Product Review: Roku Premiere | HD/4K/HDR Streaming Media Player

 

I have a few different Roku devices (two ultras, and one Express). The Roku Express crashed when trying to open apps like Netflix and Hulu, but worked with other apps. After trying to restart and factory reset it (and trying to replace the express with my old Firestick which got caught in a boot loop that I could not get it out of), I decided to replace it with the Premiere. So far, it is able to open all of the Apps without a problem and the stream quality is very good. The setup is very easy. You just go to the Roku website and enter the code on the screen. Then it will download the apps that you select, or if you already have a Roku account, whatever apps have already been downloaded on the other devices.

Overall, the interface and remote for the Roku to be much better and more user friendly than the FireStick/FireTV interface and remote. The only downside I have discovered with the Roku interface (aside from the issue of the Roku express crashing) is that you are forced to have all of the same apps on each device that are logged in under that account. So, if you have multiple TVs in your house, some of which only certain people watch, and each has a Roku device that is logged in under the same account, everyone has to have the same apps on their home screen. The apps on each device's home screens can be rearranged, however, and those are sticky to the particular device. So, while each TV is stuck with the same apps, regardless of whether the person who watches that TV watches them all or not, each person can have their home screen arranged how they prefer, with the apps they watch toward the top of the list. And, Roku will randomly put new Apps on the home screen, whether you want them or not. That is the biggest pain and drawback. But, other than that, Roku has a very nice interface and is easy to use.

Product Review: Roku Express

 

This is an inexpensive option for cord-cutters (kind of an oxymoron since it still has cords) i.e., those who are looking to ditch cable or satellite TV. It is basically a box that attaches to your TV via an HDMI cable, and then allows you to download various apps, some free, some paid (e.g., Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Sling TV, YouTube TV, etc.) through which you can watch TV or movies.

The setup is easy. You just plug the Roku box into one of the HDMI ports on your TV, then connect it via a USB cable to a power source, which can be either through a USB port in the TV or connect the USB end of the cable into a power adapter that plugs into a regular wall outlet. Then you just follow the on-screen prompts to set it up, which will include connecting to your home's wireless network, telling it what you like to watch so it can suggest apps to download, and either setting up or logging into your Roku account (if you have an account set up). So, as long as you are not completely technophobic, you can get it set up in a few minutes.

There is absolutely no activation fee to set up the box. You have the option to set up Roku premium content (like HBO, Showtime, etc.) but you do not have to activate any of those. There are a bunch of free apps, including the Roku channel which have TV shows and movies, and usually play commercials throughout the shows, but those are generally past seasons of shows. If you want to watch current shows you either have to pay for a service like Sling TV or the like or get an HD antenna to connect to your TV to watch shows over-the-air.

Overall, this is a very good deal. Just to note, it will not play content in native 4k, so if you have a 4k TV you may want to upgrade to one of the more expensive boxes that will allow you to get the best resolution. But, if you have a regular HD TV that outputs 1080p, this is a great option. And, the remote is about 1000 times better and easier to use than the Amazon Fire remotes. So, if you are deciding between a Roku and one of the Amazon Fire devices, that may be something you want to consider. Roku does have an Amazon Prime app, so you can play all the Prime video content if you are a Prime member.

Product Review: Roku Premiere - HD and 4K UHD Streaming Media Player

 

I took the plunge and cut the cord from Satellite TV back in 2017. I got a couple of these for free from AT&T/DirecTV NOW's promotion where you could get a free Roku for prepaying for 2 months of DirecTV Now. It comes preloaded with a few apps mainly the ones that have the remote buttons as shortcuts (on mine it was Amazon, Netflix, DirecTV Now, and Pandora). Then you can download whatever other apps you want like such as Hulu, Sling, or channel-specific apps like Comedy Central, CW, etc. Some of the apps are free, and some require you to sign in with your TV provider information.

Roku has a pretty nice free app that rotates older movies and TV shows every couple of months. The only cons I have come across which knock it down a star for me is that at this point there is no internet browser app to allow you to open web pages, it does lose internet connection from time to time, and randomly becomes unresponsive requiring you to unplug it and plug it back in. Occasionally it will just reset itself. That can be a pain in the ass, but I would say, for the most part, it stays connected to the internet fairly well. It is usually not a big deal to get it connected back to the internet or working again if it freezes, but it is kind of a pain when it happens. Overall though I am satisfied with it, and would recommend it to anyone thinking of getting rid of cable or satellite.

Streaming Movie Review: Blonde

 

Blonde is a Netflix movie based on the novel of the same name by Joyce Carol Oates that tells a fictionalized story of the life of Marilyn Monroe. In the movie, Monroe is played by Ana De Armas, of Knives Out and No Time to Die fame. She does a great job in the role, and the faults of the movie are really not on her, it was on the source material and the screenplay by writer/director Andrew Dominik. 

The movie starts out with Norma Jeane (the book and the movie adds an e to her middle name) as a child, living with her mentally unstable mother and pining for a secretive father (whom her mother hints is a big-time star), which is a theme throughout the movie. It mostly skips her time in an orphanage and in foster care, which covers the first third of the book, and jumps to her first audition in which she is raped by a studio executive. Then it basically spans her adult life as she becomes more famous and more mentally ill as she bounces from one relationship to another trying to make up for the love of her missing father (who writes her letters throughout the movie hinting that he will see her in person soon). 

Like the book, the movie really focuses on the darkest aspects of Marilyn Monroe's life. Certainly, given the fact that she died at the age of 36, most likely due to a drug overdose (the movie does hint at the possibility that she may have been murdered, which has been mostly debunked, but really films it both ways) her life was not all sunshine and roses. But, it also totally ignored things like her fighting for better roles and starting her own production company, helping Ella Fitzgerald's career, and the like. The movie is really about her going crazy and almost becoming a split personality, Norma Jeane and the fake entity, Marilyn, whom she hated. In real life it is known that she made comments about "giving" people Marilyn, suggesting that Marilyn was a performance she put on, but the movie makes Marilyn something that she has to summon. 

There is a lot of sex and nudity in the movie, mostly topless shots by De Armas, but a couple of butt shots and a blink and you'll miss it frontal shot that is pretty obscured. It does show her in a "throuple" relationship with Charlie Chaplin Junior and Eddie Robinson and shows her marriages to Joe Dimaggio (just called The Ex-Athlete) and Arthur Miller (called The Playwright). At the end of the movie, it gets into her fling with JFK, and has the scene that very likely earned the NC-17 rating, a simulated blowjob that basically just has her head bobbing up and down over her hand. 

Overall, De Armas does a great job channeling the look and the sound of Monroe. Given that she has a thick Cuban accent, the fact that she successfully pulled off Monroe's pretty distinctive voice was impressive. I did see a review where someone complained that De Armas' real accent came through a couple of times, but I honestly never noticed that. I think you basically have to take the movie with a grain of salt. While some of the things portrayed in the movie did happen, a lot did not or were at least partially made up to fill in details and sensationalize things. I think the movie overstates her level of mental illness and made her out to be as mentally ill as her mother was, which by all accounts she was not. It is worth watching as long as you understand that it is not a historically accurate docu-drama.

Streaming Series Review: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Episode 6 (spoilers)

                              

Episode 6 of Obi-Wan Kenobi wraps up the current storyline, obviously, Leia gets back home and there is the "big" confrontation between Kenobi and Vader that reveals a lot of why Ben told Luke what he did about his father in Episode IV, and why he calls Vader "Darth" as opposed to Anakin when they meet on the Death Star. We also see the origin of Leia's holster and get an idea of why she worded the message to Obi-Wan the way she did in A New Hope. Owen and Beru are also featured a lot more in this episode as Reva, who does not die from the lightsaber wound this time either (although she is weakened) comes for Luke to get her revenge on Anakin. It is great to see them doing more than just kind of standing around in the background. Obviously, Luke lives, but how that plays out was well done. And, we finally see Ben being able to commune with Qui-Gon.

The episode was definitely not an hour and a half long as was speculated. It was more like 40 minutes, give or take, excluding the recap and the credits.  The fight between Obi-Wan and Vader was what it should have been. Not as good as their battle on Mustafar in Episode III, but much better than their first confrontation when Obi-Wan was weak and scared shitless. It is interesting how the battle ends, which has a lot of parallels to Ashoka's confrontation with Vader in the Rebels animated series, as they are both well aware that the other survives. It is more about Obi-Wan turning his back on the idea of Anakin being alive, and definitely explains his Return of the Jedi line, "he is more machine now than man, twisted and evil". 

The only thing that does not get fleshed out much at all is the line "Obi-Wan once thought as you do" which Vader says to Luke when Luke declares he knows that Vader still has good in him. This episode never gives the impression that Obi-Wan has any thought that Anakin can be redeemed or turned back from the dark side. It is more like his suspicion that Anakin is irredeemable is confirmed. It is also interesting that the writers decided to end the battle between the two of them without having Obi-Wan finish off a weakened Vader. Especially since he was resolved earlier in the episode that one of them was going to die in the confrontation. Obviously, for canon, both of them had to survive, but it would have made a lot more sense to have Obi-Wan fake his death at the end of the battle so Vader had no incentive to keep looking for him. I would have preferred that ending even if it meant no second season because it would have perfectly set up A New Hope. 

The show definitely leaves open the idea that a second season will be forthcoming. How they will do it, and whether Vader will be included as much as he was in this season, if a second season materializes, will have to be seen. I do not think that there should be any further direct interactions between Vader and Kenobi, and the show sets up a reason why that would not happen via an appearance by The Emporer, with the Emperor basically telling Vader to forget Kenobi. There is obviously another nine-to-ten-year gap between the Kenobi series and A New Hope that leaves a lot of time open for additional stories. I just worry that wherever they would do with additional stories would not be anywhere near as good as what we got this season and/or would be a recycled version of this season. One aspect a second season could explore is what causes the increased animosity by Owen toward Ben. The end of this episode actually seems to leave them on better terms than they were in the first episode of the series. So, Owen's line in A New Hope regarding Ben being a "crazy old man" suggests something happens within the next ten years that pisses Owen off again. 

Streaming Series Review: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Episode 5 (spoilers)

The penultimate episode (at least for now) of Obi-Wan Kenobi opens with a flashback to the Episode II era, with Anakin and Obi-Wan training. Obi-Wan tries to teach Anakin a lesson in patience and restraint, and that he does not have to fight to win. Then we flash to the present day with Vader and Reva headed toward the path on Jabim, having tracked Leia's droid Lola. Of course, Vader only cares about capturing (and torturing) Kenobi, and couldn't care less about anyone else. He appoints Reva Grand Inquisitor and sends her down to secure the planet so he can deal with Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan, knowing what Anakin will do, seemingly gives himself up, and in the process figures out just who Reva is and how she is one of the few that knows that Vader is Anakin. 

We find out that Reva is indeed one of the younglings we saw during Order 66 in the first episode, and she was actually stabbed by Vader during the attack but did not die, only playing dead after Anakin/Vader moved on. The show never makes it clear when or how she became an Inquisitor, but we find out that she has been trying to get close to Vader so she can kill him, hating him as much as she hates Obi-Wan for abandoning the younglings. Obi-Wan and Reva form somewhat of an alliance, which allows the group to narrowly escape Vader, after ditching the tracker in Lola. Reva tries to attack Vader, and that goes about how you would expect. And we see that the Grand Inquisitor did not die, and after a gut shot from Vader they leave Reva to die. As she lies there, she finds the communicator with a message from Bail saying he will go to Tattoine to help the boy, and the last shot is on a sleeping Luke.

This is another great episode. To me, the episodes have been getting stronger as the series has progressed. It was great to see Hayden Christenson actually playing Anakin, as he does not do much in the actual Vader suit, and when in the bacta tank he can really only squint. It was also good to get at least some of Reva's backstory and get a sense of how hurt she was both by the Empire and by the Jedi who she feels betrayed her. The show is definitely setting up for a rematch between Vader and Obi-Wan, where we do not know. In Legends, it is made clear that Vader would never set foot on Tattoine again, but obviously, that can change. In Canon, Vader has no idea Luke exists and is his son until after A New Hope, when Boba Fett tells him, so even if he goes to Tattoine he is not going to actually find Luke. How they will wrap up the series is anyone's guess, especially if rumors of a second season are true, but there are a lot of possibilities and it will be interesting to see which path the show takes. 

Streaming Series Review: Obi-Wan Kenobi Episode 4 (spoilers)

                               

Episode 4 starts out with Obi-Wan and Vader in bacta tanks recalling the events of the third episode and the "duel" between the two. When Ben comes to, he finds out that Leia has been captured and taken to Fortress Inquistorious, located on a water moon in the Mustafar system. Tala agrees to help him mount a rescue, using her Imperial credentials to help Obi-Wan break in and rescue Leia. 

This episode is really all about Ben starting to find his power again. He begins to tap into the force, use his lightsaber, and recapture some of the skills that he had clearly lost, as was evident in his confrontation with Vader. Meanwhile, Reva interrogates Leia in scenes that were clearly meant to tie in with A New Hope. One curious thing is that, when Reva tries to read Leia's mind, she is unable to do so, commenting on the fact that Leia is strong, but apparently never considering that Leia is force-sensitive. The episode ends with Ben, Tala, and Leia successfully escaping, but with a tracker in place which Reva slipped into Leia's droid. In all the reviews of the episode I have read I have yet to see any that mention that this is a clear setup to what Vader has done to the Falcon in A New Hope, and probably how Leia knew that they were being tracked after escaping the Death Star. 

This is the shortest episode of the series so far, clocking in at just over half an hour. Vivien Lyra Blair continues to do a great job as young Leia, definitely channeling Carrie Fisher's personality and sass, and Ewan McGregor continues to shine as Obi-Wan. You can definitely see the path that the show is setting up for the final two episodes, but the writers are doing a good job keeping exactly how they are going to get there a mystery. 

Streaming Series Review: Obi-Wan Kenobi - Episode 3 (Spoilers)

                                 

Episode 3 of Obi-Wan Kenobi sees the first (of what is likely going to be two) confrontations between Obi-Wan and Darth Vader (again voiced by James Earl Jones). The episode starts out with Obi-Wan and Leia on the transport to the planet Mapuzo, having narrowly escaped Reva. When they land and go to the designated meeting point they find no one there and Leia flags down a miner named Freck (voiced by Zach Braff) who is making his way back to town and agrees to give the two a ride. Being a good member of the Empire, Freck also picks up a group of Stormtroopers who begin to question Obi-Wan and Leia. When he slips up and calls her by her real name, the most touching moment in the episode happens when Obi-Wan says he sees her mother when he looks at her. Of course, Leia figures out that Ben knew her mother and asks if he is her real father. Both Ewan McGregor and Vivien Lyra Blair do a great acting job during those sequences. 

The group is stopped at a checkpoint where everything unravels until Obi-Wan and Leia are saved by Tala, played by Indira Varma posing as an Imperial officer, who was the person they were sent to meet. She basically runs a Jedi underground railroad helping Jedi and force-sensitives disappear to prevent them from being captured by the Inquisitors. The real meat of the episode happens when Vader arrives on Mapuzo. Vader and Obi-Wan sense each other and Vader starts randomly torturing and killing the locals to draw Obi-Wan out. Obi-Wan tells Tala to get Leia to safety while he draws the Imperials away. Vader follows Obi-Wan who freaks out and runs away when he sees Vader in all his glory. When Vader finally corners Obi-Wan, to say he hands his ass to him would be an understatement. Obi-Wan is no match for Vader, and the only reason Vader does not kill him is that Vader wants him to suffer. During the confrontation, Obi-Wan asks Vader what has he become, to which Vader replies he is what Obi-Wan made him. In the end, Obi-Wan is barely saved by Tala, which of course leads to Leia being in danger at the end of the episode.

Overall, I thought the episode was good but has some glaring plot holes. The good was the name dropping of Quinlan Voss, who is a character you will know if you watched the animated Clone Wars series or read the novels. He could potentially show up to help at some point. I think the confrontation between Vader and Obi-Wan went the way it should. Vader is at the height of his power and Obi-Wan has been cut off from the force for a decade. Granted, I think having Vader have a wall of fire stop him was silly when he put the same fire out a few seconds earlier, but they needed a way to get Obi-Wan away from him. The end with Reva being at the end of the tunnel that she entered long after Leia was just dumb. Even if she use force speed she would have caught Leia in the tunnel, but this implies that she passed her, killed the pilot, and waited for her to catch up, all without Leia seeing her. 

The series is definitely setting up the fact that Vader and Obi-Wan are going to have a real rematch after Obi-Wan opens himself back up to the force, likely with Qui-Gon's help. We also know Leia is going to be fine and Reva is probably not going to make it out alive given that she was not a character in Rebels. Even knowing all that, the show does a good job ratcheting up the tension to make how they are going to get there a mystery.

Streaming Series Review: Kenobi (episodes 1 and 2) (spoilers).

 

I just watched the first two episodes of the limited event series Kenobi, which has been much anticipated even before it was officially announced. As many may remember, when Disney took over Lucasfilm and announced a whole slew of Star Wars projects, it was anticipated that there would be an Obi-Wan-focused Star Wars Story movie set between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. After Disney ditched the idea of non-storyline movies after Solo tanked (which I believe was because it was released too close in time to The Last Jedi, which left a bad taste in many fan's mouths, and Solo, a good movie, got the backlash), its fate was left in Limbo. The project was resurrected as a mini-series to get a six-episode run on Disney +.

The plot has been a tight secret, but it has been known for a long time that Hayden Christensen would reprise his role as Darth Vader, and the trailers revealed the involvement of the Inquisitors, who are former Jedi that turned to the dark side but are not full Sith, who helped hunt down the rogue Jedi. If you watched the animated series Rebels, you are familiar with them. This series shows an inquisitor not seen in Rebels, Reva, played very well so far by Moses Ingram. 

The series starts out with Obi-Wan on Tatooine living under the name Ben, working a menial job to make ends meet, and cutting himself off from the force (which is a factor in episode 2). He watches Luke from afar (mainly because Owen wants nothing to do with him and wants him to stay away from Luke and let them live their lives) and goes out of his way to avoid being noticed by anyone. A trap is sprung that takes him reluctantly off of Tatooine and puts him on a collision course with the Inquisitors.  

+++Spoilers Here +++

The surprise inclusion in the show is young Leia. Reva has discovered that Obi-Wan helped Bail Organa during the Clone Wars and engineered Leia's kidnapping to draw Obi-Wan out, having no idea that she was actually the daughter of Anakin. Of course, Bail, knowing where Obi-Wan is, seeks out his help and Obi-Wan very reluctantly agrees to leave Tatooine to find Leia and bring her back to Alderaan. In a confrontation with Reva at the very end of the second episode, Obi-Wan learns that Anakin is alive. It is interesting that Reva (who was likely one of the younglings seen in the opening shot of the first episode recreating the attack on the Jedi temple) knows that Vader is Anakin, which is something that to this point in the canon (assuming you have read the novels) only Palpatine knows for sure, Thrawn figured out but did not accuse or point-blank ask Vader if it was true, and Tarkin suspected. So, it will be interesting to see if all the Inquisitors are aware of the fact that Vader is Anakin and if not, how Reva found out. 

The two big bright spots in the first couple of episodes are Obi-Wan's torment and young Leia. Ewan McGregor plays a broken Obi-Wan, who still has nightmares of his failure, very well. You can see the battle between wanting to help and wanting to remain anonymous and obscure, so much so that he buried his and Anakin's lightsabers in the middle of the desert and has not used the force in a decade. He finally uses the Force to save Leia when she falls off a building. Vivien Lyra Blair plays young Leia perfectly. She definitely channels Carrie Fisher's sass and spunk (especially as we see her in A New Hope), and she injected what little humor there was in the first two episodes and stole pretty much every scene she was in. The writers gave her way better material than Jake Lloyd ever got to work with in The Phantom Menace, and she is definitely the highlight of the series so far. 

Of course, we know that at some point in the series, there is going to be the inevitable rematch between Vader and Obi-Wan, most likely providing context to Vader's "Obi-Wan once thought as you did" line in Return of the Jedi. My guess is that this time it is going to be Vader who thinks Obi-Wan is dead to also provide context for his being taken aback at feeling Obi-Wan's presence on the Death Star in A New Hope. But, we will have to see how that plays out. But, the first two episodes have been great so far, and it will be interesting to see where it goes from here.

TV Series Review: Ringer

 

Ringer was the post-Buffy return to a starring role in a TV series for Sarah Michelle Gellar. It was a very uneven series that started out strong, got very silly in the middle, and ended strong, but bittersweet because it was canceled before it could really have any big payoff. Gellar plays twin sisters, one named Bridget who is a drug addict and stripper in Wyoming. The other is named Siobhan, a wealthy New York socialite married to a wall street investor named Andrew Martin (played by Ioan Gruffudd). Bridget, who is on the run from a mobster who she is supposed to testify against and believing her sister committed suicide, decides to take over her life. 

The show starts off very strong but gets very silly as the writers seemed to be going for a "Sixth Sense" like "twist" ending in every episode. Some of the twists were okay, but some were just dumb and after a while probably got to be too much for a lot of viewers, and the ratings pretty much tanked. The series was canceled after the first season, but likely sometime after the season finale was finished because it clearly was set up for a second season that never materialized. As a result, fans of the show were left with a very incomplete, and disappointing ending.

The show had a strong cast that included Mike Colter, pre-Luke Cage when he was still relatively unknown, Kristopher Polaha, who played Henry Butler, a friend of the Martin family, Nestor Campbell as FBI agent Victor Machado who was trying to take down the mobster Bodaway Macawi (played by Zahn McClarnon), and Zoey Deutch (who is the spitting image of her mother Lea Thompson). There were also very recognizable recurring cast members including Jonathan Banks, Sean Patrick Thomas, Madchen Amik, and Jamie Murray.

Like I said, the show started out very strong and does get pretty silly about halfway through the season. It takes a lot of suspension of disbelief to get through it, even moreso when the twists start getting totally ridiculous. Even people who really like the show will probably do some eye-rolling at some of it. Just know, that if you do watch it, it ends pretty abruptly with a shift in the storyline that never gets a chance to play out. It is not available on DVD. It has streamed on Amazon Prime and I think the Vudu streaming service, but as of now, it appears to be only available on the CW app (although they remove it from the app from time to time, so if you want to watch it make sure you do so when you see it available, otherwise it may be months before you get a chance to again).  

Streaming Review: The Man in the High Castle Season 4

Season four of The Man in the High Castle, was overall, aside from the series finale, very good. And, even much of the series finale was good, but it ended very weirdly and felt much more like a season finale that was setting up a fifth season that would take the show in a new direction. And, it left many of the major character arcs totally open-ended. I am not sure if the showrunners knew before they filmed the season that the fourth season would be the last for the show. If they did, then they ended it horribly. If they did not, then you do have to give the show somewhat of a pass for feeling incomplete. 

As was the case with the other seasons, this season had multiple story arcs going at the same time. In the Pacific states, yet another resistance faction, this one called the Black Communist Revolution (BCR) went up against the Pons. And, of course, the Nazis were still scheming to take over everything, but there were definitely splits in the ranks. In my opinion, the best story arc was that of Helen Smith and the kids and a mix of being awakened and close-minded.  There was again, a lot of cast turnover, with some major characters being written out of the show (or just forgotten) and a handful of new characters (including Rachel Nichols and Frances Turner). 

Overall, even with the less than stellar series finale, the season was very good, with a lot of action and plot twists thrown in. The ending of the series definitely did not tie up everything in a nice little bow. A lot was left to the audience's imagination. That can, at times, be a good thing, but I think more of the main characters deserved a better sendoff than they ultimately got. Still, it is definitely worth watching.

TV Show Review: The Man in the High Castle Season 3

Season three of The Man in the High Castle in part, ties up the storylines from season two (mainly Joe and his Father being arrested, as well as the aftermath of the bombing of the Kempetai headquarters). Then it launches into what is the crux of this season's story arcs. That involves finding out more information about the "travelers", those who are able to move between dimensions like Trade Minister Tagomi, and that the Nazis know about the multiverse and are trying to find a way to get into the other dimensions in mass in order to take over the other worlds. Of course, the resistance members, led by Juliana, try to stop them. The show also introduces a new character Wyatt Price (played by Jason O'Mara), who is somewhat of a fixer/dealer/guy to go to when you need something in the neutral zone.

The look and feel of the show are pretty similar to prior seasons. The season does take some of the characters in different directions. Some people will probably like that, and some not so much. As has been the case with past seasons, there is a lot of violence and some sexual content. So, if that turns you off to a show then it is not worth watching it. Also, Amazon has not released it on DVD or Blu-Ray, and probably never will, so the only way to watch it is on Amazon, either with a Prime membership or paying for the seasons or paying per episode. It continues to be very well-acted, and pretty well written, even though I would say that the writing is more uneven this season than in the first couple of seasons. Even so, the season is pretty well-paced and packs a lot into the ten episodes. 

TV Show Review: The Man In the High Castle Season 2

Season two of The Man in the High Castle in some ways fleshes out the season-one storylines (mainly, and probably most significantly, the jumping between dimensions/universes), and also begins some new storylines. The large one being the threat of imminent nuclear war between Japan and Germany which threatens almost everyone living in America. The show also introduces new cast members, including Bella Heathcoate, who plays Nicole Becker, Tate Donovan, who plays Dixon, a resistance member shown in one of the first-season films, and Callum Keith Rennie, (best known for his roles on Battlestar and the very underrated buddy-cop show Due South). He plays Gary Connell, a member of the resistance in San Fransico not about sacrificing anyone to get at the Pons. 

Overall, the show continues to be well-written and acted. While a bit more of the story is fleshed out, not too much is given away yet, and the 10-episode season continues to be a good length for the season. It gets in and out of the story without things getting stale, and leaves the viewer wanting more. As is the case with the first season, for those of us who still prefer physical DVDs or Blu-Ray discs to streaming, this is one of the series that Amazon only streams and has not released (and probably will not release) on physical media. So, if you want to watch it, you either have to be a prime member or pay Amazon to stream it.

It is definitely not a series for everyone. There is still a lot of violence, swearing, and some sexual content. There is not a ton of sex and nudity (nothing akin to Game of Thrones for example), but there is a bit. So if those things turn you off to a series it is best to avoid it. But, if you like dramas with a but if sci-fi and mystery mixed in, this one is definitely worth checking out. 

TV Show Review: The Man In the High Castle Season 1

The Man in the High Castle is an Amazon Original streaming show set in the early 1960s. It shows an alternate reality in which the Axis powers won World War II and essentially took over the world. In this reality, Hitler is still alive, ruling from Berlin, and the United States is divided between German rule (occupying everything East of the Rocky Mountains) and Japanese rule (everything West of the Rocky Mountains). The Germans have imposed their system of Aryan dominance on their portion of the U.S., and the Japanese have instituted their caste system. The Germans and the Japanese have what can only be described as an uneasy and untrustworthy alliance, and the Americans are basically indentured servants of the Japanese or (the ones who have not joined the Reich) living under the heel of the Nazis. Of course, there is are resistance groups that are trying to take down both Empires. There is also a sci-fi element (which you would expect from Ridley Scott), which highly suggests the existence of alternate dimensions or realities, where history plays out differently, including as we know it, in which the Allies won the war. This is mostly shown by videos put out by the titular Man in the High Castle, showing different versions of history than the one the characters live in.

The series stars Alexa Davalos (probably best known for her role on the series Angel) as Juliana Crain who has ties to the Pacific coast resistance, Rupert Evans as her boyfriend Frank Frink, Rufus Sewell as John Smith, a leader of the Nazi Reich in New York, Luke Kleintank, DJ, Qualls who plays Frank's best friend and co-worker, Ed McCarthy, Joel De La Fuente as the head of the Japanese police force, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as the Japanese trade minister, and Brennan Brown as an antique dealer.

The series is very well-written and acted. The 10-episode season is paced very well and does a good job establishing the characters and telling some, but not all, of their various backstories. It is a show in which the characters are almost all morally gray, with no absolute good guys or bad guys (at least in the main cast). The writers do a good job making even characters like John Smith, who is clearly on the side of evil have a human side. There is a lot of violence, swearing, and some sexual situations and nudity (although not a ton). So, it is definitely not something that you would want young kids watching.

Unfortunately, for those of us who still prefer physical DVDs or Blu-Ray discs to streaming, this is one of the series that Amazon only streams and has not (and likely will not) release on physical media. So, if you want to watch it, you either have to be a prime member or pay Amazon to stream it. So, if you are a prime member or are willing to pay to watch it, and are looking for a good drama/thriller it is a great series, and definitely worth checking out.