MIDNIGHT REVIEWS Shōgun Episode Seven
Midnight Reviews features reviews and thought pieces written and edited by a parent, at night, after bedtime.
Shōgun Episode Seven: ‘A Stick of Time’
Series created by: Rachel Kondo, Justin Marks
Featuring: Hiroyuki Sanada, Cosmo Jarvis, Anna Sawai, Tadanobu Asano
Synopsis: On the brink of war, Toranaga (Sanada) attempts to sway his brother into joining forces. Meanwhile, Blackthorne (Jarvis) and Mariko (Sawai) have questions of their own amidst the preparation for Crimson Sky.
Review: Shōgun has been confident in its slow burn, promising a reckoning for all characters for quite some time without ever feeling like it uses filler episodes. This episode threatens to tip over into that space, but manages to save itself with enough character beats to satisfy.
When A Stick of Time opens with the ending of a hard-fought war, it’s a shock, a feeling that we’ve skipped something quickly assuaged with the reveal of young Lord Toranaga (Kai Coulter) astride a horse, face as steely and impenetrable as in the show’s present timeline. It’s made clear to us that Toranaga has not just fought since boyhood, but has been a leader of armies. What does this do to a person? It allows a new context of everything that came before, as well as what’s to come. This is not just a flashback for the sake of it.
A scintillating shake-up to the usual dynamics we’ve gotten used to.
When it jumps back to the present timeline, we see a community preparing for war. Crimson Sky, a plan that promises either death or glorious victory with no in between, is upon Toranaga and his people. Before this war, we see much skittishness and retrospection. A nervousness pervades the entire episode. And of course boisterous bragging from those trying to contain themselves.
But before war, Toranaga has a plan to enlist his brother, Saeki (Eita Okuno), in order to bolster his army. Okuno plays Saeki perfectly as a relaxed leader with absolutely no stresses on his shoulders, equal parts poetic and coarse. It’s a scintillating shake-up to the usual dynamics we’ve gotten used to.
However, Shōgun seems aware that it has nothing to do with Blackthorne now he has no rank left to get promoted to, nor anything more he can do to evolve his relationship with Mariko. Instead he spends his time butting his head against the traditions of a foreign land, but it’s a shame Jarvis doesn’t have more to do as his character’s journey has been the source of some of the show’s best times.
Shōgun allows us time to reflect.
Despite episode one’s setting up of an unfeeling despot, Yabushige (Asano) has quickly evolved into the comic relief. The show doesn’t seem to know what to do with him either besides a fatalist’s smile and a hot bath. Still, it is funny watching him trying so many times to plot and connive, each desperate plan bearing very little fruit at all. One hopes his ending is as satisfying as the hot springs he helps himself to.
The meat of the episode is with Toranaga. He’s a cunning character, but has been in power all of his life. It’s incredibly interesting to watch him get presented with requests from people who are part of his circle, but have little to no power whatsoever, and to see the stories behind these requests mount up until you see self-doubt in moments of privacy. Is this the one time Toranaga doesn’t know what he’s doing? As we’re presented with the same haunting soundtrack as during the bloody flashback, it seems like he is preparing for a fight but his decision making once again leads to surprise. The writers seem to know how to write themselves into a corner and then back out again, a truly underrated skill.
The ending, despite the show’s minor meditations on time, is nothing to do with that at all, besides what comes at the end. It is a reflection on death: abrupt, yet a long time coming, and disgustingly bleak. Shōgun allows us time to reflect on this into the credits. Masterful television.
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
