‘Shōgun’ Episode 8 Sets Up a Thrilling (and Potentially Fatal!) Home Stretch
Lord Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada)is in a pickle. Actually, no—I don’t want to downplay the severity of this situation. He’s in something far worse than a pickle. Toranaga is in a giant pickle made of glass, and this glass pickle is precariously dangling from the edge of a kitchen counter, seconds away from shattering. In last week's episode of Shōgun, Toranaga's plan to bolster his army collapsed in a similar manner to what you just envisioned happening to that glass pickle. His half-brother betrayed him, forcing Toranaga to give in. Is his surrender genuine, or does he have a secret plan up his sleeve?
Since Toranaga's son was tragically killed after slipping on a rock last episode, his father must return to his home in Edo for the funeral. Graciously, the council granted him a customary 49 days to complete this task. Wait—49 days?! Surely, Toranaga can come up with a plan to weasel out of this predicament in that time. He kicks things off by pretending he's sick. It's possible that Toranaga isn't not lying, but it seems as if he is up to something. Later, at a meeting with Father Alvito (Tommy Bastow), even the lowly Portuguese priest seeks a way out. He informs his lord that the Council is has been imprisoned by Ishido (Takehiro Hira) and Lady Ochiba (Fumi Nikaido). "Have you really come all this way just to tell me this?" Toranaga says. He's right. This is episode 8! The Council was taken hostage back in episode 6. Catch up, Alvito!
The priest suggests partnering with Ochiba to remove Ishido from the equation, but Toranaga knows better. "Do you believe, in a thousand years, Ochiba would ever ally with me?" he asks Mariko (Anna Sawai). She responds, "You are not her enemy. Fear is her enemy." Hiromatsu (Tokuma Nishioka), his most trusted advisor, agrees. He states that "giving up" is a disservice to his men. Still, Toranaga declares that he "will have no further bloodshed." He demands that his vassals sign a pledge of surrender at sundown. I don't believe there's any historical record for this, but I'm down for whatever 4D-level chess Toranaga is playing. He's given no indication that he plans to do anything but surrender, but I didn't watch eight episodes of a show titled Shōgun just to see Mr. Shōgun's head chopped off in the finale.
Meanwhile, Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis) is finally set free... sort of. Though the Englishman is no longer a vassal of Toranaga’s services, Mariko informs him that she has no idea what the Council will want to do with him now. So, Blackthorne isn't really free—he's just free of any obligation to Toranaga. "And my translator, what becomes of that?" he asks. You dirty dog! Let's try to stay alive first. Finally meeting back up with his crew, Blackthorne realizes that they truly are a bunch of barbarians. They curse him for bringing them to Japan, and he promptly leaves them behind.
Blackthorne returns to Yabushige (Tadanobu Asano) in desperation. He offers to sail for him if he defies Toranaga's surrender. In one of his weakest states, Blackthorne declares that he doesn't belong in Japan anymore—if he ever did. He is now a man of two worlds, accepted by neither. He must forge his own fate. Still, Yabushige refuses. "Once loyalty begins, it does not have an end," Mariko tells him. While true, it's interesting that the untrustworthy Yabushige is the center of this argument. "Loyalty turns senseless quickly when the order is suicide," Blackthorne retorts.
Though the Englishman is not yet aware, Yabushige is ordered to travel to Osaka and surrender Toranaga's cannons to Ishido. Alvito will return to Osaka as well, ensuring that the Council is aware that Toranaga plans to make a peaceful surrender. Hiromatsu believes that this command actually signals Toranaga's intent to fight. "How do you know?" Yabushige asks. "Otherwise, our lord would not send him to Osaka," he replies, motioning to Alvito.
Back at Mariko's house, her sole flower begins to bloom. "Winter is ending soon," she tells her husband, screaming METAPHOR at the top of her lungs. In complete silence, Buntaro (Shinnosuke Abe) makes her some apology matcha. Then, he asks if she's "still under the Anjin's spell?" He's in desperation mode. Buntaro even says that he will allow Mariko to join her family in death if she still wishes it. "Let us enter oblivion as husband and wife," he tells her. Murder-suicide?! Buntaro, no!
"Even now you fail to understand," she tells him. "What you denied me wasn’t death—it was a life beyond your reach." Damn, Mariko! That's cold, sure, but it's a totally fair response. Shōgun has made me feel a lot of pity these past few episodes for a guy who treated her like shit before. "I would sooner live a thousand years than die with you like this," she continues. I can hear that kid from The Simpsons crying, "Stop! Stop! He's already dead!"
Speaking of death: In Osaka, Lady Iyo (Ako) has a stroke. Ochiba is at her bedside, where the dying wife of the late Taikō tells her to "stop these games." She asks Ochiba to release the hostages, reminding her that "Ishido is nothing, and comes from nothing." Silently, Ochiba offers her some medicine for the pain as she drifts off. Are these the words she needs to hear to finally flip to Toranaga's side?
On a dark, rainy night, Toranaga assembles his vassals to sign their pledge of surrender. To me, this is just a loyalty test. If you will die for me, then you will fight for me. After Yabushige and his nephew both sign the pledge, Hiromatsu declares that if his lord truly plans to surrender, then he should take his own life. "My one and only friend, I stood by your side since you were a piss-dripping boy," Hiromatsu says. Toranaga replies, "Then die by my side in Osaka." If he’s not faking it, he’s really committing to this test. Hiromatsu orders Buntaro to retrieve his sword, threatening to end his life in protest. Toranaga simply stares him down. “Do not give up on our lord, even when it appears he has given up on himself,” Hiromatsu declares. Then, he fucking does it! Hiromatsu cuts up his guts and Buntaro dlivers the finishing blow. The seething Toranaga says nothing.
Near the end of the episode, we finally have a chance to breathe. "Hiromatsu, my old friend, knew his duty well," Toranaga reveals to Mariko. Following Hiromatsu's death, Yabushige will report to Osaka that Toranaga plans to surrender without a shadow of doubt. That's just what he wants Ishido to believe. "Osaka has to believe my defeat is real," he tells her. "Now, are you ready to do your part?" Responding with what is somehow not the final line before the credits, Mariko says, "I'm ready."
The episodes goes on. Under the cover of darkness, Yabushige plans to sail to Osaka with Blackthorne after all. Mariko joins them, proving that Toranaga is still aware of everything that goes on under his watch. As he predicted, Yabushige fully believes that Toranaga is planning to surrender. In the morning, the great lord thanks Hiromatsu and Nagakado for giving him an opportunity in death, even after what seemed like complete defeat. At the cost of two lives he held dear, he's broken through the pickle—safely reaching the next base. "I will not waste it," he promises.
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