Shogun (Movie/Show Review #5)
Rarely do I find a show that I fully enjoy these days. Shogun is one of these rare gems. Currently, there is only a single season (10 episodes) available, yet the show is the best I’ve seen in a while.
Of course, there is the typical power puff girl who can do it all while men do stupid things, but in general, even the woke politics are kept to a minimum in Shogun. The production value is high, the acting is good, and the set design is beautiful. The story unfolds at a nice pace and offers a couple of twists and surprising developments that turn good guys bad and bad guys good. The dialogues are well written — up to a point that I haven’t seen anywhere on TV ever.
The main story arc, though, may be a bit convoluted, and the lead protagonist should have been given a clearer profile by the writers, but these are minor complaints that simply prevent the show from being perfect.
If you’ve never heard about the show, Shogun is about feudal Japan. The story follows John Blackthorne, an English navigator who becomes entangled in Japanese politics and culture after a shipwreck. There was once a movie starring Richard Chamberlain covering the same story originally written by James Clavell. The show obviously has a slower pacing and diverts from the novel in some ways.
The depiction of Japanese culture is the most interesting part of the show. This allowed the writers to offer the diversity every production of our time seems to need to get funded while not having to add any diversity hires or quota side stories.
Overall, I’d give the show a 9 out of 10. I highly recommend checking it out if you like shows with an historic background. (You also have to be fine with reading subtitles.)
You can read more about the show here.