Hulu Shogun (2024) (2 Viewers)

[NeilO]

Way behind in watching. Watched Episode 4, "The Eightfold Fence", this week. I am listening to the official podcast and they discuss one of the changes from the book and their original script for this episode - the type of weaponry used. I really am enjoying the podcasts for the episodes. Lots of good information.

 

[Joe Wong]

I did feel the finale was a bit anti-climactic, though I understand that's how the book ended too.

Spoiler

The story had been building to a big battle between Toranaga and Ishido, but the narrative ends before the battle happens.

Overall a dense, rich, story, with great production values.

 

[AlexF]

I did feel the finale was a bit anti-climactic, though I understand that's how the book ended too.

Spoiler

I believe that it's because the big battle between Toranaga and Ishido won't actually happen when the heir doesn't support Ishido as per Mariko's earlier work.

 

[Joe Wong]

Spoiler

I believe that it's because the big battle between Toranaga and Ishido won't actually happen when the heir doesn't support Ishido as per Mariko's earlier work.

According to the Wikipedia article on the book, within the Plot section...

Spoiler

"In the epilogue, Toranaga captures Ishido at the Battle of Sekigahara and buries him up to his neck to die three days later."

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shōgun_(novel)

So it does seem like the battle is alluded to in the book, if not the series.

 

[Josh Dial]

I read the book decades ago, and the finale accords with my recollection.

Tremendous show.

 

[Walter Kittel]

Re: Joe's wiki plot spoiler in post #24...

Yabushige would have approved.

I'm still thinking about this show since viewing the finale last week, and I'd be hard pressed to name something I enjoyed more, at least recently. I tend to believe that there needs to be some passage of time before ranking a movie or television show in terms of all time lists, but I am pretty confident this program will have a prominent place in my television list some day.

- Walter.

 

[David_B_K]

I did enjoy the series and found it to be more intense over-all than the 1980 version. While it did sort of end with a whimper instead of a bang, this was also true of the 1980 version and the novel. One thing that I felt brought the series down a bit in the last few episodes was the relationship between Blackthorne and Mariko. In the 1980 version, and in the novel, they were very upfront in declaring their love for each other. In the novel they spoke Latin to each other (they called it their language of love) so that no one could hear them declare their love for each other. In this new version, they never really speak the words of love (at least Mariko doesn't). In the later episodes, Blackthorne seemed to become more vulgar and cynical (he used the word "shit" repeatedly), and Mariko's feelings for him looked to me looked like disappointment bordering on contempt.