Man in the High Castle: The Conclusion Commences

The final season of Amazon's "The Man in the High Castle" is scheduled for Nov 15. Where it takes Philip K. Dick's concept in these concluding throes is yet to be seen (unless one is some lofty critic who's gotten an advanced view), but based on its previous chapters, a fitting finale looks likely.

With that said, (and pardon me for sounding like a broken record), I still find it troubling that some viewers overlook the series' reverberating point. They claim to cringe at the show's parallel-history depiction (the idea that Germany and Japan won WWII), and yet accept (vote for, time and again) the stifling confines that unfold along the enemies' lines: the destruction of freedom in the name of suffocating, government control. 

Freedom is a precious, if not flawed, but despite its endless hills and dales, it's worth sustaining. "Man in the High Castle" has driven this notion home with its absorbing allegory and chilling subplots, as Rebels and Reich do the freedom tug of war in succinct ways. (Oh,  how the current "Star Wars" string could pull from this saga's focus.) 

To ensure its profound execution, Season 5 reintroduces us to Alexa Davalos as Juliana Crain; Cary-Hiroyuki Taggawa as Tagomi (though perhaps more in memory than the long haul, if rumors are true), Joel de La Fuente as Inspector Kido; Brennan Brown as Robert Childan; Chelah Horsdal as Helen Smith; Rufus Sewell as the tenacious and lethal (at least in one troubling realm) John Smith; and of course, Stephen Root as the Man in the High Castle.

The ensemble has made this uncanny adventure identifiable, disturbing and deserving of awards it hasn't received, but its adapters also deserve applause for adhering to Dick's mythology and subsequent warning, with colliding memories to savor and contemplate. (Nothing ever just comes and goes in this saga without there being infinite ripples.)

I desired more than four seasons for "Man in the High Castle", but there's nothing wrong with ditching the run while one is ahead. The series' meaning will prevail beyond its departure, in spite of those who've watched yet choose not to see.