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Based on the eponymous Philip K. Dick novel, Amazon’s new television show The Man in the High Castle begins from a central premise: what if the Axis powers won the Second World War? From this it conjures up an alternative 1960s where the United States has been partitioned between a Nazi-controlled east and a Japanese Empire-controlled west, and then follows an intricate web of characters stretching across the continent. The instigator of the plot is a series of mysterious “newsreels” that seem to show an alternative world where the Allies won the war. Our two main characters, Joe Blake (Luke Kleintank) and Julianna Crane (Alexa Davalos), both come into possession of these newsreels and then embark upon a relatively traditional narrative journey.

The Man in the High Castle is perhaps the peak example of current television trends: released entirely online, one season accessible from the get-go and taken from another work of fiction. It’s all the better for this, drawing heavily from the source material while still being very much its own beast. This willingness to adapt is embodied by the newsreels, which replace a book from the original novel. This alteration works very well given the visual medium.

We are introduced to a richly designed world, to a level that belies its television budget. This world-building is easily the most compelling aspect of the show, which along with the central mystery of the newsreels makes a strong case alone for giving it a watch. However, it should be noted that it does fall down on some key areas; the acting is subpar and it takes most of the first season for the characters to really develop. Instead, we get broad sweeps of character exposition and sometimes-clunky dialogue delivered poorly.