Well, after telling everyone how great the 1980 Shogun miniseries is, I watched the first two episodes of this new adaptation of the 1975 novel by James Clavell.
Shogun (1980)
The 1975 James Clavell novel Shogun has, starting today, two adaptations. Usually when I write about something like this for all you fine people, I secretly do a decent amount of research. Sometimes that means just watching a movie or TV show or reading a book, but sometimes it means quite a bit more.
And it’s real good.
Maybe the best show I’ve seen in years.
Spoilers ahead, not only for the first two episodes, but for the whole series.
I mean, this is sort of said while assuming historical events are spoilers for a show. Anyway.
Episode I
I was cautiously optimistic but my wife and I were secretly expecting the worst elements of modern filmmaking to make this almost unwatchable.
Maybe most noticeable for those who fear and hate the darkness of modern filmmaking, the show remains bright enough to be legible even in scenes that should be pitch black. And this makes an enormous difference.
Now, I’m not one of those haters of the intense darkness of modern movies and shows. This kind of aesthetic is somewhat cyclical and maybe Shogun is a sign that we’re moving out of the darkness and towards artificial light to make night scenes more viewable.
Of course, Dune II comes out tomorrow and that will likely be wildly dark, so who knows.
But talking about lighting is the least interesting part of this adaptation, though I do think it signals something important about this adaptation.
The new adaptation is noticeably different. Rather than understanding the story solely through John Blackthorne’s eyes, we get a broader view. Some things are even done in a different order. It’s not entirely clear to me why, but I assume this was to sort of massage over some of the things in the original that they thought audiences wouldn’t buy, or that threatened to break the realism of the piece.
We skip the storm that leaves Blackthorne and the Dutch stranded in Japan and instead see the Japanese board the ship and find the crew barely alive.
Rather than Blackthorne waking up in a nice bed, we see them first in a hole in the ground.
This is a departure from the book and the 1980 miniseries, but I actually think it’s an improvement. It makes more sense to me—and likely most viewers—to have him in prison first and then taken out and cared for, rather than given care and then tossed into the hole.
Life doesn’t follow sense and so I do like the other ordering of things, but this shifting didn’t lead to any significant change, I think.
The biggest change happens very quickly in that we see Lord Toranaga for the first time within minutes of the show starting. He’s far away and heading to Osaka Castle, which is a trap laid out for him.
Inside Osaka Castle, the plotting against Toranaga begins and the political dimensions of the series are laid out more clearly in this scene than they were in the entire 1980s miniseries.
And while I did like that aspect of the 1980 series—the way we’re as lost as Blackthorne, completely in the dark—it’s also interesting to see the cards laid out before us. This will allow us to see and understand Toranaga’s political machinations and movements.
You see, the original show is really driven by Blackthorne’s competency and cleverness. The way, piece by piece, detail by detail, he observes and learns and begins using what he learns to his advantage.
This is why the Thomas Cromwell novels by Hilary Mantel work so well.
This is history. We know the ending. We know exactly where this goes.
But watching someone competently cut through their adversaries and adversity is strangely intoxicating and compelling.
This 2024 adaptation of Shogun promises to not only show Blackthorne’s cleverness, but also Toranaga’s.
And I am absolutely delight and enthralled by this.
He’s one of the most compelling characters from the 1980 miniseries, and he’s really not on screen that much. Part of this powerful presence is no doubt due to Toshiro Mifune, but another part is the mystery. We don’t exactly understand what he’s doing or why, what he wants from this barbarian from the West or how this barbarian can possibly be an advantage.
And it’s really not until the very end of the miniseries, those final few minutes, that we see what Toranaga’s done, and it causes us to re-examine the show we spent 9 hours watching.
This new adaptation is going to ground us in Toranaga’s narrative, which is thrilling. At least to me.
We move back to Blackthorne at Anjiro, where he shipwrecked, and Yabushige (wasnamed Yabu in the 1980 series and novel: the name change was apparently to make his name more Japanese sounding) played by one of my all time favorite actors, Tadanobu Asano(!).
Yabushige was one of my favorite elements of the 1980 series so it’s such a tremendous joy to see Asano take on this role.
Yabushige is a brutal and wily man who is obsessed with the moment of death. He takes a keen interest in Blackthorne, in part because Blackthorne so hates the Portuguese Jesuits fluttering around Japan.
This saves his life.
Now that the Japanese aspects of the narrative are pushed to the front of the show, we understand much more of what’s going on, but also get to see the fullness of these characters. We see the chaotic glee of Yabishige, for example, who seems absolutely delighted by a barbarian who hates the priests and Christians as much as he does.
All the same, he kills one of the Dutchman locked up and listens to hear what happens at the moment of death.
Now, there are certain things that are a bit lost by showing the Japanese perspective so early. For example, when Blackthorne witnesses a samurai murder a peasant, seemingly at random, we aren’t given that moment of disequilibrium.
This is something that happens here.
By grounding the knowability of the Japanese, we’re still shocked but the shock is less jarring.
The same is true when Toranaga orders a man to commit seppuku along with his infant son, ending his line.
We understand the brutality and we see the brutality and the intense hierarchy of 1600 Japan, but the effect is not really the same.
Still, though, that’s a minor quibble and I think what we’re gaining is making up for it.
Toranaga in Osaka learns, through a spy in Anjiro, about the arrival of the barbarians from the West and he sends one of his vassals to go collect them.
At the same time, Yabushige is seeing the advantage of this Western ship full of guns and cannons. Now that Toranaga, his lord, is in Osaka Castle, he believes Toranaga is a dead man, which means his life may also be forfeit. The guns and cannons will allow him to fight back.
Of course, this is immediately followed by Toranaga’s vassals arriving and taking ownership of the ship and the crew. And they take Blackthorne with them to Osaka. A Portuguese pilot names Rodrigues mans the ship to Osaka.
Now, this is another point where we were extremely skeptical. Rodrigues is played by John Rhys-Davies in the 1980 miniseries, and though Rhys-Davies is anything but Portuguese, he’s such a big presence on screen that it’s hard to imagine someone else taking on this role.
And yet Nestor Carbonell is at his best here, and playing way out of character from what I’m used to.
What happens on the ship and after is also a departure from the 1980 series.
Rodrigues falls overboard. In the 1980 miniseries, Blackthorne jumps over to save him with Yabu jumping over to save both of them.
This is an important moment because it shows two things:
Rodrigues did not matter enough to the Japanese to be saved
Blackthorne matters so much to the Japanese that they risk lives to save him
This is an important discovery for Blackthorne, and it’s absent here.
I imagine, in part, because if a storm is bad enough to knock people overboard, it’s probably too treacherous to just swim through. And producers feared this would break the reality of the scene, and so they shifted.
Blackthorne steers them to shore and then demands they go find Rodrigues. None of the Japanese are interested in doing this and they don’t understand him anyway. But Yabushige gets the idea and they go search for Rodrigues. They find him at the bottom of a cliff face and Blackthorne attempts to go down to save him.
Here, now, Blackthorne learns about his indispensability. They refuse to let him even consider putting his life at risk. Blackthorne, though, has picked up a bit on how honor works here already and essentially forces Yabushige to do the rescue then.
Yabushige sees what he’s doing and though one of his samurai offers to go in his place, Yabushige takes the plunge. It doesn’t go well!
Though he saves Rodrigues, he nearly drowns until a descending rope saves him.
Curiously, to Blackthorne, Yabushige drew his sword when he discovered survival was hopeless and that he would drown. He prepares to kill himself rather than drown, which is when the rope falls.
And Yabushige is saved and the episode ends.
Now, we had planned on only watching one episode, despite both being available. But, goddamn. We were hooked.
Enthralled.
And I want to take a moment to discuss the actor playing Blackthorne.
I’d never heard of Cosmo Jarvis. Maybe you haven’t either. But our expectations were quite low. Richard Chamberlain is such a charming and charismatic Blackthorne that it seemed difficult to imagine anyone else filling those shoes. Especially one who looked like Jarvis, who seems much harder and rougher.
And so he is.
But, weirdly, that works just as well.
My first thought upon watching him is that he’s playing Tom Hardy, which is kind of funny. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that this was a very Hardy-esque performance, even down to the way he delivered his lines.
And though he’s rougher and possibly more sinister in his rendition of Blackthorne, I think this works very well. With Chamberlain, it is a bit difficult to believe someone so charming could be a pillaging pirate, but with Jarvis, I have no trouble there.
Judging books by covers, fool me.
Gone is the affability of Chamberlain, but instead we get a stony determination.
And I like it.
I like it a whole lot.
Episode II
We’re immediately thrown to a year before, when the Taiko lies dying. He tells Toranaga that he would hand the regency solely to him, but Toranaga believes this would lead to his rivals rising together to murder him.
Which is exactly what we see happening in 1600, despite the order the Taiko gave for the creation of a council of five regents.
Lord Ishido has turned the other three regents against Toranaga and now Toranaga faces death.
Back in the present, we see Rodrigues present the Jesuits with the rutter from Blackthorne’s ship, which reveals them to be, essentially, pirates, just as suspected. The Jesuits debate whether this should be shared with the Japanese, but decide against it since it also contains the Spanish and Portuguese alliance, which partitions the globe between them.
We also meet Mariko, who is fluent in Portuguese and Latin, making her a potential translator for Toranaga when he speaks with the barbarian, Blackthorne, now given the name Anjin, which means Pilot.
Blackthorne is brought before Toranaga and Mariko, but Mariko is not yet the translator. Rather, the translation happens through Father Alvito, a Portuguese Jesuit.
The editing of this scene is great. We begin with full translations and we see that Alvito, despite Blackthorne’s mistrust, is translating faithfully, but gradually shift to Toranaga speaking directly to Blackthorne, each in their own language, with the audience simply understanding that the translation is happening in between.
It’s a clever use of editing, which also draws a connection between Toranaga and Blackthorne.
Lord Ishido interrupts this interview and Toranaga dismisses the whole affair, sending Blackthorne to prison.
Ishido wonders why Toranaga is wasting his final days of life talking to a barbarian, and Toranaga demurs.
And Blackthorne pays the price.
In prison, he meets a Franciscan who was put there by the Jesuits. In the 1980 miniseries, this is a neat little friendship that we get to see and where Blackthorne learns more and more about Japan and the culture and even the language.
Things are a bit swifter here, though Blackthorne does learn about a Portuguese base in Macau, where the Black Ship connects Japan to the Silk Trade. This makes Portugal obscenely rich and Japan…well, not so much. It also highlights the way Portugal is building a military apparatus to potentially rival and overthrow the Japanese.
We’re led to understand this is exactly what happened during the previous Taiko’s life.
We learn of Toranaga’s plans for Blackthorne as well, using him as a wedge between the Christians on the regent council and Ishido, who is not Christian. The Christians, through the influence of the Jesuits, want Blackthorne executed immediately and will not vote on Toranaga’s fate until the heretic is dead.
This matters because Toranaga must be expelled from the regency unanimously by the other four regents. And so the introduction of the heretic both delays this vote but also potentially divides those unified against him.
Ishido arrives at Yabushige’s rooms and is surprised that Toranaga has not invited his vassal into his part of Osaka castle. Yabushige plays this off nonchalantly and then they get down to talking about Blackthorne. Ishido, of course, wants to know what Toranaga wants with him. But Yabushige doesn’t really know, though he does say that Toranaga believes the Christians are trying to take over the regency and, eventually, all of Japan, which makes Ishido warry of the Christians on the regency council.
Well, Blackthorne is sentenced to be executed and Yabushige, through some underhanded dealings, manages to save him and bring him to Toranaga, where Mariko now translates for him.
And here comes my favorite scene, both from the 1980 miniseries and, so far, from this one.
Toranaga is aware that he is ignorant of much of the world and he demands information from Blackthorne. In explaining why he’s there, providing himself with a defense, Blackthorne also reveals the Portuguese base in Macau, implies there are many others with Japanese Christian troops, and, most importantly, tells Toranaga that Spain and Portugal have partitioned the New World between themselves.
And Portugal has claimed ownership of Japan.
Shit, as they say, hits the fan.
I love it.
It’s a great moment and it’s captured so well by Jarvis, Sanada (Toranaga), and Sawai (Mariko). The texture of the scene is much different than the 1980 miniseries. The drama and tension is tighter, ratcheted higher here, and I think it allows this moment to become more explosive.
I want to watch it again right now!
The fall out is almost immediate. While Blackthorne is brought into Toranaga’s protection and into his lodging, Toranaga refuses to let the Black Ship sail. The Christian regents and the Jesuits—especially the captain of the Black Ship—need Blackthorne out of their hair so they can keep making the profit for empire.
An assassin is hired and she cuts through Toranaga’s rooms with ruthless and brutal efficiency. An alarm is raised and everyone fears for their lord Toranaga, and guards and samurai move to protect him.
Blackthorne wakes as well and runs towards the chaos, which leads him to the guest rooms, where he should have been staying.
There he finds Toranaga and the assassin. Toranaga has already sliced into her neck. She’s dead, though she fights on anyway, bleeding to death, and manages to cut Blackthorne before she succumbs to her wound.
And here, when his household is gathered round her, telling him he must wage war against Ishido, he tells them all that he was staying in Anjin’s rooms. That the assassin was for Anjin.
As if he expected this from the Jesuits.
Which leave sus in a curious place!
And I really feel that I must say how riveting this rendition of the story is. I’ll remind you: I watched the miniseries just a few weeks ago. I remember exactly what happened, and yet I was still on the edge of my seat.
I’m sure many people have various quibbles with this show because of how it differs from the older miniseries or the source material, but my only want from an adaptation is that it be good.
And Shogun is proving itself to be one of the best shows in years.
The acting is superb. The fight choreography is clear and legible. The worldbuilding and cinematography are about as good as you can hope for right now.
And, at its foundation, is just a fucking great story.
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.
Some free books for your trouble:
I agree with your feelings and assessment of this adaptation. I as well expect ed the new piece to not be as good as the beloved,by me, first adaptation or the book. I was enthralled, captivated and delighted by the attention to detail of custom and design .I watched the making of the series that documented the attention to detail of customs, right down to gestures and the way the Japanese samurai walked and moved. It paid off. Also the quality of the actors is top notch. Excited to see the rest of the series.
This show was not on my radar at all. We’ve got D+ for the kiddo though so I’ll give this one a shot this weekend and if we like it, follow along with your recaps!