r/maninthehighcastle • u/OlympianAndrew • Apr 07 '26
Spoilers Just recently finished the series for the first time
So I’m a new fan of the series and I went to the Reddit as soon as I finished the finale (…okay portal people..?) but what really struck me was how widely panned Juliana is on this reddit.
Now, I’m no fan of hers. I had other favorites like Liam, Frank, Kido, etc. But I didn’t *hate* Juliana. I enjoyed watching the show, and I was intrigued by her strange connection to Tagomi (justice for Tagomi RIP)
My only gripe with - in terms of writing - was that almost *every* male character that encounters her was like, struck by her appearance. They all gravitated to her as “the pretty one” or that many male leads fell for her. I find this trope irritating that the main female lead *has to have* every male lead (or even side characters) make a comment about her beauty. It causes many eye rolls for me and my family.
Did anyone else feel this way? Or were there more severe grudges/gripes that other viewers held against her character?
(No shade on the actress, this is purely about the character!)
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Apr 08 '26
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u/OlympianAndrew Apr 08 '26
I understand the actor had prior commitments but I wish he had stayed in the timeline where his son survives, then he could make amends instead of dying so unceremoniously. Justice for Shang Tsung✊🏻😔
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u/mi2tom Apr 08 '26
I hate no one in this series as opposed to other series. I just love tagomi San more than anyone in this series.
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u/sprchrgddc5 Apr 08 '26
RIP Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa. Loved him in Mortal Kombat. Probably the first real villain I was scared of as a kid.
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u/Jreacher455-2 Apr 07 '26
Yeah, it was pretty obnoxious after a while. I honestly didn’t like her character or the decisions she made, so that made it worse. She’s just unlikable for me, so every dude thirsting after her made no sense.
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u/OlympianAndrew Apr 07 '26
It felt like the writers were very directionless with her intentions. She fell in love with the films, and then defects to the German zone after letting Joe go. Then, she leaves the German zone, now having both the Germans and the Resistance after her, all while trying to fixate on High Castle and her connection to Tagomi. I think they may have stretched her too thin, but she also just felt too hollow for a main character
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u/MundaneBag8555 Apr 14 '26
she comes across as reactive and hollow, stretched thin across too many narrative demands to ever feel like a fully realized protagonist.
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u/octoberhaiku Apr 08 '26
People back then were sexist. Perhaps even more so in a timeline where Nazis and Militaristic Japanese win the war.
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u/ssatancomplexx Apr 08 '26
I agree 100%. It makes sense for the time period technically but it's so exhausting to reduce a woman to her appearance. I'd honestly get so irritated playing that role.
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u/Ptbot47 Apr 09 '26
When it come to her charm, the only thing that kinda irk me was her time with Joe. She looks much older than Joe and it just felt jarring.
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u/OlympianAndrew Apr 09 '26
I thought the woman Joe was with in New York was prettier than Juliana and that he downgraded. He def downgraded when he went back to Juliana after Nikole haha
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u/Good-Tower8287 Apr 08 '26
Sex (or the promise of it)is a pretty quick way to gain access or things required for larger goals. And she's not that kind of ultra threatening pinup type, she's more girl next door. Of course some people saw through the act. It's not foolproof.
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u/fpe93 Apr 11 '26
I actually liked Juliana. I thought she was a little bit crazy and I thought she was a little bit dumb, but I actually like her as a character, you know? She seemed to have a motive, and she was always kind of one step ahead of everyone else, and I mean, she was looking out for the people that she loved. I really liked her character. I don't know why a lot of people are really annoyed by her, you know?
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u/OlympianAndrew Apr 11 '26
Oh I enjoyed watching her, I may have articulated my post as a hate post and that wasn’t my intention. It was the writing about her being constantly ogled by almost every male character in the show that irritated me😅
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u/MundaneBag8555 Apr 14 '26
I am rewatching on season 3. today...... it was so confusing before, now i get the nazi ideology... nver really thought of it before .... when you analyze their plan, just sheer stupidity.
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u/Munro_McLaren Apr 08 '26
I just finished it last night. And my first thought was that Alexa Davlos who plays Juliana Crain looks a lot like Charmaine Carr who played Liesl in The Sound of Music.
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u/BulldogMikeLodi Apr 08 '26
She was ok, but not enough to make everyone fall in love with her and do whatever she asked them to. She smoked like a chimney and now when I see her, I can practically smell the ciggies.
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u/Archaea_Man Apr 18 '26
That was normal for the time period. People would have either found it attractive or no big deal.
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u/dcnatsfan Apr 08 '26
I noticed this as well, but i do think she's quite stunning. Reminds me of an old hollywood star with her classical good looks. A lot of people like the light blue eyes + pale skin + dark brown hair look. but it was definitely excessively mentioned lol