The main problem is with this series that it's utter fan-service. I've read Ph. K. Dick's novel a few years ago again and I was looking forward to see what the makers come up with. And I was disappointed. Badly. All in all, without giving away anything the story is basically a love triangle. In the novel there were tons of potential, historical, social, what-ifs, etc. But here the core the plot is whether you can trust someone you love. FFS, why? Why is that in the States if you have the money, you have to kill your creativity and use (overuse) panels. Mr. Dick rolls in his grave. If anything he was not a Lego story maker, who uses the same clichés all over again. After reading the book I was filled with thoughts, what if the other side have won, would it be over like the USSR or thriving, and so on. After the series my only question was: what was the purpose of it all? The actors are not bad, some of them miscast (like Joe Black), some of them great - as you might've guessed from the title: Rufus Sewell. His one of the best. So convincing as a nazi I almost instantly forgot that he is an actor, I saw only the nazi officer. If you watch the series, for any reason it should be his acting. Beside him Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (I saw him before mostly in movies where acting were secondary and kickin' butts primary) and Carsten Norgaard worth mentioning, they are really convincing and most of the supporting actors. Sadly none of the three main characters (the triangle) made me care. I just could not care less about them. I felt Joel de la Fuente out of place here. He LOOKS Japanese, that is obviously why he got the role, but all his gestures look fake amidst the other "real" Japanese actors. The problem is not that he is not Japanese, but that he is not good enough to make me believe he is. He overgesticulates, frowns, scowls as no born Japanese would - they hide their feelings - acting 101 from the internationally acclaimed book: How to act like you were Japanese and not just faking it. The other actor for I was thinking about quitting the show was The Marshall. As stupid a character as can be. He is the feared bounty hunter who weighs like 3 stones in armour. Convincing. Also the acting was subpar, and really sub. Maybe in a comic role, but... The ending is also predictable and stupid (the Hitler part). And the lost few shots, the obligatory cliffhanger made it even worse - I don't even care about the 2nd season. Sadly these things killed the show for me. I drag through, but only because I like to finish things, but only for that (and for Mr. Sewell). The show is like 2-3 points, Mr. Sewell is 10, hence the 6 I gave.
Review of The Man in the High Castle
The Man in the High Castle
(2015–2019)
Watch it for Rufus Sewell (and not for much else)
23 May 2017