The Man in the High Castle

Discussion in 'TV Board' started by Fran Tarkenton, Sep 17, 2015.

  1. Shawn Hunter

    Shawn Hunter Vote Corey Matthews for Congress
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    Will have to watch it since I don't remember shit given season 3 will be debuting nearly 22 months after season 2 debuted.
     
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  2. bic

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    And we're back. Should make for some nice binge-watching this weekend.
     
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  3. SC

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    Just watched this to refresh myself. Super helpful.
     
  4. jplaYa

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    Maybe I should watch S2? I stopped after S1 because I had other stuff going on. Heard S2 was good, but is it worth it?
     
  5. SC

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    I really liked S2. Definitely give it a shot.
     
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  6. rainey

    rainey Good Ebening

    Through three episodes.....it's good.
     
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  7. TheGrifter

    TheGrifter It's a trick. Get an axe.
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    I enjoyed S2 more than S1.
     
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  8. BellottiBold

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    Fuck. There goes the weekend
     
  9. DeToxRox

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    I don’t have many thoughts through the first four episodes but I like this season. It’s moving at a decent pace.
     
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  10. SC

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    Couple episodes in to S3, definitely enjoying it.
     
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  11. Sub-Zero

    Sub-Zero ALL THE TOSTITOS!!!
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    Thank GOD they made that Season 1/2 recap video or I would be so lost. There was a lot to remember.
     
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  12. BellottiBold

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    Not quite done but have to comment on how fucking dope "the palace" and "European only" club look.
     
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  13. Fidelio

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    Amazing season

    Couldn’t stop watching

    John Smith oooweee
     
  14. Virgil Caine

    Virgil Caine Well-Known Member
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    I’m with y’all in that I enjoyed S2 more than S1. But I still get confused pretty regularly when they show the films and time travel and all that.

    But I’m also only 3 eps into the new season.
     
  15. Gunners

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    I have a really hard time following what is going on now
     
  16. SC

    SC I’m boring and I’m bored
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    Finished S3 last night. Really liked it. Some thoughts in the spoiler:

    -First off, thank goodness they killed off Joe Blake. After seemingly not knowing what to do with him last season, I enjoyed the storyline they had for him this season with re-education, etc, but nothing dragged the show more than Joe Blake and Juliana scenes. They had reached the end of the road there, and I'm glad they decided to make the move. Them seeing a Monk light himself on fire then go home and fuck was one of the more jarring sequences in the season.

    -The decapitation scene with Frank and Kito was the show at its best. I do hate that one of the better actors is now killed off the show, but this was always going to be the endgame for Frank once he blew up the Kempeitai building.

    -Nakamura's death by multiple bayonets has to be one of the most miserable ways to die. Kito is a legit monster. I'm not sure if the scene in E10 where he buys the prostitute her freedom is meant to try and humanize Kito and make him more likable, but we're too far down the road with him for that to work.

    -Moreso than previously, they've found an identity and a style for the Neutral Zone that really plays well. It's becoming more of a Deadwood-esque type of open and lawless place, and I hope we get more of it.

    -Speaking of wanting more, I want more of Nazi-occupied Havana and Cuba. Overall, the set and and visual work of the clubs and other places was so well done.

    -John Smith steals the show the entire season. The film of him being a regular dad with Thomas and Helen and his reaction to it (and seeing MLK giving a speech) was good stuff. You can tell he's not on board with the experimental machine to traverse universes, but it doesn't seem like a coincidence that The Man in the High Castle drops the tidbit to him that people can only cross over into a world in which they do not exist. He now knows that an alternate version of Thomas could cross over. Interested to see how he handles that, especially now that he's lost the rest of his family.

    -The scene of them shooting down the Statue of Liberty was good, but I thought the more powerful scene was the open with the Nazi's melting down the Liberty Bell and then bronzing it into a giant Swastika. So good.

    -They left themselves open with Himmler's fate going forward. Do we need to see more of Himmler or would it be best to let him die from the sniper wounds and let that response play out early in S4? I think that's the way I lean.

    -I hope they introduce a new character or two in S4. Wyatt/Liam was fine, but some new blood would be nice. I'm afraid Nicole going back to Berlin for "re-education" is just a way to write her out of the show, which sucks as I really enjoyed her character and story arc over the season.
     
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  17. Sub-Zero

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    Finished S3. I thought the second half was a good watch and felt like it had good rhythm to the story..

    Agree with SC that the neutral zone has personality now. Originally it just seemed like a senseless danger zone. Now it feels like a place people an legit get away to and create life but with Lawlessness as a risk...but not a complete war zone.

    John Smith is the show but I don't always get his motivation as far as how ruthless he is. He seems like he's a good guy just protecting his family. But his American roots are always kinda there. But then he kills everyone at the high Castle residence. I thought it was pointing to him trying to team up with Abe more friendly as a way to plead to him to get to see Thomas. But then he kills everyone to aprehend him. Seems like more of a keto move.

    Man that decapitation scene.

    Frank in season 3 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> season 1-2.

    I'm glad they didn't kill Jack in that ambush. That would have been mean.

    I'm still not sure if I'm rooting for juliana. She's the Ryan Tannehill of the show.

    My favorite moment easily is tagomi saying the word Combat. As a huge fan of his role as Shang Tsung it made me giggle. But really he's my favorite character the show.
     
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  18. Sub-Zero

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    One more thing.

    S4 Preditction. John Smith is POTUS in one of the parallel worlds. Next level would be him getting assassinated in that world and then Nazi Smith travels to it to be Nazi President.
     
  19. Truman

    Truman Well-Known Member
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    Just finished finally this weekend. Good thoughts all around.

    One thing i haven’t been able to get past is how in just 20 years or so - they’ve gotten most of occupied America to to be so patrioticly towards the Nazis. I know it’s just something i need to go with but it always bothers me.
     
  20. Fidelio

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    That and how did John smith turn nazi in such a prominent role? Can’t remember if they explained it
     
  21. Truman

    Truman Well-Known Member
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    In the finale they said he was one of the first to switch sides and become a traitor.

    The Man in the High Castle was ripping him for it.
     
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  22. Sub-Zero

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    Final season November 15

     
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  23. Nelson

    Nelson Can somebody please get Ja Rhule on the phone
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    glad it’s coming to a planned end. Have a feeling it’ll feel like seasons 1 and 4 are the story and 2 and 2 are mostly filler
     
  24. Sub-Zero

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    Season 4 is out
     
  25. WillySaliba

    WillySaliba Well-Known Member
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    Last year rewatched season 1 and 2. Rewatching season 3 now to get ready for 4. Remember very little from S3.
     
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  26. Nelson

    Nelson Can somebody please get Ja Rhule on the phone
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    First episode was meh but John continues to be an awesome character and Rufus is a great watch
     
  27. Truman

    Truman Well-Known Member
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    The only thing I remember is they opened some vortex, to our timeline (i think)
     
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  28. WillySaliba

    WillySaliba Well-Known Member
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    Honestly I remember certain pieces of events that will happen but I know it gets fucked a bit. Just figured we’d do do a rewatch.
     
  29. Fidelio

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    I can’t get enough of this show. 6 eps into the new season
     
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  30. AptosDuck

    AptosDuck Pedantic Hausfrau
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    Wife is in Seattle this weekend, and I promised not to watch any episodes until she returned. Broke that promise last night, shhh nobody tell her
     
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  31. identikit

    identikit Well-Known Member
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    Finale a bit underwhelming.

    Unsure what they could have done differently though.
     
    #231 identikit, Nov 17, 2019
    Last edited: Nov 19, 2019
  32. Nelson

    Nelson Can somebody please get Ja Rhule on the phone
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    On episode 2

    this show is consistently so meh when it could be far better. Still enjoy it in a pulpy way though
     
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  33. Open Carry

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    I am completely lost on the final scene.
     
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  34. Nelson

    Nelson Can somebody please get Ja Rhule on the phone
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    episodes 4 and 5 have been very good. I spoke too soon. Great season thus far, episode 1 was just very meh.
     
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  35. Nelson

    Nelson Can somebody please get Ja Rhule on the phone
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    Finished. Last season really redeemed the show because 2 and 3 were pretty mediocre. I never really cared much about the alt-world stuff so the ending is just gravy to me. That felt more like an epilogue whereas the last scene with Juliana and John really wrapped it up.

    Kido remains favorite character. Hope Joel de la Fuente gets more high-end work, I thought he was fantastic throughout.
     
  36. Sub-Zero

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    same
     
  37. SC

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    The first classroom scene in S4, E2. Fucking hell.
     
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  38. SC

    SC I’m boring and I’m bored
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    Midway through S4, E3, just posting aloud for myself more than anything else as I watch. I like the dichotomy they’ve set up for John Smith.

    They’ve created an opening for a family swap of sorts. He knows that it’s possible to bring Thomas to his current reality, and with John also finding out he has no daughters in the alternate universe, sending them there becomes an avenue to get them to safety and away from the Reich.

    Edit:
    This equation obviously changes with the ending of E3.
     
    #238 SC, Jan 15, 2020
    Last edited: Jan 15, 2020
  39. SC

    SC I’m boring and I’m bored
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    Finished the show last night. Thoughts in the spoiler:
    - Rufus Sewell deserves every award for his role as John Smith this season. He was fantastic in a character that had deal with so much and so many different emotions. The episode in which he went to the alternate reality was him at his best. Acted his ass off.

    - This season was at its best when we were focused on Smith and Kido. Everything else felt like filler. Those were the two stars of the show.

    - On a related note, every scene and storyline with Juliana dragged the show down. She's as uninteresting a protagonist on a show in a long time. Was any viewer "rooting" for the Resistance? I just didn't care. Wyatt shooting up the auction was the best resistance sequence of the season. I'm glad Juliana didn't get the satisfaction of killing Smith herself at the end.

    - I liked some of the BCR storyline, but why were they not introduced until season 4? Had they been a part of the show before, I'd have been more invested in them and their time on screen. The show-runners really missed a chance as Harlem off the grid would've been a great setting to really delve into, and would've been an easy way to tie in the BCR. A waste.

    - We have to dream a little, but I'm glad Childan got a happy ending. We needed someone to have a positive endpoint. He turned into a really great side character, this season especially.

    - Some of the symmetry was fantastic. The video of Thomas walking down the walk with the recruiters was eerily similar to Thomas walking down the walk with the Nazi doctors. Kido trapped inside the room in which he killed Frank Frink's family was another one. I thought it gave a very good reminder that while the show gave you urges of wanting to redeem Kido, he's a monster at heart and hurt so many people.

    - Same as last season, I wanted more neutral zone. The culture, the people, the music, etc changed Jennifer so much in the year she was there. I wanted to see it.

    - Himmler murdered with the same gas he used to kill so many Jews was a great touch. That whole sequence and episode in Berlin was fantastic, a highlight of the season.

    - I thought the show really suffered with no Tagomi. I don't know that there was enough of a payoff with the Kido storyline re: the assassination to justify the way in which they wrote out Tagomi.

    - I loved the flashbacks with John Smith and his Nazi beginnings. I would watch a spin-off from that point of his way up the ladder in Nazi government.

    - Hated the ending. I don't really care about the portal part, but I do have questions. Why are people coming into this fucked up reality with a split country and a toppled Nazi territory? Does the Doppelganger Rule no longer apply?

    But the ending as a whole, toppling the Nazi empire in a matter of 40 minutes was just way too convenient. The more interesting way to end it would've been Helen dies, John Smith survives and escapes. Based on the conversation with Helen, he knows what is happening is wrong. His wife is dead, one daughter is a Nazi demon child, the other a future resistance member. His son is dead in his current reality and likely going to be dead in another. A final scene of him still in power but coming to grips with everything as his life falls apart around him would've been more compelling.
     
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  40. BellottiBold

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    I thought this was a phenomenal season of TV, up until that final scene which was infuriatingly inconclusive and lazy.

    The show became much better for me once the existence of the multiverse and the portal had become established features not to be wondered about anymore. When we were able to move past that, you had a bevy of compelling stories and characters that really took over.

    The best scene of TV I've seen in recent memory is when Smith's eldest, having just seen the BCR broadcast, orders her sister out of the room and proceeds to absolutely eviscerate her mother. And for all of the talk of Sewell's performances Horsdal was at least as good as Helen.

    They didn't "topple the empire" in 40 minutes. They eliminated (effectively) the one man that could possibly maintain the myth of the American Reich. His right hand man tells him that the army would fall in line if he chose a different path, and Smith doesn't listen. So when they have a second chance with Smith out of the picture they take it, and all of those bombers peel off at the last second as evidence that the speculation was right - that the military was ready for something to replace the reich. Helen already ended Jon's world with that last exchange, and being on the run with little chance at being rescued in time it was fitting and perfect that he blows his head off, to say nothing of the nod to a previous nazi leader's ultimate demise.
     
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  41. Prospector

    Prospector I am not a new member
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    Mrs Himmler is a real ball buster