Series Review
'Man in the High Castle's' facist world feels more relevant than ever in S3
Donald Trump's rise has made the alternative reality drama 'The Man in the High Castle' seem a prescient vision
In 2015 when Frank Spotnitz's Amazon series The Man in the High Castle, a loose adaptation of sci-fi pioneer Philip K Dick's 1962 novel first appeared on Amazon Prime, it seemed a well-put-together addition to Dick adaptations.
With its vision of an alternative history in which the Allies have lost the world and the US is divided into three zones of control - the Greater Nazi Reich in the East, the Japanese Pacific States to the west and a neutral zone running in between along the Rocky Mountains - the show offered a critique of fascism and its threats to democracy, evoked through suitably grey dystopian cinematography and production design.
It boasted a strong cast and compelling storylines that combined solid dramatic and thriller elements, the ghastly vision of a Hitler who had not died and a chilling rendition of Edelweiss for its theme song.
By the time the second season of the show premiered in December 2016, Spotnitz had departed, Donald Trump had stunned the world with his presidential victory and for many fans Man in the High Castle seemed less a general indictment of fascism than a prescient vision of an all too horribly possible future America...
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