The Man in the High Castle -- a review

When The Man in the High Castle first premiered on the Amazon streaming service, it was a hard show to watch. Don’t get me wrong, TMITHC was superbly done, with great scripts and marvelous acting that created the dire, dread-filled feeling of living in a world where the Axis powers won the Second World War. It was hard seeing an America that had been crushed and demoralized and was now occupied by the Nazi Reich on the east coast, and the Japanese Empire on the west coast. The Neutral Zone offered some freedom, but being lawless, the NZ didn’t really have much in the way of hope.

Yet despite this down-beat scenario, I kept watching the show because it was just very well-done overall. And I was also a major fan of series star Alexa Davalos, who plays Juliana Crain. But there was something else that intrigued me, a scene at the very end of the first season which changed the tone of the series completely--much in the same way how the first season of Game of Thrones had no magic, save for a moment in the last episode of their first season--that final moment, which included the Japanese Trade Minister Tagomi (the always great Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa), held the promise of hope, as well as opening up the story to vastly more possibilities.

While the second season explored these new possibilities with great success, the third season, which dropped on October fifth, truly takes flight to the point where it soared. Where there were just hints of elements of science fiction in the first two seasons, The Man in the High Castle really embraces the far-out concept of multiple worlds in the third, giving us a climax on a set that would have made legendary TV producer Irwin Allen proud (I wouldn’t be surprised if the TMITHC production team was inspired by one of Allen’s fanciful TV productions from the 1960s).

The third season is so good it should be illegal as it gives Juliana an even bigger role in the overall story, and Davalos does a great job carrying the weight of the narrative. While there may be more hope these days, it’s not all sunshine and daisies, because the Nazi Reich has never been more powerful, despite the backstabbing within its upper ranks. I liked how TMITHC never gave in to the romance of being in a Resistance movement, instead showing it to be a very dangerous and frightening existence. I’m pleased to hear that a fourth season is already in the works, because The Man in the High Castle has proven itself to be even better every time it comes back. --SF

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The View From The Mountain

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