{"id":2705,"date":"2015-11-18T23:29:05","date_gmt":"2015-11-18T23:29:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2015\/11\/18\/tv-review-the-man-in-the-high-castle\/"},"modified":"2015-11-18T23:29:05","modified_gmt":"2015-11-18T23:29:05","slug":"tv-review-the-man-in-the-high-castle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2015\/11\/18\/tv-review-the-man-in-the-high-castle\/","title":{"rendered":"TV Review: \u2018The Man in the High Castle\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Maureen Ryan \/ Variety<\/em><\/p>\n

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One of the oddest pop-culture memes of the moment has political candidates and regular citizens contemplating what they\u2019d do if they came across Hitler as an infant. \u201cThe Man in the High Castle\u201d takes a related\u00a0tack: What would have happened if the Axis powers had not only won World War II,\u00a0but had taken over large portions\u00a0of North America? An elderly Hitler who has survived into the early 1960s lurks like an ominous ghost in the background of this handsome series, which expands the Philip K. Dick novel\u00a0into a thoughtful meditation on the ways in which oppression worms its way into relationships and the fabric of societies.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

This is a measured show \u2014 at times, truthfully, a trifle too measured \u2014 thus a welcome element of unpredictability is supplied by Rufus Sewell, who plays John Smith, a suave and seemingly unflappable Nazi official. Sewell gives his character a rich interior life, hinting at difficult war memories that drive Obergruppenfuhrer Smith to act ever more resolutely in the name of the Reich. What may be most chilling about Smith is his warmth; the man can turn his charm on and off at will, and his watchful eyes indicate a steely soul that\u2019s wiling to go to any lengths to ensure the Nazi definition of \u201cpeace.\u201d His green protege\u00a0in the intelligence-gathering service, young Joe Blake (Luke Kleintank), looks up to his boss, but is also understandably afraid of Smith\u2019s intelligence, will and quicksilver temperament.<\/span><\/p>\n

Smith has an equivalent in the Japanese intelligence service: Chief Inspector Kido (Joel de la Fuente) is equally devoted to the Japanese empire, and thus every bit as formidable and ruthless\u00a0as his Nazi counterpart. Scenes featuring\u00a0de la Fuente, Sewell and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as a high-ranking trade minister, Nobusuke Tagomi, benefit from these actors\u2019 gravitas and magnetism.\u00a0In the \u201cHigh Castle\u201d scenario, Germany and Japan are engaged in a high-level Cold War, and these men make the stakes wrapped up in that unsteady alliance come alive.<\/span><\/p>\n

Other characters are a bit less well-defined and their relative naivete makes them somewhat harder to invest in. It may be unfair to wonder why a character in an alternate-universe 1962 doesn\u2019t realize that phone calls can be traced, but TV has given us too many good spy thrillers to let that kind of thing slide too often. \u201cThe Man in the High Castle\u201d also takes full advantage of the binge-able aspect of streaming (two episodes are online now and eight more arrive Nov. 20), but it often forges ahead without revisiting previous plot points. The series might\u00a0actually benefit from the occasional injection of exposition: Certain connections and story elements are sometimes a little murkier than they could\u00a0be, especially when viewers are expected to recall incidents that occurred several episodes earlier.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That said, \u201cThe Man in the High Castle\u201d has\u00a0a solid opening episode\u00a0and gains weight and heft as it goes, in part due to fantastic world-building: Every single element of the Japanese Pacific States\u2019 San Francisco and the Greater Nazi Reich \u2014 which has a major presence in New York \u2014 has a tactile, detailed reality. The production design for the drama, which was shot in Vancouver and Seattle, is second to none. It\u2019s vitally important that any alternate reality allow the viewer to believe the alien setting is real, and that\u2019s the case here, thanks to the show\u2019s detailed prisons, apartments and offices. The no-man\u2019s land of the Rocky Mountain neutral zone is suitably forlorn and windswept, and the cities\u2019 blend of classic Japanese design, mid-century modern elegance and the scuffed, sad trappings of poverty feels complete and well thought out. Thanks to the series\u2019 command of visuals and tone, it\u2019s\u00a0simultaneously\u00a0jarring and natural\u00a0when all-American trappings like apple pie and fireworks are used for a wholesome family holiday celebrating the\u00a0Nazi victory.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This version of \u201cThe Man in the High Castle\u201d is not so much a character study as a meditation on how powerful and corrosive\u00a0forces work their way through society, from the top of the food chain to the factory workers and secretaries who have to find ways to live within a system that leaves them few avenues of real dissent, let alone rebellion. Every secret told is dangerous, every one\u00a0kept is like acid eating away at a relationship or an ideal. There is not much hope in this serious, ambitious\u00a0drama, but there are moments of real connection that make one believe that individuals \u2014 and even images \u2014 can make a difference.<\/span><\/p>\n

Is that belief an illusion? Author\u00a0Dick built a career out of the question, and this adaptation\u00a0of one of his most famous tales explores that in an intelligent and visually exhilarating\u00a0way.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

TV Review: ‘The Man in the High Castle’<\/p>\n

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(Series: Amazon Prime, Fri. Nov. 20)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Production<\/p>\n

Filmed in Vancouver and Seattle by Scott Free, Headline Pictures, Electric Shepard Prods., Big Light Prods., Reunion Pictures<\/strong> and Amazon Studios.<\/span><\/p>\n

Crew<\/p>\n

Executive producers, Frank Spotnitz, Ridley Scott, David W. Zucker, David Semel, Stewart MacKinnon, Christian Baute, Isa Dick Hackett, Christopher Tricarico, Jace Richdale, Richard Heus; producers, Michael Cedar, Erin Smith; director, Semel; writer, Spotnitz; camera, James Hawkinson; production designer, Drew Boughton; editor, Kathryn Himoff; costume designer, Audrey Fisher; music, Henry Jackman, Dominic Lewis; <\/span>casting, Denise Chamian. 60 MIN.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Cast<\/p>\n

Alexa Davalos, Rupert Evans, Luke Kleintank, D.J. Qualls, Joel de la Fuente, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Rufus Sewell<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maureen Ryan \/ Variety One of the oddest pop-culture memes of the moment has political candidates and regular citizens contemplating what they\u2019d do if they came across Hitler as an infant. \u201cThe Man in the High Castle\u201d takes a related\u00a0tack: What would have happened if the Axis powers had not only won World War II,\u00a0but … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTV Review: \u2018The Man in the High Castle\u2019 - Thunderbird Entertainment<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2015\/11\/18\/tv-review-the-man-in-the-high-castle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"TV Review: \u2018The Man in the High Castle\u2019 - 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