There are a few awesome things within the Man in the High Castle, such as when the Japanese fleet is shown steaming in and out of San Francisco Bay, or when the Capitol Mall is depicted several years after a nuclear attack, but for the most part, there are too many plot holes to make it possible to suspend disbelief and to really enjoy the story.
For example: In the Man in the High Castle, a resistance fighter located in the American Reich can pickup the telephone and call someone in the Japanese Pacific in order to discuss an up coming resistance operation. Also, I'm no expert on Nazi-era weapons, but it seems that if the Nazis had won the war, that they would have developed more modern looking uniforms, handguns, and sub-machine guns, and the same goes for the Japanese. Would the Japanese still be steaming large WWII style battleships in and out of San Francisco during the 1960s?
Additionally, one of the plot devices entails the Nazis sending agents through a portal into our world. Didn't the writers miss an opportunity by having at least one of these agents go rouge in our world, and possibly defecting to our FBI?
Also, during the final season the storyline becomes completely cliche and predictable, and the Japanese are forced to withdraw from North America due to the Black Communist Rebellion centered in Oakland, California. The Black Communist Rebellion depicted in the Man in the High Castle is somewhat similar to the Congaree Socialist Republic, but it is hard to believe that the Imperial Japanese Army would be cowed by such an organization, given the way that the Japanese in our timeline dealt with uprisings in Shanghai and Nanjing. By this time the Japanese have their own a-bomb, San Francisco and Oakland are on opposite sides of the Earth from Japan, so why wouldn't they detonate a thirteen kiloton device over one or both cities? Or, they could firebomb Oakland, as the allies did to Dresden in our timeline. The Japanese are depicted as bumbling inept stormtroopers who get bested at every turn by a ragtag group of rebels, and such a depiction doesn't seem very plausible or entertaining.
Rather than have the Japanese withdraw with their tails between their legs, I think that a much more interesting storyline would have been if the Americans living in both occupation zones came to view themselves as the real Americans, and that the people living in the other half of the country weren't really American's anymore, and that both sides wanted to reunite the country under their particular ideology. Perhaps similar to the way hardliners in East Germany wished to conquer West Germany, and visa-versa.
However, there are somethings which the Man in the High Castle gets right, such as the deceptions of a Japanized Geary Blvd and Mission Streets in San Francisco, and also the fact that everyone seems to have shabby clothes and furniture left over from the 1930s and 40s. Although the 1956 Chevy's which have been aged to make them seem part of a dystopian society seem to be a bit out of place.
Overall I would say that Man in the High Castle is worth watching, but don't expect it to be very awe-inspiring or breathtaking.
For example: In the Man in the High Castle, a resistance fighter located in the American Reich can pickup the telephone and call someone in the Japanese Pacific in order to discuss an up coming resistance operation. Also, I'm no expert on Nazi-era weapons, but it seems that if the Nazis had won the war, that they would have developed more modern looking uniforms, handguns, and sub-machine guns, and the same goes for the Japanese. Would the Japanese still be steaming large WWII style battleships in and out of San Francisco during the 1960s?
Additionally, one of the plot devices entails the Nazis sending agents through a portal into our world. Didn't the writers miss an opportunity by having at least one of these agents go rouge in our world, and possibly defecting to our FBI?
Also, during the final season the storyline becomes completely cliche and predictable, and the Japanese are forced to withdraw from North America due to the Black Communist Rebellion centered in Oakland, California. The Black Communist Rebellion depicted in the Man in the High Castle is somewhat similar to the Congaree Socialist Republic, but it is hard to believe that the Imperial Japanese Army would be cowed by such an organization, given the way that the Japanese in our timeline dealt with uprisings in Shanghai and Nanjing. By this time the Japanese have their own a-bomb, San Francisco and Oakland are on opposite sides of the Earth from Japan, so why wouldn't they detonate a thirteen kiloton device over one or both cities? Or, they could firebomb Oakland, as the allies did to Dresden in our timeline. The Japanese are depicted as bumbling inept stormtroopers who get bested at every turn by a ragtag group of rebels, and such a depiction doesn't seem very plausible or entertaining.
Rather than have the Japanese withdraw with their tails between their legs, I think that a much more interesting storyline would have been if the Americans living in both occupation zones came to view themselves as the real Americans, and that the people living in the other half of the country weren't really American's anymore, and that both sides wanted to reunite the country under their particular ideology. Perhaps similar to the way hardliners in East Germany wished to conquer West Germany, and visa-versa.
However, there are somethings which the Man in the High Castle gets right, such as the deceptions of a Japanized Geary Blvd and Mission Streets in San Francisco, and also the fact that everyone seems to have shabby clothes and furniture left over from the 1930s and 40s. Although the 1956 Chevy's which have been aged to make them seem part of a dystopian society seem to be a bit out of place.
Overall I would say that Man in the High Castle is worth watching, but don't expect it to be very awe-inspiring or breathtaking.