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

[RblDiver]

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.

It makes it easier for the audience generally for them to be in English. Vikings does it pretty well; everyone speaks in English, unless it's a scene where Vikings are talking to/around the English, at which point they revert to their native language to emphasize that, no, the two cannot actually speak to each other (unless one's learned the other's language). I feel like TMITHT does the German/Japanese as means of conveying emphasis; if it's said in Japanese/German, they are trying to be secret, are extremely upset, or something along those lines.

[Doc45]

I’m another who bailed after season 1. I never read the book but probably will-besides I’ve spent too much time in front of the idiot box this year.

[Manster]

I watched it all while I was in the hospital. When you?re on pain killers, it?s really good.

[Gman]

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

Same here.

[Martinjmpr]

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

I cheated and looked up the Wikipedia entry that has plot synopses and now I have even less interest in finishing it. You can only play "which side is this person on" for so long before you get to the point of saying "you know what? I don't even care now." And TMITHC seems to do that with almost ALL of the main characters (Juliana, Joe, Kido, Smith, etc.) It starts off as interesting but with no "payoff" or resolution it just gets tiresome.

I'm not sure anyone could have done better. Maybe if they hadn't cribbed the title and the premise from a Philip K. Dick novel and just struck out with something new it might have been better but who knows. You can only take that premise so far before it becomes ridiculous.

[exxonv]

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 read the book and watched the series - mindless entertainment, some good parts, some strange parts, I think it could've been done better for sure. It was interesting in concept, but did jump around quite a bit.

[fj605]

We watched the series. Some parts were better than others. I thought the first couple seasons were better than the last season. I'd watch certain episodes again but not the whole series.

[Great-Kazoo]

I watched it all while I was in the hospital. When you?re on pain killers, it?s really good.

Can't even relate to this at all

[Little Dutch]

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?

I didn't read any other replies here, but I did read the book and watch a few of the episodes of the miniseries. I was not overly impressed with either. I suspect the whole thing may have been more interesting to the 60's era audience.

[JTP80]

I read the book back in the 90's in my 10th grade lit class, and I had been excited about the premise as history surrounding the world wars had fascinated me even back then. I remember being disappointed in how disjointed it was, and the series reminded me of that again. There were great moments in the series, but more spots that either didn't make sense or disappointed. Though I will say that most of the acting itself was decent considering what they had to work with. The actress playing Juliana did really well considering how much that character gets bounced around.