The Man in the High Castle Series Review

Released: January 15th 2015

Created by: Frank Spotnitz

Number of episodes: 10 in Season 1

Where to watch: Amazon Prime

Starring: Alexa Davalos, Rupert Evans, Luke Kleintank, DJ Qualls, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, and Rufus Sewell.

The Man in the High Castle is the newest piece of entertainment media to enter the “What if the allies had lost World War II?” camp, joining contemporaries such as Wolfenstein: The New Order and Fatherland in this often grim, yet intriguing scenario.

Based on the book of the same name by Phillip K. Dick, The Man in the High Castle takes place in 1960. The allied powers lost World War II after the Nazis dropped an atomic bomb on Washington and the nation is now divided between the Reich in the east and the Japanese Empire in the West with a neutral buffer zone placed in-between the two. In the midst of this diverged world, Juliana Crane (Alexa Davalos) and her boyfriend Frank Fink (Rupert Evans) are trying their best to scrape a living when she comes across an interesting film. It presents a hopeful outlook, an image of the Allies triumphing over the Axis powers and Crane begins to believe that in the right hands, the films could bring a crippling blow to the current occupants. She also comes across Joe Blake (Luke Kleintank) from the East, a mild-mannered factory worker who is certainly more than meets the eye. A web of secrets, tensions and intrigue is built up over the course of ten episodes in which each character maintains their own motivations and individual positions. As things push on, the series expands beyond Juliana and Joe with political manoeuvres coming into play between German and Japanese officials; these are personified with the highly ranked Obergruppenführer John Smith (Rufus Sewell) and Trade Minister Nobusuke Tagomi (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa). They add a great sense of intrigue to the overall plot while also giving it much of its twists and turns. Occasionally there will be moments of tension, or frightful moments where the brutality of the regimes comes into play but for the most part, The Man in the High Castle keeps the focus on the political and societal shifting caused by both sides and the coveted films caught in the middle of it.

The main characters all feel very authentic with key components of both the Nazis and Japanese being vividly captured by the cast. Trade Minister Tagomi along with most of his collaborators has a fascinating code of honour, contrasting heavily with the ruthless attitude of the Nazi officials. Davalos, Evans and Kleintank are all equally solid as the three main leads; their emotive sides really come into their own in the latter half of the season as things grow more and more desperate. Despite the main performances being very strong, some of the side characters make small appearances then disappear completely before we can learn more about them. The prime example of this is The Marshall (played by Burn Gorman of Game of Thrones fame) who misses an opportunity to shed more light on the neutral zone. With a story that draws its audience into an alternate history, there is some disappointment to be found when it comes to learning more about individual locations and some of the characters contained therein.

The world created in “The Man in the High Castle” reflects the subdued nature of the setting; it appears peaceful and resolute in the face of nationwide occupation but reveals its true colours when you dig down beneath the surface. Swastikas and Empire flags hang all over city centres, a stiff reminder to the people of their oppressive masters. There’s often a long shot or two that establishes what settlements such as San Francisco, New York and Berlin look like under Axis rule, before quickly hurling the viewer into the dark realities of the setting; later in the season, one particularly loathsome character relays hints as to what the Nazis did to Europe and the continent of Africa, leaving it to our imagination. Costume work is just as authentic with the performances, a mix of formal wear and relatively simplistic clothing. On a visual level, The Man in the High Castle brilliantly captures the tone and style of the source material.

Aside from a couple of characters and settings that could have been fleshed out more, “The Man in the High Castle” is an enticing offering and easily the best original work put out by Amazon Studios so far. It’s well worth a watch if you’re into history, alternate or otherwise.

Rating: 4/5 Stars