Shogun Final Assessment

 

 

In the midst of what was a mostly positive review for FX’s reinterpretation of Shogun, a Japanese-American writer said that the series suffered from a ‘Japanese-superiority complex’. His argument was that, for all the impressive virtues of the remake, it was clearly in love with the old Japanese lifestyle, including the code of bushido and that the character of Toranaga supposedly benevolence glossed over the military code of the Shogun that lasted well past the Meiji restoration and essentially led to the militarization that led to the rise of Japan in World War II. 

I can understand why that interpretation could be possible but having gone over the final episode and looking at it in context with the entire series, I believe the writers and Hiroyuki Sanada were actually taking this into account in ways that were so subtle they may not have been apparent on first viewing.

Warning: Spoilers for the entire limited series follow.

In the first nine episodes of Shogun we are led to believe that Toranaga is essentially exhausted from a lifetime of battles and has been manipulated by the Council of Regents, primarily Ishido, into a position where he will be forced to surrender his power and eventually be murdered. Throughout the first eight episodes we view Toranaga as a man who is only acting reluctantly and defensively in every move that he makes both in public and private. Sanada brilliantly plays him as a man who doesn’t want to fight and who chafes at every suggestion made by his councils to carry out his war. Near the halfway point of the series, when it seems his brother has outmaneuvered him, he surrenders and we continue to believe he has lost the will to fight.

There are signs even before his final scene with Mariko that all of this is manipulation but they are fleeting based on the other devotion so many of his vassals, even Yabushige who is constantly switching sides to save his own skin, not only to his honor but that he is a man who is basically good and does not want power. The fact that Blackthorne and his own son chafe at his unwillingness to fight only adds to that belief and by keeping him out of the penultimate episode, we are led to believe the last images we saw of him in the eighth episode was that of someone who was still improvising his way out of a struggle.

So I think there’s an argument that the Toranaga we see in the final episode may actually be the real Toranaga and that both the writers and Sanada are making a very clear point. Toranaga may be the main character of Shogun but in a way he is just as much an antihero as we’ve seen in so many American based dramas. It’s here the comparison to Game of Thrones may be the most accurate, as Toranaga has clearly been not only as manipulative as all the lords who wanted his death, but at his core just as brutal.

When we see the return to the village, there are claims that Blackthorne’s ship has been destroyed by a rogue element and that Toranaga is hunting the village for the traitors. We see the heads of the people he’s had executed on pikes, the first clear sign we’ve had as to just how brutal he is. He then orders Yabushige to commit seppuku, something that Yabushige has clearly expected and then agrees to appear as his second. (I’ll return to this.) Blackthorne then requests a meeting with Toranaga and orders the village not to be destroyed to the point he wants to be punished instead. Toranaga looks away from him and when Blackthorne is about to kill himself, stops him. We learn eventually it’s not because he admires the man’s sacrifice but because he still wants to use him and he now thinks that the man will be loyal to him. (He also later confides that even if his ship is rebuilt he’ll just sink it again.)

Perhaps the sign of his true coldness comes when he is greeted by many of his former ladies and he cuddles his son. He admits there have been many sacrifices but when one of his ladies mentions the passing of the son who killed himself, he brushes it off. “I will have other sons. Starting with this one.”  We’ve known him to be manipulative before but the fact that he doesn’t even seem to mind his sons death anymore is truly unsettling. The only person he truly seems to mourn is Mariko, but considering how abominably he treated her – and in fact sent her off to die – mutes this.

I think the penultimate scene of the series where Yabushige, about to meet his fate and Toranaga are together may be the key to his entire character. In a sense I’m reminded of the cliché of the Bond villain confessing his evil plan except Toranaga actually makes sure his audience is dead when he finishes. I also think that Toranaga is doing this because Yabushige is the last of his former advisers still alive and he wants to tell him this – not to confess but because he’s the only one left who can appreciate what he has done.

And indeed when Yabushige learns how well Toranaga has manipulated everything so that Setsu, mourning the death of her old friend Mariko, has promised to leave Ishido’s side and will now back him, he is impressed. Toranaga has prevailed but he has not had to get his own hands dirty: everyone else has been willing to die for him and his image has been perfectly maintained. Now he can take the title of Shogun and build the empire he wants. Yet even here he refuses to give Yabushige the satisfaction of knowing that he is, in his heart, as monstrous as all the others. “Why should I tell a dead man the future?” he says before Yabushige puts his sword in his stomach. He knows that the legends of who he is will outlast the truth even if there were anyone who were around to know it.

So it’s clear that Sanada and his writers know all too well that in this last scene the Shogunate is going to be built on a lie. The myth of Toranaga will be that the Shogun came to power out of a need for benevolent leadership in a time of war. The truth is that he was just as bloodthirsty and power-hungry as Ishido was – he just hid it better. But Toranaga is fully aware that the legend outlives the truth even when he was alive. It will be just true when he is long gone.

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t heroes in Shogun – or more accurately, heroines. The most prominent, of course, is Mariko. She spent her entire life subject to disgrace and manipulation but she found a purpose in her final weeks that she never had before. She was aware of Toranaga’s manipulations more than anyone but unlike his other followers she did so with her eyes wide open and with a certain awareness that not even Toranaga had. Toranaga was unable to understand why the Consort loathed him so much. Mariko made it very clear: “a woman is always at war.” She had accepted her fate when she when she went to Osaka but it was very clear she did so of her own free will. Anna Sawai was superb throughout the entire series, but she took her work to a new level in the next-to-last episode right up until the moment she was about to kill herself. It will never be clear if she expected to survive what was going to happen after Ishido gave her the permits but when the attack came, her decision to let herself be killed by the attackers was a move that I seriously doubt even Toranaga thought she was capable of. It was an act of independence that guaranteed him his victory – but just as importantly to her, saved her soul.

Similar credit must be given to Setsu who spent the entire series being just as slyly manipulative as Toranaga was. She clearly had hated Toranaga for the way he had used her as protection and was willing to go to Ishido’s side for the sole purpose of being the power behind the throne. But it’s clear that she was shocked by the maneuver of Mariko in the penultimate episode and she was trying as much as anything to talk her old school friend out of killing herself. When she made her final move at the end of the series to support Toranaga, I think it was more out of admiration and respect to Mariko than her disgust at Ishido. She had decided to pick the winning team, something I’m not sure even Toranaga realized.

Usami Fuji also did  a superb job as a woman who started the series with the death of her husband and who wanted to join them in death. Her part as consort to Blackthorne gave her a purpose. It’s worth noting that, aside from Mariko, Toranaga had the deepest relationship with Fuji and it showed in their final scenes. When he learned she was planning to take the veil, he protested it because of his admiration for her but he clearly respected her decision. The fact that he chose to help her dispose of the ashes of her husband and son – and she helped him say goodbye to Mariko – was one of the most moving moments in the entire series. Blackthorne is right: Fuji will be a good nun.

But there’s an argument that the biggest winner in this episode was Gin, the geisha who headed the Japanese consorts. She saw through the ruse that Toranaga was doing well before anyone did – as was clear in ‘The Stick of Time’ when she told him she wanted in his new city a center not only for her women but for the future. It was clear she was as devoted to her rise as he was and she knew that he had the vision and ability to realize her dream. Toranaga maintained his façade in that episode but the fact that he chose to allow it to happen in the next one speaks volumes as to the respect he had for her boldness.

It's now clear that, even though there was some disappointment about the final episode, the gamble on Shogun has paid off. As of today’s writing, it ranks on imdb.com as the 36^th highest rating television show of all time. And it was more than worthy of that ranking. As I mentioned in my original review, Shogun has restored the idea of epic to the limited series and done so without sacrificing any of the great character moments that have some of the best limited series of the past decade. All of the performances from Sanada and Cosmo Jarvis as well as Tadanobu Asano as Yabushige and indeed the entire cast have been master-classes in acting. The lion’s share of these performers, while well known in Japan, have been unknown in America; indeed while many of them have a list of credits on imdb.com that go back decades, they don’t have accompanying pictures because they have no record in American productions. I suspect this will change rapidly in the days and weeks to come, particularly as we come closer to awards seasons.

The question is: can Shogun match its predecessor at the Emmys this year? Any other year that might be a given, but as it is we’ve already had quite a few extraordinary limited series: the most recent installation of Fargo, the brilliant Fellow Travelers, Capote Vs. the Swans and  Lessons in Chemistry and flashier productions such as Night Country and The Regime. At this point it’s a given the series will be among the five nominees for Best Limited Series (and seriously Emmy voters, if this year doesn’t convince you to expand the number of nominated series, nothing will) and it is certain to dominate most of the technical awards.

As for acting, while there are many nominees who will likely contend, it remains to be seen if any actually have a chance of winning in a ridiculously strong field all around. Sanada already will be going against Jon Hamm for Fargo, Matt Bomer for Fellow Travelers, Tom Hollander for Capote Vs. The Swans and almost certainly Andrew Scott for Ripley. (There are any number of strong contenders to get the final slot and I’m not willing to predict it yet.) I don’t know if Anna Sawai will ask to be nominated as lead actress or supporting Actress but it’s a tough field either war. In the former category she would have to face off against Jodie Foster from Night Country, Juno Temple from Fargo, Brie Larson from Lessons in Chemistry and Naomi Watts from Capote Vs. The Swans. Supporting Actress isn’t much easier as each of the series I listed for Actress has a similarly formidable contender: Kali Reis, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Aja Naomi King, and Diane Lane and possibly a host of other Swans. Even the vast array of Supporting Actors will have a hard time getting into an already crowded field. It’s not just that they might all lose to Robert Downey Jr, but there’s also Jonathan Bailey for Fellow Travelers, Lewis Pullman for Lessons of Chemistry and the late Treat Williams for Capote that could also be formidable contenders as well as any number of the supporting actors in Fargo. And all those are just the certain choices; the whole field has a plethora of actors that could serve as wild cards. This is without considering among others, A Murder at the End of the World, Monsieur Spade and Masters of the Air as well as any other wild cards such as Apples Never Fall and Baby Reindeer.

Right now, Gold Derby has put Shogun ahead of Fargo for Best Limited Series for the first time and it’s hard to argue with the choice. I think it unlikely the show will win any acting awards at the moment, which would make it the first limited series to do so since HBO’s masterful Chernobyl. Like that series, both shows were brilliant historical pieces that relied perhaps more on atmosphere than great performances (though their were just as many in the latter) But it is still a great accomplishment and one of the best shows of 2024 even in April. And for those of us who were left wanting more, Clavell did right five more novels in his Asian saga and Shogun was actually the third one. Of course if they wanted to do it chronologically, the next one would be Tai-Pan. They made a bad movie of that one. Perhaps now they can give it the limited series treatment it deserves. I’d watch and judging by the audience response, so would a lot of people.

My Score: 5 STARS.