Fuji and Mariko seeing Buntaro still alive was intense the whole episode was intense. Seeing how Toranaga disciplined his son and taught him a lesson, the ending was intense this was the best episode so far by far ! Great writing really starting to love Fuji didn’t really understand her fully until this episode especially and the end when she sees blackthorne restoring the garden
The "Dinner with Buntaro sama" long scene was very impressively done (written, directed and acted)! I would say it reaches the heights of how to do situational drama--basically everyone was doing nothing but talk, but the "action" was fast-paced, tense, drawn out and at a knife's edge. The last film I saw that had such excellent portrayal done was the (also, a long scene) drink drama at the basement bar in Inglourious Basterds. Kudos to the director on this one.
What I found moving was Blackthorne in that instance was the respect, humility and empathy he was showing of his own volition. Up until that moment, those qualities didn't ring true in him. As he was being progressively immersed in the culture, I thought even though he was outwardly indicating (going through the motions, as it were), that he didn't fully understand the significance and need for them. It seemed to transition to a comprehension and finally an epiphany, with the death of Uejirou and Fuji's injured condition after the quake. Both incidents seemed to awaken those traits in Blackthorne's psyche. And yes, it was unexpected and very emotionally resonant for me too. The Hatamoto's learning curve was just beginning...
I went from full on laughing out loud at Blackthorne and Buntaro trying to out drink each other to my jaw dropping, staring at the TV with my mouth open when they were in the courtyard at night. How does each episode get better and better?!?
Major props for translating Moeka's words into English while making her comfortable with speaking Japanese. Not only that, but her voice in the background while the translator speaks with emotion is just the icing on top. Please, keep this up! Love it!
Ochiba’s final shot was outstanding, she had a ghostly presence to her and I immediately thought the frame was inspired by Hokusai’s “The Ghost of Oiwa”.
The landslide effects during the earthquake were astonishingly well done. The novel has always been on my favorites list, and I'm enjoying the subtleties in the character portrayals and story alterations very much.
Count me as one of the Fuji stans, and just as I thought I couldn't love her more learning that Moeka-san also speaks English is a very pleasant surprise
In retrospect, for me, that scene with Blackthorne putting the rock back on is the epitome of the episode. it sums up the rollercoaster emotional ride, and how he chose to move forward despite of everything he's yet to understand...
Fuji asking Mariko whether she would warn her if she thought Blackthorne would ever be in danger said a lot- that she knew that Mariko had slept with him and that Fuji had grown to become quite protective of him.
What a true masterpiece you all have put together! This is what the public has been wanting for years: great acting, direction, and writing that doesn't preach to us about how to live our lives. Thank you, thank you, thank you a thousand times!
I love how instinctively protective both Fuji and Blackthorne are of each other and how they show their love(maybe not fully romantic) and respect for each other even though they have different world views, languages and tastes. I hope we see more of them together. Plus I love the fact that something that is seen as a pity mercy, false and insignificant to the world and toranaga especially is later used to restore and keep his honour and I love how that unintentionally or maybe intentionally is basically used as Blackthorne restoring Fuji father honour and I love how Cosmo explained it
Ep5ラスト、落葉の方 が"The time for politics has come to an end." のシーンで敷居を踏んでいますよね。所作のプロが監修されているので敢えての表現なのでしょう。他にもEp2の石堂のシーンで、自分は官僚だと思われていたのだと気付くシーンも面白かった。主役ではなくても実在した人物像がしっかりリサーチされて、さりげなく表現されています。何故彼らが負けるのか…に繋がる部分でもあるような気がするので重要だと思います。 この番組にすっかり魅了されています。何もかも最高に面白いです。関わった東西の関係者の皆さん素晴らしい仕事をありがとうございます👏👏👏❤
we all ate good tonite.. damned.. we had alot of food for thought with tonight's dinner , eh ? Fuji-sama defending her home, replying to her uncle that she's not consort ot a barbarian.. she's consort to a hatamoto , pistol in her hand she was probably ready to defend the harmony of her house if Buntaro was gonna create more disturbances and Blackthorn getting there just after he's left the house. earth shaking revelation of the level of honor the gardener reveals to Anjin of what true honor means ,, givng his life to do his duty ,he died for his lord , keeping Anjin's law and protecting Toranaga's goals all while bringing Harmony back to the village.. brilliant writing. inspiring show , I will watch this entire series , in awe several times over . bravo. saying I love this series is like saying a typhoon is just a drop of rain.. I lack words to properly express it intelligently.
Blackthorne was missing Mariko to translate the subtle cultural differences around the pheasant and the gardener, and that's what led to the tragedy. Blackthorne isn't to blame, and neither are the people of the village. It also ties into the themes around cultural propriety of the era, and the constant presence of death in this world, due to nature and due to political instability.
I blame both sides a bit. Blackthorne had no intention of eating that pheasant, was he just playing a game? I’m not sure. And by that point his household people should’ve known he wasn’t malicious and openly disagreed with some of their customs. They could have at least waited for him to confirm that’s what he wanted before letting a man die
@@nathanlatham5651FWIW, Blackthorne did fully intend to serve and eat that bird. Hanging game birds for days--even to the point the bird was rotting--before then cooking it was a pretty typical way for Europeans to prepare them. The book goes into it in a little more detail, but yeah there was no maliciousness on Blackthorne's part. He was just doing what he thought was normal in his culture.
@@nathanlatham5651 The whole reason the gardener died was to use him as a scapegoat for the spy thing. The Blackthorne thing was just a perfect excuse to do so. Toranaga is literally more to blame because he was the one who told the village head to find a scapegoat.
Hearing Moeka/Fuji speak in English even for a moment was a pleasant surprise. Her acting and what she brings to the character is what really draws me to her and the show as a whole. In short I’m a Fuji Stan too👍🏻
I'm Japanese but I didn't know about a arrow at entrance as a cursed omen. I learn so much I don't know about our traditions and customes from this show's podcast. Thank you FX. I'm looking forward to the next episode!! FYI, there is a arrow called HAMAYA which literally means "break evil arrow" and prevents your household from unfotunate things happning. You can buy it from Jinja(shinto shrine) and display it at entrance or household shinto alter as a protecting talisman.
Oh I rewatched this video and I realised what's the arrow she talking about. The lady in the video said "White Arrow" so there is a phrase "Shiraha no ya ga tatsu" (marked by a white arrow). It means you (your house) are selected. From old folklore, if your house is selected, you have to offer your daughter as a human sacrifice for God. Yes it was a kind of bad omen. But at the same time it was honor for the house because you would save the whole village by your sacrifice. So now we often use this phrase more honorablly than less sacrifice meaning.
@@JackMeoff46 Buntaro didn't do it on purpose, but he unintensionally created the "shiraha no ya ga tatsu" situation in which the house had to offer a sacrifice to God. That's why it led to the death of the gardener. In this epidode, we learn someone(like Blackthorne)'s unthoughtful action leads unfortunate events unintensionally, like drinking contest led Buntaro's abusive action toward Mariko and prohibiting to touch a pheasant led to a gardener's death. You have to be very careful and think through like Toranaga before do something, otherwise you ain't suvive in this land. However, even though you try to be careful and think deeply, Nature like earthquake take many people's life cruelly. So I presume this episode shows beautifully the contradiction people have and emphasises Mariko's words "We live and we die. We control nothing beyond that"
The "Dinner with Buntaro sama" long scene was very impressively done (written, directed and acted)! I would say it reaches the heights of how to do situational drama--basically everyone was doing nothing but talk, but the "action" was fast-paced, tense, drawn out and at a knife's edge. The last film I saw that had such excellent portrayal done was the (also, a long scene) drink drama at the basement bar in Inglourious Basterds. Kudos to the director on this one.
Exactly. i truly dont understand how certain viewers would find this a “boring” episode. sigh. this isnt THAT kind of action-y show at all, they need to catch up.
@@abc92800 Those people who go Ga Ga on twisty, turning and flashy CGI moments and action with impossible camera work and angles (achieved only through virtual cameras and CGI elements) in superhero movies, and think those pass for drama.
Fujiko and Urano were my favorite chatacters from the novel. Moeka does Fuji credit. Interesting how the spy was only revealed at the end of the book and only in Toranaga's internal monologue. I liked the change in the 2024 series. Seems like the powers that be streamlined stuff to make things understandable who only watch the 2024 series. Remember Fuji agrees to six months...
And we’re made to believe it just slipped right past him? We can never know fully, however just as he was able to hit those posts with the bow while drunk, buntaro may be more formidable and clever than we give him credit for. Whether or not we fully know if he got fuji’s hint or not we wont know but mariko got a beating nonetheless.
@@sterlingrosario28 It's very clever as Fuji can play that comment off if necessary. 'Oh, I didn't mean Mariko. I just meant women other than myself." saying something sideways is very common in this show. They call it "plausible deniability".
SAKI. great scene. somehow i think Buntaro even though he was drunk with Saki felt remorse for beating Moeka-san. Saki was the key to release the repressed anger from within him. great scene. looking forward to episode 6. thankyou.
Mariko is doing a very bad job in being John's translator. No one explains anything to him, why the things the does "wrong" are wrong, what are the expectations, but is learning by trial and error. Even when Mariko's translate things to him, she does this changing his word considerable, something that is understandable, but also gives John a wrong impression about how his words are received. Anyway... John is also at fault in this episode. For someone weary of the possible and maybe inevitable violent reaction coming from Buntaro, he irrationally and needlessly provoked him by making him drunk, even with not one, but two women very visible very scared of Buntaro.
While she is a translator she is essentially an interpreter remember that in certain languages and culture things have different meanings, context and subtleties. It would be impossible and extremely draining for Mariko to teach John all of this while also doing her job add to that the context of this ep with her husband coming back, war on the horizon and her affair with John. Yes I agree she maybe should have said something but also that moment started from a situation she wasn’t present, her culture and way of life is to treat her lords words as law and not understand it was a metaphor so I can’t really blame her or anyone. It’s just a cruel fact of cultural differences and the problem of giving too much power to someone who doesn’t have fully grasp on the language and customs and while sad I think something beautiful comes from it
Buntaro comments about something has died on Anjin's house, because of the smell of the dead bird. May be this is related to the white arrows on the door, being the way Buntaro gets sure that the house is cursed
This show had huge shoes to fill as the book & the beloved groundbreaking 1980 tv mini series were not only top notch artistic entertainment but also cultural important as it brought Japanese culture & history to the US. It hasn’t disappointed but actually exceeded expectations. It looks amazing & everything from the cinematography to the acting are top notch. It keeps getting better with each episode which is hard to do. This episode was incredible! The only bummer is waiting a weak for the next episode🫤
Wow Mariko's original surname is the same as the real life person she is based on: Akechi. One of the most notorious traitors in Japanese history. Is she the only one with an actual historic name?
Blackthorne doesn't understand the idea that the master of the house holds life and death in his hands. But I think most of us think that's a crazy idea.
Blackthorne really did frustrated me here. he was so slow and stubborn to adapt to the custom of the foriegn land he is in that it took an innocent gardener life before he truly realizes things.
Neither party is 100% at fault here. He didn't understand that they would take him literally. They didn't understand that he meant it sarcastically. It was a moment where they both realize how the cultures vary. How the Japanese don't fear death in the same way as a Westerner would.
@@99beowulf99 The point is he just wanted the bird untouched, but not at the cost of someone's life. Like saying, "Touch this and I'll kill you!" just means "I REALLY don't want you to touch this." It was a language barrier/cultural difference problem. Blackthorne never wanted anyone actually executed over the bird.
I was EXTREMELY disappointed at the end of episode 5 when Ochiba declares that "the council will now answer to me". WHERE did that come from??? In the Novel, Ochiba was surely an influential character to be sure, but she was Never indicated as being somehow in control of the council of Regents! This just Smacks of the Constant and overt feminist narrative, that is Always being unnaturally and un-historically, inserted into EVERYTHING! as if it's simply Unacceptable that it wasn't the case. Why can't we ever just accept historical context as it was??? Even in this very podcast, as actress Moeka Hoshi correctly comments: "Women in this era had to be very patient. It was a male dominated society..." Why can't we just all acknowledge that this was the case and enjoy the story, instead of trying to "correct" everything???
It's 2024, got to have a girl boss in every show now. This would NEVER happen in Japan in those days. It's the show runners throwing modern day politics into a show about ancient Japanese history. Really killed the immersion.
i have not read the book but it is a mini series, but I'm willing to bet on that they did this to keep things short and easier to follow by having a clear main antagonist outlined
As Shogun is following the novel, they too try to make things more realistic in terms of the era. As @moryahify said, Yodogimi, the model of Ochiba, held a lot of political influence as mother of the heir. She intervened in politics as Hideyori's guardian and became the de facto head of Osaka Castle, seat of Japan's of the time and plotted a lot. So its not a strech to make her that way
@@MisterGreenGuy I can compare Ochiba with Cersei. Both powerful women in their own right who wanted power and plots behinds the scenes, with a young heir/king to manipulate. And Yodogimi, the model of Ochiba, was called a evil woman by the Bakufu later if i am not mistaken. And in some histories is as bad as they come.
He had no idea, he was joking when he said "death". You can see him smile while saying it. We joke a lot like this in the west, even back then. He had no idea that a Lord's word is law.
Remember that john wasn’t fully adapted at concersations yet so his words are limited. Maybe at that time, the only word he could think of was death, and not any other word.
Way to trash the source material for a "modern audience". This could be so much better. There wouldn't be so much of a language barrier if you guys would have stuck with the original material. Anjin actually learns how to speak some Japanese, and also tried to commit sepuko at one point. It's strengthened his respect with the other samurai in the original story. To leave it out here is just stupid. And it reeks of modern politics.
I have not watched the series, I don't until the series is over and I can watch the whole thing at my pace. Didn't they get a western actor who knows how to speak Japanese so he can 'learn' it during the series? I assumed that the producers would have done that, I am perhaps mistaken (again).
