Episode one takes place solely in the former United States of America, which is now divided into three parts: the Greater Nazi Reich and the Japanese Pacific States; between the two partitions is a kind of neutral zone which is not under the control of either power.
The Man In The High Castle has a really interesting concept. I think that everyone has probably wondered at one time or another what would have happened if the Allies had lost during W.W. II, a possibility which seemed not unlikely in the early days of the war. In this Amazon series this is what has happened, and the result is a world which is now dominated and controlled by the Axis powers of Germany and Japan, and has been living under their regimes for going on two decades. Episode one takes place solely in the former United States of America, which is now divided into three parts: the Greater Nazi Reich and the Japanese Pacific States; between the two partitions is a kind of neutral zone which is not under the control of either power. It seems in this first episode that these two powers are headed for their own version of the cold war, as they have a mutual distaste and distrust for each other, and the Germans are in the mood for further conquest. It is even possible that they are headed for a missile crisis. It is grimly ironic that, in this alternate reality, Hitler is seen as a force of balance and restraint. It is assumed that after his death, the Reich will be destabilized by his underlings vying for the title of fuhrer and that they will seek to grab power by making a move on Japanese territory. The idea of a small, growing resistance to the Axis powers is suggested right in the show's opening, which uses a very wistful, almost eerie, version of the song "Edelweiss" as a theme. "Edelweiss" was of course written for the musical The Sound of Music, and Captain von Trapp sings it as he is escaping from Nazi- occupied Austria. The edelweiss is a small hardy flower which manages to grow in the Alps despite harsh conditions. The song expresses- without actually saying so- the Captain's hope that the country and people that he loves will manage to survive despite being annexed by the Nazis. Using this as an opening song immediately evokes that sentiment. Of the two conquering powers in The Man In the High Castle, it is easy to regard the Japanese as the more "civilized". The Germans are unhesitatingly and matter-of-factly brutal, as demonstrated when they summarily execute all the members of the resistance cell. As we soon see however, the Japanese are just as capable of cruelty and murder, no matter that it's cloaked in a culture of politeness and ceremony. Juliana Crain has grown up in occupied America, and accepts life as it is in the Japanese Pacific States without question. It is certainly easy to understand her mother's bitterness, seeing her daughter admiring- and even embracing- the culture which subjugated theirs and killed her husband. Juliana, however, begins to question and reject her comfortable acceptance of life under Axis rule when her sister is shot down in the street. She almost involuntarily follows the trail left by Trudy into the neutral zone. This is likely to prove costly not only to her, but to the people around her; at the end of the episode, we see her boyfriend Frank being arrested and thrown into the back of a truck by the Japanese police, who assume (falsely) that he knows just what Juliana is up to. The other main resistance member we are introduced to is Joe Blake. In the beginning, his character seems to be a lot more straightforward: the son of a veteran who, having grown up on his father's tales of a free America, wants to fight to have that once again. We are therefore thrown for a loop when it turns out that he is in cahoots with the Nazis... or is he? He's obviously a double agent, but we are left in doubt as to just where his loyalties lie, and which side he's actually on. In addition to the resistance, there is the mystery of the movie reels, entitled "The Grasshopper Lies Heavy". We don't know why they're called this, or who the unknown character is who is producing them: the titular Man In The High Castle. Most of all, there is the mystery of the content of these reels- an alternate history of the war, in which the Allies win instead of the Axis powers. Juliana is convinced, or at least wants to believe, that these are actual events, somehow suppresses by their occupiers. Frank, on the other hand, believes that they are propagandist fiction, designed to fire up resistance fighters. It remains to be seen just what these are and why they exist. One of the most jarring things about this show is the almost bizarre sight of American life going on while controlled by a totalitarian regime. Joe walks out of a Rock Hudson movie into a Times Square that is covered in Nazi propaganda. The familiar Stars and Stripes unfurl, only to show that the stars have been replaced by a swastika. This of course calls to mind the countries of occupied Europe during the actual War; somehow life continued in these places with people either resigned to it, accepting it, or rebelling against it, depending on their natures and convictions. This was for the length of a six year war, but in the show, they are almost twenty years into their occupation. The generation growing up has known no other life, and the older generation seems to have by and large accepted the way things are. The most horrifying moment in the episode occurs at an unlikely and unexpected time. It's not in New York or San Fransisco, awash with informers, tortures, and executions. Rather, it happens when Joe is on the road in scenic middle America. While he's on the side of the road with a blown tire, a friendly police officer pulls over and helps him change it, then shares the boxed lunch his wife packed. As they chat, we find out that he is a veteran of the war who took a job in law enforcement under the new German government. As they eat, a fine ash drifts down on them, blown by the wind. Joe brushes it off his coat and asks the officer where it's coming from. The policeman replies matter-of-factly that it's coming from the hospital: it's Tuesday, the day they burn the cripples and terminally ill. The horror is twofold, the first part being the unquestioning, unblinking acceptance of human beings of the deliberate, carefully managed murder of their fellow humans on an industrial scale-as in the actual Holocaust. The second is the casual comment by the officer to Joe about the war- that it was hard to remember just what they were fighting for- while the answer is literally landing on him. A grim reminder that it's better to lose your life than your soul.
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This is an illustration from H.G. Wells' 1895 book The Time Machine. In this scene, the Time Traveller is trying to get his time machine back, as it's been stolen by the Morlocks -underground dwelling creatures. Tagging along is the child-like Eloi, Weena, who has befriended him. As darkness falls, the Morlocks emerge from the ground and attack. The Time Traveller fiercely defends himself and Weena, his desperation fuelled by the suspicion that the Morlocks are surviving by killing and eating the Eloi. He uses fire to ward them off, since their eyes, used only to darkness, are blinded by the light. Overwhelmed by their numbers, he has his matches knocked out of his hand and ends up setting the surrounding brush on fire. He escapes as the Morlocks, blind and panicked, run about- some right into the flames. Poor Weena is not so fortunate.
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