Spoilers The Man in the High Castle season 4

[The Nth Doctor]

I really enjoyed the final season and how all of the twists and turns played out...right until the final moments of the finale. Not just the far too easy end of conflict, but especially the final scene in the portal. While I liked the idea of walls between the different breaking down to allow easier visits, the way the people from the other side (or sides?) was just plain...weird. They were acting like they were walking through a museum and didn't seem interested in talking to the people they met at the other end. That whole dynamic really threw me off from whatever intentions the showrunners had in mind for that moment. That said, I liked how the Nazi's swastika was transformed into Frank's resistance symbol and I loved how Hawthrone giddily walked off to a new world(s?).

As much as I enjoyed the overall season, I was disappointed that Tagomi was assassinated just prior to the premiere and Ed completely disappeared without a single mention (I don't even remember what happened to him at the end of last season other than returning to San Francisco). Not only were they among favorite characters, they were two of the few remaining characters from the original novel, leaving only Juliana, Hawthorne, and Childan. Although I knew it was a long shot, I really had hoped Frank would show up in the alternate world (not necessarily our own) that Juliana spent time in.

 

[Shaka Zulu]

I think the show is going to end on a depressing note

Spoiler

War is going to break out between Japan and Germany at the end and some of the main characters will escape to another Earth

Hopefully, the time portal will allow somebody to go back in time and prevent either nation form dominating the planet by some means.

I wish that somebody would publish an alternate history novel in which the antifascist side in the Spanish Civil War wins, creating a situation in which the rest of the non-fascist world acts against Nazi Germany, Japan, and Italy early enough to defeat them.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Two things I forgot to mention:

I loved Hawthorne's The Twilight Zone-esque propaganda that he was forced to present to the world. Even though it was propaganda, I'd watch a full series of that as long as Stephen Root is the host.

I was surprised and disappointed that we didn't get to see Childan and Yukiko reunite in Japan. Even though she was introduced in this season, I became invested in their relationship, and after seeing them torn apart, we should've seen that moment, instead of ending on just Childan getting his pass from the Yakuza. At least give us a scene of Childan on a ship arriving in Japan in hopes that he would find her.

 

[Push The Button]

Two things I forgot to mention:

I loved Hawthorne's The Twilight Zone-esque propaganda that he was forced to present to the world. Even though it was propaganda, I'd watch a full series of that as long as Stephen Root is the host.

I was surprised and disappointed that we didn't get to see Childan and Yukiko reunite in Japan. Even though she was introduced in this season, I became invested in their relationship, and after seeing them torn apart, we should've seen that moment, instead of ending on just Childan getting his pass from the Yakuza. At least give us a scene of Childan on a ship arriving in Japan in hopes that he would find her.

I thought we would see Childan on the same boat with Kido’s son.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Did we? I looked for him but I didn't see him. Even that would still feel like a letdown.

 

[Push The Button]

Did we? I looked for him but I didn't see him. Even that would still feel like a letdown.

No, I didn’t see him either. Maybe the Yakuza had a fleet of fishing boats heading for Japan, and Childan was on a different one.

As long as we’re nitpicking.. Kalashnikov didn’t start developing his famous rifle until after the war had ended, unless he fled to China in this timeline and started on it there a few years earlier.

 

[Push The Button]

Two things I forgot to mention:

I loved Hawthorne's The Twilight Zone-esque propaganda that he was forced to present to the world. Even though it was propaganda, I'd watch a full series of that as long as Stephen Root is the host.

Stephen Root is awesome, loved everything he’s done starting with Milton in Office Space.

Was that Nazi Don Draper in the director’s chair?

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Yup, Stephen Root is amazing. I've been a fan of his since NewsRadio.

 

[ISS-Magnum]

As long as we’re nitpicking.. Kalashnikov didn’t start developing his famous rifle until after the war had ended, unless he fled to China in this timeline and started on it there a few years earlier.

Half of guns and vehicles in this show are real mess. Soviet tanks and pistols from 1950s, Soviet sniper rifles from 1960s, Soviet military cars from 1970s... Sometimes it's just hard to watch if you are a fan of real-world military history and ex-soldier (like me).

So, I successfully tried to ignore all these absurdities and concentrate on the story. The story was good, most of the time, but they ruined the ending.

 

[EmoBorg]

I am watching season 4 right now. This new season feels almost like a standalone season.

 

[Phily B]

Finished it.

Bad, nonsensical and a lot of the problems of previous seasons were magnified. I always thought the Juliana character was the weakest and the actress was weak in the role, but this season she really lacked any purpose or focus. John Smith was the best character throughout and his arc really went no where. The whole BCR thing was ridiculous too. Missed opportunities, felt very rushed and the showrunners have let the story and actors down.

 

[TedShatner10]

The whole BCR thing was ridiculous too.

I think they were too much of a plot device and not given more time to breath or develop in earlier seasons, alongside other existing dissident factions and Neutral Zone inhabitants.

However the writing was on the wall for the Empire of Japan, ever since they've been shown to be completely strategically outclassed by the Nazi German Empire, never having the manpower or resources to hold down the Pacific Rim, and having their main paramilitary HQ getting blown up way back in S2. A sudden problem like the BCR showing up, out from the untamed Neutral Zone, when the Imperial Japanese were already slowly losing against their West Coast subjects, was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Not unlike with the Nazi Reich - they're still the greatest military superpower in that world's history and still shown to have the ability to casually breeze in and kick in the BCR's shit anytime with laughable ease (like they did to similar guerilla/terrorist groups in Denver and Belgrade), but behind the scenes things are seriously buckling, with now enough violent leadership coups to make a Terran Empire officer roll their eyes, and the American Nazis becoming automonous from Berlin (and not so ardent).

The Empire of Japan is going down a path similar to the Chinese Qing Dynasty and the Third Reich is already splitting up, like the Macedonian Empire or Mongol territories, after the deaths of their founding leaders.

 

[Q2UnME]

Season 4 was very good right up till the last episode. Too many open ended questions left dangling ... They didn't stick the landing....

 

[TedShatner10]

Well we had John Smith make some kind of peace with himself, when he got his comeuppance for what he did. So there's satifisfying closure with that. Rufus Sewell stole the show and would be a great Melkor.

The wider world is still way too fucked up by militarized, authoritarian, and xenophobic bullshit to fix in a 45 minute episode.

 

[E-DUB]

Hopefully, the time portal will allow somebody to go back in time and prevent either nation form dominating the planet by some means.

I wish that somebody would publish an alternate history novel in which the antifascist side in the Spanish Civil War wins, creating a situation in which the rest of the non-fascist world acts against Nazi Germany, Japan, and Italy early enough to defeat them.

You might want to check out "A Century of Progress". Not exactly what you said there, but close enough. Nazis and anti-Nazis battling across multiple timelines.
I get what people are saying about the end. But so many people had died on this world that there was a lot of "open slots" for travelers to occupy.

 

[TedShatner10]

How do you think the visitors, from multiple alternate Earths, be able to change society for the better, in world ruled by three nuclear armed authoritarian empires?

True, the Japanese are rapidly crumbling now, however we've still got two Nazi Empires running much of the world for potentially many more decades to come.

 

[Dukhat]

So I just binged-watched the entire final season.

First impression: It seemed like there were two seasons I missed between season 3 and season 4. Like, Who the hell are the BCR, and where did they come from, since we didn't hear a peep out of them in the first three seasons? And, Kido has a son who is in the military and suffering from PTSD? Where the hell was he for the first three seasons? And, Childan has a girlfriend/store helper? Where was she for the first three seasons?

Second impression: It seemed like someone decided to both rush to end the show, while simultaneously creating these brand-new plot threads that didn't exist in the first three seasons, and to top it all off, completely ignore other aspects of the show that had been building up over the last three years. Like, where the hell is Ed and why isn't anyone mentioning him?

And why oh why do the Japanese just give up and leave the JPS just because of some terrorist acts? I get that the crown princess wanted to end the occupation and that Japan needed to defend itself against the Chinese (again, a new plot thread not heard of before), but all the BCR wanted was a section of territory to themselves! And didn't they even consider the fact that if they were to leave the JPS, the Reich would just move in and take over? How is that giving the JPS and the BCR their freedom, Crown Princess?

And then, the final scene. Wow, what a clusterfuck that was. Perhaps if there was some kind of greater meaning to all these people who are suddenly coming through the portal yet seem to not care where they are and don't even bother to acknowledge the people on the other side, it would make more sense. Like, perhaps, an acknowledgement that these were alternate versions of all the Jews, Blacks, and every other unfortunate soul who lost their lives to the Reich and the Japanese. Perhaps we could have seen alt-Frank. Actually, I was hoping that the people that came through the portal would be members of the United States military, or even a military from an alternate Earth that was so different from TMITHC Earth that there couldn't possibly be any duplicates, who would then help the resistance take over the country from the Reich. But, no. Who the hell are these people, why are they coming through the portal (many with suitcases, no less), why are they just leisurely acting like going through a portal into a completely different place is normal, why aren't they acknowledging the people already there, and what is the reason why they are entering a world filled with Nazis and Imperial Japanese wearing nothing more than their 1960's Sunday's best clothes?

 

[TedShatner10]

First impression: It seemed like there were two seasons I missed between season 3 and season 4. Like, Who the hell are the BCR, and where did they come from, since we didn't hear a peep out of them in the first three seasons?

Where the fuck did ISIS come from in Iraq and Syria, after the US and its allies supposedly defeated Al Qaeda and other insurgent cells? That's a major plot hole!

In all seriousness, while the BCR is result of an unexpected shift in writing and revolving cast behind the scenes, it's implied that after the Kempeitai and IJA mass executed or imprisoned most of the resistance cells in West Coast, the better funded BCR came in from the Neutral Zone and filled the void. The Japanese were causing a situation where the more they were stomping down on US guerrilla/terror groups, the more took their place.

And the writing was on the wall for them back in Season 2, where the Japanese Empire is completely, hilariously outgunned in their Cold War against the Nazi Reich and their paramilitary HQ got bombed.

And why oh why do the Japanese just give up and leave the JPS just because of some terrorist acts? I get that the crown princess wanted to end the occupation and that Japan needed to defend itself against the Chinese (again, a new plot thread not heard of before), but all the BCR wanted was a section of territory to themselves! And didn't they even consider the fact that if they were to leave the JPS, the Reich would just move in and take over? How is that giving the JPS and the BCR their freedom, Crown Princess?

It's implied since Season 2 that the Empire of Japan, with its technology/industrial/population base that's weaker than the Nazi Reich (and even the OTL Soviet Union) is fighting a much, much bigger version of Afghanistan throughout the Pacific and Asia. If long annexed holdings like Manchuria and even Korea are up in flames, then the Japanese home islands are now potentially under threat and the far flung US territories have become a liability (especially after the oil infrastructure got destroyed; IMO perhaps their oil infrastructure in Indonesia was getting hit at the same time).

The BCR was perhaps one facet of a much wider crisis of Soviet remnants (and this TL's version of Chinese Maoist or/and Nationalists) funding many guerrilla armies and revolts pushing back the overstreached Japanese forces in recent years (and it was implied shit was coming down on them in Manchuria when Kido threatened it as a punishment posting to one of his subordinates in S3).

The Japanese were leaving the West coast Americans to the wolves and potential anarchy, but that was pretty much what happened when the British were forced out of India by warring Hindus and Muslims, or with Yugoslavian and Soviet collapse.

And then, the final scene. Wow, what a clusterfuck that was. Perhaps if there was some kind of greater meaning to all these people who are suddenly coming through the portal yet seem to not care where they are and don't even bother to acknowledge the people on the other side, it would make more sense. Like, perhaps, an acknowledgement that these were alternate versions of all the Jews, Blacks, and every other unfortunate soul who lost their lives to the Reich and the Japanese. Perhaps we could have seen alt-Frank. Actually, I was hoping that the people that came through the portal would be members of the United States military, or even a military from an alternate Earth that was so different from TMITHC Earth that there couldn't possibly be any duplicates, who would then help the resistance take over the country from the Reich. But, no. Who the hell are these people, why are they coming through the portal (many with suitcases, no less), why are they just leisurely acting like going through a portal into a completely different place is normal, why aren't they acknowledging the people already there, and what is the reason why they are entering a world filled with Nazis and Imperial Japanese wearing nothing more than their 1960's Sunday's best clothes?

The pretentious, vague ending was less about the visitors and more about the multiverse portal itself (look how calm and warm it looks, less violent and unstable).

 

[137th Gebirg]

Entertainment Weekly had an article about this. Basically, the show runners said, “Part of the intention was to invite the audience to have their own interpretation of what they’re seeing on screen.” They also mentioned they were fans of the bullshit cop-out Sopranos ending, hence the bullshit cop-out TMITHC ending. I was very disappointed, bordering on disgusted, with this finale as well. Such a pathetic way to close out the series. I shit on David Chase for coming up with that dumbass cut-to-black close-out that everyone in Hollywood now seems to inexplicably admire. RDM reportedly considered doing the same kind of thing, apparently, with NuBSG. Glad he didn’t. But this kind of intentionally ambiguous ending for a series drives me batshit.

 

[Dukhat]

”Part of the intention was to invite the audience to have their own interpretation of what they’re seeing on screen.”

Translation: “We really had no fucking idea how to end the series, so we pulled some bullshit out of our asses at the last minute and decided to put the burden of responsibility on the audience to try to figure out what we couldn’t, while making it sound like we’re smarter than we really are.”