A big part of the enjoyment of The Man In The High Castle is the mystery of what the films mean and why everyone wants them. Although the five episodes of season two reviewed for this article do not answer that question fully, the importance of the films’ contents is made more clear, especially with the appearance of the man in charge himself, played with mysterious intensity by Stephen Root. Juliana’s brief visit to him both increases her value to her enemies and sets her on her new mission, this time in Nazi-occupied New York, which is completely foreign to her: a nice twist for Alexa Davalos’ character. Her new mission is based on the smallest of details and puts her in a huge amount of danger, but that’s where this series lives; everyone’s always grasping at straws to survive and find a better life. Frank Frink (Rupert Evans) and his self-sacrificing friend Ed McCarthy (DJ Qualls) claw their way back from the aftermath of the Crown Prince’s assassination to connect with the resistance, for example, but find themselves beholden to the Yakuza as a result: not an easy place to be. Another favourite character that hasn’t changed much is Trade Minister Nobusuke Tagomi (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa), whom viewers last saw using meditation to pass between alternate worlds into our own, more familiar history. This mystical ability is beautifully downplayed as a side effect of Tagomi’s spirituality, and his overwhelming sadness and deep sense of conscience among unprincipled colleagues makes him eminently interesting as a character. This season, Tagomi finds new purpose as he continues to visit and explore our version of history, encountering doppelgängers of people he knows from his past. If only the resistance knew they could get information about the United States that won World War II from Tagomi firsthand instead of relying on films! But besides Abendsen, as the man in the high castle is known, many of the resistance fighters this season are bent on survival and inflicting maximum damage on the enemy, including Callum Keith Rennie’s and Cara Mitsuko’s characters, who bring a more militant sensibility to the underground movement this season, to great effect. Meanwhile, Joe Blake, who got Juliana into so much trouble by running off to Mexico in her place with the film at the end of last season, is on a completely different quest in season two. In seeking to become a better person, he tries to settle into his life with Rita in New York only to have his life upended by a surprise invitation. The discoveries Joe makes about his past in the first five episodes add crucial depth to the show’s post-war history and unfurl a tragic back story for the character. Even Inspector Kido of the Kempeitai, who narrowly avoided having to commit seppuku in the season one finale, gets some added development this season. As he and Tagomi work to contain a ruthless general who has a cavalier attitude towards American lives, Kido’s quest to discover more about the man in the high castle and his films becomes more complex this year, and viewers will find themselves warming up to this character, who was so despised before.
