MIDNIGHT REVIEWS Shōgun Episode Two
Midnight Reviews features reviews and thought pieces written and edited by a parent, at night, after bedtime.
The evening review…
Shōgun Episode Two: ‘Servants of Two Masters’
Series created by: Rachel Kondo, Justin Marks
Featuring: Hiroyuki Sanada, Cosmo Jarvis, Anna Sawai, Tadanobu Asano
Synopsis: John Blackthorne (Jarvis) is now prisoner of Lord Toranaga (Sanada). Seen as a barbarian by everyone around him, he must find a way to persuade his captors he can be useful. Meanwhile, Toranaga must deal with the very real prospect of the other daimyos working against him. Perhaps this Anjin can be useful.
Review: Western storytelling is near-obsessed with dichotomy and juxtaposition. This is in full swing throughout, appropriately, episode two of Shōgun as our two leads must deal with the complex web they find themselves trapped in.
Toranaga is thrown around, first an enemy to the most powerful of the council before becoming a useful tool. Blackthorne goes from guest to prisoner and back again in the space of an hour. They are both prisoners with different captors and both perhaps in thrall to each other.
Mariko, given life by a barely restrained Anna Sawai who in this episode is the one given most to do, is pulled in multiple directions: between lies and the truth; her two fluent languages; and her faith and her Lord. The war between catholic and protestant is rearing its head, forcing those stuck in the middle to make tricky decisions. Which side will each of them choose?
Now that the exposition dump that was the first twenty minutes of episode one is done with, Servants of Two Masters is able to jump straight in and spend all its time in a well lived-in world that is shown under luxurious cinematography and lifted by confident storytelling. This is a series that named its first episode Anjin which translates literally as ‘pilot’, as in Blackthorne’s occupation as well as the designation given to the first episode of any TV show. Shōgun is clearly being made by people who want to have a little fun as well as present the self-serious tale of these characters.
Servants of Two Masters is also very happy to give its audience a chance. A chance to choose to pay attention. A chance to keep up of their own accord. Unlike the meandering of that first twenty minutes in the first episode, this episode isn’t afraid to move at speed and the final twenty minutes are tense and thrilling in equal measure.
Performances, unlike the first episode, are fraught and raw whilst somehow remaining restrained, not just because of cultural tendencies but also because every character bar Blackthorne has something up both sleeves. And it’s nice to see that the show is restrained enough that Blackthorne, despite not just being the simple fool some of his captors are convinced he is, doesn’t simply pick everything up in one fell swoop. A lesser show would’ve shown him fighting off samurai and speaking fluent Japanese; this may still happen, but here he manages to say ‘thank you’ and is tricked into calling himself a dog.
We see the world as defined by pairs; sometimes mirror opposites, sometimes elements working hand-in-hand. The Portuguese and the Spanish have proclaimed the world theirs and are splitting it to their hearts’ content. Lord Toranaga might possibly be the only one who can be shogun but he despises such a title. Though his path seems destined to lead inexorably to war, he seems to genuinely want peace. And of course Blackthorne is a man stuck in a society of sharp, clean lines and thinks more than one bath a week leads to illness. He’s a fish out of bathwater, you could say.
Stream this series, now, and watch it unfold as intended, like John Blackthorne’s mask as it lifts and he realises something great might come of this.
Shōgun is available to watch on Disney+, with episodes due once a week after a double episode premiere.
