More Than Just a Samurai Show - A Review of “Shogun”

Image c/o FX

By Matthew Colvin
Entertainment Columnist

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In the absence of HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” the long-running fantasy epic television series that concluded its eight-season run in 2019, modern TV has been sorely lacking any sort of analogous show of similar scale or grandeur. FX’s new historical drama series “Shogun,” created by Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks, finally scratches that itch in striking, often visually arresting fashion.

Of course, to boil this series down to a “Game of Thrones” clone would be to do it a massive disservice. “Shogun” is very much its own story; while “Thrones” delved into an alternate fantasy world of dragons and ice zombies, “Shogun” keeps its specific flavor of violent political maneuverings grounded in a keen sense of historical accuracy at all times. The series is based on the 1975 historical fiction novel of the same name by James Clavell, taking place in feudal Japan in the year 1600. It follows a trio of vastly different, but equally important main characters; Yoshii Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada), a cunning and ambitious Japanese lord who must use his wits to survive when the rest of the nation turns against him; Toda Mariko (Anna Sawai), a highborn woman and translator loyal to Toranaga; and audience surrogate John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis), an English sailor who washes up on Japan’s shores in the middle of this time of unrest and must find a way to survive in an unfamiliar and unforgiving land.

These three characters and their intersecting perspectives on the events of the story make up “Shogun’s” most powerful storytelling weapon, and their individual narratives are more than enough to keep the series compelling from start to finish. Combined with the rest of the show’s robust and well-performed ensemble, “Shogun” boasts one of the best casts of characters I’ve seen on television in some time. The acting is top-notch across the board as well and rarely falters, and I must give particular credit to Sawai for bringing an unprecedented degree of both pathos and quiet strength to her role as Mariko.

“Shogun’s” story, while as complex and multifaceted as one would expect from such an ambitious production trying to tell a story of political manipulation, never becomes over-complicated or difficult to follow. It balances the inner lives of its characters and the growing cold war in Japan extremely resourcefully, and the thematic language of the narrative ties all of the disparate parts together with extraordinary grace.

The cinematic language doesn’t lag behind, either. “Shogun” is the most expensive series in FX’s history - it knows it - and by the time the credits roll on any given episode, it’ll make sure you know it too. The visuals are consistently stunning, from gorgeously detailed CG renderings of feudal Osaka to the innumerable, exquisitely detailed practical sets and costumes the show employs. Combined with immersive and often quite clever cinematography, “Shogun” never for a moment stops being an utterly transportive visual experience.

There’s a great deal more I could say about this series, but to spoil it at all would be unfair to any reader when I could instead simply give it my highest tier of recommendation. “Shogun” is one of the best pieces of television of recent years, and if you haven’t watched it already, I highly suggest you go give it a shot.

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