I believe there may have originally been a very different plan for Heusmann’s character.

[Spoilers Ahead]

If you haven’t seen it, The Man in the High Castle (from now on “High Castle”) is a fantasy alternate history in which Germany and Japan won World War II and divided America between them.

Its about Nazis.

I used to consider it one of my favorite shows. It was well done visually, and more than that, it unflinchingly portrayed it’s characters as multidimensional human beings. Even Nazi’s can be loving fathers, in other words.

Which is why I had high hopes for the series: a show that demonstrated that even history’s villains were human beings with loves, hopes, and fears… such a show was a welcome respite from our current political climate of partisan absolutes.

Then, in Season 2, along came Heusmann. He was an ambitious former engineer, who rose through the Nazi ranks and maneuvered himself into position to seize power from Hitler himself.

Heusmann meant to finish what the show’s Hitler could not, to start World War III and eliminate the Japanese who had not yet gained the Atom Bomb.

But in the nick of time, “our heroes” are able to convince an aged Himmler to intervene.

Himmler arrests Heusmann seconds before he pushes the Nuclear Button. Himmler then addresses the Reich on TV, declaring Heusmann a traitor.

Himmler saves the world from Nuclear War.

Let that sink in for a moment. If you were watching this show and getting caught up in the emotion of the moment you might be tempted to think that Himmler–the very same Himmler that master-minded the systematic murder of 12 million innocents–That Himmler is the one you should be rooting for, because he averted Nuclear War in which 20 million people were projected to die.

That seems to be what the writers were going for.

The problem here starts with the fact that Amazon and Jeff Bezos ultimately don’t really understand much about real Nazis. That much is evident when the Washington Post (which Bezos owns) prints stories like “Donald Trump is actually a Fascist“. Like literally guys, he’s Hitler.

Today in America both sides of the political isle throw around accusations of “Nazi” and “Hitler” like footballs, but the Trump-Hitler comparisons are a bit different because so many on the left truly believe Trump is as bad as Hitler.

Back to Heusmann.

In our universe Heusmann’s evil plan to end his Cold War with a unilateral Atomic Strike closely echoes the real-life American military plan called “Operation Unthinkable”.

When WWII ended, America was faced with the rise of the Soviet Union, a regime just as at odds with our way of life as the Nazi regime we had just defeated. War planners estimate they needed 466 nuclear bombs to finish the job of ending tyranny by wiping the USSR off the map.

But Atomic Bombs are hard to build, and before a sufficient number of them could be completed, the USSR, partly due to extensive spy operations, gained the bomb itself, forever dooming the globe to a world of Nuclear Proliferation and Mutually Assured Destruction.

What if things had been different?

If the Allies had destroyed the Soviet Union, we would live in a very different world. At the expense of millions of Russian lives we would live in a world in which America reigned unchecked as the sole Nuclear power. A world in which proxy wars in Korea, Vietnam and Afghanistan had never happened. A world without a Middle East awash in AK-47’s and other Russian Weapons.

Would that be a better world?

That is the kind of question “The Man in the High Castle” was perfectly positioned to explore. But just as it was getting good, the producers balked.

Despite all his cunning Heusmann apparently had no contingencies in place. He was portrayed as a savvy political engineer meticulously pulling the strings of power. But in the end he ignored the most basic Machiavellian principals. He did not immediately purge the Nazi leadership upon assuming power.

Why not?

Did the writers really intended only for him to play the roll of season villain and then fall on his sword? It doesn’t add up. Why create such a compelling villain only to unceremoniously off him.

I have a theory.

I believe there may have originally been very different plan for Heusmann’s character.

At the end of Season 2 Heusmann was down but not out. He had been arrested by men loyal to Himmler, but his influence in the Nazi party ran deep. His followers were the true Nazis, the ones who itched for completion of Third Reich. Hitler had failed to finish the job and let them down. It was time for a change.

So in the opening act of Season 3, they would liberate Heusmann and a power struggle would ensue. Season 3 would see civil war within the Reich and the Japanese would race to secure a real bomb before the Heusmann gained control. Amid the chaos, the long-suffering American resistance would finally gain a foothold. That was the plan.

But then, in our world, Donald Trump won an election.

Trump, the “Neo-Nazi” in Republican clothing, was president of the United States. He ran on a campaign to “Make America Great Again”, to put “America First”. Trump refused to apologize for American strength and he intended to blow up the existing world order and assert American supremacy.

To the Amazon decision makers and Hollywood types this hypothetical exercise in “what if” was not fun anymore.

A real Heusmann had taken the United States.

To continue the show as planned… that did not sit right with them. And so plans for the Season 3 were scrapped and there was a lengthy delay as they decided what to do. Ultimately Heusmann’s character met with a fate they may well have wished on Trump. He was immediately killed off in the first act and a new Season 3 was created to emphasize ideals of liberal “resistance”.

Resistance by any means necessary. And so, allied to the cause of “Resistance”, Himmler gets to be the hero of the day.

Drill down a little and you realize that Amazon has conflated Trump’s America with the Nazi Third Reich.

Now the show isn’t about exploring moral grey area and historical hypotheticals. Its about a political agenda devoid of morality.

The Empire of Japan had a long list of crimes that gave the Nazis a run for their money. There are no good guys here.

But the Amazon show writers want you to agree that Heusmann’s bid for world domination is the worst evil and that preventing it justifies practically anything else. It justifies defending one evil regime from another. It justifies shooting your fellow American in the back. It justifies any number of lies and deceptions. It even justifies rooting for Heinrich Himmler. And surely that is something we can all agree on. Because using Atomic weapons is the ultimate evil.

But in our world, only one country has ever used an Atom bomb. And that country used it to defeat Imperial Japan. Exactly what the “good guys” prevented Heusmann from doing in order to “save the day”.

And so you see, the narrative goes on, it is really America that is the world’s villain. Leaders like Trump cannot be allowed to alter the global balance of power. They must be destroyed, and evil regimes (China, North Korea, Iran…) should be allowed to continue indefinitely because they provide “balance”.

Needless to say, I disagree. And I don’t find myself enjoying the “Man in the High Castle” anymore.