‘The Man in the High Castle’ Recap: ‘Fire from the Gods’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

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While a great many elements go into making a story worth our while, I think we can all agree upon the fact, that how a particular tale comes to a close is what matters to all of us the most. For the ending is our final impression and memory of a story, and if it fails miserably, everything that came before it is forgotten and discarded, regardless of quality. Which is why I think we approach the final book in a series, or a series finale of a show or closing chapter of a film with trepidation and low expectations, so we minimize the potential for disappointment. But sometimes you get the funny feeling that you’re going to be treated to something special when you arrive at that all-important final chapter. Where it seems as though something incredible is about to unfold, and that’s precisely how I felt settling in to watch the series finale of The Man in the High Castle.
 
Because it really did seem like this final season of the series had finally figured out how to bring this sweeping saga to a close in appropriate and logical fashion and ‘Fire from the Gods’ confirmed this fact. For the closing chapter in a harrowing four-year saga didn’t rush to the end and give the audience a cop out ending in the slightest. Instead this one bought everything to an organic and natural resolution, one that focused heavily on a pair of characters that had yet to properly grow or choose sides for that matter in John and Helen Smith. After all, these two have been waffling between living the ‘good life’ that the Reich provides while trying to wrap their heads around the atrocities they support, and that conflict allowed for everything to come to a head in this tale in an impressive and outright unique fashion.
 
For at first, it really seemed as though John Smith was going the extra mile to potentially put an end to the Reich in America and move the country in a new, less terrifying direction. And after everything he’s experienced this season, a happy ending for John would have been welcome and satisfying to see on screen. But instead his ascension to Reichsführer allowed for him to embrace his cowardice further. For at no point did he order a different path for the nation, he instead stuck to the plan to invade the West Coast in swift and furious fashion, and he had no qualms with letting the Reich’s twisted desire to keep the nation ‘pure’, come to fruition since concentration camps were going to be erected as well, something Helen discovered during another search of her husband’s office. Which meant the Pacific States were facing a horrifying fate, complete with a fight they would never win, which meant that someone needed to step up and play the hero.

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As it turns out, that person was Helen. For after her daughter saw a broadcast from the Pacific States, wherein the BCR implored everyone to stand up as they did and push the Reich back across the ocean, she had an honest talk with her mother about what was coming for the West Coast and what already happened in the GNR and being forced to face such atrocities shattered Helen to her core, and she finally did the right thing. For she called Juliana and let her know what time John would be on the bullet train to the Poconos facility and unfortunately for Helen, she found herself on that train as well. Not because John was aware of the treachery heading his way, but because he wanted her to come with him to the Earth where their son was alive, so they could kidnap him and bring him to the Reich and that… was the last straw for her. Because she couldn’t stand the thought of an alternate version of her son being forced to live in a world such as this and she quickly confronted her husband for his cowardice, and for ordering the deaths of so many and she fully admitted to the fact that she sold him out to the Rebels in order to put an end to this madness mere moments before the assault began, and that final battle is what set this story up for its satisfying conclusion.
 
For eventually, John Smith found himself in the woods, alone and afraid and with his wife gone forever, thanks to the train crash that the rebels helped to create. And as he bled, and shivered with fear he finally was able to take inventory of his mistakes and his life and in his final moments with Juliana, he spoke to the irony of his path in this world while other John’s on other Earths made better decisions, before taking his own life, and just like that, the Greater Nazi Reich came to its end. Because Bill immediately seized control of the GNR and seemingly denounced Nazi ideology by abandoning his swastika and cancelling the invasion of the West Coast, implying that a cold war between the Reich and whatever America was about to become was underway. And seeing this nation back on a hopefully better path, one free from Fascism was wonderful and satisfying and you can’t ask for a better ending than that in a world this messy.
 
In the end, my only complaint when it comes to this finale, are its strange final moments. Because the whole permanent opening of the portal didn’t really make any sense, nor was it explained in the slightest. It just… happened and that’s that I suppose. But it’s a mistake that I can forgive, because everything that came before it was exactly what the audience wanted. For tyranny fell, and heroism and good prevailed and this world finally gets its second chance and I’m good with that, and well… that’s it, ladies and gents. We’ve come to the end of this wild story, one that captivated us like never before and one that shocked and stunned us on a regular basis, and it is strange to know that this is the last time we will be discussing this harrowing tale. But every story has its end and it’s a wonderful thing that we were treated to the satisfying conclusion of a tale, that rarely offered us any measure of joy.

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