I don’t really know what the ending was about. It was weird, I think it was maybe people killed returning to that earth, but it didn’t really make sense.
No idea who those people were. If they were people who died, why the hell would they come back to THAT universe?
It just made no sense. I was highly annoyed.
The last episode was crap. Seems like the writers gave up or the producers ran out of money. Very disappointing close to a show that had showed promise.
I guess I am almost the exact opposite. I thought the first five episodes of the series (first half season one) were the worst with a bunch of contrived scenarios happening in short order and characters making dumb decisions just to let the plot happen (like Kido gassing Frank’s family, but then letting him go for “reasons”—I was really glad they gave Kido and Frank a moment together at the end of season three where Kido got a chance to explicitly recognize and “correct” his mistake). I think the show started getting better as it slowed down a bit and started letting characters act more like actual people forced to get by in a world where the Axis won.
That said, all the resistance story lines and scenes that took place in the neutral zone were just “meh” to me. I, like I think most others have said, would have liked the show more if it had focused more exclusively on Juliana Crane (when she wasn’t fooling around the neutral zone) and John Smith.
I do give the series credit for a couple things I want to highlight at the end: (1) John Smith was genuinely unredeemable in the main timeline and they made good use of flashbacks and alt-Smith to show why and how; (2) as much as the alternate universes stuff was based more on spirituality and woo than actual science or scientific theories, they at least did a good job of establishing rules that made their travel to “almost like our own, but not quite” universes plausible, and placed limits on its use under those same rules. They also properly limited the use of real world figures to those who would have already been born at the time our timelines diverged, and so sidestepped a common complaint I have about alt-history—that it tends to assume all the famous people we know about would have been born like normal even after our timelines diverged.
There was a scene in one of the later episodes that has stuck with me. Smith, in his US Army uniform, is in a shack at Signal Corps HQ talking with his army buddies about what to do next. They mention that a CO is going to be on arriving to discuss their options in joining the Nazi ranks.
One of the army guys expresses his shock and sadness at this turn of events. They were supposed to save the world. Smith says something like, “We tried. We failed.” That sadness, humiliation, regret, etc. in the word “failed” just stabs.
That was a good scene.
I’m very ambivalent about the ending. I liked some elements, and more or less felt everyone got what they “deserved”. But that last sequence with people crossing over was just bizarre. I would have preferred they just blew the portal and been done with it. No good comes from that staying open.
I thought John was gonna get stuck in that “dream zone” Juliana kept going to, and stay there, alone, forever. That’s what I thought was gonna happen when Abendson said he was going to be damned, stuck between two worlds. He did get off a little easy.
I’m disappointed they killed off Tagomi. I would have liked to seen him get a good ending.
As much as I don’t like Hoover, I think it was very disrespectful to make him an alt-Nazi. I think that was ethically questionable. I think he should have been inspired by him maybe but not directly named Hoover.
Also, the amount of swastikas in this show were ridiculous and was particularly noticeable in S4. Yeah, they’re Nazis, we get it. You don’t have to put swastikas in their tape reels.
It just sucks because it’s been a long time since I’ve watched a sci-fi show where the ending had me saying “WOW! That was fucking AWESOME!” People just don’t seem to know how to end shows nowadays. I feel like this show had a lot of wasted potential, although I think a lot of it was decent.
I really did not participate in this discussion over the 4 seasons of the show. As such, I’m a bit surprised at the criticism although I don’t have much interest in rebutting the comments. I think many of them are fair complaints. For myself, I just finished season 4 - somehow I missed it was released. I greatly enjoyed it although I found the last few minutes to be rather odd and nonsensical. But to me the “end of the show” was with the resolution of John Smith. If season 4 did anything it gave us a rather more complex view of John Smith, his wife and family, and his choices and their costs. The flashbacks of losing the war and the decisions with the CO, the later decision to turn his back on his Jewish friend, and what I saw as the obvious internal turmoil over Phase V and what he had done to protect his family and what he will also allow to happen… I found it entirely gripping and brilliantly acted.
I just finished watching season 4, and overall I enjoyed it. I wasn’t sure I would continue after season 1, but it improved in season 2 when we found out more about the Man in the High Castle and where the films came from.
There were a lot of loose ends, but that is the nature of a series with many writers and directors. It isn’t one person’s vision with a defined arc. But the acting was good (except Ed, who was the weakest of the cast). The effects were quite good. I was disappointed when the Trade Minister was assassinated, it seemed forced and a missed opportunity for plot development.
The last episode was pretty good, but I’m still not sure who all the people coming through the portal were. I didn’t recognize any of them, so I couldn’t be sure who the were supposed to be. And I would have preferred a different end for John Smith than suicide.
I give it a 7 out of 10.
Watching this now. On season 2. I really like the actor who plays John Smith. Sort of charming and evil at the same time. Reminds me of the main Nazi from Inglorious Basterds Col Landa.
Just finished the four seasons. I realise its not been commented on much since Season 3 [its a 4 season arc] so here’s my contribution.
Overall, as a non-reader of the original book, I liked it. For those who’ve just noted it as a streaming offering, I’d recommend it for serious speculative fiction done seriously. Some plot choices are not what I’d prefer, and a bit of the acting looks like acting, but as broad positives:
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Sumptuous and excellent set design that complements the story. Some of it is quite arresting (swastikas galore), but its attention to the subtleties that repays watching
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Most of the acting by most of the principals is very good - Rufus Sewell is a standout. Apart from him, I think any of them could die at any moment as being not absolutely critical to the story. Plot danger is real and plot tension is well-modulated.
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To me as a non-sci-fi nut, the multiple worlds scenario makes sufficient sense to be a workable premise [although the portal did look a bit like Time Tunnel, and the ghost of Irwin Allen is probably looking for a good lawyer]. The idea of the films being a medium of communication that precis the difference between worlds is apparent [clearly not so to the first 50 or so posts above, who only had season 1 to go on].
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It takes a high ground - it treats serious themes seriously. There were plenty of opportunities to go for laughs or trite resolution and they were steadfastly resisted. Final ending avoided the hinted tidy wrapping up of loose ends. German and Japanese war criminal conduct and culpability in WW2 is clear and unambiguous.
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Characters do their job [mostly] - big bosses have people who do stuff for them, they are not one man armies. The world exists outside their orbit.
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The personal is political. I think there is a good and carefully worked out balance between, eg being a Jew or Black in Fascist America, and how the character is presented as an individual with agency and also a symbol or model of broader issues. That is tough writing, and I think in most TV is generally done shitfully and heavy-handed, but thought it was well-done here.
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All four season endings were genuine cliff-hangers with two or more possible outcomes that could have taken place.
Doubtless some will disagree, but if comments above are anything to go by, a lot of them are people opining after the first 15 mins, or clearly not paying attention. Give it a go and treat it as a proper project and I think you’ll get lot out of it.
Had heard about this for years and during the “nothing good on TV” during Christmas season, gave it a try. Really liked it. Not going to do any critiques of it, but I really enjoyed it and glad I watched it.
I watched the first episode and it didn’t grab me. Does it get more gripping soon in the first season?
No, IMHO it gets more gripping slowly over the course of the first season. It starts picking up a modicum of greater momentum in the second half of the season. It’s a bit of a slow burner of a series. I think it is worth the effort, but I know some who disagree.