Susan Grange’s review of “Shogun” (Hulu/FX)
Back in 1980, audiences were glued to their TV sets for five nights to watch “Shogun,” James Clavell’s best-seller about feudal Japan, starring Richard Chamberlain.
Now Hulu is heralding a new 10-episode miniseries with Cosmo Jarvis as John Blackthorne, a British navigator marooned near a tiny fishing village in early 17th century Japan. His mission is to open up that Asian archipelago to the English.
Up to this time, trade in Japan was monopolized by Portuguese merchants who kept its location top-secret, using their mercantile presence as an excuse to baptize compliant Japanese into their Roman Catholic faith.
Arriving at the outset of the Protestant Reformation, Blackthorne – determined to undermine papal persuasion – is caught in the middle of a war between the maneuvering samurai clans led by wise Lord Yoshii Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada) and duplicitous Lord Ishido (Takehiro Hira). In addition, ex-royal consort Lady Ochiba (Fumi Nikaido) bears a familial grudge against Toranaga.
Japan’s supreme ruler, is dead. His heir is a child, so a Council of Regents of five feudal lords is in charge, led by Toranaga who views Blackthorne as a potential asset, as do his vassals – Yabushige (Tadanobu Asano) and Yabushige’s nephew Omi (Hiroto Kanai).
Amid the culture clashes, political plotting and brutal bloodshed, Blackthorne finds forbidden love with his unflappable interpreter Lady Toda Mariko (Anna Sawai), an unhappily married Catholic noblewoman who tactfully calibrates her translations.
There’s a great emphasis on authenticity – with much of the dialogue in Japanese with English subtitles. Blackthorne’s character is based on real-life navigator William Adams and Lord Toranaga modeled on Tokugawa Ieyasu, who helped unite Japan, introducing a period of peace that lasted for 260 years.
Adapted/created by Justin Marks and his wife Rachel Kondo, the sumptuous production was designed by Helen Jarvis with Carlos Rosario’s lavish costumes. The showrunners cleverly enlisted Shakespearean-trained Sanada (“Bullet Train,” “John Wick, Chapter 4”) as producer as well as leading actor.
FX Network chief John Landgraf said it took a decade to get the compromises and choices right, noting FX could never have made this miniseries had it not been bought by Disney which aimed the series at a 21st century streaming audience.
FYI: “Samurai” refers to the warrior class, bound sworn duty to a code of conduct, like medieval knights. And “Shogun” is the supreme military commander.
On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “Shogun” is an ambitious 8, streaming on FX and Hulu with the finale airing on Tuesday, April 23.
