Joe Blake quotes from The Man in the High Castle

Joe Blake

Martin Heusmann was my father. His false beliefs came to infect me. We were both guilty of wrong thinking against the Fuhrer, which gave rise to an unspeakable criminal scheme to assassinate our great leader, our one true father. Wrong thinking against the Fuhrer, against the Party, against the true science of National Socialism. Martin Heusmann was my father.

You know what those brownshirts out there would do if they caught you? [referring to SD officers in security camera footage]

Joe Blake

I'm not afraid to die.

Me, either. Might be a relief, actually. But how you feel about pain?

Blake

Pain?

Yeah. When they're plucking your fingernails out one by one, or they're cracking your balls open like walnuts. That's when maybe you stop caring about what your old man said and tell Johnny Jackboot out there my name, or just about anything else he wants.

Blake

You're so afraid, why are you here?

I fought in the war, kid. I saw my buddies' brains get blown out on Virginia Beach. You... You're just a punk who could get me caught.

Blake

Yeah, I guess I'm afraid of pain. I don't have any buddies who died in the war. I don't really know what freedom is. But I'm not a punk and I'm not a spy, Mr. Warren. I'm here because I want to do the right thing. So you gonna give me the job or not?

Oh, that? A soldier so fierce he’d kill a rose.

Joe Blake

That was you?

A long time ago. We lost the war didn’t we? Now I can’t even remember what we were fighting for.

Joe Blake

[noticing ashes falling like snowflakes] What is that?

Oh, that's the hospital.

Blake

The hospital?

Yeah, Tuesdays, they burn cripples... the terminally ill. Drag on the state.

Joe Blake

[on the phone] Hey, it's me.

John Smith

How was your journey?

Blake

No one stopped me.

Smith

Then your cover's intact. I'll tell your father, Joe. I know he'll be very proud.

Blake

Thank you, Obergruppenfuhrer. I hope so.

Smith

Heil Hitler.

Blake

Heil Hitler.

John Smith

You think she knows more about the film than she's saying?

Joe Blake

Yes. Absolutely. Sorry. She just said it was different, sir. Different to the others.

Smith

What's your feeling, Joe? Do you think that she can get to it on her own, using her contacts there?

Blake

Maybe. I don't know.

Smith

Perhaps you're going to have to help her. You're going on another trip, Joe, and you'd better hope you find that film. You call in every day. Tell me everyone you meet, every little detail, everything. No omissions, no mistakes. I noticed yesterday you were very good with my little girls. Is that because of... Buddy? [Blake is quiet at the other end of the line] Heil Hitler, hmm?

Well, look what the wind blew in.

Joe Blake

Look, I'm sorry to show up like this, sir, but... things took a little longer than I thought.

Last funeral I went to, the whole thing lasted about an hour. You've been gone best part of three weeks.

Blake

Right. I'm sorry, sir. I'm here now.

And you expected me to keep the forklift open?

Blake

No, not expected, sir. Hoped.

Who the hell do you think you are, Blake?

Blake

I don't think I'm anybody, sir. I just want to show up and do an honest day's work, if you'll let me.

Well, you want to grab a sledgehammer and break concrete, I guess that'll be okay. That honest enough for you?

Blake

Thank you, sir. [starts working]

Joe Blake

I'm going home.

What happened?

Blake

One of your guests reminded me of who I am and who I'm not.

I don't understand.

Blake

You wouldn't. But I've seen the blood that pays for this champagne. And if you think for a second that it's going to make me forget what you did to my mother... She died poor, by the way.

Josef, I'm not asking you to forget anything. I get it. It was war. You were here.

Blake

We were there.

There's more to the story, son.

Blake

I don't care anymore.

Please. Please stay.

Blake

Is that an order, Reichsminister? Whatever it is you need to tell me to clear your conscience, I don't want to hear it.

Joe Blake

Where's the Führer?

The Führer... is in a coma. The doctors say it is unlikely he will recover. Until the Party meets and selects his successor, the Führer had ordered that I be named acting chancellor. Trust me, it's not an honor anyone would want, Josef.

Blake

I don't understand.

You see, this has happened before. Once the Führer was unwell, and for a time it was thought as he would die, so Reichsmarshall Göring declared himself acting chancellor.

Blake

I never heard about that.

That's because Hitler had Göring shot, along with his entire family.

Blake

[sighs] This is different, right? He chose you.

Yes. And because I've been chosen, I must do my duty.

Blake

Well, why? You're an engineer.

An engineer. Exactly, and therefore not a threat, unlike Himmler and the others who would kill for this, and very well might, whether the Führer recovers or not. I will be held directly responsible for everything that is bound to go wrong in the days ahead.

Blake

Or maybe they'll thank you.

Ah, the American in you remains so optimistic... [puts hand on Blake's shoulder] and naïve, Josef. I want you to go back there.

Blake

What?

Return to New York today. It is no longer safe for you here.

Joe Blake

Just think of the innocent lives. Father, you can't.

I know the casualties will be high, but that may be necessary.

Blake

You can't really believe that.

Did you listen to nothing that I've said??

Blake

Of course I did, but you can't build a better world if there's nothing left of it. [Himmler enters the room with a group of SS soldiers]

[in German] What is this for?

[in German as the soldiers take Heusmann and Blake] Acting Chancellor Heusmann, you are under arrest for high treason and the murder of our Fuehrer, Adolf Hitler.

Blake

[sees John Smith at the door] What the hell's going on?

Your father's a traitor, Joe.

[in German] Take them away!

Smith has sent you, hasn't he? That vengeful bastard.

Joe Blake

You should've stayed loyal to the Reich.

The old regime needed to go. Heydrich and your father, they understood that.

Blake

My father confessed his faults. Renounced his conspiracy against the Fuhrer.

Then your father died a traitor. [falls down after a shot to the chest]

Blake

My father died a hero. [shoots Diels in the face]

Joe Blake

Listen, Juliana, to resist is to invite the kind of pain that I went through. And trust me you do not want that.

Juliana Crain

And what is it that you think I want?

Blake

You want to join me. For a world full of perfection and happiness.

Crain

You hardly seem happy.

Blake

Just wake up! This is the world we live in. One that can be perfected, but not by your idea of goodness. Make peace with that, and there's a way out of this.

Crain

But what does it mean Die Nebenwelt?

Blake

It means "the next world," a parallel world. And when we reach it, and the world after that, and the world after that, the Reich will be everywhere. It dwarfs my father's greatest dreams. Now get dressed.

Crain

Or what? Hmm? You know, I've watched you kill me so many times. You know what happens next? You take that gun and you put it under your chin, and you blow your own fucking brain -

Blake

You're gonna take me to Tagomi. And then you're gonna take me to High Castle.