Just finished Season 2. Thought I'd write a little review/commentary like I did for season 1 (check that post out
here)
SPOILERS BELOW - STOP HERE IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN SEASON 2
ALSO, THIS IS GONNA BE LONG SO TL;DR WARNING IN CASE YOU PREFER TO SAVE TIME AND JUST SKIP THIS
YOU WERE WARNED
I don't have enough superlatives to describe the excellence that is The Man in High Castle. If I was told I could only watch one show for the rest of my life (and that there'd be a new episode every single day, but I could see no other program ever) and this was it, I'd be happy. I could seriously watch this shit forever, even the mundane stuff (walking around Berlin, visiting Imperial Tokyo, Hitler Youth orientation in New York, etc) - everything about this show's setting is just so fascinating, I can't get enough of it. It's just incredible.
Where do I even start? Let me talk about the setting and the world high castle takes place in.
I said in my season one review that I really wanted to see more of the world of High Castle next time around, with less of the boring love-triangle stuff between Frank-Julia-Joe and more actual fleshing out of the universe in which this takes place. Season 2 really delivered here - we got to see FAR more footage of different settings in the universe and got much more insight into what day to day life is like in this bi-polar, axis-ruled world. As mentioned in my comment on season one, I'm a long-time (right back to middle school) WW2 enthusiast, and have been particularly obsessed with the history of the axis (especially the European) powers. Part of that fascination includes alternate history ("what if they'd won?"), so this show is right up my alley there. Add multiverse theory (another topic I've found intriguing, albeit more recently) and this show is just indescribably satisfying.
One amazing thing about this show's setting is how fascinating and haunting it is at the same time. As mentioned before, I love seeing the alternate WW2-themed history. At the same time, my understanding of that history means I think about a lot of the implications of this alternate timeline, and they are frightening. I end up coming to a realization that, as awesome as it is to watch this show's depiction of the Reich, I'm looking at a place in which I (a black male) couldn't exist - from what I can tell, there are no blacks in the American reich and the way even the children talk (Joe's girlfriend's kid asking how a character in the book he was reading could be good if he was black) they're definitely looked down upon. I also realize there's a very real chance that my people (afro-caribbeans) either don't exist or (more likely) have been reduced back to semi-slavery, with atrocities like overwork or forced sterilization (among other things) perpetuated widely.
The Nazi win in Europe probably means the bulk of the Slavs are either dead or forced into the far reaches of empty Siberia (much of which is a neutral zone unoccupied by either Japan or the Reich). The gypsies are gone, the Jews are mostly gone. Japan has probably done a serious number on the Chinese, killing very many more than they did in our timeline (when they still managed to massacre plenty). Those living in occupied parts of Imperial Japan are probably subject to tremendous atrocities given what we know about Japan's WW2 exploits in our timeline - forced human experimentation, mass rape, massacre, semi-enslavement...I shudder to think about what Imperial Japan is doing to all of the Thais, Filipinos, Indians, Chinese, Malaysian, Indonesian, and Vietnamese peoples under their dominion in this alternate timeline.
Here's a map of the world )the clearest we get in the show) that can be instructive as to what might have become of many peoples in this universe:
![[Image: sFzGuQi.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/sFzGuQi.jpg)
The yellow parts are the world's "neutral zones", places ostensibly not under Japanese or Nazi control and basically the only remnants of the "free world" in this timeline. It seems like plenty of people who may have been persecuted could have found a safe spot to flee in this timeline. I imagine many African Americans ending up in Mexico or some of the slivers of Canada that are part of the North American neutral zone on the map - they probably started running out of fear as soon as Washington got nuked and chaos undermined the stability of the social system in the country. I'm willing to bet that a good number of other people (white or otherwise) followed them out of fear of Nazi/Japanese rule, and this world's Mexico is substantially more diverse than the one we know. Many Afro-Latinos in places like Colombia and Ecuador probably ended up fleeing to the Andes/Amazon neutral zone (or alternatively to Mexico), and many Asians ending up in Siberia to escape Japanese rule (where they were probably joined by the many Russians and other slavs who ran east to get away from the Nazis). It would seem like some people of color could survive pretty well in the Reich (ex: the Argentinian Julia meets after seeking asylum has a native indian parent, but still lives in Reich-run Argentina and appears to be middle class), but I'm betting most weren't as lucky.
Africa (the entirety of which is under Nazi control) is an interesting case. In the book, it is implied that the Nazis carried out mass genocide and emptied the continent. The show may have walked this back, as Joe's father implies when he discusses his plan to dam the mediterrenean. Joe's dad says the dam will provide endless electricity, allow for the irrigation and greening of the Sahara, and "feed a hungry continent". I can't imagine that the "hungry continent" in question is Europe (they all look pretty well fed) and the bit about greening the Sahara implies that a lot of that agricultural work is going to be done on the African continent. There would not likely be many Germans/Germanics settled in Africa at this point in time, so the show seems to imply that Africans are still there. This sort of lines up with the Nazis real-life plans for the continent, which called for some form of mass apartheid and not extermination. My guess is that Africa in this timeline got from the Nazis a version of South Africa's apartheid on steroids. Nazis, occupied Brits, occupied french/portuguese, and white south africans were deployed around the continent (the french and portguese taking to their particular former colonial holdings in Africa) to run the system under Reich supervision and mobilize labor to support the Reich, with the aid of perhaps a few appointed African puppets/administrators.
Some Africans (along with South Americans and Arabs) were probably also drafted into the Wehrmacht and thrown into existing conflicts in which the Reich desired to spare German casualties. There's
precedent for this in our timeline - Nazis weren't averse to using some "racially inferior" groups to prop up their manpower and there's no reason to believe they wouldn't have done the same in a world where they won and had access to even more people they probably considered unworthy of planned genocide, but still disposable. Some African legions were probably created and, alongside Arab legions, used for further conquests once the USA was defeated and for the maintenance/security of said conquests after the fact.
Pretty shitty outcome for the continent, but at least they're not all dead. It would also explain some of the Reich's prosperity (all of that wealth is far more believable when there's an endless supply of nearly free labor just to the south to subsidize things). Maybe we'll even see some of them in future seasons.
My guess for the Caribbean and Central America (both of which are shown to be Reich territory) is that their fate was quite similar to Africa (folks stayed put, apartheid put in place), with probably a slightly larger number of people fleeing to Mexico given the closer proximity.
The map also shows the Nazis running he Middle East, which makes sense given what we know about their intentions there in our timeline - with their victory in this alternate timeline, they naturally took most of what Britain had there and secured the region's oil. I have to wonder how they governed things out there. My guess is puppet rulers throughout the region (similar to the British and American approach in our timeline) and strict enforcement of secularity throughout. I do wonder if extremist islamic ideology didn't spring up here the way it does in our timeline and if they didn't get a lot of resistance/pushback from this area. Keeping stuff in order in the middle east might have been a thorn in the Nazi side, but given their resources and tech supremacy I'm sure they managed. Islam probably still thrived in some of the closer parts of central asia, which were in the neutral zone.
As haunting as some of the implications of the show's main timeline are, this show weaves the story so well that you can't help but be drawn in by the setting and by the characters who bring it to life, even the evil ones. Kido is a bastard - the man callously murders innocent people under the guise of "duty" and "honor", and frankly deserves a very harsh death (probably after he watches his family go gruesomely before him as fair payback for all the families he's carelessly and gruesomely ended). Despite this, I still ended up respecting the character and enjoying his screentime. The scene in episode 9 in which he and his right hand man, Yoshida, share a moment (Yoshida offering his condolences on what looks like an impending nuclear war and Kido responding with a heartfelt thanks for his service and friendship) actually gave me goosebumps. These characters were bastards who deserved nothing but misery, yet here I found myself touched by the sheer strength of their personal and professional bond and honor-bound devotion to one another. That this show could get me to do that says two things: a) these writers are god tier and b) these actors are REALLY good. Can't big up De la Fuente (Kido) and Lee Shorten (Yoshida) enough for their performances.
The story weaved for the Nazis is just as strong. Smith is another bastard who the show successfully humanizes and, in the end, even gets you to (reluctantly) root for. For all the evil he's done, you still feel for the man trying to protect his kid and family. By the end of the season you even sort of pull for him as the lesser evil for the greater good (an essential piece in blocking the nuclear war). Dude has been the enforcer of the rules most of the time, but it's just fascinating to watch how he handles things when the tyranny he propagates turns against him (read: now his kid is among the to-be-purged "defectives").
Julia and Frank were much less annoying this season. Both spent less time in a whiny love triangle and came into their own as far more likable, enjoyable characters. I hope Frank survived.
The same goes for Joe, who also spent way too much time last season in a daft, whiny love triangle and often wasn't that fun to watch. He came into his own this year, and watching him discover himself in the heart of Germania was arguably my favorite part of this season. I kind of had a feeling he was Lebensborn when I saw his father say he had to "show him something" (the shot of the abandoned nursing-home-looking building as they were approaching was a dead giveaway - many documentaries today on Lebensborn feature those prominently at the outset). I'm really glad they went here because Lebensborn is a pretty interesting topic in our timeline, but it is really intriguing to see how it might have played out in a world where the SS achieved their goals and won. How would those kids feel? What would their status be in the Reich? Would they know their parents well? How would their parents feel? The show handled all of this pretty well and the explanations were convincing - the kids are put on a pedestal by the older generation (ex: Joe's father's maid), don't feel all that special themselves (either indifferent to their origins like Nicole or disparaging of it like Joe), and many of their families are broken thanks to the program, though sometimes their fathers look in on them (ex: Nicole and her dad, though she seems to rebel on that front). This was a great angle for the show to take not only for the historical interest that WW2/alt-history nerds myself want to explore, but also because it was a fantastic path for fleshing out Joe and making him a way more complete character. Big up the writers here.
Following Joe into Nicole's world was cool because the writer's did another interesting thing here: they created parallels to our baby boomers. Listening to Nicole talk (constantly referring to the ways of the "older generation", and how they would soon pass away and things would "change", the drug use, as well as the generally rebellious and arguably feminist tendencies shown by how she talks about her dad and dating, etc), it appears that this timeline's got baby boomer hippies just like ours did. We even get a brief glimpse of Reich environmentalists at the party Nicole takes Joe to. Just like in our timelines, there exists a post-war generation that has grown up in relative peace and unprecedented prosperity and has used their freedom and affluence to start questioning everything their parents have done. And, just like in our timeline, the children of the post-war elite (ex: Nicole and her rich friends) are at the front of this push.
I wouldn't be surprised if Nicole and her friends' views are fairly widespread in the Reich, and I suspect that in this timeline her generation grows up and plays the disruptive role our own baby boomers did. As Himmler and Joe's father's generation starts to die off, Nicole and her friends begin to break down the Reich's social norms and liberalize things - wider variety of music, greater tolerance for "alternative" lifestyles, etc. Hitler's death and the subsequent infighting that should ensue will only leave a vacuum that will accelerate this - the Reich will be ripe for cultural change. I don't think even in this timeline we'd avoid a sexual/cultural revolution that doesn't result in at least SOME change from the strict traditionalist status quo. It may not go as far as our own revolution did, but I think there's no way to avoid these kids rebelling. We'll have to see how far they take Nicole's story, because if they show this trend starting I suspect she'll be at the enter of it. Feminism is coming to the Reich.
Joe's dad was a solid villain this season. He was the perfect kind of antagonist - a man of firm conviction who has a goal that, on its face, seems righteous, but a plan for getting their that is definitely problematic. These antagonists are the best because they aren't black and white - with Joe's dad, you could see some of the logic in what he was saying and that he had a genuine belief in his plan serving "the greater good", but in his righteous stubborn conviction he couldn't see the many flaws in his thinking. He was a dreamer who, at his core, might've even had good intentions, but no idea how to safely bring them to fruition absent tens of millions of possible deaths and (in the case of the whole damming the mediterrenean thing) serious environmental consequences. He doesn't look like he'll survive season 3. We'll see if Joe does live through all this - Himmler looks to be the new Fuhrer, and Himmler is his god-father, which can't hurt. Joe's too crucial a character to die off quick and I do (somewhat tentatively) believe John Smith when he says he saw Joe as something of a son. Smith, unable to keep Joe's death on his conscience, will vouch for Joe having had no role in his dad's conspiracy and having actually helped to end it (Smith needed him to get the film in and show the high command), and Himmler will have a soft-spot for his god-son. Joe will go free, but what he'll do after that is anyone's guess. Hopefully he and Nicole can get something going, but I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't just go chasing Julianna again.
Some of my predictions in my season one post seemed to be on point. I guessed that the show was fleshing out a multiverse theory in which certain individuals gained the power to jump between timelines, and that's proven to be correct. I guessed that Tagomi's assistant was one of these people, and that was on point too. The finer details of this process are still a little fuzzy - it's unclear, for example, if jumping to another timeline replaces the version of yourself who already existed in that timeline. We also don't know how many people have this ability to become "jumpers", though the show implies that there may be many like Tagomi's assistant who've come upon the ability accidentally. I think the show will give us more detail on this in season 3 since Trudy is back and it is strongly implied that she too may be a jumper (that's the "way out" she was talking about in season one). Julia should learn a lot about this.
I was right and wrong about the nature of the man in the high castle. I suggested that Hitler may not be THE man in high castle, but A man in high castle, in the sense that there may be multiple people who jump timelines (or supervise those that do) and collect the films. Turns out that Hitler wasn't THE man and there is actually a real, single dude with the title (who we finally met), but I was onto something with the idea that there could be MANY "men in high castle". Tagomi is proof of this - he learned how to jump timelines and brought a film back himself. This is basically what the actually Man in High Castle does, just on a greater scale - he seems to have mastered the jumping ability/film aggregation and analysis (making him THE man among the men in high castle), but any jumper like Tagomi could, in theory, aggregate films brought back from other timelines with their ability. Tagomi used this tactic successfully to prevent a nuclear war - it'll be interesting to see if any other jumpers use their ability for such a critical role going forward.
Perhaps the difference between THE Man in High Castle and other jumpers like Tagomi is THE Man's ability to take a macro view of all the timelines - it seems that he can not only jump, but can see those who can, supervise/control some of them, and even map out the different outcomes of many different people in many different timelines (as he did with Julia, having said that he'd seen her in "many timelines" and thus figured out her role). Dude is sort of like the deity of this universe - his ability to see many future outcomes and map out individual roles across dimensional multiverse divides effectively gives him a god-tier power in this timeline.
There's a lot to look forward to for next season (which we better get - I'll go knock Amazon executives in the head myself if they dont do all they can to keep quality TV like this on the air).
Will Joe survive, and what will he do if he does? Does he see Nicole again?
John Smith is famous now - how does he use this new found visibility and how does his kid's sacrifice play into all that?
The Nazis think the Japanese have a bigger nuke now - how do they handle this info? Do we get a version of our "cold war" and an arms race, with an eventual detente and everything?
Is Trudy a "Jumper"? Is she going to teach Julianna her ways and show her first hand the "way out" she was talking about?
What more can The Man in High Castle Teach us? What's his back story - is he actually a divine being, or just a regular dude with special talents?
What do Kido and Tagomi do now? Perhaps Kido focuses on fighting the resistance now that they've bombed Kenpeitai headquarters? If Frank and the others end up alive, perhaps Kido v. Frank becomes the next thing we focus on.
Speaking of Frank, did he and his cute J-Girl survive?
Where do Ed and Childan go? What has Lem got to show Tagomi?
I look forward to finding out. Can't wait for Season 3.
Quote: (12-13-2016 06:37 AM)Zelcorpion Wrote:
Imagine if it was set in 2016. The Nazis had conquered Japan and then the rest of the world. Every country having their own race and cultural identity.
Eh, not entirely. Had the Nazis conquered the whole world, many races/ethnicities/cultures may have been denied their independence and sovereignty. Some would have been subjugated under the Empire or the Reich, with many suffering pretty badly in ways I described above - their self determination wouldn't exist and their culture likely supressed. Others may have been wiped out entirely or, at a minimum, forced from their ancestral homes into neutral zones to escape the tyranny.
In this world, the only folks with full and true sovereignty over and expression of their racial/cultural identity were the Japanese and the Germans. Everyone else was in a much more tenuous position.
I can understand why a lot of the manosphere/alt-right/trad-masculine corners of the net would love the world this show depicts. In a world like ours where Kardashians are cultural icons, Caitlyn Jenner is a woman, micro-aggressions are a thing, and Lena Dunham exists, I can fully understand the appeal of a world where it seems the old ways still have a hold (families are still together, gender is not viewed as a purely social construct, etc, etc).
That being said, the world depicted here ain't gumdrops and ice cream. All that you see on screen there comes at a price (some of which I describe above). There are serious downsides to our world, but this one definitely ain't an answer - it's downsides are arguably even bigger.
Quote:Quote:
If the people saw happy family-oriented patriarchal Americans living in the alternate future of 2016 then they would realize in what a crazy world they are forced to live in now. Fat-acceptance, feminism, SJWs, carousel-riders, minority crime, even fat women, sausage-fest in the West - all of this would not exist.
Feminism is still there, as are the carousel riders and SJWs. As I mentioned in my long review above, Nicole is an obvious feminist and doesn't seem shy around new, attractive men she likes - she was not a virgin when we first saw her on screen, she actively rebels against her father's imposed traditionalism, and Joe was not her first dick. Her friends seem even more hippy-esque, and even get into environmentalism (a key arena for SJW activism).
Don't be so sure that this alternate timeline will escape a sexual/cultural revolution. It has it's own baby boomer generation and, like our own, these young folks are criticizing their parents and grandparents at every turn. As the older generation dies and they come of age, expect some liberalization (albeit probably not to the extent we saw in our timeline).
Quote: (12-21-2016 09:57 PM)Slim Shady Wrote:
I fucking love the cute German chick and her accent.
Fun fact: that actress isn't even European (I mean, her heritage obviously is, but not her nationality) -
she's actually a born-and-raised Aussie.
She's got some real ability because, until I looked her up, I was fully convinced she was a European and had no hint at all that she was from down-under. She nailed the part - accent and mannerisms were perfect.
![[Image: frCkfnuuFsEzPSu-1600x900-noPad.jpg?1423790992]](http://assets.change.org/photos/6/ck/fn/frCkfnuuFsEzPSu-1600x900-noPad.jpg?1423790992)
