“The Man In The High Castle” is a Brilliant Window in Time

By Joseph Cardenas//Contributing Writer

The concept of an alternate timeline in which the Allied Forces didn’t win against Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan in World War II is quite outlandish in theory, yet the new Amazon series “The Man In The High Castle” makes it work. Based on the 1962 novel of the same name by Philip K. Dick, the show introduces to us right off the bat to a world where for some reason the United States surrendered to the Axis Powers, and now the country is split into three regions: the Japanese Pacific States, the Greater Nazi Reich eastern states, and a neutral zone existing between them.

The series is set in 1962, fifteen years after the Axis Powers won the war and subsequently become the world’s superpowers. Juliana Crain lives in San Francisco with her boyfriend Frank Fink, and is thrown into a resistance movement when her half-sister Trudy is shot and killed by the Japanese military police over a film that documents the Allies winning the war. On the other side of the country, Joe Blake is recruited by Nazi general Obergruppenführer John Smith to make contact with members of the American resistance and collect a series of films seemingly created by the elusive “man in the high castle”. The stakes are doubled when a power struggle between the Nazis and Japan begins to bubble to the surface as Adolf Hitler is diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease, and everyone prepares for the führer’s coming death.

Without reading the book, the suspense and mystery of the idea of an alternate timeline was alluring, but the further expansion of an alternate timeline being aware of its alternate history has opened up a completely new door. It’s crazy, and it’s so unexpectedly science-fiction, but it works phenomenally. Performances by Alexa Davalos (“Clash of the Titans” 2010), Rufus Sewell (“Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” 2012) and Rupert Evans (“Hellboy”2004) were what really made this show stand out.

The pacing and writing kept an even tone that builds up the growing suspense of what the films actually mean and how they relate to this timeline. The characters add more depth to this mystery, as each of them becomes invested in the intensity of this fascinating world. It also weighs heavily on the growing political instability, but still doesn’t forego the matters that hit home – it dissects the fact that Imperial Japan’s desire to remain religiously traditional leads to its inability to catch up with Nazi Germany’s technological advancements and the tension only builds from one massive critical point to another.

Since it’s on Amazon, the show’s first season has ten episodes available to watch, each episode being around 50 minutes. It’s the perfect show to binge during the weekend, at least if you’re into the politics of an alternate timeline where the Nazis have us under their thumb.

Photo Courtesy of EW