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Though “The Plot Against America” took its time to get going, it’s full steam ahead for David Simon’s Philip Roth adaptation by Episode 4 — but to what end? With just two episodes to go, the drama has certainly flared up: The Levin familial bonds are being pushed to the brink as Sandy falls increasingly under Lindbergh’s spell, with the help of Aunt Evelyn and her new boyfriend Rabbi Bengelsdorf. The lines have been drawn, and it’s not looking good for either side. While this was by far the most exciting episode so far, it still feels as though Simon is obligingly following Roth’s outline rather than forging his own path.

In both the novel and the series “The Plot Against America,” there’s an unmentioned but implicit rhetorical question reaching out from beyond the page and screen. To borrow from the musical “Cabaret,” one of the...

When Philip Roth published “The Plot Against America” in 2004, his revisionist historical fiction in which Germany wins WWII and America elects a fascist who runs on xenophobia was an intriguing — if unsettling — thought experiment. In 2020, the bestselling novel has become an eerily prescient allegory. It’s no wonder that after the election of Donald Trump, HBO approached “The Wire” creator David Simon to adapt the novel. The resulting six-episode miniseries begins Monday night with a delicately rendered, if somewhat muted, opening episode.

Painted in the sepia tones of the past, “The Plot Against America” is far too close to an increasingly frightening present. Whether that ends up being too close for comfort or just distant enough to be a wake-up call (for anyone who still needs one) remains to be seen. The question lingering after the promising premiere, however, is whether now is in fact “the right time” for an...