travel between worlds

Joe Blake is even more of an ambiguous a character than Smith. There is that odd moment during one of Juliana's visions of the mine where he shoots her and says something like "this is for the better". Couple this with High Castle's remark in detention that "you can't travel to another world unless there's space, due to your counterpart being dead there".

So, did Joe kill her to set up Juliana's ability to travel, which she accomplishes in desperation at the end of season 3? And even more subtle -- did he provoke her to off him so that he could travel back to the "primary" world of the story?

Chrisjdel posted this in reply to the original post of "Thoughts on MITHC" about 10 months ago:

"This is a big, high concept show that's not quite like anything else we've seen on television. There seem to be two main thrusts to it right now. The alternate history aspect, with the possible beginnings of a rising up against fascism, and the parallel world stuff. I have a feeling the two facets are going to come together at some point but I don't know how. It'll be interesting to see how they handle that. I was surprised when the machine wasn't destroyed considering how Juliana saw "flashbacks" (if that's the right word) of it - you kind of assumed her world of ash vision would be realized near the end. We'll have to see what the Nazis do with that thing in season 4, which has already gotten the green light from Amazon."

I, too, was surprised by the failure to destroy the machine, and even more surprised that Wyatt escaped capture AND arranged the shooting of Himmler.

Agree about the two main threads of the TV version of the story. Promotional material for Season 4 says Smith will use the machine to find a new home in another world, which seems to address his general ambivalence about being a Nazi leader, heightened by longing for his (presumed) dead son.

Recall two other major movies inspired by Philip Dick: Bladerunner where Rachael asks Deckard if he ever took the Replicant test; and Minority Report where the enforcer becomes the victim. Both involve deep issues of identity.