The Man in the High Castle Season 1

I love the fact that streaming services are making their own content. In a world where Netflix is in insurmountable debt and the reality is that streaming services are never going to be as good and have as many quality shows and movies than they do now, it is great to know that there are original series and that this is most likely going to be the future moving forward. 

The Man in The High Castle was a show that I wanted to check out the minute that I got access to Amazon Prime. However, it took me quite a while to watch it as I had other shows that I was interested in. But the other reason was that I tried to start this show at the beginning of the year and it didn't really work out too well. 

The Man in the High Castle takes place in a reality where Nazi Germany and Japan won World War

2. They dropped an atomic bomb on Washington DC and invaded the continental United States. If you look at the map to the right, Nazi Germany controls the East Coast and the majority of the Eastern half of the United States. The Japanese control the West Coast, while the middle of the country is what is called, The Neutral Zone.

The show takes place in an alternate 1962 so the United States has been under Axis control for about 10 to 15 years now. People are settled into the way of life and while there are still people who talk about the war and the atrocities that happened, or that they were on the losing side, there has come a sense of resignation to the situation the United States finds itself in. There are pockets of resistance and in the first season we see both sides, the resistance, and the powerful SS hunting down that resistance.

Right off the bat without any characters or real plot, this is already an intriguing and dark premise. I mean the first scene in the show is a kid standing up and reciting the new pledge of allegiance and Siech Heiling in school while wearing those horrible Nazi youth uniforms.

It's freaking dark!

And then you add the characters and the plot.

There is a pretty big cast in this show and it doesn't do me a lot of good to go down the list and name off every single character. I'll stick to the main ones that the story follows the most.

Mainly Julianna (played by Alexa Davalos), her boyfriend Frank (played by Rupert Evans), and Joe (played by Luke Kleintank).

Through a series of circumstances, both Joe and Julianna find themselves in possession of a reel of film. I'm just gonna say it here, the films are the most intriguing parts of the entire show. These film reels show clips from actual history and show the United States winning the war. They say that the films are created by The Man in the High Castle. Because what is show in the films are not reality in this show, these films are very confusing and valuable. The resistance wants them, Hitler wants them, and the Japanese want them.

Joe and Julianna, two people from opposite sides of the country start a journey to bring these film reels to the resistance while being hunted by Nazis, bounty hunters, and other dangers... but that is really only the start of everything that happens in this season. That really only covers the first few episodes.

All the while, Julianna's boyfriend Frank is caught up in the fallout of Julianna going off with the film and Frank has to face the Japanese secret police.

And man, does this guy continue to be kicked when he is down. Holy crap. I don't want to say everything that happens to him but damn he does not have a good time this entire season. Rupert Evans does a really good job portraying this character, especially since this could have been a really boring character.

He sticks around Japanese occupied San Fransisco the entire time but he gets caught up in the entire thing and he probably has the most development as a character just due to the things he experiences, the people he meets, and the turmoil he gets put through. Also I should mention that he's half-jewish and that doesn't really fly too well in this universe.

Then you have SS Obergrupperfuher (That is the last time I will be spelling that word) John Smith (played by Rufus Sewell).

So Rufus Sewell is an actor who I know has been in some not so great things like Dark City and yet is still a pretty big name actor. While he's been pretty hit and miss in the past, I really enjoyed him in this show. He is the head of the SS in New York City and he is very efficient at his job. He is also incredibly loyal to the Third Reich. He is an interesting character because he was born in the United States and fully embraced Nazism when they took over. I won't give away some of the other conflicts that he faces in this show but they might be one of the reasons I continue watching this show into the second season. His character has the potential to really make some interesting drama and he brings a lot to this show.

I think the overall consensus is that this show has a great premise, it has really good actors in it who give really good performances... So why is this show so boring?

That might be a little bit of an oversimplification but man did this show take me a while to get through.

This show has so many things that I like. It takes an alternate look at history which I love, it has a little bit of a supernatural time travel aspect to it, the film reels themselves are the main reason I pushed through, so why does this show drag on so much!

Maybe this was just an introductory season and the next one will pick up quite a bit but that doesn't really explain how long it takes things to really get moving in this show. A lot of the attention is put into the drama and the struggles these characters go through but it also goes into the politics and the Game of Thrones-like moves for power. Japan and Germany are the supreme powers and instead the United States and Russia getting into a cold war, it is Japan and Germany. And that sounds great, but why did I fall asleep during so many episodes? Why was I bored even during parts of the finale?

This is not to say the show is bad. But the pacing is definitely an issue and the main action of the series is a lot of talking in dimly lit surroundings. And yeah it is really bad to the point where I was considering not watching the second season...

Until I saw the last scene of the last episode. Again I don't want to go into spoilers because I do think it is something new and unique and something people should probably check out, however I do need to give the disclaimer that this show is very, VERY slow. There is a lot of talking and a lot of plot points and characters that might be difficult to all remember.

Watching this season has really made me want to read the book. I haven't read it yet and I have a lot of things on my snail moving reading list at the moment. But if you have read The Man in the High Castle, please drop a comment or drop a line on Twitter because I haven't read any reviews of the book, just the TV show.

Overall, The Man in the High Castle is a very unique show and an accomplishment for Amazon to release a critically acclaimed show. However, if you are looking for something high paced, this is not the show for you. The Man in the High Castle provides and interesting premise and great characters but the execution of those great elements still needs work. I don't know when I'll be starting the second season, there are a couple of things I'm working on at the moment and trying to watch. On top of that, we're moving into October and I will be watching a lot of stuff in preparation for Stranger Things Season 2. But I will definitely make it known on Twitter so give me a follow to get updates on that and other things I'm watching.

But those are my thoughts on The Man in the High Castle Season 1. What did you think? Did you think it dragged as much as I thought it did? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for what I should be reviewing next. If you follow me on Twitter you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

I'll leave you with this. So the opening credits to this show are great. They utilize the song Edelweiss from The Sound of Music and it has kind of inspired me to watch that movie soon. Expect a review. Enjoy!