As we know, Amazon, like Netflix, has been getting into producing their own shows.  So far, Netflix has hit the jackpot, with shows like Daredevil and the continuation of Longmire.  Amazon, not so much.  I watched the trailer for their new attempt, The Man in the High Castle, mostly because it’s based on a book by science-fiction genius Philip K. Dick, the man who brought us Blade Runner (originally titled Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) and The Adjustment Bureau (originally titled The Adjustment Team), Minority Report, and even Total Recall (originally titled We Can Remember It For You Wholesale).

Wow.

The first two episodes are available on Amazon Prime, and I watched both of them.  The rest of the season is supposed to be released on November 20.

Based on the first two episodes, though, the show looks promising.

I won’t tell too much, just to keep the spoilers away, but I have to say that this show is pretty intense.

Ridley Scott is behind it, and he’s a very good storyteller, and he definitely put all his skills into this one.  Somehow, the show is able to be both slow, and intense at the same time.  In the first episode, there isn’t a lot of fighting (but what is there is very good), and yet you’re sitting on the edge of your seat as if there was.  It sounds impossible, but the show is very slow — shots of normal life here, conversation here, blah blah blah — and yet the intensity is pegged at 11.

What would have happened if the Nazis had won World War II?

It’s a scary thought, and it’s right in front of you the whole time.  Marks instead of dollars; the utterly terrifying black SS uniforms wandering around New York City as if they belong there; the Japanese in charge of the West Coast, with their language, money, and traditions being used right alongside our own.

And then Juliana gets that film, and everything is poised to change.

I’m definitely tuning in to the rest of the season.  Just to forewarn you, I’d give it an R rating — definitely not for kids.  The language is a bit more harsh than you see on most TV shows (because it’s an Amazon exclusive, they didn’t have to worry about getting it past the usual censors), and they went right up to the line on nudity in episode two, but didn’t step over it (basically, it’s where the Japanese guards are mistreating a prisoner, and he ends up with no clothes).  Not over the top (yet), but again, not for kids.

We’ll have to wait and see what happens.

Follow the squirrel minion to get to Lori’s website, Little Squirrel Books.