The Man in the High Castle 1.04 “Revelations”

It’s fitting that this episode of The Man in the High Castle is called “Revelations” because nearly every character in the show revealed something about themselves and their motives. In the true spirit of this show though, most of what we learn both brings catharsis and generates just as many questions to keep things interesting.

“Revelations” creates the best kind of conundrum because it answers some of the questions about its characters, but not all of them the unknowns make them complex and compelling people. Nobody symbolizes this better than Joe Blake (Luke Kleintank), who somehow manages to reveal a big secret, but still manages to keep his allegiances an open question. He keeps two secrets from Juliana (Alexa Davalos): that he is a Nazi agent and that he has a copy of the film. Joe reveals one of them in this episode under the most strenuous of circumstances. What’s confounding about Joe is that there are moments it’s a sure bet that he is going to abandon his duties due to his growing feelings for Juliana, but then a call to Obergruppenführer John Smith (Rufus Sewell) plants an equal sense of doubt. This plays out throughout the episode and his ambiguous loyalties become one of the great teases in this show.

One of the biggest sources of tension in this episode is the ongoing saga of Frank Frink (Rupert Evans) whose tragic circumstances have spurred desperate action. Frank seeks to inflict the same type of pain he felt after the death of his close family upon the nation of Japan by assassinating the crown prince during his visit to the Pacific States. Every one of his scenes is agonizing to watch just because his course of action appears inevitable. Rupert Evans kills it as the desperate man trying to find an outlet for his anger during a scene when he tries to find ammunition for his murder weapon at an antique shop in town. As with all the revelations in this episode though, even his story is not so cut and dry.

Ed McCarthy (DJ Qualls), one of Frank’s friends at the metal shop he works at, plays the voice of reason in this episode imploring him not to throw his life away. Ed is every bit the caring friend that is unwilling to see his friend die and It really is touching to see him remind Frank that Juliana still loves him. He even resorts to some rather extreme methods to try and prevent his assassination mission. When the moment of truth comes, there is just enough of a sliver of doubt about what exactly Frank is going to do that it is still tense.

The political machinations of Trade Minister Nobusuke Tagomi (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa) and Ambassador Hugo Reiss (Bernhard Forcher) had been the weakest element of this show up until this episode. They both served as a lens into the politics of this world and offer some perspective on the growing tension between Germany in Japan. Their plans and have been vague and hard to follow up till this point, but all of that changed in this episode as Reiss suddenly reveals information he wants to pass on that will change the entire political landscape. His presence in Japan and the risk both he and Tagomi are taking suddenly come into sharp focus as the episode suddenly turns into a period spy thriller.

This is the episode where all the pieces have settled into their places and we get to see how all these seemingly separate stories interlock. Up until this point, all the characters have been isolated from each other either in different locations or their motives. The links between Juliana and Joe, Frank Frink and Ambassador Tagomi have been weak but Revelations is a much needed turning point and change of pace. Now there is a sense that all the storylines are on a collision course and there’s a sure bet that it’ll be messy.