Reichsmarschall John Smith quotes from The Man in the High Castle

Now, you have been married to Reichsmarschall John Smith for -

Helen Smith

Twenty years. And how the time has flown.

So, what is your secret to a happy marriage? How do you manage to keep the fire burning?

I can answer that in one word. A word that we can use on Reich TV?

I think we can use it.

Yes. Honesty. That, to me, is the foundation of a successful marriage.

Helen, think back to your first Reichsgiving, the first moment you first gave thanks for National Socialism.

Um, hmm... Oh, um, it would be February, '46, just after The Liberation. John was still in the [clears throat] John was in the US Army. Um, we had been posted to Fort Monmouth, and we had just had our son. Thomas was, um, he was just a baby.

It's all right. Take a moment.

No, no, I - I'd like to talk about it. We hadn't eaten in days. I thought that my baby was going to starve in my arms. A man, a Reich colonel, he came to our door. He brought us milk, bread, cheese, meat. It was all airlifted in by the Reich in an act of mercy. And my baby he finally stopped crying.

From that day forward, thanks to that spirit of mercy, there has never again been hunger in the Reich. [audience applauds] And who else was there that night?

Um, it It was Uh, well well, it was just just us, our family.

As it should be?

John, myself and Thomas, and... We put the past behind us.

Thanks, Helen. We would love to have you back on the show again, any time.

Yes, yes. I- I would like that.

Reichsmarschall John Smith

I'm sorry this happened, Abendsen.

Hawthorne Abendsen

You're the reason it happened, John. She knew there was no other way to escape a life sentence.

Smith

It didn't have to be a life sentence. If you just cooperated, you could've had your freedom.

Abendsen

What the hell do you know about freedom?

Smith

Come on.

Abendsen

What's it gonna take to kill me, John? What do I have to do?

Smith

Oh, I'm not gonna let you die.

Abendsen

Yeah. We'll see about that. You keep coming to me for answers, well, here's the last answer you're ever getting from me: you're cursed, John Smith, you're damned. You fucked with the Fates- and they don't like that. You'll never know peace, John. [as Smith leaves] You'll wander forever between the worlds- lost! LOST!

[turns off tape] There's more, John. Your housekeeper, your wife's friends, your old neighbors. If you had a dog, he would be informing on you. I don't have to tell you they mean to use all this against you in Berlin. There's, um another way.

John Smith

What's that?

You know I'm loyal to you above all. All right, it's been 25 years -

Smith

Just say it, Bill.

We have 103 nukes in silos across the country. On our own we are a superpower. We could go our own way, John. Our military will fall in behind you. We tear up that flag, there's nothing Berlin can do about it. Unless they wanted World War III.

Smith

You realize you could be shot for saying that?

I'm willing to take that chance. Look, I'll follow you wherever you go.

Smith

I have to go to Berlin, Bill. If anything should happen to me, then, uh Helen and the girls need to be taken to safety without delay.

Of course.

Smith

I've made detailed plans for their well-being. They're in my safe. [gives key] This is the key.

You don't have to do this, John.

Smith

I think we both know that's not true.

[in German, details animation in map] The conquest of the North American West will unfold in stages. First, the Luftwaffe will disable critical command-and-control infrastructure and carpet-bomb population centers. San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and so on.

Reichsmarschall John Smith

Forgive me, General how much value to the Reich will these cities have if they're reduced to rubble?

[in English] The aerial assault will break the will of the population. Next, our Panzer divisions will cross the border from the Neutral Zone in a blitzkrieg strike. Supported by our Wehrmacht battalions, we will have control of the West Coast within a week.

Smith. You are a skeptic?

Smith

Invading the West is one thing, [to Himmler, nodding respectfully] Mein Fuhrer. Holding it is another.

The BCR are crude savages. They rely on animal instinct.

Smith

That's what the Japanese thought.

We use different methods, Reichsmarschall, and they have never failed to achieve results, as you know.

Smith

Yes.

The question is not whether or how or when, Smith. For that is our destiny. The question is who. Who will lead the conquest of North America? A prize second only to Europa herself. Do you really believe that you deserve it, Smith? Or should I bestow it on someone else? [points] Eichmann, perhaps? Or Goertzmann?

Mein Fuhrer, perhaps this duty can only be entrusted to a member of the German Herrenvolk.

What do you say to that, Smith?

Smith

I disagree.

That is all?

Smith

[stands up] America is a rebel nation, [nods] mein Fuhrer. A German commander might - if you'll forgive me - promote unrest in the military. Only an American can truly control it.

But you do not control America, Smith. Rebellion is rampant, and I have a bullet wound to prove it!

Is the problem that he can't control America? Or is it that he won't?

Smith

What are you insinuating, Eichmann?

He is asking where your true loyalties lie, Smith. And I have been wondering the same thing myself. But tonight, at last, we are all going to learn the truth about John Smith.

[takes a drink] When a man gets to be my age, he needs a son. I thought of you as that son, John. I saw myself in you. If anyone had hurt you, shot you, as those assassins did me, I would have hunted them down and strangled them with my bare hands. But you did nothing to avenge me. Where's the tribute to the man who gave you everything? When did you even visit me when I was sick? Nothing. [Smith is blank] Say something, Smith. If not for yourself, then for your family. Say something in your defense!!

Smith

What can I say, mein Fuhrer? You're... You're right. I never loved you. I never saw you as a, a father. I saw you as a, a petty little tyrant. You're a mediocre man. [sees Himmler coughing at the words and retreats to his oxygen tank] A failed chicken farmer. The very thought that you see yourself in me, it sickens me. [Himmler inhales from the tank, but upon noticing something different, Smith makes him breathe the gas in until he dies. Smith turns off the oxygen tank, which is actually a tank of Zyklon B.]

Helen Smith

This, this portal you're talking about I-I mean, what?

John Smith

You've seen it yourself, Helen. You've seen the movies. Well, I've been there. He's alive.

Helen

I have had that fantasy so many times, but it's just that, John, it's a fantasy.

John

No.

Helen

He's not -

John

[sits down and clasps her hands] I've seen him. Helen, I've seen our beautiful boy. He's real. He's real as you and me. I want you to - I want you to have the same thing I had, Helen, I want you to see him yourself.

Helen

[emotional] Well, of course I want that, but -

John

He's not sick, he's healthy, he's strong. He's doing so well. He's - There is a war, and he has enlisted. He is so much like our Thomas.

Helen

Uh, but he's-he's not. He's not our Thomas.

John

I can see what's gonna happen. Helen, he's gonna die all over again unless we do something. We can save him.

Helen

How?

John

We can bring him home.

Helen

[surprised at the idea] You want to bring this boy here? As what, as a-a prisoner?

John

Now, I've struggled with that. I know it's not gonna be easy, but, uh, I don't think we have any choice. I can't lose him again. He's gonna hate us, but he's gonna be alive, and I can live with that.

Helen

Well, I can't, I can't. I can't live with that.

John

When you see him again, you're gonna change your mind.

Helen

No. [stands up]

John

Helen -

Helen

No, No! Thomas is dead. Amy isn't ours anymore. Her mind belongs to the state, and Jennifer, well, Jennifer has rejected us. We had three chances and we wasted them all.

John

That-that's where you're wrong, Helen.

Helen

If there is a better version of me out there somewhere, I want her to have my son, because you and I, we don't deserve to have a child.

John

You're saying you have a chance to see your son again and you're not gonna take it?

Helen

I wouldn't want him to see what we have become.