S01.E09: Crimson Sky

[paramitch]

I thought this episode was so powerful, beginning to end, and filled with tension.

And I've decided I really like Cosmo Jarvis as John/Anjin. More on this farther down, but I think he's great in the role. I just think he's more of a blunt instrument -- he's like a Craig Bond, not a Brosnan Bond, if that makes sense.

I loved the moment John stepped up, looked Mariko in the eye, and volunteered to be her second. It was such a horrific situation and yet one in which he absolutely showed how much he loves her. And the tension in that seppuku scene was so brutal!

And while I think Jarvis is underrated, Anna Sawai is just incredible, and I was so heartbroken at the end here. As someone who saw the previous miniseries adaptation, I knew it was coming, but it still didn't make it any easier. Sawai made Mariko so heartbreaking and complex and yet easy to empathize with. I was so glad she and John had another moment together before the end (I'm a sucker like that).

Speaking of actors who are killing it, Hiroyuka Sanada is as always so damn good as Toronaga. It's such a difficult role, I think, because we have to find it interesting to watch and anticipate him -- what is he thinking, does he care about these people? etc.

On 4/17/2024 at 4:46 AM, Haleth said:

Ouch.  I feel old.  Yeah, Richard Chamberlain was a very big deal then.  I watched the series and read the book but really am enjoying this version with the focus on Toranaga and Mariko instead of Blackthorne.  They are far more interesting characters.

It's really hard to put across the kinds of viewer numbers involved in these kinds of TV events nowadays. 120 million people watched the original 1980 "Shogun" adaptation with Richard Chamberlain. It was a huge, huge deal. (110 million watched "The Thorn Birds" three years later -- I was in early high school, and I still remember how insane people were over that one. I was working on fast food after school and people brought little televisions to watch under the counters so they wouldn't miss it!!)

And to be fair to the original adaptation, it took a lot of chances and I think attempted to be respectful to the material in ways that were unusual for the time period. It was filmed entirely in Japan, and much of the Japanese dialogue was not subtitled, so that the Western audience was as in the dark as John about what was being said to/about him. It also utilized several highly acclaimed Japanese actors led by Toshirô Mifune (Seven Samurai and Rashomon, among many others).

The 1980 miniseries adaptation was nominated for 13 Emmy Awards and won 3, including Outstanding Limited Series.

With that said, I love this new adaptation and think it's superior in every way -- just gorgeous. The larger, more equalized focus on the politics and players is fascinating, and for me it's perfectly done. You can definitely see the work of the producers with the Clavell estate to create something he would have loved.

On 5/15/2024 at 2:26 AM, Helena Dax said:

I can't understand the mentions of White Saviours here. Blackthorne isn't one, not here, not in the original series and not in the book. He's one of Toranaga's birds of prey. Of course, westerners are supposed to learn about Japan through his eyes, since the book was written way before the Internet and the popularity of anime/manga and most people in the Western world would barely know anything about Japan, but that's all.

Mariko was one of my favourite characters so I'm going to miss her.

Thank you so much for posting this -- I definitely do not think Blackthorne in this adaptation is a White Savior. He really doesn't tick any of those boxes except, well, he's white.

On the other hand, I do think it's easy for people to assume Blackthorne in the original adaptation was something of a White Savior trope, especially as played by Chamberlain. 

Chamberlain was terrific, mind you, but he was also a very elegant, poised, and graceful actor. You could believe Blackthorne was special because he just seemed inherently noble, and he assimilated so well and so beautifully into the Japanese culture around him. Watching the original, it was like, of COURSE everyone treats John like he's special, because he visibly is special, and he does always seem to be in the right place at the right time, the white man who saves the moment, etc.

Which is why I really like what Cosmo Jarvis has brought to John's character. I think he's done a terrific job because his John is kind of just this... big lug of an ordinary guy? He's not visibly elegant or graceful or well-spoken or noble. He's a big nice-looking guy, once he started bathing, but he's kind of clunky and awkward, too.

I do think John in this adaptation ends up demonstrating that he is an extraordinary man, but it is subtler here. He's not saving people all over the place and he does make costly mistakes, but we do see that he's a quick-witted and intelligent man, that he has (and ably uses) a facility for language, and that (to me, at least) his ability for empathy is what becomes his superpower.

I really love the differences between the two Blackthornes, and think Jarvis is doing a great job here in a role that is much harder to play than the obvious heroic version Chamberlain inhabited (and meaning no disrespect to Chamberlain at all -- he was great).

And I will miss Mariko too. I can't even imagine this story (or John) without her. Anna Sawai brought so much subtlety, controlled anguish and humor, and humanity to the role... I was really hoping right to the last second that somehow she would be saved.