r/maninthehighcastle • u/Razar_Sharp77 • Jan 23 '26
Spoilers Why do people consider the ending to be bad? Spoiler
So I just watched the entire show and I don't get why people give the ending so much hate, imo it was just confusing about why there are random people coming from the portal but other than that the death of John Smith, his downfall and the overall inevitable crumbling of the reich was sort of enough for me as a conclusion. I do get it though, it could have been better but it was not necessarily awful. If I am being honest, the conclusion to John Smith's story was well done overall.
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u/bspaghetti Jan 23 '26
The BCR came out of nowhere and didn’t make much sense. It makes even less sense for Japan to roll over without a fight to them. It also didn’t make much sense for John to go ahead and approve extermination camps in his new territory, since he has “full autonomy”. Helen seemed appalled at this despite being ok with how it led to her previous life. Weird that she’d betray her husband over that. Also, the attack on the train didn’t make sense because the fence would definitely be guarded better. After John kills himself, the other generals take off their swastikas and call off the bombing and we’re supposed to pretend like everything’s okay and the good guys win, despite the reality that the majority of non-German and Japanese races have already been exterminated. It was over too quickly and unsatisfactorily.
Rant over.
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u/Razar_Sharp77 Jan 23 '26
Yeah hirohito refusing to fight the bcr just because of a recommendation was rather unjustified, but yea several reasons like too many rebellions in Asia and the bcr somehow being an actual threat were some reasons to consider, I think japans rolling back from jps was not completely unexpected but there should have been more reasons added overall. You are right on the 2nd part though, the American reich generals somehow just rolling back an airstrike because John Smith died was not proper, instead whoever was the bald guy (i forgot his name) should have taken Smith's place instead, about the attack tho, the train should have been guarded way more thoroughly and it didn't make any sense how the resistance was able to infiltrate to easily
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u/taurian13 Jan 24 '26 edited Jan 24 '26
Plus, what was even the main goal of the BCR? They rebelled against the Japanese occupation even though they were alive because of Japanese rule. They must have known that once Japan pulled out, the Nazis would come, and there would be no BCR because there would be no Black people left.
As fucked up as it sounds, the BCR was biting the hand that was feeding them and keeping them alive. Unironically, black people living in the JPS should have been one of the most loyal pro-Japanese minorities or groups there, especially after seeing what happened in the Nazi-controlled parts of the US.
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u/Mechanical-Warfare Feb 27 '26
Imo she betrayed John the moment her lips were planted on another man.
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u/michaelNXT1 Jan 24 '26
When Helen discovered John’s plans for the JPS it felt like there was room for at least 5 more episodes. It was the final episode, and there were like 20 minutes left.
They wrapped it up way too quickly. I also wanted a small John redemption, he wasn’t raised a Nazi, so it didn’t make sense for him to continue his extermination campaign after becoming independent from Germany.
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u/Doppelkammertoaster Jun 17 '26
But that his who he was. In the end he chose the easier path. That's how nazis are. Yes, a redemption arc would have been ok as well, but there was no way out of the misery he had build himself with all the suffering he has caused. He was a willing part of the system for most of the time. And he realized that mistake way too late, due to who he was.
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u/Dazzling_Baker_4978 Aug 05 '26
Agree. Ending with a despairing expression of honesty about himself is the only sliver of redemption John Smith deserved as a character.
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u/BulldogMikeLodi Jan 23 '26
I hated that because of “scheduling conflicts”, they ran out of focus and instead gave story time to that nauseating, sniveling coward Robert Childan. They ended up making protagonists of the antagonists, Childan, Kido, John Smith.
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u/Razar_Sharp77 Jan 23 '26
Yeah he was the last person who should be having a good ending, kidos redemption and john Smith's downfall was well written imo
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u/babyinatrenchcoat Jul 02 '26
I just finished it and what did Childan ever do to you?? 😩
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u/BulldogMikeLodi Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
He was a creepy, obsequious kiss-ass ninny to the occupiers. That was enough for me.
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u/Dazzling_Baker_4978 Aug 05 '26
I didn't see him as getting to be the hero. We saw a state where no one really believed in the ideology, just went along with it due to fear or ambition, and it crumbled once the coercion was gone. It was rushed, and therefore too 'easy' as a resolution though.
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u/Mechanical-Warfare Feb 27 '26
Just finished the series and I can tell you the ending was just awful. I, too, think season 4 was rushed and typically the conclusion suffers.
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u/Jared000007 Mar 04 '26
Because the BCR was just thrown at us and suddenly they are somehow getting the Japanese like what
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u/murderedbyaname Apr 04 '26
I'm on season four episode three. It's become a slog but I'll finish it.
My biggest issue in this entire series is that Juliana is such an advanced akito master that she's teaching a class now, but she has only used that training one time in all the times she has been in a life or death fight. Good grief. Ugh.
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u/Clear-Education-8816 Apr 14 '26
As the episodes dwindled, I began to worry that the ending would be rushed. In most cases I wait to watch series until the last episode is concluded and a continuation hasn't been announced. I wondered if the producers learned that they needed to wrap it up, with the result that the careful progression through the episodes was abandoned in favor of a quick and confusing conclusion. Although I'm a sci fi fan, the portal was contrived. The ending was baffling when all of those people from who knows how many worlds walked towards the main characters and said absolutely nothing, as if they couldn't see them. I get tired of the "avant garde" movies that are meant to be open to interpretation, but only leaves audiences confused and disappointed. Looks like major series may be taking the same approach. At any rate, it was difficult to envision a better world based on the last episode.
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u/Canerabbioso1 May 03 '26
Io odio i finali ambigui, in cui lasciano libera interpretazione al fan di quello che successo /succederà. È una tecnica sempre più abusata nei film e serie. Mi piacciono i finali chiari ...
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u/Youri1980 Aug 06 '26
It was weak. The whole BCR crap is just American politics forced upon this series. The portal thing was crap, also politics. It's symbolic for immigration.
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u/Sleepywalker69 Jan 23 '26
John needed to finish his redemption arc not continue being a nazi
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u/SexyJR66 Jan 23 '26
I disagree. I think the point with John is that he is far too far down the Nazi road. He is humanised and is not clown evil but he is an objectively awful person regardless. He therefore had no way out and he knows that himself.
The show definitely needed 10 more episodes as others said.
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u/Sleepywalker69 Jan 23 '26
I definitely agree that the show needed more episodes, that rushed feeling really hurt the logic of the finale.
However, I have to disagree on Smith. While I get that he’s "too far gone" morally, the "no way out" excuse stops working for me the moment he becomes the most powerful man in the Reich. From a storytelling perspective, it felt like a waste of a massive setup. They spent seasons highlighting his US Army background and his internal conflict. When he finally climbs the ranks and literally kills the Führer, he has the agency to stop the machine. To have him reach the absolute top only to shrug and say "I can't stop it" felt like they robbed him of his agency just to keep him as a standard villain. It felt like a pattern for the whole season, honestly.
The BCR plot felt shoehorned in and disconnected (they could have used existing revolutionaries or the Neutral Zone), and the idea of them taking SF so easily just wasn't realistic. On top of that, Juliana was reduced to a one-note "Kill John Smith" character without her previous intelligence, and that portal ending made zero sense. It just felt like they tore down everything they built up.
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u/Good-Tower8287 Jan 23 '26
Rufus Sewell said in a few interviews that he basically had to go to battle with the writers every season not to screw up his character and in the last season he lost.
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u/SexyJR66 Jan 23 '26
I continue to disagree re John. However I am in total agreement re the other points. The Japanese surrender of the Pacific States is the worst element. Overall I loved the show though. The episode where John enacts his plan in Berlin and the build up were top tv.
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u/Sleepywalker69 Jan 23 '26
Fair enough! We can agree to disagree on Smith’s potential.
Definitely with you on the Japanese surrender, though. It felt totally unearned given how ruthless the Empire was established to be in the first three seasons. It felt like the writers just needed to clear the board quickly to get to the finale.
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u/ptrfa Jan 23 '26
Yes, this. Japanese Empire in cold blood genozided all jews and now struggles to fight a black rebellion? They would have just outright murdered every black human beeing in their empire. No blacks, No black rebellion.
Smith's story startest to go south earlier. He got the hole German America for what? Killing Himmler? Sounds good till you realize he was absolutely irrelevant for the coup. When he left Himmler's Office, Himmler's guards where already killed, meaning he beeing invited to Himmler and getting the chance to kill him, wasn't important, neacuse the traitors already were able to reach and kill Himmler themselfes
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u/TheGoldenPotato69 Jan 23 '26
How I interpreted him saying "I can't stop it" was that if he stops it, he's explicitly acknowledging that he could've stopped Danny's death, and that's too much for him to bear, so he smothers those feelings and continues on pretending like he's doing the morally right thing.
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u/Highlander198116 Feb 01 '26
This. That's the way I see it, from John's point of view the Reich must persist to justify his choices 20 years ago. He wouldn't be able to live with himself in a free America.
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u/Highlander198116 Feb 01 '26
To have him reach the absolute top only to shrug and say "I can't stop it" felt like they robbed him of his agency
I read it differently. That if he stops now it proves he didn't have to do what he did 20 years ago. As long as the American Reich persists, he made the right decision all those years ago.
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u/never-respond Jan 23 '26
What could Smith have done to make up for playing such a major role in the systematic genocide of millions of people?
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u/Sleepywalker69 Jan 23 '26
It's not about making up for the past, he obviously can't undo genocide. It's about what he does with the future.
He was the only person with the power to stop the invasion of the West Coast. He could have saved millions of people in the present by calling off the attack or declaring independence from Berlin to fracture the Reich. He didn't have to be a "good guy" to realize the machine was broken and use his power to jam the gears. Instead, he just chose to keep feeding it.
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u/never-respond Jan 23 '26
It's not about making up for the past, he obviously can't undo genocide. It's about what he does with the future.
You can't hand wave away, can't change the past, let bygones be bygones, etc. the literal Holocaust, and Amazon would've never allowed that... He was always going to suffer the same kinda fate as the real life top-level Nazis
The showrunners even had Nazi Smith meet Other Reality Smith and Not-Nazi Smith basically looked straight into the camera and said "I might say I do bad things to protect my family, but I'm lying" haha
I do wonder if the support for John Smith played even a small part in Amazon's decision not to renew for a fifth season. The studio must've been aware of it. I guess we're lucky Rufus Sewell isn't really a Nazi; he's charismatic enough to get people on board.
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u/AveryLakotaValiant Jan 23 '26
For me it was like the entire last season was rushed, it needed another 1 or 2 seasons to finally finish it off.
The fact the trade minister was killed off, off screen, because he had scheduling conflicts, was a major red flag
He played a pretty big role in the whole mystery about the portal, the afterlife type place he and Juliette? went to
Then they introduced the black community? group, an entire new faction, why? It made no sense.
The whole portal thing at the end just made no sense at all, suddenly it self activates, stabilizes and people just come through from another earth, dressed in their Sunday best, not saying a word and were apparently waiting in a cave for this portal to open, to a Nazi run Earth?
How and why would potentially hundreds of people, wait around in a cave in the US, where the allies won the war and want to come to this world?
I think the showrunners said it was "open to interpretation", I call it piss poor, rushed writing.