This show has a high concept and a disturbing one: what if the Axis Powers had won World War II? That would be pretty terrifying, you'd imagine. This show doesn't just imagine, it shows you.
The US is divided into three parts. The East Coast into the Midwest is part of the greater Nazi Reich while the Pacific Coast is a Japanese colony with a thin narrow strip of neutral zone in the center, in the area of the Rocky mountains.
Fortunately, this show is about a small group of resistance fighters, ones who gather newsreel films, which show alternate versions of the world, some showing the Allies winning the war, others showing Stalin winning, yet another showing one character shooting another. They are gathering these films for the man in the high castle, which (big, fat spoiler alert) turns out to be Hitler himself, so yes, there is no point to gathering these films.
Juliana Crain (Alexa Davalos) is given a film by accident, just before her sister is shot to death. She reluctantly takes it to Canon City, in the neutral zone to pass it on to the next person. Though she is ultimately successful, it is her boyfriend, Frank (Rupert Evans) who pays the ultimate price. His sister and her children are executed, the same way the Nazis heartlessly murdered millions of Jews during the Holocaust. Frank, for the record, is part Jewish because his grandfather was Jewish.
While she is in Canon City, she meets Joe Blake (Luke Kleintank) who claims to be part of the East Coast resistance, but really he is spy for Obergruppenfuhrer Smith (Rufus Sewell). Juliana is sort of torn between both of the men, especially after Joe helps her kill this guy who was trying to kill her.
The show also involves the Japanese Trade Minister (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa) who along with his German counterpart, Rudolph Wegener (Carsten Norgaard), try to, well, it's hard to explain, but I believe it is to make the countries equal, so there will no longer be tension between them. Germany will trade secrets on a bomb to Japan, who is far behind Germany in technology. This fails as the Japanese prince is nearly assassinated and Frank is accused, though in the end, it is his best friend, Ed (DJ Qualls) who tries to take the fall for him.
It may not be easy to watch this show, and it does end oddly, with the Trade Minister meditating and opening his eyes to see the world like it really would have been, this show is still worth watching, though it veers off in directions I never saw coming and it does lose something once Juliana returns to San Francisco. But the scenery and sets are great and every little detail is thought out. The acting is also great. The characters, however, don't really care about saving the world, they are only trying to save their own skin. Joe lies, a lot, all because he is scared to die. Smith a firm supporter of Hitler and his methods, until his own son is diagnosed with a terminal illness and is basically told to kill him gently. This is a world where a second-opinion is not an option. Still, this show is worth watching, though it is far from easy to do so. The only flaw I have this the show is that once the characters have the films in hand, they manage to have a screen and projector on hand. And they know how to work the projector. Needless to say, I'm grateful that the Allies won the war. Grade: B+
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