Poor Jennifer Smith is also faced with a conflict between her character and her surroundings. His final scene, in which he excitedly participates in a Japanese tea service, could hint that he will side with them when it really matters. He would probably tell you that he’s a firm supporter of the Resistance, but he’s also very much drawn to Japanese culture and ritual. This means Robert Childan (Brennan Brown) is back! Reasonably safe again after his journeys in the neutral zone, Childan is again a character torn between loyalties. We get a bit of back and forth between the BCR and the rest of the resistance, who will now work together to disrupt an auction of Americana that will be attended by key members of the Japanese ruling party. Maybe she’s just wondering if this John Smith will fall in line with them like the other one did. Perhaps it’s just that Juliana knows the Nazis are coming. And their dance number feels like it has a bit of menace from the other side too, doesn’t it? Does this John Smith know something about Juliana? Probably not, but it’s well done enough to feel unsafe. Can’t you just see John sacrificing at the end of the season to get Jennifer and Amy from his plane to safety in the “normal” timeline?Īfter a pleasant viewing of Judgment at Nuremberg, Juliana ends up out for a night with the Smiths, and even dancing with John to Patsy Cline’s “ I Fall to Pieces.” It’s a complex scene in that Juliana still sees John as an enemy, the man she fought in the Resistance and who shot her in the alternate timeline. Remember, one can only jump through the portal if they don’t exist in that world. He learns that he has no daughters over there, which feels like a twist that’s designed to get Jennifer and Amy to our reality.
No one else yet knows about portal technology, but Smith is worried about overusing it - after all, as he says, “Every door out is a door in.” What could come back the other way? Of course, this is also John’s subconscious expressing his desire to have his son from the other reality brought to this one. Nazis from this plane are going to the “real” one just like people go to their 9-to-5 jobs, learning about the nuclear programs being advanced by the Americans and Russians. It feels like this difference - a hollow allegiance compared to an emotional reason for loyalty - will define the final arc of the series, and using a group of minorities who have a strong reason to fight as a counter is a smart move.īack to the Nazi Stargate! John Smith visits the experimental base where great progress has been made over the last year, and where they’ve taken the time to make a huge 3-D model of the multiverse. John Smith has no loyalty to the Nazi party beyond the fact that it keeps him safe and powerful. The most consistent theme of this show has been the need for something to fight for, whether that’s the hope for a better world offered by the films of the Man in the High Castle, or just the need to correct a past wrong and make it right. Young men and women speak the names and locations of camps to which their loved ones were taken, never to be seen again.
The concept of a broken family tree is there in the opening scene, detailing a recruitment of people for the Black Communist Rebellion. Will the children of men like Kido and Smith fight against the beliefs of their parents? And will there be anything left to save if they don’t?
Whether it’s John Smith fighting with his daughter Jennifer or Inspector Kido pushing his son to follow in his father’s footsteps, there’s a sense that this alternate reality isn’t a good one for future generations.
The world we leave for our children has been an undercurrent for three years of this Amazon show, but the dynamic between parent and offspring is front and center in “Every Door Out…,” an improvement over the slow season premiere. An interesting theme emerges in the second episode of the final season of The Man in the High Castle.