Smith High School, but they’re working behind the scenes to topple Smith. They put on a good face in public, especially at the unveiling of Thomas C. This episode also introduces a couple of players who are clearly trying to undermine Smith, based on real people from American history - George Lincoln Rockwell, the founder of the American Nazi Party and the American Reichsmarshall on the show and J. Thomas Smith was willing to die for his party - what are you willing to do for the Nazis?Īs Smith ascends to a greater role in the Nazi Party, the issue of how Thomas’s death is tearing apart his family continues to haunt him. Thomas, who was sick and, therefore, inadequate in the eyes of a party that demands genetic purity, has become a symbol for the Nazis, who plan to use his sacrifice as a political talking point to encourage their people. Meanwhile, Smith is still deep in the trauma caused by his son Thomas turning himself in at the end of the last season. It would be nice of High Castle to reunite Joe and Juliana in the Resistance after separating them for all of last season. Will this act turn Joe back to a party loyalist or make him even more defiant? We get a sign of how Joe responded to his treatment in the final scene when he smacks a Nazi in an alley with a shovel before heading off to an assignment in San Francisco. They start by spraying water at him, but it devolves into one of the most truly horrific scenes in the history of the show as Joe is forced to shoot his traitorous father.
Joe has been taken prisoner after the events of the end of last season, and the Reich is basically torturing him. The Reich dominates the Big Apple and the East side of the country, and that’s where we find Joe Blake and Obergruppenführer John Smith. We may not do this every episode, but it certainly feels easiest now.
With the divided approach to storytelling, it’s easiest to break out each arc into separate sections instead of a traditional recap. The first half of this episode jumps between them so much it’s nearly hyperactive, although it slows down nicely in the final 20 minutes. It is somewhat remarkable how much the writers of The Man in the High Castle are willing to divide their show into multiple plot arcs across the country, with three distinct settings and characters who rarely intersect. Even at 70 minutes, we’re too busy keeping track of the characters to relate it to the issues of today. How will this sci-fi odyssey play to a world in which men march with Nazi flags in Charlottesville and people like David Duke tweet compliments at the president? And will the writers of this show endeavor to comment on hate and violence in the ’10s with their platform or simply offer a what-if escape from reality? The first episode is so remarkably crowded with plot refreshers and developments that it’s hard to say yet how current The Man in the High Castle will feel. Photo: Liane Hentscher/Amazon Prime VideoĪmazon’s hit drama The Man in the High Castle finally returns after a nearly two-year hiatus, but the national conversation about the Nazi Party has remained audible while it’s been away in ways the streaming service never could have predicted.
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