What I’m Watching: The Man in the High Castle (Season Premiere)

The Man in the High Castle: Season 3, Episode 1 “Now More Than Ever, We Care About You” (B)

I’m only about a week behind getting started on this show, which is much better than the rest of the streaming fare that I’ll be making my way through for the next few months. I’ve found this show to be an enormous disappointment thus far, and it only finally started getting good at the end of last season. This start is half-promising, with some of the same slow pacing but other worthwhile developments to indicate that there is more enticing stuff coming up. Joe made a hard choice to take his father out so that he could be released, and he doesn’t appear to be behaving any better than he did before now that he’s officially back in the good graces of Smith and everyone else in the Reich. Nicole is making her own power moves, and threatening to kill a cameraman if he doesn’t film the right shot has considerably more weight in this world than it does in ours. Speaking of that, Trudy being around makes Juliana far more positive, and she’s made herself a new contact and love interest in the form of Wyatt, played by the dependable Jason O’Mara, whose most recent TV appearance on “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” followed a handful of lead roles that didn’t work out. The ceremony for Thomas was unsettling in a number of ways, and it’s hard to figure out how it’s going to set both John and Helen on a different path going forward. The Kempetai continues to use firing squads, another disturbing element of this universe, and as Tagomi cements his role, Inspector Kido is staying focused too. It’s not all too surprising to see J. Edgar Hoover, played by William Forsythe, in this universe, still tracking down secrets but in a far more gossipy way than as head of the FBI. I’m hopeful for a more even and engaging season - it’s taken long enough to get here.