Shogun (2024) Episode VII
Catch up on Shogun:
We’re at the all hope is lost part of this story. And they’re making us sit with it for a whole week.
Dastardly, I must say.
In the age of binging, it feels almost obscene to not let us know what happens next. To not let the next episode roll over after the typical five seconds forces us to sit with what we just witnessed.
Nagakado, dead.
Poor boy.
He never had a chance, did he?
Episodes VI and VII shifted our focus from Blackthorne or even the larger political struggle to family matters and to individual character motivations. We saw last week how Mariko became who she now is, and even how Lady Ochiba became who she now is.
A fate bestowed upon them because of family. Because of what their families did and what was done to them.
And here we see Nagakado, forever in his father’s shadow, and Saeki, trying to escape his half-brother’s shade, collapsing towards one another in a brutal yet stupid and absurd moment.
It’s so stupid, so meaningless, that it feels as cruel as real life.
Why wouldn’t Nagakado die this way?
Slipping and cracking his skull open while trying to murder his uncle.
Such a stupid, useless death.
In a different kind of story, this would be the moment where Toranaga will defy all odds and wage war against impossible odds and fight his half-brother.
But this is Japan in 1600. At the beginning of this show, we watched him order the death of a man and his infant child.
What does it matter that his own son die, uselessly, foolishly?
Toranaga surrendered and Nagakado believed he could murder his way out of it, which is a staggering misapprehension of his father but also of the society they live in.
This episode is a moment of stagnation. We believed, when Saeki showed up, loud and brash, that we would see a new sun rising. A new sort of levity to bolster Toranaga’s army defeated by the earthquake. Instead, Saeki is his jailor, his replacement on the Regency Council, who hopes to finally escape his brother’s towering shadow.
And the episode begins with a demonstration of who Toranaga was. A successful warlord while still a child. His legend grew and flowered and now, fifty years later, his legend ends.
Curiously, it’s Gin, the aging courtesan, who makes note of Toranaga’s plans. She asks why would he allow himself to be captured this way, and there’s no answer here.
As a viewer, we are meant to feel the trap. But, here, we have a clue that this sudden trap sprung upon him was not so sudden.
Perhaps expected.
And if expected, then why?
Why would Toranaga allow himself and all his people to be captured in this way? What is his goal?
He’s to be brought to Osaka Castle where he’ll be forced to commit seppuku, along with many of his vassals. Including Yabushige, who is less than thrilled about the prospect.
And then there’s Blackthorne, trapped in this war he cannot and doesn’t understand. He can see his ship in the harbor but he cannot get there. Cannot escape.
His fate tied to Toranaga.
Toranaga, who will not explain himself or explain to Blackthorne what this is all for or why he, too, must fall with him.
To Blackthorne, the true enemy is obvious: the Portuguese.
But Toranaga is less concerned with an empire half the world away and far more concerned with the politics of his own land. Which is quite normal.
How could he care about anything else?
And so I find I don’t have much to say about this episode, except that I see the weakness in it. It is, in a way, a required weakness.
It’s a setup for the finale. The conclusion begins in earnest next episode, I suspect, and we’ll race forward at a breakneck pace.
And so the showrunners are forcing us to sit in anticipation for a week. Brooding on the dissatisfaction of this episode. No one even got shot with a cannon! Toranaga’s war ended and only one person died: his son.
Many of our favorite characters took a bit of a backseat while we spent time watching Toranaga deliberately not decide or act.
But next week—I’m very excited for this upcoming episode. I’ll leave it there, for now.
My novels:
Glossolalia - A Le Guinian fantasy novel about an anarchic community dealing with a disaster
Sing, Behemoth, Sing - Deadwood meets Neon Genesis Evangelion
Howl - Vampire Hunter D meets The Book of the New Sun in this lofi cyberpunk/solarpunk monster hunting adventure
Colony Collapse - Star Trek meets Firefly in the opening episode of this space opera
The Blood Dancers - The standalone sequel to Colony Collapse.
Iron Wolf - Sequel to Howl.
Sleeping Giants - Standalone sequel to Colony Collapse and The Blood Dancers
Broken Katana - Sequel to Iron Wolf.
Libertatia; or, The Onion King - Standalone sequel to Colony Collapse, The Blood Dancers, and Sleeping Giants
Noir: A Love Story - An oral history of a doomed romance.
House of Ghosts - Standalone sequel to Libertatia; or, the Onion King
For a moment when you said "finale" I thought, no, there are only 8 episodes? NO! Phew, there are 10. Same sentiment, esp. about that cruel fatal slippery stone, but that's life. No rhyme or reason. Three more days and I will be in Dijon so it will be even longer for me!