[TV]The Man in the High Castle

[Elim Garak]

I've forgotten about the show already.

I've watched a couple of episodes found them too slow. The book was more captivating

I'll wait till season 4 and if people are still crazy about it I might give it another try.
Just like I did with Game of Thrones...

[serenka]

I've forgotten about the show already.

I've watched a couple of episodes found them too slow. The book was more captivating

I'll wait till season 4 and if people are still crazy about it I might give it another try.
Just like I did with Game of Thrones...

you mean season 3 ? :P

Its probably just not a show for you if you're not intested after the first few episodes honestly. Ive tried watching game of thrones about 10 different times, ive never made it through a single episode before switching it off :\ everyone tells me im mad and its the best thing on tv ever, but i just get bored of it before the end of an epsiode :\ a show cannot be liked by everyone i guess.

[eschatological]

So I started watching this. Finished season 1. Started, and made it about 2 episodes into season 2. And then I stopped.

One thing I cannot stand are characters whose motivations make no sense. Unfortunately, that's the problem with all three of these main characters, especially Julianna. Every time she does some random shit, I'm practically stifling a scream about how it makes no sense. She wanted to "follow through on what her sister was doing"? What? The sister you just saw brutally murdered in the street FOR POSSESSING A FILM? Leaving behind the boyfriend who you obviously love enough to be living with?

Frank is willing to let his sister and her kids be gassed to death to protect Julianna, but then becomes like a reckless, careening fool afterwards? He doesn't blame Julianna for that at all? Moreover, she feels no guilt about her actions DIRECTLY caused their deaths? Keep in mind, the Japanese only didn't kill Frank because they (mistakenly) figured some other woman was a culprit, and not Julianna.

Like literally, this show makes me throw my hands up. I guess I get why people like it, alternate history is always fun, and maybe it'd be interesting to see a world run by Hitler and Goebbels and the Imperial Japanese. But the motivations of the characters are only there to serve the plot, and thus they make little to no sense.

Joe is willing to disrupt the relationship he already has, the life he already has, the obvious hold the Nazis somehow have over him, for Julianna? Why? Why does he care about this girl who has literally been lying to him since day 1 about who she is? What?

Tip #1: When writing a drama, write the characters and their motivations first, and the plot follows from that. You don't write "Oh, well, Julianna and Joe need to meet in the Neutral Zone, how do we get that to happen?" I don't know if Dick wrote it that way in his book, but I hope not.

[Halicia]

Tip #1: When writing a drama, write the characters and their motivations first, and the plot follows from that. You don't write "Oh, well, Julianna and Joe need to meet in the Neutral Zone, how do we get that to happen?" I don't know if Dick wrote it that way in his book, but I hope not.

I haven't read the book, but your observations hold water...

It feels like they marked off certain scenes from the novel, and then wrote the connections between them.

After the second season, I felt like the characters' choices were often disagreeable to me, on further thought, its more that their motivations for those choices were lacking.

Like most shows of this ilk though, its disappointing, because I still enjoy the setting and want to see more of it.

[KOMO1211]

bit of a necro I suppose but was just checking and season 3 will be release in October. cant wait!

[Natta Lmo]

i started watching this... i am bothered by them having actors who dont look japanese who is playing japanese characters... like kido...

[Puupi]

i started watching this... i am bothered by them having actors who dont look japanese who is playing japanese characters... like kido...

What does "Japanese" look like?

Considering people from Hokkaido and Ryukyu islands look entirely different.

[Natta Lmo]

What does "Japanese" look like?

Considering people from Hokkaido and Ryukyu islands look entirely different.

not like kido... he looks like he is filipino...

[KOMO1211]

Finished season 3 and was another solid season which left me wanting more

[Moonstream]

Finished season 3 and was another solid season which left me wanting more

That's good to hear! I still haven't started it yet because my wife wanted to start watching it too (and honestly I could use a refreasher), so we are only a couple episodes into season 1.

[dayne87]

Season 3 finally started to really pay off on the promise I expected in season 1. The seeds of an actual rebellion are finally being strewn about, there's dissension in the ranks among those die-hards, etc. I am REALLY psyched for season 4 even more than I was between season 2 and 3.

[Puupi]

I liked season 3, although I kind of hate the nonsensical parallel world and film things in the story. It would be better if it was just a realistic drama/war series about Axis victory. I'm such an alt history fanatic that I can tolerate the nonsense part of it, but just barely. :P

[Halicia]

Just finished season 3 and I didn't like it. Maybe for a few episodes it was ok and interesting, but I don't think there was a single character in this entire season that had any form of arc. Most were just cardboard cutouts which could be explained in two words.

The writing in this season also seemed to have gotten usurped by political activism that made me feel like they were pandering to a certain audience. It's bad enough when a character seems to exist solely for being someone's non-traditional love interest. Its even worse when both characters seem to exist for that reason.

And a little spoiler complaint...

In the mine, they clearly saw the Nazi's were disarmed... with two MAJOR leaders there... and didn't think to assassinate them THERE ?

[Puupi]

Just finished season 3 and I didn't like it. Maybe for a few episodes it was ok and interesting, but I don't think there was a single character in this entire season that had any form of arc. Most were just cardboard cutouts which could be explained in two words.

The writing in this season also seemed to have gotten usurped by political activism that made me feel like they were pandering to a certain audience. It's bad enough when a character seems to exist solely for being someone's non-traditional love interest. Its even worse when both characters seem to exist for that reason.

And a little spoiler complaint...

In the mine, they clearly saw the Nazi's were disarmed... with two MAJOR leaders there... and didn't think to assassinate them THERE ?

Well I like John Smith, he is a fine character.

Juliana is just a skank.

[Halicia]

Well I like John Smith, he is a fine character.

Juliana is just a skank.

Yeah, John Smith seems to be about the only character with any depth to him, and most of that is by being pulled in two directions, survival and family.

Juliana just does whatever the writers need her to do to move the plot along, and if that doesn't make sense, its because of alt/world magic!

[helebelemon]

What does "Japanese" look like?

Considering people from Hokkaido and Ryukyu islands look entirely different.

True. I'm a bearded Asian American of Hakkan ancestry who is notably taller and darker than the Japanese male and the majority of people I interacted with in Japan assumed I was a local (typically Okinawan). Kido would have no problem passing for a Japanese man in Japan.

If this was about Korea, that's another story.

[Natta Lmo]

True. I'm a bearded Asian American of Hakkan ancestry who is notably taller and darker than the Japanese male and the majority of people I interacted with in Japan assumed I was a local (typically Okinawan). Kido would have no problem passing for a Japanese man in Japan.

If this was about Korea, that's another story.

lol... i recognize him as not japanese instantly... he looks very filipino...

[XDurionX]

[Spoilers]

Think the show is pretty mediocre. Took a while to figure out whether Joe was a double-, triple agent, or just the botcher that he is. Glad his story arc is over. There are very few consistent characters, people switch loyalties like their underwear. And most of the time it's not interesting at all. I like when a person has his own agenda and doesn't just conform to "the nazis" or "the pons", but there's a lot of things that just don't make sense at all. Nazis wanting to kill his son doesn't make Smith question his beliefs. In one scene he's a 150% nazi, in the next he's a traitor and talks about top secret stuff to his wife. And it would've been a lot more interesting without that "magic" shit. It's okay to not know who made those films and where they came from, but once people can "switch" universes it becomes the rationale for a lot of lazy stuff.

6/10, wouldn't recommend.

[cubby]

Finally caught the rest of Season 4 to finish out the series.

Holy fuck did that ending just absolutely suck balls. I was almost pissed at the ridiculousness of what was said, and almost sobbing internally at what was left on the table. Almost 2,000 minutes of screen time in the series and they just gave the fuck up and ran away.

Did anyone understand the ending? At all?

[Koriani]

Finally caught the rest of Season 4 to finish out the series.

Holy fuck did that ending just absolutely suck balls. I was almost pissed at the ridiculousness of what was said, and almost sobbing internally at what was left on the table. Almost 2,000 minutes of screen time in the series and they just gave the fuck up and ran away.

Did anyone understand the ending? At all?

I can't say I can explain the ending, because I can't even remember it at this point =D. I only watched the series once, when it was 'live', and haven't rewatched it.

But I KNOW I can agree with you on how shitty that last season was. I can actually remember some key events in the first two seasons, I remember third season not being as strong, and that the fourth season just kept going downhill. I think it speaks *volumes* about a show when you can remember events in the first season but don't even remember anything about the last. Oh wait - I remember...a train... and I think, maybe, I /appreciated/ that the ending DID wrap some shit up, and bad guys got their bad endings (again I'm remembering a train and a big boom), but that and the overall disappointment and confusion of how it was they crapped a series that started off SO GOOD - is all I remember.