Recap "The High Castle Man", Season 3, Episode 4

Photo: Liane Henstcher / Amazon Prime Video

The man at the castle high suffers from sound jumps and this has never been as true as in "Sabra", an episode named after the word for an Israeli born, which includes a scene of self-immolation, the most disturbing dream of the series story … and some very exciting characters. It would be a great achievement for any program to watch a man burn alive and show us two characters – who have seen the immolation itself, by the way – become romantic, but that 39 is definitely a tonal jump for the people behind this show, who really needed to focus after a tumultuous second season that saw a showrunner jump ship in the middle of the year. He still has trouble doing it.

Which is often frustrating about The man at the castle high it's the way they are woven together, or so often not, that can create an unsatisfactory, heroic-jerky experience. Take, for example, the revelation that Frank Frink, badly burned, is still alive in a Jewish resistance community in the center of the country, making "Sunrise" propaganda, more and more popular in San Francisco, and trying to stay hidden. The best scene this week was actually the pre-credits, because the man who had kidnapped Mark Sampson went to the community, but was shot by one of his leaders, a woman named Lilah. The idea of ​​a community that must remain hidden while trying to spark a revolution is particularly timely as new groups sprout up across the country to protest against our current government in 2018. And the persecution of people because of their religion or their country of origin originally still remains depressing. How Frank will feed the revolution while keeping his existence secret could be this year's most fascinating sub-plot.

But despite her title and intense cold, "Sabra" spends almost no time with Frank. As the show does so often, we travel the world recording with Joe / Juliana / Tagomi / Kido in San Francisco, Robert / Ed in the neutral zone and Nicole / Thelma / John in New York. If there is one interesting theme this week, it is the number of characters who express themselves sexually and larger than the average and, in this society, so that they can be killed. Ed was encouraged by the handsome stranger he met in the middle of nowhere, a man who tells him that he is becoming more himself. Maybe that's why Ed is able to repel Robert when he tries to kidnap a woman by selling John Wayne's belt buckle, or shooting with a gun at the marauders who end up robbing them all. their belongings. And just a few moments before Robert gets ready again, they will soon be "swimming in the yen".

With regard to the New York front, the Smith family continues its descent into sorrow and perhaps into the madness caused by the death of their son Thomas. John Smith told his wife Helen that she had to stop taking therapy, fearing that she might hurt herself about Adler's murders. The problem is that her sadness is eating Helen Smith alive. She sits in her bed in a dark room, drifting into nothingness. After John had a horrifying dream, this one ending with a SS soldier swinging a child to get ready to throw him and kill him after blocking his gun, John tells him that she can resume therapy . Maybe he's realizing now that he could probably use it too.

Before returning to San Francisco, the writers clearly develop something interesting with Nicole Dormer, whom we saw working on her revisionist story film this week and who is close to the reporter Thelma Harris. Homosexuality is not allowed in the Nazi empire, which could lead to the fall of its new rising star, the new Leni Riefenstahl, of the SS.

The dream of John Smith, the return of Frank Frink, even the adventure of Robert & Ed in the Neutral Zone and the passion of Nicole and Thelma – all this worked better than the secondary plot Joe and Juliana, this episode that has increasingly forced fans of this show to realize the finesse of the film. character who is Juliana Crain. Think about it. The screenwriters on this show never gave Juliana the depth she needed to really anchor this show, making the characters, often the men, around her more interesting, transforming her into an ever-reactive character. never proactive. And we find Juliana being rescued by Joe, but the mysterious Wyatt has found his life. With everything going on in this program, who really needs a flat love triangle right now? We know where it will take us because Juliana will be torn between the Nazis and the Alpha men of the Resistance. The way producers and directors place Luke Kleintank and Alexa Davalos in the same scene is very dark. It's easy to see that both would have been known names in the 40's, but episodes hang around in narrative terms when they're around. And do not enter the strangeness of two people who watch a man burn himself alive and then return home to do so.

Maybe the Joe / Juliana bow will have a more credible depth now that Tagomi may be more confident of Mr. Blake, considering the end of this episode. After a good dinner with her new friend, Tagomi walks in a secluded street. We see Joe walk behind him and pull the trigger. Cut to black. The cliff-hook will probably prompt fans to move quickly to the next episode, but there is no chance it will be Tagomi's end. Will Joe change his mind? Where is Tagomi going to escape?

• We need to talk about the scene. I'm not sure what I feel about a series that's as clumsy as this one, which uses images as aberrative as a self-immolating monk, especially given the speed with which which episode happened here. It was clearly designed to evoke the death of Thich Quang Duc, who burned himself alive at a junction in Saigon in June 1963 to protest against the South Vietnamese Diem regime. The action of High Castle is close enough to the actual time that there is could Something interesting for a sacrificial monk playing a role in all the plans of reality in the early sixties, but it seems to me a little too exploitative to my tastes to reduce such an iconic moment to what is nothing more than a simple shades.

• Speaking of reincorporating the real story with the world built by the series, I enjoyed the story of what happened to John Wayne, who volunteered to join the Rebels and died in the battle of Dayton. Also loved the cry at one of his best movies, Diligence, which Ed calls his "favorite Ford". It's an excellent movie, even if I would go My dear Clementine. But maybe that did not exist in this timeline. We never know.

• Much of this season seems to be directed to Lackawanna, where Juliana says her dreams lead her and where her memories tell her that Joe shot her. Interesting Curiosity: Lackawanna is a Lenni Lenape word that means "flow that fork". It's terribly appropriate for a show about the realities of the industry.