'The Man in the High Castle' Season 4 Episode 1 throws us back into the alternate reality as the results of war become evident
Major spoilers for season 4 episode 1 of 'The Man in the High Castle' titled 'Hexagram 64'
Season 4 of 'The Man in the High Castle' has been long anticipated. The concluding season of the Amazon Prime original, it puts to rest the story of a turbulent world unlike ours - a world where the Allied powers lost the World War leading to the German Reich and Imperial Japanese rise of power.
But after decades of the Axis in power, a resistance is also the rise. A resistance ferociously fighting fascism.
Season 4 of 'The Man in the High Castle' picks up right at the end of season 3.
In the finale of season 3 'Jahr Null', the Greater Nazi Reich (GNR) is gearing up for 'Year Zero' - the year that the new generation of Nazi Germans will take over. After the GNR has destroyed American icons such as the Statue of Liberty and the Liberty Bell, "the American Reich enters a bold new era". The Nazi Youth get on the streets screaming "Blood and Soil" to reclaim the roads of an America strangled in the clutches of fascism. But with the shooting of the new Führer Heinrich Himmler (Kenneth Tigar), the resistance geared up to turn into a full-scale revolution.
Elsewhere deep inside the Lackawanna Coal Mine in the Poconos of Pennsylvania in Nazi America, Juliana (Alexa Davalos) is taken captive by Reichsmarshall John Smith (Rufus Sewell) when her snooping in the Die Nebenwelt project goes downhill. Just as Juliana is attempting to escape the prison to another world, Smith manages to shoot her. And, in season 4, an injured Juliana stumbles in front of John Smith's car in an Alternate America where the Axis lost the war.
The story of season 4 picks up a year after this.
In the Japanese Pacific States, Tagomi (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa) is assassinated by two men on a bike. And so, even with their hands full with the war in China, the Japanese hunt for Tagomi's killers - their prime suspects are Black Communist Rebellion (BCR).
Breaking the treaty with the Japanese Pacific States and to crush the Wyatt Price's (Jason O'Mara) Rebellion, the Greater Nazi Reich under Smith's orders begins an incursion into Denver in the Neutral Zone. In the first episode, we get a glimpse of the ruthless Nazi war tactics from the use of heavy-duty tankers for Blitzkrieg to air raids.
The Black Communist Rebellion is on the rise following the leader and founder of the movement, Equiano Hampton - their fight is with the Japanese. But it is not the BCR that is responsible for Tagomi's assassination. With Wyatt's army now without any arms and ammunition, they turn to the BCR to supply them with the arms. And Lem (Rick Worthy) is set to fix a meeting with the BCR.
In the Alternate America that Juliana is transported to, she lives in Bailey's Crossroads in Virginia teaching Aikido. She shares a decent rapport with Alt-Thomas (Quinn Lord) and Alt-Helen Smith (Chelah Horsdal), but a rather undulating one with Alt-John. But even as Alt-John appears to be just another normal fella, Reichsmarshall John Smith is anything but. After Helen moves to the Neutral Zone with her daughters, she refuses to come back to the GNR despite Smith's repeated persuasion. But in the first episode of season 4, he comes to claim his daughters and take them back home to GNR.
Meanwhile, Juliana is trying to figure out the meaning behind the Hexagram 64 that she continues to envision. "Not yet complete," she repeats but cannot fathom what it means - what is not complete?
Episode 1 of season 4 of 'The Man in the High Castle' throws us back into the chaos that is the alternate reality of the Allied Powers losing the war. Showing us the terrifying alternate reality of the world, the episode drives home the fact that war only breaks families apart - eventually ripping out humanity
All ten episodes of season 4 of 'The Man in the High Castle' are currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.