Man in The High Castle Season 4 (1 Viewer)

[Adam Lenhardt]

Previous threads:
Seasons 1 & 2
Season 3

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The fourth and final season will premiere on Friday, Nov. 15 exclusively on Amazon Prime Video.

"The final season of The Man in the High Castle will be rocked by war and revolution. The Resistance becomes a full-blown rebellion, driven by Juliana Crain's (Alexa Davalos) visions of a better world. A new Black insurgent movement emerges to fight the forces of Nazism and imperialism. As empires teeter, Chief Inspector Takeshi Kido (Joel De La Fuente) will find himself torn between his duty to his country and the bonds of family. Meanwhile, Reichsmarschall John Smith (Rufus Sewell) will be drawn towards the portal the Nazis have built to another universe, and the tantalizing possibility of stepping through a gateway to the path not taken."

Daniel Percival ("The State Within") and David Scarpa (All the Money in the World) serve as showrunners.

The opening scene of the new season:

 

[Montytc]

Previous threads:
Seasons 1 & 2
Season 3

View attachment 60882​

The fourth and final season will premiere on Friday, Nov. 15 exclusively on Amazon Prime Video.

"The final season of The Man in the High Castle will be rocked by war and revolution. The Resistance becomes a full-blown rebellion, driven by Juliana Crain's (Alexa Davalos) visions of a better world. A new Black insurgent movement emerges to fight the forces of Nazism and imperialism. As empires teeter, Chief Inspector Takeshi Kido (Joel De La Fuente) will find himself torn between his duty to his country and the bonds of family. Meanwhile, Reichsmarschall John Smith (Rufus Sewell) will be drawn towards the portal the Nazis have built to another universe, and the tantalizing possibility of stepping through a gateway to the path not taken."

Daniel Percival ("The State Within") and David Scarpa (All the Money in the World) serve as showrunners.

The opening scene of the new season:

Thank you for the heads up. I enjoy this show and will look forward to the wrap up.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Official Trailer:

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I haven't followed this thread in awhile
Didn't realize this would be the final season. It is a story with a finite length, so it's probably for the best. Hopefully the show goes out on a high note. Looking forward to seeing how they wrap things up.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

The final season went live on Prime Video yesterday. Just finished watching the first two episodes.

What I'm loving about this season so far is how personal the stakes are. We've spent four seasons with most of these characters, so the things that affect them personally have even more impact than the things that affect the fate of the multiverse.

The most interesting subplot so far is the fractured dynamics of Smith's family:

Spoiler: 4x01 and 4x02

When Helen left John, she took the kids to live with her brother at his farm in Montana, which is part of the neutral zone. He has continued to live life as America existed before the war, and John's daughters were exposed to many of the things that don't fit neatly into the Nazi propaganda.

Coming back to New York, John's older daughter Jennifer is disillusioned by the Reich. She has begun to understand the lies that sustain it, and she has begun to value the things that the Reich has no room for. Her judgment wounds John.

John's younger daughter Amy was less willing to question her upbringing while in the neutral zone, and more willing to embrace the new cultural and social order being imposed by the Year Zero program. Seeing what Reich is turning her into terrifies John.

 

[dana martin]

i hope that in the end, this will get a physical release. As good as it is, the limitations of service providers to provide a consistent stream, i love this program and would love to see a BD or 4K release of the complete series.

 

[Sam Favate]

i hope that in the end, this will get a physical release. As good as it is, the limitations of service providers to provide a consistent stream, i love this program and would love to see a BD or 4K release of the complete series.

I have fingers crossed for a complete series set.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Just finished the seventh episode. This is probably my favorite season yet. The show's taking some big swings, in a lot of different areas. The characters are really being pushed to their limits, and see how each of them reacts to that is fascinating.

The ending of the seventh episode had me practically cheering, even though it has ominous implications.

i hope that in the end, this will get a physical release. As good as it is, the limitations of service providers to provide a consistent stream, i love this program and would love to see a BD or 4K release of the complete series.

This show has always been rock solid through my Roku with FiOS gigabit internet. Actually, all of the Prime Video streams have been. For some reason, Netflix is the one that occasionally drops to SD quality. Occasionally the Prime Video app itself freezes up, but the video quality has been terrific.

Arguing against a physical media release is the fact that this is an Amazon Studios production. The Prime originals that have had physical media releases have all been either produced or co-produced by a studio with a home video arm, like Sony or Universal.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Finished the series. Overall, a satisfying ending. The characters mostly got what was coming to them. It was a more optimistic ending than the few few seasons might have predicted.

The only bit that didn't work for me was the final beat, inside the mines.

 

[Greg.K]

Got through episode 7 last night, and I don't see how it can possibly all be resolved satisfactorily in just three more episodes. I guess I'll finish them tonight.

 

[Greg.K]

Way more questions raised by that ending than answered.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Way more questions raised by that ending than answered.

I just finished the series, and I have to agree.

 

[Citizen87645]

Things wrapped up rather quickly after the 7th episode, and it seemed a bit rushed to me, but overall I was satisfied with how things played out. I don't think I had many questions from the ending

Spoiler

The biggest question is of course what was going on with the portal to allow others from "everywhere" to come strolling through, but that one I'm fine leaving as a mystery given its nature.

The final words of John Smith are still echoing in my head, paraphrased: "It's unbearable...of all the possibilities, this is what I became." Helen's take on it was especially sobering – that they didn't deserve to have children after wasting the three chances they had to protect and raise a child properly.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Things wrapped up rather quickly after the 7th episode, and it seemed a bit rushed to me, but overall I was satisfied with how things played out. I don't think I had many questions from the ending

Spoiler

The biggest question is of course what was going on with the portal to allow others from "everywhere" to come strolling through, but that one I'm fine leaving as a mystery given its nature.

The final words of John Smith are still echoing in my head, paraphrased: "It's unbearable...of all the possibilities, this is what I became." Helen's take on it was especially sobering – that they didn't deserve to have children after wasting the three chances they had to protect and raise a child properly.

Spoiler

The people coming from everywhere through the portal at the end really confused me, as it seemed to contradict the rules the series had already established. That portal, as well as certain characters abilities to transport themselves to another reality, had always been to a single other reality. If that portal really connected to all other realities, then it was an awfully big coincidence that the Nazis where using the portal to get to the same alternate reality as Julianna.

Also, why would all those people just be waiting at the other end of their portals to all come pouring through to this one reality at the same time?

 

[Citizen87645]

Good questions, Scott.

Spoiler

The portal really seemed like an afterthought in this final season. Looking at the series as a whole, especially with the questions you raised, the portal turns out to be more of a plot device, which I can see would be a disappointment for some. I'm willing to let it go since the character work was so strong, and there was never an explanation for how the travelers were able to will themselves into alternate worlds.

 

[Walter Kittel]

Finished this up recently. (Sort of took my time since this was the last season.) Pretty much in agreement with Scott and Cameron. The character work definitely was the strong element of season 4 with some of the plot elements feeling inconclusive and unresolved, especially the finale.

I particularly liked the storylines handling Kido and Childan, mostly for their consistency in terms of the character's behaviors.

- Walter.

 

[Sam Favate]

I finished the series last night, and this year was a great season. Exceptional character work this year (although Juliana could have had more to do) and the final moments with Smith were perfect. I also loved the final whole sequence with the train. Overall, this is one of the best series to come out of this period of the streaming wars, when there has been so much content that no one person can possibly see it all. The stuff with Kido was excellent, and I admit I was ultimately surprised by Childan. No, it didn't wrap it up in a neat bow, but it didn't have to.

 

[Rachael_B]

I finished the series last night, and this year was a great season. Exceptional character work this year (although Juliana could have had more to do) and the final moments with Smith were perfect. I also loved the final whole sequence with the train. Overall, this is one of the best series to come out of this period of the streaming wars, when there has been so much content that no one person can possibly see it all. The stuff with Kido was excellent, and I admit I was ultimately surprised by Childan. No, it didn't wrap it up in a neat bow, but it didn't have to.

Agree about Juliana, I am watching it right now, and I already had a thought they sacrificed Juliana's storyline to pay more attention to a racial issue

 

[BobO'Link]

I'm late to this party, just finishing season 4 last night. I was unsatisfied with how it ended. It's just a bit too predictable, cliche', and "easy," to suit me. Frankly, once they left the book behind in season 3 it's been lacking and somewhat disjointed.

Good parts were characterizations stayed true to their origins from the early seasons. It's visually an excellent product and keeps that WWII look and feeling in spite of the years having advanced.

Spoiler

BUT - it all just seemed so easy for the "resistance" forces to have pulled off, especially with the East Coast unit coming out of, essentially, nowhere to pull out an immediate victory. It was much the same with Julianna and her forces but at least we'd seen that group at work for more than a few episodes.

And they edited Edelweiss into a disjointed mess for no apparent reason. This isn't broadcast TV where you may "need" to cut a theme song for a longer episode. Totally not needed.

I also don't get why that particular song was used for the theme as it was written for the play The Sound of Music, long after WWII, as a statement of *Austrian* patriotism as Captain von Trapp bit farewell to the Austria he knew and loved. It likely would never have been written in a US defeated Nazi regime although it *is* somewhat a song of defiance. Do most viewers get that? The way it's used in the open credits I got the impression that it was being used as a German homeland homage in direct conflict to its original intent.

 

[Citizen87645]

Here's one take on the theme song. https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theatlantic.com/amp/article/417285/

I hadn't thought about the use of the song too much, but your point about it probably never getting written in the High Castle universe is a good one (and I don't believe we ever do hear the song come up in the episodes themselves). But then that becomes entirely the point of its use -- Edelweiss is there in the credits as a touchstone for the audience, a way for the creators to communicate "somethin' aint' right."