MovieChat Forums > The Man in the High Castle (2015) Discussion > Season 3 things that seemed hard to buy

Season 3 things that seemed hard to buy


1. Juliana and a close friend of hers both know the authorities are trying to find them, but they never think to adopt any sorts of disguises, or even dark glasses.
2. How can Himmler spend so much time outside of Berlin? Doesn't he have an empire to run?
3. Mengele was a physician. Would he really be the one leading a project to build a machine (mechanical engineering problem) or travel through time and space (possible physics problem)?
4. Why does the Smith family worry so much about medical tests? They have the power to bribe, blackmail or strong arm the doctor to get the results they way. Even presidents in western democracies are able to do that.
5. Why is the Tamlyn Tomita character in the show? Her storyline does not seem to add anything important to what is happening.
6. Would the Nazis, who had decried jazz music for a long time, once the finally won the war, actually play it at one of their major parties?
7. What would be the point of the big Nazi plan with the machine. Even if it were to succeed, to what end? They haven't even fullly achieved the goal on this world.

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These are excellent points, many I wondered about as well.

I know the Nazis have super duper sonic aircraft and Himmler can zip back and forth, but he does seem pretty tied up in things he should have other people handling.

Jazz or swing music was looked down on at least officially. Only rational I can think of is, perhaps the American national socialist were more tolerant, and or because it such a part of American culture it was tolerated more in the American part of the Reich. Still at the official party for eliminating American history it still seems a strange choice.

I agree bribing and blackmail would make sense. Although to hold this over Smith it could be easily used against him. Before the war two prominent Generals on the German High command were brought down by rumor and innuendo. Still if Himmler sees Smith as so important I think he could make sure his daughters get a pass, just as he did with the charges against him by Rockwell.

I think they used Mengele because he is more commonly known and infamous for conducting experiments on people, but was not a physicist. Someone did suggest maybe in the MITC world he was a physicist and did not go into the medical field.

The big Nazi machine at the end, really went off the rails for me. As the heroes spy on things through an air vent, while Himmler overseas his doomsday machine like some kind James Bond villain.

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Thanks for the reply.

I wonder if they considered using Werner von Braun...

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Werner von Braun as a figure so close to the US space program might have made him less of a choice. They did attach Werner Heisenberg to the atomic bomb to the story calling it a "Heisenberg device". Which makes sense since he did work on their atomic program.

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2. The allegation against Smith is a serious matter that Himmler need to be there and he prob wanted to do the 'Year zero' propaganda there as well. He may also wanted to check out the Mengele secret project while hes there.

4. Too risky esp with so much focus on Thomas being the hero, Smith family is in the spotlight of everyone.

5. Seems like shes gonna be Tagomi love interest, maybe she is a traveller too?

7. Sending their armies to conquer other worlds for resources is better than starting a war with the Japanese, unlike the Japs the enemies in other worlds have no way of hitting back.

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2. But you have to imagine there are plenty of guys who would like to usurp power in Berlin. He needs to be there watching the situation to avoid a coup.

4. Trump isn't in the spotlight?

5. If that's where they're heading they sure are dragging out the introduction. A whole season.

7. How do you know? What can be invented in one place can also be invented elsewhere.

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2. He should have enough safeguard in place to make the trip.

4. Himmler is the Fuhrer not Smith.

5. Maybe she will play a bigger role next season

7. Well I think that is their idea, perhaps they will overwhelm their opponents so fast that they didnt know what hit them.

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2. Who can give you a safeguard in a Nazi-type regime? You have to be watchful at all times. I don't buy it.

4. You may have missed the point?

5. That's a long time to apparently waste our time...

7. Maybe their opponents, being on their home turf, have far more capability than they do. Seems a crazy endeavor when you don't even know what you're facing on the other side. What general would start a campaign on that basis? Don't buy it.

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2. Who can give you a safeguard in a Nazi-type regime? You have to be watchful against coups at all times and trust no one. I don't buy it. There's no honor among thieves.

4. You may have missed the point? If even DJT can suborn a doctor, why can't Smith?

5. That's a long time to apparently waste our time...

7. Maybe their opponents, being on their home turf, have far more capability than they do. Seems a crazy endeavor when you don't even know what you're facing on the other side. What general would start a campaign on that basis? Don't buy it.

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2. well he knows his position is safe so thats enough.

4. The Nazis in the show doesnt seem even half as corrupt as the Trump administration when Smith have to personally clean up the mess himself.

7. Of course they wont go all out guns blazing , they would send their spies first to recon.

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I agree that we can assume that Himmler position is safe, I am sure he would have already killed off or arrested anyone that was a threat. It was easy to do, you could accuse someone of anything in Nazi Germany if you held the power. I doubt even when Himmler was RFSS he was that hands on to point of calling secret agents in the field. Being at the Year Zero event makes sense though, but it just seems they have Himmler in every scene that involves the American Reich portion of the show.

I might have missed something, what is the connection to Trump in the show? Or is this just general comparison. If Trump were truly like the Nazis he would be finding ways to change the constitution to give himself and his party more control. I get the Trump opposition but to compare a government that killed millions of people to a guy whose immigration or tax policies may not be one's liking seem a little stretch.

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1. I wondered about Juliana disguising herself too. Not so much spy vs. spy - dark glasses, hat, and coat - but something simple like a wig and eyeglasses. If they've got your picture and take a really close look at your face you're in trouble. The trick is to appear just different enough not to grab their attention in the first place. And they woudn't be looking for a long-haired blonde wearing eyeglasses.

2. Himmler is the FĂĽhrer. He can go wherever he wants, and everyone else will bend over backward to accommodate his traveling. Remember they've got those black and white CRT Skype units so he can confer with anyone important 24/7.

3. I think in this world Mengele just decided to go into physics rather than medicine.

4. I asked myself that same question. A combination of bribery and intimidation should be enough to get a negative result on a positive genetic test (I assume that's what the test is). One gathers from the way people talk about the Berlin elite getting a pass on rules others have to follow, that Smith wouldn't be the only one with a child they've finagled an exemption for.

5. Tamlyn Tomita's character is secondary. Her main importance to the story is how she affects Tagomi and his motivations.

6. Maybe Himmler doesn't have a problem with "black music" so after Hitler's death the restrictions against jazz were dropped. New leader, new policies.

7. Several other threads have discussed the machine and their plans for it. We don't really know what their intentions were in detail, except that they probably involved conquest of other worlds. Maybe they planned on invading only more primitive worlds. Places that for whatever reason were decades or centuries behind technologically - i.e. easy prey. Attacking at random would eventually be their undoing since sooner or later they'd piss off someone more advanced who could portal into their own world and crush them.

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1. Yes, exactly. Well said.

2. Remember when Khrushchev took all these extended trips and not much later got relieved of his position?

6. That would seem to directly contradict a main Nazi "superior race" tenet though.

7. Yes!

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I was just wondering why they only removed their weapons before the test, and not their "iron crosses", unless all the fancy medals are actually made of plastic. The same might go for other things like buckles, belts, etc.

Meanwhile, they easily could have killed everyone in the test chamber from the vent. Instead, someone's 'shoe squeeks'....

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yes they could but chances are they wont get out alive after that.

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Yes! I was thinking the same thing! I decided maybe below a certain volume of metal it didn't matter...

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Great list and excellent responses so far.

I would add:

8. Sixty eight year old Tagomi overpowers Himmler's half-his-age highly trained Lebensborn assassin Hans by way of brute strength until he lies on the floor unconscious.

Himmler's brown shirts seem pretty damn feeble and incompetent. Firearms at distance instead of hand-to-hand combat would guarantee the desired outcome there. But whatever, of course they can't have Tagomi die when he's central to the plot.

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Kinda like bad guys always having atrocious aim. Until the showrunners are ready to kill you off, you will always triumph over faceless assassins.

Hey, for all we know Tagomi was a badass special forces type with extensive martial arts training who once killed five men in a sushi bar with nothing but a napkin and a pair of chopsticks.

At least he didn't use the five point palm exploding heart technique. :)

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rofl! Indeed, it hasn't jumped the shark.

But who knew all Tagomi had to do was a few days of fine tuning his kata work in the yard to have the strength to punch a guy so hard in the face while being strangled that he lands flat on his back?

Maybe that's the true purpose of Tamlyn Tomita's character. He was able to pull it off because he was trying to show off. She served as his motivation. :0

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I think Tagomi killed him with his stick, otherwise we would have seen the JPS interrogating him when he regain consciousness.

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Undoubtedly he killed him with the stick to the face.

But pretty unbelievable how was able to overpower and incapacitate him to the point where he was able to grab the stick off the wall and slam him with it in the first place.

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Good one! I was thinking the same about Tagomi.

I blame Star Wars for the bad aim. Stormtroopers are in armor while the good guys have nothing, yet the troopers are always the ones who get shot and go down.

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