The Man in the High Castle, season 4

This is the final season of this show. I watched every episode in every season and I honestly don’t know what this show wanted to be.

The whole thing left me a bit cold, which is weird for a show that combines a “what if” historical storyline (love those) with parallel universes (really love those). But … what is this thing?

There’s only one character I had any affinity for (Juliana). Everyone else is either “meh” or “get this clown out of here.”

And the ending – what’s going on there? John Smith dies and his former war buddy is now the head honcho of the “American Reich”? And that’s good because he’s going to not be a bad Nazi anymore? And then all these people start walking INTO the Nazi universe through the universe portal? I’m pretty sure that’s the one universe you’ll want to skip. Who are these visitors? Where are they from? Why are they here? How will this lead to the downfall of the Nazis? None of that is explained.

Moreover, the fourth season of this show feels oddly separate from the other three seasons. The Japanese trade minister (Tagomi), who was a key character in seasons 1-3, is assasinated in the first episode of season 4. OK. Then there’s a whole new resistance movement in the western states (the Black Communist Rebellion). And I liked their storyline but it would have made a whole lot more sense–and justified an emotional payoff–if that group and its characters had been with us the entire time. The sudden appearance of the BCR made their victory over the Japanese seem a little too easy.

And why did they decide to keep Robert Childan around (the smarmy antiquities dealer)? He brought very little to the story in the first three seasons, yet he gets his own plotline in the final season? It’s really a shame they couldn’t have landed this series. It was an interesting concept but they didn’t know what to do with it, nor did they have a sense of what they were trying to say.