion. Then as I noted this is a problem with high concept TV shows. Lost is a good example. The show was written without even the creators knowing what was going to happen. With a family drama or sitcom you can make it up as you go along, but if you don't have some idea of how it can conclude you're sort of lost (no pun intended).


Rarely do American series have a pre-planned beginning, middle and end. The most famous example was Babylon 5, where the creator knew how it would end even in season one.


The fact that this series didn't have that roadmap really hurt it a lot. I honestly wish it didn't even use the set up from Dick's book and just came up with an original alternate history instead.

[dogface44]

Hello,
I followed your advice and I am nearly through Season 1. I really like the parts with the antique dealer.
Really enjoying the show and I heard S2 is even better.

[kaiserwilhelm2]

Just wished season 4 was better.

Completely agree - was not happy with the ending at all. Thought season 4 was the weakest of the series. Strong start and great follow ups with season 2 and 3 and then unfortunately down hill. Still worth seeing it though.

[hs132]

I enjoyed it very much, especially the over the top Nazi ornamentation. I admire the producers/writers for tailoring a series with so much detail from the blurry ending of the novel. Best, Bill