SHOGUN [FX]

Forty-four years ago, I read James Clavell’s 1000 page novel, Shogun, and then watched Richard Chamberlain in the 5-episode TV version of Shogun. Set in 1600, the story of a shipwrecked English “pilot” (aka, navigator) taken prisoner by the Japanese, is full of action and adventure. This new FX version of Shogun (10 episodes) paints a much more complete picture of Clavell’s epic novel with a much broader canvas.



The story starts with a Dutch trading ship  Erasmus  and its barely surviving crew blown ashore by a violent storm at Anjiro on the east coast of Japan. Pilot-Major John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis), the ship’s English navigator, is taken prisoner by samurai warriors. The Catholic foothold in Japan puts Blackthorne, a Protestant and therefore a heretic in this situation, at a political disadvantage that might cost him his life.



The influential Lord Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada), mistrusts this foreign religion now spreading throughout Japan. He is competing with other samurai warlords of similar high-born rank, among them Catholic converts, for the very powerful position of  shōgun , the military governor of Japan. Toranaga, under political stress that might cost him his life, sees John Blackthorne as a wild card that might change the balance of power among the warlords–and maybe save his own life.



My favorite character is Lady Markiko Toda (Anna Sawai), a tormented aristocrat who balances her Catholic religion and her loyalty to Lord Toranaga, who becomes the interpreter and eventual lover of Blackthorne.



Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks (co-writer of Top Gun: Maverick) , show runners of Shogun, present a feudal and beautiful Japan full of treachery and political intrigue. The scope and power of Shogun with its bold drama and scale makes this series one of the year’s best! GRADE: INCOMPLETE but trending toward an A