There’s always been an air of mystery surrounding the films in The Man in the High Castle and it only deepens when Joe Blake (Luke Kleintank) and Juliana Crane (Alexa Davalos) finally watch the second film. The assumption throughout is that they are just propaganda that shows the audience’s reality. The final episode, titled “The Way Out,” reveals that there is more to it than that.
The secret Joe has been hiding all series long comes to light in shocking fashion. It’s through the film we see the future, though not the idyllic one that Juliana saw when she saw the first film. This one is a dark and grim future where the atomic bomb dropped on San Francisco and Joe clad in a Nazi uniform promptly executes Frank Frink (Rupert Evans). It’s at this point the audience is left to wonder just what the heck these films are because they represent so many different things at this point.
To Joe acquiring the films is a matter of life or death. What he saw in them early in the series was simply soviet propaganda, false hope that has no real bearing on reality. Early on, Juliana saw hope for another future in the films. That optimism is what set her on this path in the first place and the films now mean something different to her. The films become a catalyst for change but in a different way. The truth about Joe and the rotten future she saw is what allows her to accept the world she lives in and value the people around her. It’s validation of Frank’s point of view of simply surviving in any way possible.
The power of these films also doesn’t lay in what is shown. In fact, the show goes out of its way to explode the myth that anything in them is the absolute truth. Even though Joe does not believe the films show any sort of alternate future, it’s through Juliana and her optimism about a better future that ultimately changes him. He is inclined to protect her and that ideal over his duties. It’s clear just how much he changed when Juliana is forced to decide whether Joe lives or dies.
Frank and Juliana secure a way out of the Pacific States through the resistance, but the catch is they have to help them kill Joe. When the moment of truth comes, it becomes a referendum of sorts on her feelings about the films. To kill him validates the truth in them and to let him go is a show of faith in the ability for people to change.
Obergruppenführer John Smith (Rufus Sewell) and Reinhard Heydrich (Ray Proscia) have their long awaited confrontation in the woods. Heydrich is sure enough that Robert Wegener (Carsten Norgaard) will kill Hitler that he issues an ultimatum to Smith — join his faction or die. It’s a test of his loyalty to Hitler and the faction that wants to maintain peace. In the end, the fate of two nations rests on whether Wegener kills Hitler or not and even that moment the films play a role.
It’s curious that Hitler would soften his views on war and the expansion of his empire, but the fact that he has a rather large collection of the films and watches them continuously explains a lot. When Wegener confronts Hitler, he’s watching footage of the fall of Nazi Germany. Viewing this alternate history had an impact on him and perhaps explains why he’s adopted a less hardline stance over the years.
Those indirectly impacted by the film also find some resolution — one tragic and the other a sense of relief. Inspector Kido (Joel de la Fuente) is prepared to die rather than reveal the truth about who shot the Crown Prince. Without a suspect for the assassination in custody, honor demands that he commit seppuku. This leads to a poignant scene between him and Trade Minister Nobusuke Tagomi (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa) where both men acknowledge their efforts to preserve the empire of Japan. Kido’s life is ultimately spared when Ed McCarthy (DJ Qualls) appears to make the ultimate sacrifices. Ed botches his attempt to dispose of the gun and instead decides to take the fall for Frank and admit to assassinating the Crown Prince. It’s a convenient lie that will save both Frank and Kido, but also sad that one of the nicest characters in the show has to pay the price.
The Man in the High Castle ultimately ends with the focus right where it began — on the films. Their impact on all the characters and the history of this world shows up in unexpected ways. What’s shown in them is not necessarily the truth, but another version of it and how viewing that truth shapes the person seeing it is what changes the world in this show.