What I’m Watching: The Man in the High Castle

The Man in the High Castle: Season 2, Episode 7 “Land O’ Smiles” (B)

Opening this episode with Frank reading in very forced Hebrew from the Haggadah during a Passover seder with his family felt like a strange place to start, and after seeing the episode I think that it was there only to allow him to come up with the idea to put a plague on the pharaohs (and utter that line). Frank’s debate with his new ally Sarah was interesting because it showed what it’s really like to be associated either with a religious or ethnic group in this world. Frank spotting the radiation on the buses was awfully convenient, and now with the Yakuza threat gone, he can focus fully on his activities with the resistance. I didn’t comment when he showed up earlier this season, but I’m very pleased with the casting of Michael Hogan from “Battlestar Galactica” as a former reverend whose faith has been very much lost. Frank and Ed are best buds now after Ed swooped in with that intense story about Abraham Lincoln to convince the buyer that he shouldn’t walk away, and then the timing couldn’t have been any better for their visit with the Yakuza. I was surprised that Kido just pulled out his gun and started executing all of the Yakuza, and he just got in trouble for not filling General Onada in and watching too many Western movies. In New York, it was unsettling to see the Nazi Queen Bees preparing a giant swastika flower arrangement. John delivered an intense eulogy for the man he killed, and though the doctor’s wife is hysterical, I don’t think she’s truly suspicious. The Smiths are lucky that Juliana was the one who saw Thomas spasm, but they have bigger things to worry about now that Hitler’s health is in serious jeopardy.