2024, Disney
I don't recall much about the original series, and while I have the big, fat novel on the shelf, I recall not getting far into it. I was 13 when the mini-series came out, during the full reign of my D&D phase, so anything with swords and battles and armour and mysterious other cultures was My Thing. I was probably lost in most of it, but Anjin probably ended up as a character in a few of my games. But there was one thing I remember -- that the white guy saves the day. Thirteen year old Toast probably was fully onboard with that being the role of white men in mysterious cultures.
But now, I exquisitely enjoy that Anjin (Cosmo Jarvis, Persuasion) is not the white saviour in this show. He is more the vessel in which we travel this unknown culture. And he definitely more pawn that protagonist. He plays a role in almost every major activity in the show, but often he is just a tool being used by one person or another.
John Blackthorne is a ship's navigator on the Dutch ship Erasmus. The crew is starving by the time they arrive on the shores of Japan. They claim to be traders, but Blackthorne definitely has an English agenda, and I am not sure even the crew is fully aware. But the logs show them to be doing pirate things against the Portuguese, and the Jesuits living in Japan want him dead. But the local ruler sees benefit in keeping the boat and its guns available. Still, he is not beyond boiling a guy or two alive to see how these barbarians react.
Meanwhile Japan is in turmoil. The TaikÅ has recently died, leaving a regency of five rivals. But if anything truly unites the regents, it is that four of them are against the fifth, Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada, Helix). The entire show is about the political machinations in trying to have Toranaga pressured into being a traitor to Japan.
Its a dense show made further opaque (to what I imagine is the general audience; I have no issue with them) by the consistent use of subtitles for the Japanese being spoken. English is sparingly used to substitute for Portuguese, to give us anglos a break. But the subject matter is thick with cultural nods, exquisitely planned out political actions and responses. Everyone has their own agenda, and almost everything plays out with the expected extreme level of politeness and care of a tea ritual. Blackthorne, called Anjin (or pilot) by everyone, spends much of the show flustered & confounded by his lack of ability to control the situation and cultural norms he considers barbaric, and even when he thinks he is manipulating people and situations, he really is just falling under someone else's machinations. And yet, he has heart.
It is the character Mariko (Anna Sawai, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters) who shines the brightest. She is vassal to Lord Toranaga, from a disgraced family he took pity on. She wants nothing more than to die honourably but Toranaga has a use for her, and not just because she is an acting Christian who speaks Portuguese fluently. She is entirely held by honour and custom, a husband who just uses her and family ties and shame that people constantly remind her of. But when Blackthorne shows her unexpected gentleness and respect, a bond is formed.
Even so, my favourite character is the always-three-steps-behind Kashigi Yabushige. He is ultimately in it for himself, willing to betray his lord Toranaga, but also immediately switch allegiances when his enemy's plans fail. He genuinely seems concerned for his family but never gets that he is not doing the manipulating he thinks he is doing.
What did I mean by the lack of payoff? Multi-season arc shenanigans is all. You know Toranaga's goal is to finally reach the capital and take control of the council of regents. Will it be by war? Or by assassination (strangely uncommon aspect considering how cliches of Japanese fiction) ? Or by a mix of politics and honour games? In the end its a mix of all of the above but is not really resolved. All we got was the expected tragedy of Mariko. Will be interesting to see how following seasons play that out for Blackthorne. I mean, I knew it was coming, but really this is a show about the beauty of its parts, not necessarily its whole. But even saying that, the whole thing continues to come together nicely, just not.... unexpected.
Kent speaks.
I think you need a tag for untethered blathering....
I shudder at the recent revelation that Disney/FX want to renew this for at least two more seasons. They've extended their deal with Clavell's family but they've exhausted the book and, ever since Game of Thrones, I worry what happens any time someone starts with a book, then has to go off book.
ReplyDeleteI think Shogun was pretty perfect, a perfect ending. It resolves most of the characters and even the plot it's all formed around has its endgame laid out. Of course a second season could either dramatize all that or backtrack on what was expected, but do we need it?
I'm hoping instead they bring back the same cast, but in adapting a different story, anthology-style series with repertory players (wasn't that American Horror Story's deal too? Also an FX show. )