Shogun (FX)

[Nightmare Asylum]

Oh my God today's episode.

It already dropped on Hulu?!

Yep, it goes up on Hulu the same day it airs on FX each week.

[E. Shaw]

Oh my God today's episode.

It already dropped on Hulu?!

Yep, it goes up on Hulu the same day it airs on FX each week.

For some reason I thought it was Wednesdays.

[Cougerboy]

Saw episode 7 of Shogun. Toranaga really has his back against the wall now, after asking his estranged half-brother for help except that half-brother has his own ideas. The shock twist ending with a major character being killed off...not sure what to think of that. Still, there are hints Toranaga isn't out of options yet, as he seem to have a secret plan in store, given his chat with the madam of the local brothel...

Episode 8 preview:

[E. Shaw]

Saw episode 7 of Shogun. Toranaga really has his back against the wall now, after asking his estranged half-brother for help except that half-brother has his own ideas. The shock twist ending with a major character being killed off...not sure what to think of that. Still, there are hints Toranaga isn't out of options yet, as he seem to have a secret plan in store, given his chat with the madam of the local brothel...

Episode 8 preview:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7_JIVqjkuY

The surprise death was a good message about

Spoiler

when you are hot headed and leap into the fray you can end up dead instead of achieving glory.

[close]

[Nightmare Asylum]

Spoiler

I didn't know until after watching the episode that that death was a change from the source material. It felt incredibly appropriate for me, given the way the character had been portrayed up to that point and how the episode had panned out. Stripped away any last remaining semblance of glory and honor that might have been lingering regarding the conflict at hand. It's all just a bloody mess.

[close]

[E. Shaw]

I have to day the battles (if they can be called that) have been disappointing with dark scenes & shaky camera, and a lot of ambushes/deaths off screen with a scene later of Samurai dead on a field or beneath trees.

[Cougerboy]

Saw episode 7 of Shogun. Toranaga really has his back against the wall now, after asking his estranged half-brother for help except that half-brother has his own ideas. The shock twist ending with a major character being killed off...not sure what to think of that. Still, there are hints Toranaga isn't out of options yet, as he seem to have a secret plan in store, given his chat with the madam of the local brothel...

Episode 8 preview:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7_JIVqjkuY

The surprise death was a good message about

Spoiler

when you are hot headed and leap into the fray you can end up dead instead of achieving glory.

[close]

Well, let's just say he lacks the strategic mind and patience of Toranaga.

I have to day the battles (if they can be called that) have been disappointing with dark scenes & shaky camera, and a lot of ambushes/deaths off screen with a scene later of Samurai dead on a field or beneath trees.

Shogun, the James Clavell novel, is less about the battles and more about the scheming and moving the chess pieces leading up to the battle. This doesn't mean there aren't skirmishes here and there featured in the novel and an upcoming battle scene in the novel (which I suspect will feature in the adaptation as well), is quite graphic. That being said, if you want non-stop big battles, you may be disappointed and the series might not be for you. (Not saying you have bad taste, just that your expectation/what you want is different than what the novel and adaptation actually offers).

[E. Shaw]

Saw episode 7 of Shogun. Toranaga really has his back against the wall now, after asking his estranged half-brother for help except that half-brother has his own ideas. The shock twist ending with a major character being killed off...not sure what to think of that. Still, there are hints Toranaga isn't out of options yet, as he seem to have a secret plan in store, given his chat with the madam of the local brothel...

Episode 8 preview:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7_JIVqjkuY

The surprise death was a good message about

Spoiler

when you are hot headed and leap into the fray you can end up dead instead of achieving glory.

[close]

Well, let's just say he lacks the strategic mind and patience of Toranaga.

I have to day the battles (if they can be called that) have been disappointing with dark scenes & shaky camera, and a lot of ambushes/deaths off screen with a scene later of Samurai dead on a field or beneath trees.

Shogun, the James Clavell novel, is less about the battles and more about the scheming and moving the chess pieces leading up to the battle. This doesn't mean there aren't skirmishes here and there featured in the novel and an upcoming battle scene in the novel (which I suspect will feature in the adaptation as well), is quite graphic. That being said, if you want non-stop big battles, you may be disappointed and the series might not be for you. (Not saying you have bad taste, just that your expectation/what you want is different than what the novel and adaptation actually offers).

Let me be clear, I do not want non-stop battles. I enjoy intrigues and the subtle politic, but my complaint was when a battle or small skirmish in this adaptation happens they obscure it with bad lighting or have it happen off camera, the only exception was the canon attack on the Osaka detachment.

I prefer battles, duels, and fights to be integral to the story and to express the conflict in the characters like Vader vs Luke in Empire. However, there is no excuse that when the crucial violence of the physical manifests from the unseen hostilities of the heart to do it with bad choreography and lighting.

I have seen a trend in Hollywood to darken everything to save money. I loath and detest it. One of many, and I say many reasons I love the Alien franchise is it is well lit and choreographed.

[Cougerboy]

Saw episode 7 of Shogun. Toranaga really has his back against the wall now, after asking his estranged half-brother for help except that half-brother has his own ideas. The shock twist ending with a major character being killed off...not sure what to think of that. Still, there are hints Toranaga isn't out of options yet, as he seem to have a secret plan in store, given his chat with the madam of the local brothel...

Episode 8 preview:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7_JIVqjkuY

The surprise death was a good message about

Spoiler

when you are hot headed and leap into the fray you can end up dead instead of achieving glory.

[close]

Well, let's just say he lacks the strategic mind and patience of Toranaga.

I have to day the battles (if they can be called that) have been disappointing with dark scenes & shaky camera, and a lot of ambushes/deaths off screen with a scene later of Samurai dead on a field or beneath trees.

Shogun, the James Clavell novel, is less about the battles and more about the scheming and moving the chess pieces leading up to the battle. This doesn't mean there aren't skirmishes here and there featured in the novel and an upcoming battle scene in the novel (which I suspect will feature in the adaptation as well), is quite graphic. That being said, if you want non-stop big battles, you may be disappointed and the series might not be for you. (Not saying you have bad taste, just that your expectation/what you want is different than what the novel and adaptation actually offers).

Let me be clear, I do not want non-stop battles. I enjoy intrigues and the subtle politic, but my complaint was when a battle or small skirmish in this adaptation happens they obscure it with bad lighting or have it happen off camera, the only exception was the canon attack on the Osaka detachment.

I stand corrected. I agree, I much prefer a clear view of the battle than have it obscured in the dark or shrouded in fog.And you are right, this isn't something unique to Shogun but a trend in Hollywood. Although in the case of Toranaga's memory, there might be a legit reason for the foggy view, as it was meant to reflect his memory from long ago and it has become a bit vague as a result from the passage of time.

[ace3g]

E08 

[Cougerboy]

Finished watching episode 8, very engrossing episode that hits you in the gut. Seems like its the set up for the final showdown between Toranaga and Ishido. If the tragic death of major character in episode 7 was a shock, then we got more shocking deaths in episode 8, this time, it hits even harder emotionally. You could see for the first time, how much of an impact that has on Toranaga. But just when you thought Toranaga has resigned to defeat...well, we get another twist in the plot.

The tea ceremony scene between Buntaro and Mariko was also heartfelt. Mariko finally gets the chance to tell it straight to her abusive husband, if anything, I can't believe the scene actually made me feel a little sympathetic to the wife-beater husband of hers, quite a feat, I have to say.

I also like how Blackthorne is having an identity crisis now and don't know where he truly belongs. It's his instinct to survive though, which keeps him going, even turning to unsavory characters, to ensure his head remains on his body.

[Nightmare Asylum]

Just watched episode 8 and I don't have much to add other than my usual weekly bout of holy SHIT, this show is great.

[Cougerboy]

Just watched episode 8 and I don't have much to add other than my usual weekly bout of holy SHIT, this show is great.

A big battle scene is coming up, if the adaptation is faithful to the novel about the event that is to occur in Osaka. And if they stick to what happened in the book, another big shock is coming...

Episode 9 preview:

[Cougerboy]

My friend noticed how Mariko and Buntaro has to crawl or kneel to get inside the tea room and wonder why the entrance was so small.

If I am not mistaken, Japanese tea houses/rooms have intentionally small entrances, no more than 2 feet by 2 feet, forcing guests to crouch and kneel to enter (which was the way Mariko and Bunataro enterd the tea house). Supposedly, it was designed that way so that people of different ranks and hierarchy can become relative equals inside the tea house, which is meant as a separate world away from everyday life. The idea being that, if everyone, regardless of their social status, enters the tea room the same way, a sort of nominal equality is established inside the tea house.

Btw, Buntaro is based on the real-life samurai Hosokawa Tadaoki, just as Mariko was based on Tadaoki's wife, Hosokawa Gracia, who in real life was also a Catholic. Whether Hosokawa Tadaoki was also an abusive husband as Buntaro was, I am not sure. But the real life Hosokawa Tadaoki was known to be an expert in the tea ceremony, being a disciple of the tea master Sen no Rikyū (who tragically was ordered to commit seppuku by the taiko Toyotomi Hideyoshi over some supposed offence he committed.) So in that aspect of tea ceremony, Buntaro was historically accurate to his real-life counter-part.

[ace3g]