Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
The Man In The High Castle (Amazon Original Series)
- Thread starter ucfgrad93
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Please explain what did happen. When Joe left Smith’s office, Smith told his helper to take care of it/him discretely in an alley, no? I played it back to make sure I heard it right. Was the discrete part handing Joe his identification?
The discreet part referred to the identification, yeah.
Smith is in a power struggle with Rockwell and Hoover. If Joe's straight-from-Himmler mission fails for any reason, including Rockwell/Hoover stymying it, then Smith will take the flak.
It's worth rewatching the scene where Hoover and Rockwell are in the bathroom together, when they talk about the failed hit on Abendsen they were overseeing, where Juliana/Trudy ended up killing the assassins. To shift the blame and save face, they want to make it seem like their own failure was actually due to one of Smith's men being a traitor.
In the last scene, the show implies that Hoover and Rockwell chose Erich (the helper) to be the faux traitor.
I don't want to spoil any future episodes for you, so I'll stop right there.
It's worth rewatching the scene where Hoover and Rockwell are in the bathroom together, when they talk about the failed hit on Abendsen they were overseeing, where Juliana/Trudy ended up killing the assassins. To shift the blame and save face, they want to make it seem like their own failure was actually due to one of Smith's men being a traitor.
In the last scene, the show implies that Hoover and Rockwell chose Erich (the helper) to be the faux traitor.
I don't want to spoil any future episodes for you, so I'll stop right there.
Unshielded Spoilers.
Thanks for this explanation. It just seemed odd Smith said descritely in an alley as Erich first went to his apartment, then was directed to an alley.The discreet part referred to the identification, yeah.
Smith is in a power struggle with Rockwell and Hoover. If Joe's straight-from-Himmler mission fails for any reason, including Rockwell/Hoover stymying it, then Smith will take the flak.
It's worth rewatching the scene where Hoover and Rockwell are in the bathroom together, when they talk about the failed hit on Abendsen they were overseeing, where Juliana/Trudy ended up killing the assassins. To shift the blame and save face, they want to make it seem like their own failure was actually due to one of Smith's men being a traitor.
In the last scene, the show implies that Hoover and Rockwell chose Erich (the helper) to be the faux traitor.
I don't want to spoil any future episodes for you, so I'll stop right there.
What happened in the ally is explained later in the season.
One of the critiques of this show was that it missed the nuances of the book. However on S3:E4, I am intrigued with how they have approached this story for the TV show. The Nazis are aware of travelers and are exploring the theory of a multiverse. They took just a glimmer from the book, the premise that makes the book amazing for the early 60s and ran with it.
Book comparison in this post: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-original-series.1940447/page-3#post-24239872
I see a change happening in John Smith. Juliana does not need Joe as a boy friend, but it seems their futures are intertwined. I love the portrayal of J Edgar.
Update: Wow, did not see that coming.!
Book comparison in this post: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-original-series.1940447/page-3#post-24239872
I see a change happening in John Smith. Juliana does not need Joe as a boy friend, but it seems their futures are intertwined. I love the portrayal of J Edgar.
Update: Wow, did not see that coming.!
Last edited:
I finished season 3. I would like to see this story start to wrap up. Its getting too sci-fiy at this point. I liked how they had these films of another world and I thought they would be used to get more Americans to fight back. Which they are doing but this whole giant machine and going to take over other worlds. Its not working for me.
Juliana Crain is officially a bad ass.
Sorry to hear that. I’ve got 3 episodes to go for Season 3.
Sorry to hear that. I’ve got 3 episodes to go for Season 3.
I have a few more episodes of season three left also... So far no complaints. I haven't read the book, which I just might do now, is there a "big" scifi element in the book?
I’ll say no. It operates on a much more subtle level. This is where the TV show has ran with the story although this element is certainly found within the book but a link is not clearly established, the ability to physically cross a boundary. No, Nazis are not trying to figure out how to travel in the book for multi-verse conquering.
I put a link to my TV-book comparison in post 81. There are no films being brought over by travelers, but there is a what-if kinda book that speculates a war won by the Allies. It causes enough consternation with the existing powers. Tagami in the book, who practices I Ching if not a traveler persay, does sees a vision of a different world than he exists in.
Philip K Dick has become a very popular author for modern Scify source material.
TMITHC Reference article about I Ching:
THE I CHING (A.K.A. THE ORACLE)
https://www.shmoop.com/man-in-the-high-castle/i-ching-symbol.html
I’ll say no. It operates on a much more subtle level. This is where the TV show has ran with the story although this element is certainly found within the book but a link is not clearly established, the ability to physically cross a boundary. No, Nazis are not trying to figure out how to travel in the book for multi-verse conquering.
I put a link to my TV-book comparison in post 81. There are no films being brought over by travelers, but there is a what-if kinda book that speculates a war won by the Allies. It causes enough consternation with the existing powers. Tagami in the book, who practices I Ching if not a traveler persay, does sees a vision of a different world than he exists in.
Philip K Dick has become a very popular author for modern Scify source material.
TMITHC Reference article about I Ching:
THE I CHING (A.K.A. THE ORACLE)
https://www.shmoop.com/man-in-the-high-castle/i-ching-symbol.html
Thank you! If I can break away myself from the Harry Bosch books I am currently reading, this will be my next book to read.
I assume you finished S3? I have a few more episodes to go.
One problem with the tv story, is that the films show a world were the Allies won in a parallel reality, but as everyone experienced in their world, the Axis won, and the USA no longer exists, the population, other than a small resistance, seems broken and resigned to being oppressed subjects, regardless of what happened on the other side. Juliana thought that showing people these films would rally them to fight, but this appears like an uphill battle in itself.
Also some of the films that appear seem awfully convienent to the story. I’m still enjoying it though.
Last edited:
Season 3 Final, Not much resolution, but I’m still in.
- Previously, was Joe Blake killed by Juliana.
- Juliana and Wyatt find the heisenburg device/machine in the Poconos Mountains, Penn.
- The machine is tested with 4 subjects, 1 makes it through, the others turn to goo.
- Frank Frink is captured and executed by Inspector Kido
- Abendsen is captured by the Nazis, and reveals the only way to travel to a parallel reality, is if the corresponding person on the other side is dead. There needs to be a hole for you to fit in.
- Juliana is captured by the Nazis, but escapes traveling wounded.
- They destroy the Statue of Liverty.
- Nicole Dörmer is forced to return to Berlin for re-education after being caught at a gay club.
- Himmler is wounded in an assassination attempt by Wyatt and friend.
- After her child is unexpectedly scheduled for a abnormality genetic test, Helen Smith flees with her children, abandoning her husband, to an unknown location.
- Childan, followed by McCarthy return to San Francisco and hang a large protest banner in honor of Frank.
Last edited:
I assume you finished S3? I have a few more episodes to go.
One problem with the tv story, is that the films show a world were the Allies won in a parallel reality, but as everyone experienced in their world, the Axis won, and the USA no longer exists, the population, other than a small resistance, seems broken and resigned to being oppressed subjects, regardless of what happened on the other side. Juliana thought that showing people these films would rally them to fight, but this appears like an uphill battle in itself.
Also some of the films that appear seem awfully convenient to the story. I’m still enjoying it though.
I have not, I still have a few episodes left.
I realize you said this a while back, but I don’t think the book would have made a good movie and not long enough to be a tv series. As the book is slow, it’s story line is better absorbed and contemplated as a book. For media, comparing the TV series to the book, I think the direction they took was a good choice for TV.
Not sure I can follow. Are you saying generic characters are a better fit for TV?
I have zero problems with artistic changes and whatnot when changing media - if anything I agree that the book, besides its general premise, is eventually not a good fit for a mainstream TV series that lacks any kind of originality (imho of course) and plays it safe.
I found the book quite pulp-ish and there was a lot of action and suspense as well as multiple story lines and a grand finale with a nice twist. I'd say it could be an amazing movie. But in the day and age of inflating tv-series it just doesn't have enough content to fill 3+ saisons with cliffhanger, different love interests, treachery, comforting stories of friendship, uncomforting stories of betrayal, and the other usual stuff one would expect.
Last edited:
I don’t remember there being all that much action in it. The tv series has definitely added action elements. This is not to say that a good movie/series requires action to be good, but I think the book as a movie would have to rely heavily on atmosphere and mystique. I can’t say the characters in the series are generic, and I don’t renenber a grand finale in the book.Not sure I can follow. Are you saying generic characters are a better fit for TV?
I have zero problems with artistic changes and whatnot when changing media - if anything I agree that the book, besides its general premise, is eventually not a good fit for a mainstream TV series that lacks any kind of originality (imho of course) and plays it safe.
I found the book quite pulp-ish and there was a lot of action and suspense as well as multiple story lines and a grand finale with a nice twist. I'd say it could be an amazing movie. But in the day and age of inflating tv-series it just doesn't have enough content to fill 3+ saisons with cliffhanger, different love interests, treachery, comforting stories of friendship, uncomforting stories of betrayal, and the other usual stuff one would expect.
Another reason to read it again? Would you mind printing a spoiler box that describes the ending? I just remember Juliana having a discussion with the author of The Grasshopper Lies Heavy.
I don’t remember there being all that much action in it. The tv series has definitely added action elements. This is not to say that a good movie/series requires action to be good, but I think the book as a movie would have to rely heavily on atmosphere and mystique. I can’t say the characters in the series are generic, and I don’t renenber a grand finale in the book.
From the top of my head
Juliana is on a run with a guy who betrays and tries to attack her but fails and got killed in the motel by her (who got drugged by him before, I ttink he's supposed to be a Nazi assassin / spy). Juliana proceeds finding Abendsen, the author of the book, in a very unstable mental state / delirium on her own, trying to find his well protected and hidden "high castle" and warn him about her assumed assassination attempt on him. she does find him but to her and our surprise ther is no well protected, hidden castle but a normal house where she arrives at some sort of relaxed dinner party. She ultimately finds out that the reality she perceived her whole life is actually nothing but a lie/fake and that Germany/japan never won the war. -END-
Note that the whole part after she left NYC gets more and more of a 60s vibe and is painted differently than the dystopian, dark brooding 40s/50s rendition of the city before.
Note that the whole part after she left NYC gets more and more of a 60s vibe and is painted differently than the dystopian, dark brooding 40s/50s rendition of the city before.
That's even a bigger "twist" at the end as in Blade Runner - putting everything you just read in the novel into a whole different perspective and actually would highly encourage you to read the whole thing again for that reason alone.
That is kind of confusing. Not what you said or how you described it, but the premise itself. Which is parallel realities and in Juliana’s reality the Axis won the war. That is her reality, case closed. However in the tv series, it has been stated, the existence of the movies, something physical that can be seen, might give people hope, that maybe the Axis could still be beaten (in her reality), but a lot of water has gone under the bridge since WWII.
The fact is the bad guys won the war, and have huge advantages over any threat the resistance might now pose as compared to the might of the Allies during the war, they were defeated, and no longer exist in any coherent manner, nor still have the power. That has been destroyed.
It is almost irrelevant if in a parallel reality (multiverse) the Allies won, because each of these events already occurred in their respective realities. It seems like it would take a life time to turn this around, or maybe some quantum/supernatural event. Who knows what the TV show has to,offer in this regard?
As is, I don’t expect agreement, but I do like the altered story line of the TV Series, it’s atmosphere, And consider it a worthy expansion of ideas, based on the book.
.
That is kind of confusing. Not what you said or how you described it, but the premise itself. Which is parallel realities and in Juliana’s reality the Axis won the war. That is her reality, case closed. However in the tv series, it has been stated, the existence of the movies, something physical that can be seen, might give people hope, that maybe the Axis could still be beaten (in her reality), but a lot of water has gone under the bridge since WWII.
The fact is the bad guys won the war, and have huge advantages over any threat the resistance might now pose as compared to the might of the Allies during the war, they were defeated, and no longer exist in any coherent manner, nor still have the power. That has been destroyed.
It is almost irrelevant if in a parallel reality (multiverse) the Allies won, because each of these events already occurred in their respective realities. It seems like it would take a life time to turn this around, or maybe some quantum/supernatural event. Who knows what the TV show has to,offer in this regard?
As is, I don’t expect agreement, but I do like the altered story line of the TV Series, it’s atmosphere, And consider it a worthy expansion of ideas, based on the book.
In the end it is open for interpretation and not a straight forward resolution.
I don't interpret it as parallel universes colliding - at least not literally - and am not sure about Dick himself who, I think, had a very personal and semi-religious believe of a very...aquired taste or school of thought.
I see it as questioning the status quo and whether that what you see/perceive really is what it seems to be. Every character in the novel finds some sort of answer to their personal quest(ion). Juliana's answer isn't a straight forward one and I like that. It may be even a very dark one.
And not to be misunderstood - I liked the series for what it is but would have liked it better if they used fresh characters in the given setting. My point stands though that I think the characters it presents are basically stereotypes and that's quite a disappointment when comparing it to the book. And that has little to do with making it fit for a tv series.
The area where I would differ from your opinion are about stereo typed characters. I have no problem picturing the main characters in the book from the tv series.
If you remember there was a discussion that the same two people can't occupy the different universes at the same time, which is why they think only one made it through. There is also a theory, that only women can make it through the portal, since the three that didn't make it were males, the one on the bed that went over was a female, and our main character, who went over a couple of times is female. However there is one flaw with this, since we have seen the Trade Commissioner from Japan cross over. So take that one with a grain a salt.
I finished season three and can't wait to see where they do take this. I agree, I think one more season should be able to wrap up the show.
It is very interesting if it is true... Then has our girl already been killed in the this dimension and if so when, and when did she come over to this dimension?
I think we are following the original girl and its the one in the other dimension that has been killed. Or is that what you meant?