(Updated after Season 4).
It is the year 1962. Having lost World War 2, the United States is now occupied by Germany and Japan. Germany occupies the eastern states and Japan the western, with the Neutral Zone in between. When her sister is killed by the Japanese, Juliana Crain is sucked into the covert, dangerous world of the American Resistance. Opposing her and her comrades are the most ruthless forces the Nazis and Japanese have to offer, lead by Obergruppenfuhrer John Smith of the SS and Chief Inspector Kido of the Kempeitai. The Resistance's greatest hope appears to lie in films which show an alternate reality, a world where the US and its allies won WW2. While largely viewed as propaganda, these films could be more than that. At the centre of the manufacture and distribution of these films is one man, a figurehead in the Resistance: The Man in the High Castle.
Great, but not consistently so. Based on a novel by Philip K Dick (writer of the novels and short stories on which movies such as Blade Runner, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly, Total Recall and Paycheck were based) and produced by Ridley Scott, the series had massive potential and initially lives up to it.
The central plot, an alternate history where the US loses WW2 and is occupied by the Germans and Japanese, is a very intriguing one and is very well done. The events that took place to reach the alternative reality and how the world and society now look and function all make sense. As a student of history, especially military history, I kept expecting something to not add up, or not fit in with history's possible paths, but it all fits in perfectly.
It became an enjoyable intellectual exercise for me, figuring out when the alternate history started deviating from the actual, and the events that took place, and didn't take place, for this to happen. As far as I can tell, the earliest deviation is in Dec 1941-Feb 1942 when the Japanese manage to invade and occupy Hawaii.
This alternate world provides some great plot developments and backgrounds for many intrigues: the American Resistance vs the Japanese and Germans; the friction between the Germans and Japanese and how they try to undermine each other, even potentially destroy each other, all while carrying on like loyal allies; the factional in-fighting within the Nazi Party and the Roman-style politics involved.
All the series needed was solid performances and no superfluous or hole-filled sub-plots and it would have been perfect. Easy enough to ask, right?
Yes, but alas, difficult to achieve.
After creating this great platform for drama and reimagining history and society, sub-plots are certainly not free of holes or contrivances. It is usually small things, but they are enough to undermine the credibility of the plot, e.g. 50 Japanese soldiers barge into a club to catch a fugitive, they all go in the front door, leaving other exits unguarded, fugitive escapes through the back door; man meets Yakuza boss, he's carrying a gun but henchmen don't frisk him, gun gets him out of a sticky situation.
Then there's the sci fi aspect involving the films. Admittedly, this is written by Philip K Dick so you should expect a sci fi angle, but I would have preferred the series to just concentrate on alternate history, and the drama stemming from that, rather than introduce the sci fi drama. It just seemed like an unnecessary add-on and a distraction.
Furthermore, performances are far from consistently solid. Alexa Davalos imbues Julianna Crain with a wimpy, anaemic, unengaging quality, far from what you'd want the main "good guy" in a series to be. Luke Kleintank makes Joe Blake boring and unlikeable. DJ Qualls is one of the more irritating actors in showbiz and generally the harbinger of a C-grade movie. Here he lives up to that reputation. I kept hoping the Japanese would shoot him and put me out of my misery. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa is so boring as Trade Minister Tagomi it feels like every scene he is in takes an hour. Admittedly his character is drawn that way too, so some fault has to lie with the writers.
On the flipside there is Rufus Sewell as John Smith. Sewell's performance stands like a mountain among knolls: he absolutely dominates the series, putting in the perfect performance as the ice cold, calculating, ruthless yet family-orientated Nazi. If it wasn't for Sewell and how well-constructed Smith's character was, the series would have fallen apart.
After three seasons it was all set up for a great finale. While the initial intrigue had worn off and the plot started to get more and more padded (largely by the multiple universes stuff) it still had heaps of potential. In addition, achieving the potential didn't seem difficult: explore the intrigues between Japan and Germany, with the resistance adding a bit of spice, and build up to a massive all-in conflict.
Sadly, however, Season 4 turns out to be easily the worst season of the series. The intrigues and battles are few and far between. The multiple universes aspect gets centre stage and there are heaps of sub-plots which don't really add anything. The ending is rather tame and unsatisfying.
Ditch the multiple universes, concentrate on the alternate history and the Germany vs Japan vs resistance struggle (throughout the series), create some engaging "good guy" characters, played by good actors and actresses, and you'll have a masterpiece. Instead, while still on the whole very good, this feels like a massive missed opportunity.
