As alternate histories go, this is not a great success. "Man in the High Castle" is probably best of this ilk. "The Hunters" was fun but ridiculous. "The Plot Against America" had a promising cast, and seems to be a well produced period piece. But after four slow boring episodes, I gave up.
The thesis of the series has problems. It certainly was not the case in 1940 that the Democrats were enlighten and Republicans were bigots. FDR turned away Jewish refugees, put Japanese Americans in concentration camps, denied the benefits of the G.I. Bill to Black Americans. FDR's administration was quite friendly with Mussolini in the 1930s, and the New Deal was often compared to Germany's economic recovery policies. It feels like we are meant to associate the fictional fascism of America in this series with Hollywood's imagined fascism of modern day America.
The thesis of the series has problems. It certainly was not the case in 1940 that the Democrats were enlighten and Republicans were bigots. FDR turned away Jewish refugees, put Japanese Americans in concentration camps, denied the benefits of the G.I. Bill to Black Americans. FDR's administration was quite friendly with Mussolini in the 1930s, and the New Deal was often compared to Germany's economic recovery policies. It feels like we are meant to associate the fictional fascism of America in this series with Hollywood's imagined fascism of modern day America.