The Man in the High Castle - Anybody else watch it? Thoughts?

We just got Amazon prime and have been watching season 1. I remember when this first came out, because I read the book probably 40 years ago.

In fact, the first teaser trailer I saw when it came out that just showed New York city under Nazi rule, my first thought was "Hey, that seems very similar to 'The Man in the High Castle'" before I saw the name of the show.

Anyway, we got to episode 10 and I doubt we'll go any further. I can tell the wife is losing interest and honestly so am I.

Here's the problem as I see it: A PREMISE is not a PLOT. TMITHC has a great PREMISE - "What if the axis powers won WWII?" But where do you go from there? A premise by itself isn't enough. There has to be a story, and characters you care about.

The plot seems almost incomprehensible and vague. I understand that some of the ambiguity is intentional (is Joe a real Nazi or is he pretending to be a Nazi?) but there has to be some kind of "payoff" for viewers to stay interested.

The funny thing is I remember there wasn't much of a story line to the book either (it's not a long book, and I was trying to figure out how they got a whole mini series out of a short book like that.)

So that's my take. Interesting premise, and nice visuals of Nazi/Japan occupied America, but there's just not much story or character development to make it interesting. I'd give it a C+ and it only gets the plus for the imaginative visual imagery.

Interested in hearing anyone elses thoughts on TMITHC.

Also any recommendations for good dramas on Amazon Prime?

Saw the entire series. . 10 episodes? that's season 1 and part of S 2? It gets interesting, especially with Inspector Kido.

The german part of the story is interesting, (SPOILER ALERT) when they go after hitler..

Played decent till the end.


More reviews are in the Stuck on You section, under TV, NETFLIX, AMAZON PRIME, CABLE SHOWS & SERIES



Do yourself a favor and watch the Jack Ryan series. Again lots of chatter for Amazon & Netflix shows, there

I also read the book, and also didn't even finish season one.

Second for Jack Ryan.

I found it (MIWC) disconnected and hard to follow, but often interesting. Great pilot episode, then it just (for me) seems to wander around through plot lines, with tantalizing, but frustratingly incomplete exposure to the film and cross-world moments.

I lost patience with it several times, but eventually finished it.

I watched through season 1 was slow. It picked up midway through 2. Three was good and 4 was kinda a let down. JMHO

I thought the 1st season was interesting but lost interest after a few episodes of the 2nd.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hollohas

I thought the 1st season was interesting but lost interest after a few episodes of the 2nd.

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^^^This.

I think what finally did it for me was the scene in Ep 10 where Juliana and Frank are watching one of the films and they see Frank being executed by Joe in the film.

Seems silly and kind of ridiculous. Billions of people in the world and they just happen to see a film that has two people they know in it? That kind of coincidence just smacks of lazy, sloppy writing to me.

For that matter, 10 episodes in and these films that are the "macguffin*" in this series have yet to be explained, not only where they come from but why they are significant. Is there some secret "resistance" plan? If so, what is it?

I mean, I get keeping some details cryptic and unknown - that often happens in good fiction. But dang, we're 10 episodes in and I honestly have no idea what is going on with the resistance. What are they doing? What is their master plan?

Then there's the way they concluded ep. 10 with trade minister Tagomi waking up in an alternative universe where the allies WON the war? This is where it veers off into cheesy sci-fi land.


* In fiction, a MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin) is an object, device, or event that is necessary to the plot and the motivation of the characters, but insignificant, unimportant, or irrelevant in itself

I should add one more minor annoyance while I'm complaining: Am I the only one who is bothered by movies where, for example, Japanese people talk to other Japanese people in English rather than Japanese? I mean, if Kido is talking to Tagomi, wouldn't they converse in Japanese?

What makes this even weirder is that the Germans generally DO converse with each other in German with subtitles.

My guess is that it's easier for actors to speak lines in German than in Japanese so that's why they do it but I find it somewhat jarring and unnatural.

I enjoyed it (total side note, it was funny seeing the guy who'd played the part of Shang Tsung, the bad guy in the 1995 Mortal Kombat movie, as an old mild-mannered Japanese trade official). The last season was a bit odd, but still interesting. Spoiler alert:





...an already "What if" show becomes even more "What if."