Shōgun

Really fantastic series. Every episode was visually engaging, well written, brilliantly acted, and held my attention with ease. Anna Sawai as Lady Mariko was terrific, especially after I’d seen her be somewhat mediocre in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, where they didn’t give her character a lot to do. But here on Shogun she had a commanding presence, with a quiet power to her that demanded attention. I think most audiences were as captivated by her as John Blackthorne (our Western eyes into the Japanese world) would have been. The power wielded by NOT speaking is something that Shogun’s writers and actors utilized really really well. So many times characters do not say what they’re thinking, instead giving a smile, or a tilt of the head, and they immediately feel powerful because we want something from them but they refuse to give it. Meanwhile Cosmo Jarvis as the foulmouthed Protestant pirate John Blackthorne, just blurts out whatever is on his mind, much to the amusement of his listeners in “The Japans”. And as a result, he always seems like a likable guy who’s out of his depth in this strange land. But I think for me the standout performance is from Hiroyuki Sanada as Lord Toranaga, the titular Shogun. I realized as I was watching the final episode that I genuinely believed I was watching a truly great man, one who actually could strategize his way into commanding an entire nation. His typical regal air, mixed with the ability to snap into physical action, or put on a show of illness, all combine to paint a picture of a once in a generation mastermind. He always seems to be playing chess with his human puppets, who are somewhat aware he’s doing so but respect him so much that they don’t object, even to the point or killing themselves for him.  I personally would have loved to see more Samurai warfare. I thought from the trailers this would be an action series but it turned out to be more of a drama. It’s still terrific but I think it would have only added to the experience to have some climactic battle sequences. Even so the story did feel complete so it’s a purely subjective wish on my part. Throughout the entire season, I never could predict where it was going to go. Even while Toranaga revealed his plan at the end, his explanation felt so obvious, “oh of course that’s what you were doing” but I never had an inkling of it till he explained it. The series consistently felt both inevitable yet completely unpredictable at the same time, which is the mark of excellent writing. When you have writing that good, with performances that somehow are just as good, you have something special on your hands. Shogun is a winner in my book.