There are a lot of things that The Man in the High Castle manages to get right every single episode that I settle in to watch it. It's characters are rich and engrossing, the world we are transported to is terrifying and haunting all at the same time and here and there the show will take the time to challenge your comfort zone by ripping you out of it when you least expect it. 

The destruction of that mental comfort zone is exactly what the show managed to pull off in its sixth episode, by taking us deep inside the world of the Greater Nazi Reich and giving us a different glimpse of American life under the thumb of Adolf Hitler and well...I have to admit this particular episode left me squirming in my seat, simply for the fact that I was unprepared to see a world that oddly enough resembled our own 1962, just with a lot more Swastikas floating about, but it was all part of the show if you will, another brilliant stroke of storytelling designed to remind you how messed up this alternate world really is.

Now our glimpse of this disturbing little world comes courtesy of Joe's visit to Obergruppenführer John Smith's house for VA Day, which is essentially the Fourth of July for the Greater Nazi Reich as they celebrate Victory in America Day; complete with BBQ's and the like and even a little hint of baseball, a sport essentially forgotten now in the GNR, and even a lovely speech from Hitler himself on television about how the world has changed since the Reich won the war, and that's the stuff that leaves you uncomfortable. In a way it appears that the world never changed under Nazi rule and people go about their lives in the suburbs, but that's the trick right there. This kind of privilege is only reserved for the Reich's elite, and while they enjoy this slice of twisted Normal Rockwell Americana, the rest of the GNR is subjected to daily doses of fear.  

But outside of setting up a creepy and disturbing ambiance, there was quite the juicy plot revolving around the VA Day Celebration at the Smith Residence when John asks Joe to join him in picking up Helen's mother at the airport. But alas, her flight is delayed and they just so happen to run into Rudolph Wegener on his way back to Berlin and as luck would have it, his flight is also delayed so he's invited back to John's place for dinner and that's when things get quite interesting. It turns out dinner is a cat and mouse game between John and Rudolph as we discover they are not only old buddies, but John is clearly suspicious of what his friend was doing in San Francisco. He knows Rudolph is lying to him, he simply has no idea what to do about it and actually asks Joe for advice and well...Joe's advice is simple, have Rudolph arrested for treason, and John follows through with Joe's advice. 

While VA Day ends in that manner at the Smith residence, Juliana is surprisingly offered a job by Trade Minister Tagomi. It's a simple gig. Be a smiling face in the office, bring water and drinks to those as needed, nothing special. But she knows it's her chance to find the mystery man Karen told her about and she begins to snoop around to find him, but finds nothing. In the meantime she tries her best to repair her fractured relationship with Frank, something that will certainly take time. 

Frank has a few things to deal with this episode as well, primarily his grief over his family being gone, something his new friend from the funeral helps with him since it turns out he's Jewish and helps say a prayer for the fallen Frinks and his other problem this go round is that the Kempeitai are curious about the weapon fired at the Crown Prince and take a few moments to speak with Robert Childan about his antiques store and the fake man who bought the bullets, leading to a brief confrontation between the two men. But the ending of the episode is where things really managed to entertain. For Juliana eventually figures out that the name she was given is not a name, but a room and it turns out in this place they monitor for the Resistance and the man in charge, is her stepfather Arnold and as for Joe...well his curiosity about a file that John brought home labeled "Grasshopper" leads him to break into the Obergruppenführer's study in the middle of the night to read it, only to discover it's blank inside placed there as a trap, for mere moments after he opens the file, the lights go on and John Smith is standing in the doorway to greet Joe.

So suffice it to say, I freaking loved this episode. It was simply fascinating through and through. From the grand world of the Greater Nazi Reich, to discovering how many Americans are willing to spy on their own people, this was quite the turning point in the series. Gone forever is the simple struggle between good and evil, it's clear this is a world that has adapted to the hand it has been dealt and now people do whatever they have to go get by. But really, the whole plot line at the Smith residence was the highlight of this episode. It was nice to finally get to know John and what kind of man he really is and I'm sure this careful look into his life will no doubt come into play later on because this series does not waste a single moment of its storytelling. But all of that aside, it should be interesting to see what happens with Juliana and her step dad now that she knows his secret...

It's been a little while since we've seen a brand new episode of Limitless and quite frankly I was starting to miss it. This really is a fun and different show so imagine the joy in my household when I was checking the channels for something to watch last night and found that Brian Finch was back for the Limitless winter finale and what a finale it turned out to be.

Now the show has been dark before, but last night it decided to end the first half of its freshman season with an ugly, ugly bang and it did it in creative fashion, by giving us a grand look at the people around Brian for a change and putting the drug that has caused so much good and so much sorrow on the show, NZT, at the center of this episode's plot line. Now the episode wasn't completely a downer, we did get plenty of hilarious moments with an in depth look at Mike and Ike's life during those handful of moments when they don't deal with Brian, and we even got to see the dispensary that gets the boys Brian's pills.

That's where things got interesting real quick since one day when Mike and Ike go to pick the pill up, they find the place has been broken into and in the process of stopping the robbery, Ike is wounded and 6,000 NZT pills go missing. Naturally Brian is on the case and while he works on that, we got the inside look into Rebecca's life, as she tried to work up the courage to break up with Casey to no avail and to make things tougher on her, she heads off to Michigan with Casey to retrieve the pills based on Brian's intel. The mission goes off without a hitch, minus the 80 NZT pills that go missing from the CJC upon everyone's return. It turns out that one of Casey's men swiped them because why not? And Casey tries to talk them out of taking it...until Rebecca breaks up with him via text. 

Distraught and broken, Casey and the team get the alcohol flowing and pop NZT and pseudo live out their dreams during the night of their lives...until the next morning when it turns out one of Casey's men discovered another coworker had slept with his wife and upon confronting him...choked the life out of him. Casey uses NZT to try and think his way out of it but Brian catches on to the fact he's using the drug, which puts the CJC on lockdown and forces Casey to resort to desperate measures as he takes Rebecca and Brian hostage before trying to escape the building with tear gas and all. But Brian texts Agent Boyle who helps subdue Casey's team...and in the middle of a standoff, where Casey is holding a gun to Brian's head, Boyle makes the decision to put Casey down. 

It was...an incredibly unexpected plot twist to say the least. Casey seemed like a better man than this and quite frankly, his taking of NZT and being so...malicious once again leaves me wondering if the drug brings out the core of who you are regardless of your IQ. But either way, this was quite the intense midseason finale, I didn't see Casey's death or downward spiral coming and despite the dark and dreary ending it gave that character it still continued to surprise by giving us a look at Boyle's tough life outside of the FBI and I'm certain the NZT pill he found beneath his desk will come into play in the spring, I just hope he doesn't take it because he's one of the true good guys out there. Oh, and I also love the fact we finally found out Ike's real name was Jason and that he recovered from his injuries with no problem. But, just like that, Limitless is gone once again and I'll be waiting patiently for the next episode. After all, we still have a lot of unanswered questions, and we still haven't completely dealt with the mystery of Eddie Morra. Until then.

I'm a sucker for consequences when it comes to storytelling. I expect our characters to deal with their decisions and be thoroughly challenged by them and to me, that's what what separates a good story from a great one. It's something that is front and center when it comes to The Man in the High Castle and their decision to make sure that element is present in this series' structure is one of many reasons I was hooked and the fifth episode, "The New Normal" brought forth this all important element in fantastic fashion and the end result was stunning and actually...incredibly dark.

The odd thing is, this episode didn't throw any major shockers our way, it was simply the atmosphere of the episode and well...the resulting consequences for our characters for their actions over the last few days in the story. But perhaps a great example of how bleak this particular part of the tale was going to be came from the opening of the story as the Kempeitai begin their hunt for the party who shot the Crown Prince and in the process we are witness to the disgraced personal guard of the Prince committing suicide by way of the ancient art of Seppuku. It set the tone and things only went into uglier places upon Juliana's return to San Francisco, but more on that later. 

Because before we get into Juliana's journey this go round, we have to talk about Joe's return to New York City. There was no ticker tape parade for his work, or even a thank you for that matter, just the sheer terror of being kidnapped by the SS and placed before the Obergruppenführer and one of his top Lieutenants for what is supposedly a debriefing, but let's be honest, it was interrogation and not a second of it was comfortable. After spending four episodes with Joe and Juliana in the Neutral Zone you find yourself with a soft spot for this plucky and potential hero and seeing Smith rip into him over his experiences was unsettling to say the least, even more so when you realize that the Nazi Regime has no qualms coming after its own. 

But while Joe tries to save face in front of Smith, who declares his mission a failure, yet still invites him over to dinner for VA (Victory in America) Day, Juliana tries to put the pieces back together. There is no romantic dinner or declaration from Frank of his love for her and how he needs her when she returns home...just a rift between the two of them. After all, they've been through hell, more so Frank who has to deal with the shallow joke of a memorial for his sister and kids and in the process he manages to meet a unique stranger.  

But while Frank deals with his emotional trauma, Juliana finds herself compelled to learn more about the Resistance and why her sister joined up, so after finally speaking with the Kempeitai she looks for the man who gave her the film at the bus station and meets Karen from the Resistance, who if you recall tried and failed to recruit Frank shortly after Juliana left, and she lets Juliana know that if she wants answers, she will have to infiltrate the Japanese government building as an employee, since they believe something of merit is hiding within its walls. She decides to go for it and it is a decision she quickly regrets when it turns out the man in Personnel likes sexual favors from those he employs and on her way out, without a job of course she runs into Trade Minister Tagomi and leaves behind the necklace Frank made for her, one of the few clues in existence that Frank was ever remotely near the assassination attempt on the Crown Prince.

If anything, this was truly a filler episode through and through simply because the plot doesn't advance a whole lot and that's not a bad thing. This was an episode designed to let the audience catch their breath and let's be honest, we needed it. The first four episodes of this show were a runaway freight train and a this was indeed a welcome break...that is until the darkness settled in. I think what took me aback about this particular part of the story is the fact that in a way, nothing was accomplished in the prior episodes when you think about it. Despite the heroism and thrust toward hope, both Joe and Juliana come home to the same old, same old. Oppression, fear and a life that is barely worth living. It hit me right then that the show is trying to take us through what the characters truly experience and in a way...rob us of the hope that we felt just a short time ago. This one was incredibly bleak, and I truly enjoyed every single second of it because it's so rare when a story challenges a viewer in this manner and it makes me wonder...just how much more difficult will Juliana and Joe's journey get? Time will tell. Until next time.

I think what I am enjoying most about The Man in the High Castle is that the show finds new ways every single week to captivate its audience and draw them deeper into this fascinating story and world. It pulls this feat off in the simplest of fashion, by wasting nothing story wise and by bringing up new questions and mysteries to keep our minds churning with possibilities.

I'm fairly certain this has been going on since I started watching the show, but it was never more evident than it was during the fourth episode since this particular portion of the story was filled to the brim with intrigue and mystery and thankfully a quick and satisfying resolution to that nasty little cliffhanger the last episode left us with, as Juliana was doing her best to escape the clutches of the Marshal.  In fact that's where we picked up, moments after episode three faded to black as Juliana works to stay one step ahead of the bounty hunter in the darkness of an abandoned building from the Marshal, only to find herself out of options and thankfully Joe swoops in to save her from the Marshal's ruthless clutches in the nick of time. 

There is of course more grand discussion about getting out of Canon City as quickly as possible before the crazed bounty hunter comes to, but Juliana is having none of it. She wants answers, and she knows that the only way to get them is to speak with her boss at the diner, Lem. Of course once she and Joe get to Lem's place he is less than happy to see them, drawing a shotgun on both of them but Juliana is quick to lay everything on the line, including the list of names with his on it and of course, mention of the fact she is carrying the film and that she knows he is working for the Resistance. It leads to her getting a big time meeting with the Man in the High Castle, that goes terribly wrong. For the all important MIHC doesn't show up at all at the meeting because Lem knows that Joe is a Nazi Agent and in a sign of good faith, Joe hands over his copy of the film after Juliana does and they are left on their own as Lem and a small group of rebels disappear with both films in hand. 

To make matters worse they still have to deal with the Marshal, and after a calculated plan to escape his clutches Juliana still wants to stay in Canon City and get some answers...that is until a call home gets her on the first bus back to San Francisco, leaving Joe behind and with good reason...Frank's story is equally as harrowing a tale. Still filled to the brim with fury, Frank has decided it's high time to teach the Japanese forces a lesson and kill their esteemed prince during his speech. It leads him on a hunt to buy rare bullets, an act that should have put him back in a cell if it were not for a little sympathy and clever book keeping from the dealer that provides him with the ammo.

Heck even Ed tries to stack the deck against him once he discovers the plan and even manages to accidentally shoot Frank, but nothing will stop him it seems and he goes down to the Nazi Embassy to go through with the whole thing...but hesitation settles in and by surprise...someone else shoots the Prince. Foiling Trade Minister Tagomi's plan for Wegener to get the all important secret information to his contact and to top it all off, a few people saw Frank with the gun in hand, so no doubt there's a chance he will now be a marked man as the authorities begin their hunt for the gunman that brought down the prince. 

So as I said before, this is an episode filled with intrigue, specifically over a few key plot points. For one, what the hell is the resistance all about? The film is clearly important but the organization itself seems so mysterious and well, it's hard to know what kind of fight they are actually putting up against the Nazis since they keep everything so close to the chest. Second to that, who the heck killed the Prince? We know it wasn't Frank, but someone pulled the trigger and it's a big deal because it shows a sign of weakness in the Empire, something the Nazi regime will be happy to prey upon and last but certainly not least...what will happen to Joe now? He essentially failed in his mission since he learned nothing about the Resistance and it's clear now his loyalties seem to lie toward freedom and we learned in this episode, the Obergruppenführer is not a fan of failure. All those questions simply make the show all the more magical, since every plot line resolved brings forth something new and exciting and I have to know how this ends...until next time. 

Do you  guys ever just get overwhelmed with life, and suddenly you’re like “what even”? I do, often as of late, so one of my ‘go to’ things to escape is TV. I have to genuinely admit that I am not even sure how this show happened into my life, other than the YouTube factor. 

If you’re familiar with College Humor than you probably already know about Adam Ruins Everything. Apparently this is now a full half hour show on TruTV and…..I may have binge watched every episode ever, except for this weeks.
If you’re a nerd and a geek and like facts and knowing stuff, this is the show for you. It kind of reminds me of a Nerd Nite moment, and I think that is utterly fantastic. The whole point of it being that Adam ‘ruins’ things by giving us actual facts and statistics that we otherwise wouldn’t know. I say we, because, well, guys, I didn’t even know a lot of this stuff. 

Like the fact that mouth wash started out as a floor cleaner, or that restaurants in America cut wages and caused customers to tip because prohibition devastated profits for their business. Literally, we tip today because back in the day, owners couldn’t afford to keep paying their staff. Back then, tipping was considered a bribe and no decent waiter would accept such a thing. Now, well, the practice of tipping is bigger than ever.
 
The various episodes cover an array of topics, and to make it better, there are still some shorts on the College Humor YouTube channel. I can see why this show happened. To say I’m hooked, amused, and impressed, well that’s a bit of an understatement. I really have been enjoying it though. Which, you know, I had to tell you guys. Now go! Watch! And then come back so we can talk about it…