OK - first of all - SPOILERS - If you have not seen the series on Amazon Prime, go ahead and watch it - otherwise don't complain about the potential spoilers in this post ;-)

Over the winter break I ended up catching up on some television series that I wanted to see this past fall.  It's very odd to 'catch up' on television considering that the TV was called the "χαζοκούτι" when I was growing up - literally translated as the dumb-box (or box that makes you dumb).  I guess people priviledged the written word rather than what was visual (they probably still do).  That's a debate and philosophizing for another post I guess.  In any case,  One of the series that I caught up on is called the Man in the High Castle, which is based on a book by Philip K. Dick; and I am showing my ignorance here, because the name didn't tell me anything, but apparently it's a big deal.

The main concept of this book (and series) is that the Allied powers in World War 2 lost the war, and the Axis won. In the North American continent, what used to be the USA is now split into three parts, the Nazi controlled part which basically starts on the east coast and reaches the Rockies, the Pacific States of Japan, starting at the west coast an going to the Rockies, and the neutral zone in-between.  This is a very interesting what-if scenario that plays out. In the Nazi states, right from the first episode there is a distinct lack of diversity, that it seriously jumps off the screen.  Even if that didn't get you right away, there is a sense of normalcy in every day life in the Nazi States (among the arians anyway) in that you still have some things that appear quintessential to america, like apple pie, veteran's day celebrations, and baseball.  However it is a creepy (and bone chilling) 'normal' with with some examples being swastikas all around - like they are going out of style, and with comments such as referring to non-arians as 'sub-humans'.  Even seemingly nice people who fought in the war say that they forgot what they were fighting about, and then when ashes are in the air, they say "Oh yeah, that's smoke from the hospital. Every Wednesday they dispose of the cripples and the terminally ill. You know, the drains on society" ... eeehhh... what the f*ck?!


On the other side of the continent, you've got the Japanese.  The series is setting up a type of cold war, similar to what happened with the US and the USSR, but between the Japanese and the Nazis in this case. On the Japanese side you have contradictions as well.  You seem to have a culture that works on certain high values and honor, however - at the same time - you've got the military police, the Kempeitai (憲兵隊) who are just ruthless.  You are introduced to this culture through the dojo and specifically Aikido which is all about defense, and using your opponent against himself. But then that mild-mannered reality is juxtaposed with the brutality of the Kempeitai. I mean seriously, these guys run gas chambers like the Nazis did in WW2...they even based a family to death because someone they had in custody didn't cooperate, so they went after his sister and her kids. Mind boggling.

The series is disturbing on so many levels, but somewhere in there, there is hope for a better tomorrow. One of the things that is smuggled to the man in the high castle are films depicting an alternative reality such as the Allies winning the war and newsreel from a successful D-Day. This is considered contraband in both states and their peddlers are persecuted. The resistance gets these film reels to the neutral zone and (somehow) they make their way to the Man in the High Castle.  But who is this figure?  We know that Hitler gets copies of these films, and he lives in a high castle (at least in this reality), so is he it?  What's going to happen?  And for those people who are on the fence - between being a tool of the state or a member of the resistance - which way will they ultimately swing? All I can say is woah!

Have you seen it? What do you think?