MovieChat Forums > The Man in the High Castle (2015) Discussion > Sympathy for the Smiths?

Sympathy for the Smiths?

posted 4 years ago by Misty (220)
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I am nearly at the end of season 4, and I am observing the plight of John and Helen Smith. Despite their status and position within the Reich, they are in a precarious position. The higher the climb, the more enemies you make. The couple are also paying the emotional price of siding with the Nazi regime against their own country. At the end of season 3, John orders fighter jets to destroy the Statue of Liberty. He hitched his wagon to the Nazi train for career advancement and survival.
Helen too is not blameless in this as she willingly went along with this. The shock for her is when her son is deemed defective. Her status was not enough to save him.

[–] bohemianroxie (2471) 4 years ago

I have finished the show now and I'll have to say that I never did have sympathy for the Smiths. I will admit that they both give very nuanced portrayals that do not stereotype them as black and white monsters but I'm afraid they deserve every thing that happens to them.

There's going along with something for survival and protecting ones family and there's being complacent in participating in the unforgivable. What they did was unforgivable.
What happened to their son happened to thousands of people in so many ways more brutal and horrific while the Smith's lived high on the hill. They never blinked.
...And if they hadn't brainwashed their son so badly they would have had it within their power to whisk him away and to save him. They did too good a job at climbing that ladder.

They're such hypocrites. They never considered the cost until it came to their own front door. ...a total inability for empathy and compassion for others until it was too late..