‘The Man in the High Castle’ Recap: ‘Happy Trails’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

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​One of life’s little joys, in my humble opinion, is when a television series you love, takes the time to reward you and all of its fans by giving you everything you could have asked for and more. Because it means that the series is ready to thank everyone who’s stuck with the journey thus far and that’s precisely what The Man in the High Castle is doing in its final season. Because every single-story present in this final adventure through this twisted world, is giving us answers or advancing the plot forward like never before and the next episode in this storied saga is no exception to this unexpected new rule.
 
For ‘Happy Trails’ allowed for some important moments to happen in this universe, the kind that moved everything forward, such as having Juliana Crane finally make a decision as to what she wants to do when it comes to the big fight at this point and thankfully, she made the right call. For after a brief visit to the Lincoln Memorial in our world, she decided it was high time to fight for what is just and true and transported herself back to her own world. Wherein we got to see the devastation in D.C. for the time in the series outside of the credits and this return also allowed for Juliana to begin to inspire others to live in a better world since she began to tell tales of the utopia she just came from when given the opportunity, and she made sure to emphasize the fact that the Nazis were long gone on our earth.
 
Plus, we were privy to some trouble and mystique brewing in the Japanese Pacific States. Because the Crown Princess felt the need to commission Admiral Inokuchi to begin off the books peace negotiations with the Black Communist Rebellion, all in the hopes of putting an end to the endless violence that was now plaguing the San Francisco area and while plans were put in motion to begin these talks, Kido stumbled upon something quite disturbing. Because he is still following top tier orders to investigate the death of Trade Minister Tagomi and it would seem that he may have stumbled upon an internal order/conspiracy to kill Tagomi since Captain Iijima more or less confessed to providing the shooter with the weapon in question, a moment that I have no doubt will receive bigger attention in later episodes.
 
But truly, John Smith’s journey turned out to be the genuine centerpiece of this particular tale since we came to learn that there is some serious trouble brewing in the Greater Nazi Reich. For the Führer sent his wife and the new Obergruppenfüherer to New York to size up and terrorize John and Helen before their dinner meeting, simply because it seems Himmler has concerns about their loyalty to the cause. A fact that he was happy to hammer home during said dinner and it would seem now that John is unsure how to proceed with his career as Reichsmarschall since every dig at the table and every request of Himmler made it seem as though, one single mistake would cost him his title and his life and at this point, he’s seems to believe, that the only way to achieve clarity… is to take a little vacation to our Earth and see how the other half lives.
 
To a certain degree however, I can see how some might view this episode as a semi transitional in nature as opposed to a tale that’s pushing the story forward. For there is a little bit of buildup to be found here. But I honestly believe that each one of these plot points carry some serious weight and implications, especially the surprise that Kido uncovered and it won’t be long before these moments explode into something more, and really seeing a plot like this makes me thankful that season one really is working to bring us an incredible experience and stories that waste no time and well, I am definitely ready for more. So, if you’ll excuse me, I’m headed back to this terrible universe once again to bring myself one step closer to seeing how this mess is going to end. Until next time. 

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