FX
Forty-four years after it was originally adapted into an acclaimed 1980 miniseries, James Clavell’s inspired-by-real-events 1975 novel Shōgun returns to the small-screen courtesy of FX, whose re-do (premiering Feb. 27) may not boast the star power of its predecessor (which was headlined by Richard Chamberlain and Toshiro Mifune) but compensates with a more expansive scope and richer narrative. Large-scale warfare, one-on-one showdowns, affairs, imprisonments, executions, assassins, espionage, betrayals, subterfuge, and military strategy are all delivered by this 10-episode epic, whose saga of a wayward Englishman in feudal Japan during a time of great crisis is, if never wholly exhilarating, a stately and compelling vision of honor and treachery.
In 1600, sailor John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis) of the Dutch merchant vessel Erasmus becomes the first Englishman to make it to “the Japans,” where he’s immediately viewed as a pirate and a spy by the locals, beginning with ambitious Omi (Hiroto Kanai) and his scheming uncle Yabushige (Tadanobu Asano). Japan is currently in league with the Catholic Portuguese, who have long controlled its trade, and while John is unwilling to reveal his true motives in the region, he makes no bones about his disgust for his fellow Europeans, with whom his Protestant homeland is currently at war. To the Japanese, John is a “savage” and a “barbarian” deserving of no respect, as illustrated by Omi literally peeing on his head after one of John’s many furious outbursts. Yabushige has his own designs for the visitor, who’s referred to as “Anjin” (i.e., pilot). However, they’re upended when Hiromatsu (Tokuma Nishioka) arrives—having apparently learned of the Erasmus courtesy of a village operative—and declares that the ship’s arms, and John, are to be transferred to the Osaka stronghold of Yabushige’s master, Lord Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada).
Toranaga receives John at a momentous moment in his life and his country’s history. The nation’s reigning Taiko has recently died, and since his heir is still a child and not yet ready to assume command, he has placed control of Japan in the hands of a five-person Council of Regents. Toranaga is a member of this group but on the outs with his fellow Regents because he’s currently protecting the Taiko’s heir and the boy’s mother, Ochiba (Fumi Nikaido). This has enraged Toranaga’s rival Ishido (Takehiro Hira), who sees it as an opportunity to consolidate his alliance with his fellow (Catholic) Regents and to finally do away with Toranaga (who claims to not want to follow in his illustrious ancestors’ footsteps by becoming Japan’s ruling Shōgun). Ishido is also secretly conspiring with Yabushige, who’s trying to play both sides of this struggle to his personal benefit. To Toranaga, John is a curiosity and a potential tool to be wielded in this conflict. More pressing, though, is Toranaga’s ongoing imprisonment in his own home by Ishido, who demands the immediate release of the Taiko’s adolescent son.