Over four seasons, Amazon Prime and one of the best stories brought to television these days. It is not mere entertainment, but also explores human nature behaviors that make people think about what is happening around the world right now.
This dystopia had a complicated narrative, where the Allies lost World War II and the Axis Powers declared themselves the winners. Moreover, the story also submerges into parallel universes, where the fate of humanity is different in each version. According to this premise and to what happened in the first seasons, it was challenging to offer the audience a satisfactory conclusion. The last episode managed to close some of the stories masterfully, while other ambiguous scenes left many questions unanswered that angered some fans.
We Loved: Childan's Fate
Until the last minute, Robert Childan was the unluckiest character in the series, but his future looked bright when he managed to find a way to go to Japan with his wife Yukiko. So, this antique collector finally achieved the happiness he had been looking for.
Childan lost his shop several times, and his life was at risk when Frank Frink constantly put him in increasingly difficult situations. After being beaten, kidnapped, and almost killed, he finally found the love of his life. Even though he knew that in Japan he would not have a good social status, he took a risk because of his love for Yukiko and his respect for Japanese culture.
We Didn't: Characters Who Didn't Return
The parallel worlds and the repetition of characters in them leaves the possibility open for some protagonists to jump between worlds. Some of those who died before the end were missed. Why couldn't a wise Tagomi return? or why couldn't Juliana get another Joe Blake, just as she found a good John Smith?
Why didn't the character return for season four? Frank Frink did.
We Loved: The Purgatory Of Kido
Takeshi Kido is the type of villain that everyone hates. This inspector committed the worst atrocities since the first episode and never seemed to regret it. Although viewers waited a long time for his death, this character seemed to have nine lives, because he always came out unscathed from every explosion or assassination attempt.
The character justified his actions as a means of achieving the permanence of the Japanese Empire on the west coast, but he felt guilty about the consequences on his son's life. Kido did not die, he had the cruelest fate, a dishonorable one. He couldn't return home, but instead ended up working for the Yakuza to pay off his son's debt.
We Didn't: A Disunited Country
The United States was already extremely divided in this alternative reality where the Nazis and the Japanese took control. The future, although it seemed hopeful, needed a lot of work, because the country was not the same after World War II. However, the individualistic thinking at the end did not please the viewers.
Instead of trying to work for a better future together as a society, some groups marked their distance and planned to establish their own independent states. While it is understandable to some who spent years suffering repression, in this version, history showed that individualistic actions led the world to succumb to the force of the Nazis.
We Loved: The Independence Of The American Reich
John Smith was powerful enough to break away from Berlin and put an end to a dark period in America's history. In the past, Whitcroft proposed this scenario to Smith, but the superb Reichsführer did not want to break his bonds with Nazism.
After his death, General Whitcroft distanced himself from Smith's actions and called off the attack on the West Coast. Although it was not explicitly narrated in the series, the independence of the east coast is presumed, after Whitcroft removed his iron cross.
We Loved: Helen's Sacrifice
Helen was one of the most hated characters during the first seasons because of her arrogant, calculating, and thoughtless personality, but after the death of her son Thomas, she falls into a spiral of misfortune that makes her reflect on her life and her role within an abusive political regime.
Helen redeemed herself with her last decision. Helen understood her role as an accomplice and, in an attempt to get rid of the guilt, she allied herself with Juliana Crain. She offered the of the resistance the exact location of her husband, but in a move of fate, she was trapped on this last trip with John and died in the ambush made by the rebels.
We Didn't: Juliana's New Romance
There are many things around Juliana that were unexplained. Why did she have visions? Why was she so important to the whole operation? or Why did she act differently from other characters? She remained true to her beliefs regardless of the world where she was and the chaos around her, but beyond that, little was explained about her.
Juliana also attracted many men, and after Joe Blake's death she seemed determined to be alone to avoid losing another person. That approach looked more logical to her, so a possible relationship with Wyatt Price did not convince the viewers, she did not need the happy ending, for her it was enough to help defeat the two forces that dominated her country.
We Didn't: The Open Ending
An open ending is excellent for many series, but the lack of explanation can infuriate many fans who dedicated long hours of their lives to the series. The audience didn't want to have to decipher everything. In this story it was necessary to clarify many things and not generate more questions.
An epilogue could have helped to shape the last ideas proposed in the series. Not giving all the answers in a premeditated way can be seen as a great move or an attempt to avoid offering a definitive ending, in The Man in the High Castle it doesn't seem to have been the best option, knowing that many of the arguments that the series held were never properly explained.
We Loved: The Death Of John Smith
John Smith's charisma turns him into one of those villains everyone loves to hate. His intelligence and the ability to be two steps ahead of everyone else made him a leading character in the series. He couldn't have any other ending but death, knowing that all the power he enjoyed did not help him in the end.
Helen's last words, before she died, broke him down, she reminded him how the John Smiths of other parallel worlds took better decisions and were better men than he was. His version was the worst, he became an obnoxious person who betrayed his friends and his country for a position of influence and comfort that, eventually, became nothing compared to what he had lost.
We Didn't: The Opening Between The Worlds
Although the opening of the portal and the arrival of the travelers was visually amazing, this fact generated many doubts. It was known that the door would remain open for free transit between the worlds, and its consequences are confusing to the fanatics who expect explanations. Travel to other worlds was always a part of the series, but more as a symbolic element, so adding a permanent open age at the end, without giving more information, bothered the fanatics.
Where did so many people come from? Did they know where they were going? Were other worlds doing the same investigations? Did they participate in the liberation of the country? The opening of the portal, with a good explanation, would have been incredible in previous episodes, but the hasty move to generate suspense did not convince the fans.