MIDNIGHT REVIEWS Shōgun Episode Five
Midnight Reviews features reviews and thought pieces written and edited by a parent, at night, after bedtime.
Shōgun Episode Five: ‘Broken to the Fist’
Series created by: Rachel Kondo, Justin Marks
Featuring: Hiroyuki Sanada, Cosmo Jarvis, Anna Sawai, Tadanobu Asano
Synopsis: After believing her husband to be dead, Lady Mariko (Sawai) is shocked to see him very much alive. He returns alongside Lord Toranaga (Sanada), and both he and Mariko are ordered to live with John Blackthorne (Jarvis). How they will survive, and how Toranaga will survive after the bloody events engineered by his own son in the previous episode, is anyone’s guess.
Review: Like the show itself, the remaining regents seem precariously balanced. One wrong move and it all topples down. That’s the pedestal Shōgun has slowly, steadily risen to since the first episode release, but since episode four there have been slight stumbles on the way that threaten to loosen the pedestal and, like this metaphor, possibly force the pedestal and Shōgun to collapse.
Since episode four’s consummation of the side plot that drags, and drags attention away from the good stuff, we now have a setup that is worthy of a soap opera, or perhaps a sitcom depending on whether Shōgun is filmed in front of a live studio audience. The previous episode saw Blackthorne and Mariko’s love affair reach fruition but now her husband is back from the dead and has been ordered to join them in Blackthorne’s house.
Beyond the setup however, episode five deals with this predicament well. After an amusing sequence involving a dead pheasant and Blackthorne’s household not trusting his cooking, we’re privy to a dick swinging contest that starts out as funny but quickly switches gears. This scene telegraphed that perhaps the two men would bond over drinking and war stories, but the whole arrangement turns sour in the worst way.
Can Shōgun find the correct balance, reach the end and stick the landing?
The episode is at it’s darkest here. I had no idea what was happening or what was going to happen. I stared into the Anjin’s face and saw my own, reflected back at me as both he and I searched for an answer not just to the deeper questions but the immediacy, the now. I mean this literally, of course, as the entire sequence is let down by being so murky I thought a cable had come loose in the back of my TV leaving me with just the audio. What should have been the standout moment from the episode tripped over because it tried to dance in near-darkness.
Fortunately there are other plots to be getting on with. We see a glimpse of the intimidating, vengeful Lord Yabushige (Asano) after so many episodes of comedically playing both sides like a stuttering fool. The spy storyline changes course in the most satisfying way. And the mother of all earthquakes, startlingly realised, sends all the best plans of men to the dirt, burying them as the planners splutter and stare wide-eyed.
Like the sub-plot with the pheasant, the episode ends in a bleak, surprising fashion that reminds everyone that Shōgun is not just the master of slow and tense political intrigue, but also is a dab hand at a last-minute plot twist. And similarly to The Eightfold Fence, Broken to the Fist ends in a way that’ll leave you gleefully shocked and eagerly awaiting the next episode. But at the halfway point, can Shōgun find the correct balance, reach the end and stick the landing?
Shōgun is available to watch on Disney+, with episodes due once a week every Tuesday.
Matthew D. Smith likes to overshare his views on movies whenever and wherever he can. Indulge him, and follow him on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Smith_M_D
