Their mother Bess (Zoe Kazan) tells them to wash their hands while father Herman (Morgan Spector) graciously caves to a Hasidic man’s gentle Shabbat guilting and donates to Palestine. We meet the Levin family (they’re the Roths in the novel) during the hustle and bustle of Friday night Shabbat dinner, the camera circling their humble yet polished dining table as sons Philip (Azhy Robertson) and Sandy (Caleb Malis) run around causing a ruckus.

Spiro takes the first three episodes, and her craft is on full display in a visually rich premiere that introduces more than a few outstanding performances.Īny first episode has the job of establishing the universe, creating a connection to the characters, and setting the plot in motion - all of which are done beautifully here. The two veteran TV directors, (Spiro of Downton Abbey” and “Barry” Schlamme of “The West Wing” and “The Americans”), split the miniseries in half. It’s not exactly reassuring that the 1940’s fashion and antique cars look so good under Minkie Spiro’s and Thomas Schlamme’s expert direction. ‘Love Again’ Review: Not Even Celine Dion Can Save This Wildly Contrived Rom-Com from Its Own Sadness The question lingering after the promising premiere, however, is whether now is in fact “the right time” for an allegory about the rise of fascism, when the likelihood of that actually happening on a larger scale than it already has grows every day. Whether that ends up being too close for comfort or just distant enough to be a wake-up call (for anyone who still needs one) remains to be seen. Painted in the sepia tones of the past, “The Plot Against America” is far too close to an increasingly frightening present.

The resulting six-episode miniseries begins Monday night with a delicately rendered, if somewhat muted, opening episode. It’s no wonder that after the election of Donald Trump, HBO approached “The Wire” creator David Simon to adapt the novel. In 2020, the bestselling novel has become an eerily prescient allegory. When Philip Roth published “ The Plot Against America” in 2004, his revisionist historical fiction in which Germany wins WWII and America elects a fascist who runs on xenophobia was an intriguing - if unsettling - thought experiment.

The Plot Against America by Philip Roth