Shogun: Why That Anti-Climactic Ending Was Perfect

Shogun has proven itself to be one of the best series on TV today. The ten-episode miniseries reconfigures a beloved novel, demonstrating the development TV production has undertaken in more than 40 years. Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks’ take on the material felt like a stunning dive into a beautifully realized world. Its sudden conclusion delivered on the promise of its buildup but didn’t depict the battle fans were eagerly awaiting. How does a show about a war get by without depicting the most notable battle?

Shogun came to the small screen through the efforts of showrunners Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks. Kondo is an award-nominated short story author. Marks is a screenwriter who worked on Disney’s live-action Jungle Book and Top Gun: Maverick. Together, they wrote the first two episodes of Shogun after taking over the famously expensive production in 2020. Shogun earned massive attention, racking up several first-place positions on weekly streaming aggregators.

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Shogun Episode 10 Recap

The end of this magnificent series delivers a few shocking reveals and one unexpected climax.

Shogun built up to the Battle of Sekigahara

From the beginning, Shogun is about two ambitious men facing terrible circumstances. John Blackthorne is an English sailor who reaches Japan after a challenging voyage, only to encounter tremendous violence. His savior is Lord Yoshii Toranaga, a warlord who recently entered a dangerous position. His fellow daimyo want him dead, forcing him to play ever-escalating political games to keep his enemies at bay. Blackthorne finds his way into Toranaga’s inner circle, but it offers very little safety. Toranaga uses Blackthorne’s tactical knowledge and sailing experience to arm a new fleet of warships, providing an unexpected advantage against impossible odds. Toranaga plans his grand finale years in advance.

In “Chapter Six: Ladies of the Willow World,” Toranaga’s confidants suggest employing the cunning leader’s secret master plan, the Crimson Sky. It would entail a brutal all-out attack on Osaka, swiftly encircling his enemies in a sudden sweep, and claiming Japan for himself. Constant complications prevent Toranaga from enacting Crimson Sky. He surrenders to his deceitful brother, seemingly ending his campaign and guaranteeing his death. Toranaga’s deception costs him the lives of almost everyone he cares about, but it works. He sacrifices Mariko, letting her finally die for a cause she’s always believed in. Her death forces Toranaga’s greatest enemy to release his hostages, weakening his hand with all of his allies. It also ends his strategic marriage with Ochiba, the mother of the rightful heir to the shogunate. Without drawing a sword, he’s robbed his nemesis of everything and guaranteed his victory. His victory is so definitive that the show doesn’t feel the need to depict it. Toranaga simply tells his unfaithful friend in the moments before he carries out his execution. The show ends with the promise that Toranaga will become the shogun, but before he carries out the plan.

How did the book handle the battle?

Shogun is incredibly faithful to the source material. While some events occur out of order, almost every element of the series is similar. The conclusion omits one element from its depiction in the book. The show lends Yabushige’s seppuku more significance. Toranaga explains his rationale and unpacks his hidden Crimson Sky plan in an inner monologue, rather than sharing that information with his doomed confidant. The book features an epilogue that unpacks the Battle of Sekigahara in a brief exchange. Toranaga defeats his foe, executing him by burying him up to his neck and leaving him to die. It’s a bizarrely empty conclusion that the show wisely abandons.

Why did Shogun‘s anti-climax work?

Faithful adaptation aside, Shogun understands the mechanics of war in cinema. Many expected the final episodes of Shogun to break into a massive Game of Thrones-style battle scene. They wanted to see thousands of soldiers killing each other with the production value Shogun delivered in every other scene. It’s natural to want that, but that isn’t the nature of the series. Lord Toranaga won his war before he stepped on the battlefield. His conflict was one of careful deception and subterfuge. He’s playing chess, arranging the pieces into the right positions to ensure that there can be no escape. His victory was secure the moment his enemy lost support, not unlike a king without defenders on a chessboard. Beyond the strategic nature of this show’s conflict, its message is unfavorable towards violence.

Yoshii Toranaga is a fictionalized version of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the shogun who famously ended a period of war and ushered in a regime of strong internal peace. The show largely depicts Lord Toranaga’s journey to power, with the promise of a better future. Imagine that story ending with the cathartic death of his greatest enemy. Its final moments are even more cutting. The series simultaneously glorifies Toranaga as a cunning strategist and attacks his willingness to sacrifice others for his dreams. When Yabushige calls him out for his hypocrisy, Toranaga demonstrates Blackthorne’s influence by repeating his justification. Toranaga was willing to give anything to win. His goals were as noble as they were selfish, but nothing accentuated his point more effectively than the death of another cunning game-player. This is the cost of victory and peace.

Shogun was never a war story. It’s a story about ambition, sacrifice, and the will that builds nations. Martial skill is a means to an end; only cunning can solve problems. The conclusion of Shogun will go down in history as one of the boldest finale episodes in recent TV history. Its restraint is astonishing, but this isn’t a case of pretentious subversion of expectations. The beating heart of this series lives in the final exchange between Toranaga and Yabushige. Binge Shogun again and let the shocking conclusion settle in. It’s the ending this series needed.

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