mledawn

Because your post I replied to said that the general audience didn't know what happened in the book. I was commenting on my understanding that the book viewer and the no-book viewer had the same amount of info. The fact that you didn't like it is of course fair regardless.

This is what happened in the book, though, isn't it? Clavell just writes out what happened going forward in about 10 pages at the end of a 1200 page novel. Toranaga was the exposition fairy at the end, telling Yabu before he died. @magdalene Clavell's daughter Michaela was one of the executive producers on the show and she was interviewed on the official podcast. She said she spent her formative years on that lake and her father's ashes were spread there. It was interesting and sort of surprising no one in the production seemed to know that, but perhaps the host (Emily Yoshida, i think?) was just pretending for the pod.

The flash-forward Blackthorne held Mariko's rosary beads, but he dropped them in the lake with Fujiko. I really enjoyed the finale. I want to rewatch before commenting further but Toranaga and Fujiko were pitch perfect in this.

This is a good point. In the book Blackthorne was hired by the Dutch East India company to pilot their ships through the Magellan's Pass with a stolen Portuguese rutter. Blackthorne's rutters are then stolen from his ship and given to Father Alvito (who doesn't know the order to take the rutters was given by Toranaga) translates them and tells Toranaga what they contain. Also in the book, Mariko and Blackthorne both speak Latin - perhaps he wrote his rutters in Latin as an extra level of protection? It's tough to fanwank that little detail for sure!

Brenda Blethyn has announced that S14 is her last. It would seem by extension that the series will also end.

My memory of the book is a bit muddy but from what I recall, Mariko's father and Toronaga were pals and both in on the plot to kill the mad king (Ochiba's father). Flash forward, Toronaga knew Ishido would not let the hostages leave, he knew Mariko wanted to die - it was the perfect mission for her. Apparently women would not disembowel themselves, they would set up their knife and fall on it and rely upon the second to complete the job (roughly summarised from the official podcast). My hope for Mariko and Blackthorne both was that the sword was sharp and Blackthorne was strong enough to compensate for what would certainly have been shady technique. I didn't see Fujiko amongst the women in the episode, which was odd.

THIS. All I could think was why the hell did he volunteer when he has absolutely no idea how to use the sword properly!

The scene with Mariko and Ochiba was well done by both actors. I enjoyed how Blackthorne was just a prop in that scene. It was nice to have the flashback with how Mariko met Father Alvito and to see him act so kindly towards her. It helps to understand their relationship. I can't believe we've only got one episode left.

Acorn just shared that Season 4 of My Life is Murder is premiering on June 17th

Enjoyed this episode if only to finally get confirmation that Toranaga has a plan. It's devastating that he lost Hiromatsu in the process, but I guess it's all in support of the bigger picture... It was interesting that Toranaga knew what his two vassals would do, he knew what Blackthorne would do, but he didn't know what Hiromatsu would do. Hiromatsu denying Buntaro's request to accompany him was a nice burn, but having Buntaro as a second ensured Hiromatsu would die quickly. I liked how the show has changed the involvement of Blackthorne's crew and with this change still given us more backstory regarding his ambitious nature. Hearing it from Mariko was one thing (as she read his rutter) but hearing it from a crewmember was something else. Loved Father Alvito being so happy to get his great parcel of land and then realising who his neighbours were. The men showing him the plot seemed pleased.

Acorn just shared that Whitstable Pearl has begun filming S3. https://www.instagram.com/p/C5WZYlsOUBq/

There is the conversation by Gin to Omi about how Toranaga's brother got past the guards, implying it was suspicious, which I did like. The Ladies of the Willow World are attuned to many things. Understood - I was more comparing it to his character in the book (I haven't seen the old miniseries, just screenshots/clips). His intelligence is important as we experience how he navigates his strange new world. He has his outbursts and misunderstandings but he is more thoughtful and picks up on social cues much quicker. BookBlackthorne would not need to be reminded by Mariko to bow, for example. He picks up on bowing and its importance very early. He is the only one to see that it's Toranaga in the palanquin and not Kiri (the equivalent scene is in the first episode of this series, much more watered-down). He just isn't as strong a character here, which is both fine and frustrating I guess!

This episode was so frustrating. I don't think the audience has seen enough of Toranaga being the great tactician/strategist to have any dramatic effect with the surrender. I'm not sure why the writers have chosen to make Blackthorne so insufferable but he was definitely not this bad in the book. He is completely unable to just sit back and listen/pay attention to what is happening around him. He's almost completely unlikeable in this version, however; I did laugh at the "This appears to be occurring..." as he got into the 'swordfight' on the beach with Yabu.

Really enjoyed this episode - Ewan McGregor is doing a great job. I like that they're just going with English accents so we don't hear awful put-on Russian accents. Enjoying the H!ITG! of English actors, too.

What Ishido did is not the same as simply gathering his army and steamrolling everyone else. Definitely going to just agree to disagree.