He even denies Juliana the closure of putting a bullet in his skull by doing it himself. Instead of dying a hero, Smith dies a conflicted man who can admit to his emotionally-shattered wife Helen that his actions have been evil, but still doesn’t have the capacity to change. Allowing him to undergo some kind of full-on Darth Vader-style last-minute change of heart would have provided the big Hollywood ending some fans might want but the show’s decision to let him keep spiralling downwards is more truthful, and all the better for it. In the end, though, any feeling that he should to face up to his crimes is suffocated by Smith’s desire to protect his own position in the Nazi hierarchy. He’s also blindsided by guilt and shame when his old army buddy Danny drops by to watch the baseball – the same Danny who, we learn, he betrayed back in his universe, allowing him to be carted off to his death when he chooses not to join up with the victorious German army after the war. That’s not the only moment of emotion for Smith during the trip.
But anyone hoping for redemption for either character has come to the wrong show.Įver since Smith learned in season one that his son Thomas suffered from an incurable congenital illness which would require him to be euthanised under Reich law, it became apparent he harboured doubts over the rights and wrongs of the regime he serves. Season four is very much the culmination of that. Over its previous seasons, TMITHC slowly morphed from being about Juliana and the rebels’ struggles against Smith and Kido, to being about Smith and Kido’s struggles with their own consciences and beliefs. But instead it chooses to swap huge spectacle for smaller but equally devastating psychological battles.Ĭentral to it all are Smith (played brilliantly by Rufus Sewell) and uncompromising Japanese secret police chief Takeshi Kido (the equally impressive Joel de la Fuente). Juliana’s disappearance and that portal in the mountains of Pennsylvania suggested season four would treat us to the sight of legions of Nazi storm troopers marching into our version of 1960s America, sparking a huge, mind-blowing inter-dimensional war. The twists were aplenty (Picture: Amazon)
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