The Man in the High Castle

What a blast. A series with a retro vibe that revisits a past that never happened. Great theme and script, with great acting performances, held together by an excellent soundtrack. I couldn't tear myself away from the first season. Plus, the creators cast Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, my favorite B-movie bad guy, so they got on my good side and made me turn a blind eye to certain things that struck me as rather odd. The strange developments in technology, for instance. While planes and automobiles have advanced since the end of the war, small arms have not. Walther 38s and Erma-Werke MP40s are still in use. Despite the minor flaws and the first season’s weird finale, I can't go lower than a 5. I’m looking forward to the next season. // After having finished the series, let me just add that I found Season 4 somewhat underwhelming. Especially the finale was badly written. It's a shame, otherwise, this show was exactly my kind of thing. (09/01/2016)

I was very satisfied with Season 2. I was worried that it might be a significant downgrade after the first season as is often the case, but despite a few weaker moments I was very pleased overall. I'm sure I've said this before, but the premise is very close to my heart. The writing is excellent and captures the gulf between the two superpowers perfectly. As for the cast, I want to highlight Rufus Sewell, I enjoyed every scene he was in. To sum it up, the season was excellent, I enjoyed it and can’t wait to see the next one. (11/06/2017)

The first episode of the second season solidly followed on from the previous series not only in terms of the plot but also the atmosphere. In addition, it surprised with action scenes that I didn't expect, I was rather counting on a larger portion of planning in dark corners and alleyways. (11/05/2017)

The fact is that after two episodes of the new season, I have nothing to complain about, the creators have kept everything good from the first season and added action scenes as a bonus, so I'm enjoying it and I hope the series will continue in the same direction. Just a small note: the end of the episode reminded me of several movies that ended in a very similar way (for example, No Escape from the more recent ones). (11/05/2017)

I'm starting to question if I am too uncritical towards the series. The problem is that I really enjoy the theme with an alternative end to the war, besides the creators have done a really good job here in my opinion, so I have great difficulties taking away stars. So far, I'm having a great time. (11/05/2017)

The fourth episode was slightly weaker compared to previous parts, there was less action, which I expected, but I missed more illegal activity, which was limited only to drilling into a bomb. On the other hand, I was surprised at how close the resistance is to football, even here, the jerseys were exchanged after the action ended. (11/05/2017)

Well, please, one well-placed death and things are happening right away, as if someone had kicked an anthill. Although this time there was no major action, unless we count the final retribution of Obergruppenführer Smith, there was still something to watch, because the scheming was in full swing. A very high-quality episode. (11/06/2017)

Excellent, the final episode of the second season turned out exactly as I imagined. Intrigues and power struggles dominated the entire episode, and Rufus Sewell seemed to truly enjoy his role. And now, the dreaded waiting begins again... (11/06/2017)

Not even Season 3 was a disappointment, excluding the unfortunate fourth episode. Thankfully, it was just a one-off slip of the creators, who otherwise kept up the good work, making the series entertaining as usual. It is definitely not intended for fans of frantic action scenes. The pace of the story remained rather slow as usual, but I was okay with that since the plot and dialogue were interesting enough. Again, I have to highlight Rufus Sewell's performance, without which it wouldn't be the same. (01/13/2019)

If it were an episode of a different series, I would definitely rate it four stars and complain about the slow pace and possibly weaker action, but it's The Man from the High Castle, I always rate subjectively, so it's worth five pieces. The pace was really slow, but that's kind of part of this series, there was also not much action, but I enjoyed every conversation and the creators immediately addressed my complaint about the lack of proper weapon development in the first scene, gentlemen Heckler & Koch obviously stepped up their game. (01/11/2019)

Okay, this was already too slow for me. The events (or rather inactivity) in the Smith family were slowing down the pace of the story, although I understand the reason and appreciate the effort to bring Helen's position closer to the viewer. SS- Oberstgruppenführer John Smith was traditionally the most interesting character and the CGI enthusiasts almost managed to bring Yamato back to life (except for a few details - perhaps post-war reconstruction). (01/11/2019)

After the previous momentary failure, there was a turn for the better, so I could evaluate fully again. The story moved forward nicely, interesting encounters happened, I learned something new about the relationship between movies and life, and I had a great time throughout. And that's what it's all about. (01/11/2019)

So it was an unpleasant surprise, I felt like the creators somehow didn't know what they should present to us, in the end it was a strangely inconsistent episode, in which the plot jumped from place to place like a flea, I didn't learn anything special, but at least I could "enjoy" another politically correct gay make-out scene. At least the creators made up for it with a politically correct lesbian make-out scene, which surprisingly didn't bother me. Well, KM Phoenix really highlighted the truly important part. (01/12/2019)

The previous episode pleasantly surprised me, but the fifth episode greatly improved my mood. Rufus Sewell was given more space again and clearly showed that John Smith is an indispensable character for the series (at least for me). The story has moved in an interesting direction again, and the final resolutions delighted me. (01/12/2019)

I was satisfied again, my weakness for losers showed again, maybe it's because they are usually much more interesting, so I enjoyed the storyline of Chief Inspector Kido and John Smith, while Frank Frink didn't really appeal to me until the end, the intertwining of both celebrations was perfect. (01/12/2019)

The seventh episode was calmer, but paradoxically, it was extremely interesting to me. The story moved forward in a very intriguing way, finally addressing important (actually, the most important) topics. The whole episode had a great atmosphere, and I couldn't tear myself away from it. (01/12/2019)

While the previous episode pleased me with an interesting development, the plot of the eighth episode somewhat stagnated, and aside from crossing borders, it focused more on less significant storylines. I also forgot to mention the intensification of relations between the Reich and the Empire, it is evident that Mr. Tagomi takes kendo seriously. (01/13/2019)

Hmm, in my previous comment, I criticized the slight stagnation of the plot, but this time there was definitely no such threat, quite the opposite. The events started off nicely, the episode brought more action and tension than usual for this series, and I just hope that the creators have saved something for the finale of the series. (01/13/2019)

But yeah, they let us. And the final episode was full of interesting conversations and events, and the imperial machine for world domination strongly reminded me of Lumley's Necroscope series' Project E-Branch (note!!!- it's a book series). I was amazed at the effort the imperial forces put into eliminating one elderly French woman :-) (01/13/2019)

When I was rating the individual episodes of the final season, I got carried away twice. My overall rating got as high as four stars, but it was definitely the weakest season. It really pissed me off a couple of times, and it really couldn’t compare with the previous ones. And what a botched ending... 4*- (01/25/2020)