Shogun S1E9: Crimson Sky
At long last, we start to see Toranaga’s true intentions. After surrendering two episodes ago, he spent last week’s episode mourning his son and insisting that he would follow through on surrendering to Ishido, even if it meant his death. Hiromatsu, his closest friend and advisor, committed ritual suicide when he couldn’t dissuade Toranaga from this suicidal path. He drove away Blackthorne and always-questionably-loyal Yagushibe, who decided to abandon their lord and team up against Ishido on their own.
Only then, having lost or driven away everyone closest to him, did Toranaga confide in Mariko — maybe the first time we’ve seen him confide in anyone. All of it, including Hiromatsu’s death, was for show. Ishido had to be absolutely convinced that Toranaga was a broken, defeated man, friendless and powerless. Only then would Toranaga be in a position to strike back. And he tells Mariko it’s time to do her part, although we don’t yet know what that entails.
It starts with her sailing to Osaka, along with Yabushige and Blackthorne. Ishido’s men are waiting to escort them into the castle, where Ishido has been holding members of every noble family hostage so no one dare attack him. He’s also now engaged to Ochiba, the Queen Mother, the last move he needs to make to consolidate his power.
So he’s quite comfortable on the (metaphoric) throne when Yabushige brings Blackthorne before Ishido, offering up his services as a sea captain, but Ishido dismisses them both. He doesn’t need Toranaga’s former allies groveling before him. But then it’s Mariko’s turn. She calmly informs Ishido she will be returning to Edo with Toranaga’s wife, as well as his consort and their newborn son — all three have been held hostage since Toranaga’s escape from Osaka early in the season. Ishido finds the request outrageous, but Mariko simply stares him down. Her family have been samurai for the last thousand years, and she will not be kept prisoner or be swayed from the task her lord set out for her. Ishido can only make feeble protest, as Ochiba cooly appraises him.
Yabushige is outraged, convinced Mariko’s insolence is going to get them all killed. But she’s just as coldly dismissive to him, calmly refusing to give him a glimpse of Toranaga’s plans. She does at least hint to Blackthorne of her chess game. If Ishido stops her from leaving by force, it’s an admission that the nobles in the castle are in fact prisoners, and she’s banking on him not wanting that to be public knowledge.
But Yabushige isn’t the only one upset with Mariko’s gambit. She’s confronted by her teenage son — this show has made a habit of not explaining relationships and letting the viewer catch up (for example, Hiromatsu was Mariko’s father-in-law, which we only piece together gradually), but it’s a legitimate shock that she has a son who’s never been mentioned. He resents his family’s legacy, which he finds as shameful as Mariko does, and he vows to disown her if she brings further shame by defying Ishido. For the first time in the episode, she lets her facade crack, letting her sadness show once her son has stormed off.
She also can’t help but look nervous as she prepares to lead Toranaga’s family out of the castle. All eyes in the castle are on her as she prepares to confront the guards blocking her party’s exit. When they refuse to let her pass, she calmly asks one of Toranaga’s soldiers in her party, “please kill him,” Two slashes of a sword later, he does. After a tense standoff, the two groups fight, as Mariko calmly stands in the middle of the battle.
Most of the soldiers on both sides are killed. But Ishido has reinforcements; Mariko has none. After making sure Ochiba and Ishido’s fellow council members understand they are all his prisoners, she stares down the guards and steps forward with steely resolve. She can not be dissuaded from carrying out her lord’s orders. She picks up a weapon and holds off half a dozen soldiers, who are unsure if they can strike back against a noblewoman. She finally gives up, and emotionally says she cannot fight them alone, but she cannot fail her lord. As penance, she will commit seppuku at sunset.
Ordinarily, we might think this is a bluff. She’s very clearly putting on a show for Ochiba, her childhood friend, and the one person who has the power to put a stop to all of this. But after Hiromatsu followed through on the same threat last week — and after Toranaga made it clear he was willing to sacrifice Hiromatsu for the sake of his plans — we legitimately don’t know how this ends.
The best strategy in chess is to give your opponent two choices, both bad. Lose your bishop or your rook. Sacrifice your queen or fall into checkmate. Simply by trying to leave the castle, Mariko has put Ishido in an impossible position: let her die, and the other noble families will revolt. Let her leave, and the other hostages will follow, and Ishido’s shaky hold on power becomes even shakier. Ishido can’t win. But Mariko can still lose. We spent the last episode making it clear that she values loyalty over life or death, and we won’t spoil which one is in her future this week.
Based on the title, we thought this episode would show us Toranaga’s plan to invade Osaka and take the castle by force. But Mariko’s chess game is every bit as captivating as a battle scene would be, and the episode is a masterwork of tension, anchored by a bravura performance by Anna Sawai. The great tragedy of Shogun isn’t the death that hangs over these characters; it’s that after establishing this world and these richly-drawn, superbly-acted characters, we’re not getting a second season, as the series is tied to a book with a definitive ending.
Stray thoughts:
• This is Mariko’s episode, far and away, but Blakthorne, Ochiba, and Father Martin all have terrific scenes opposite her. The performances on the show manage to step up with every episode.
• Toranaga’s shadow hangs over this episode, but he’s otherwise completely absent.
• As always, we follow 45 minutes of tense, subtle character work with an action scene to finish out the episode. Far too many recent shows (and films) are too poorly lit to follow action properly, but Shogun uses the darkness expertly, highlighting the character’s confusion during a nighttime fight, while still keeping it clear for the viewer what’s going on. The show is expertly made on every level.
