Source This series doesn't stop to amaze me, episode four was full of surprises and I have mention before that you never fell lost or that things make no sense, the only problem for some viewers would be reading subtitles if you are not a fast reader. As expected Toronaga comes back with an Army, I thought after he left the village there will be scenes of him gathering their men to bring them back to EDO but it all happen without much explanation but still nothing that deteriorate the story line. I have seen a few videos online explaining the story of this series and many things are off, funny I don't see anyone complaining about it mainly because it is not a well known story but for example Mariko did existed and its far from what the tv series says, anyways I'm not the type of viewers only interested in the facts but on how entertaining the series can be. Just because I was expecting Toronaga to come back that does not mean the series is predictable, the series does pull off certain movies that sound impossible, for example Toronaga escaping from Osaka, John was key for this mission and if he was not for him creating a distraction Toronaga and everyone else with him that day would be death, now we see Buntaro coming back from the death, there was basically no way he could come back from Osaka. - IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2788316/ - Platform: FOXNOW

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Source I'm not sure what does it means for Yabushige that Toronaga has come back with such large army because recently he was thinking to take over the canon artillery from him on his absence but Toronaga son, Nagakado; at the same time has screw Yabushige by killing Ishido messenger but then make his father a favor so now Ishido has been insulted and is force to move out from Osaka and not look like a coward, but this does not means it was the smart move, basically it was pure luck if you ask anyone because Nagakado acted fully by instinct one can say he is build for war then but this is not necessarily true since he never tough about his next move or what would it mean for his father.

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Source Back at Osaka Toronaga has accomplish exactly what he wanted, put out of balance the council at quitting from it, there are certain rules that are just stupid and he knows it, Toronaga is basically exploiting his own culture, he knows no one can over rule Taiko last order but at the same time if Toronaga quit he is doing exactly the same thing so the Council should be able to declare him enemy of the state and replace him without troubles but at trying to replace him the other four members are trying to put someone close to them looking to have a better grip of power.

Source Mariko has been writing down everything John has been doing and saying in absence of Toronaga, if you look around different than Ishido who look to control everyone from the start, Toronaga on the other hand look for people who need help, who are in a some what disadvantage situation and build from there confidence, not sure this this is good or just manipulation for example you have Mariko, Usami, Yabushige, John. There is a particular scene that I find very interesting when Sanada (Toronaga), was yelling as his son the horse act up because he raise his voice but he did not got out of role, he kept going, make his character look very realistic, I love how he improvise.

Source Things got a bit sticky for Usami and Mariko since Toronaga has order Buntaro to live with them and John, this puts Usami into a tricky situation because she is to serve John to the death and Buntaro can be a threat for him forcing Usami to ask Mariko if she would tell her in the case John's life is in danger, even at this levels we get mind games. Toronaga as gratitude has given John a pheasant, this fkn bird will have people killed all because of a clash of cultures, put this two things together

Usami serve Johns to the death, everything he says is an order
John says "anyone touches the bird is dead"

Source Since day one Toronaga knows where he is with Yabushige, Yabushige is the only fool who thinks he can play the double agent game and keep his head attach to the rest of his body, Toronaga makes this very clear after he came back and ask Tabushige to report his progress with John canon tactics, the only thing I didn't catch is who told Toronaga that Yabushige is looking for his spy on the village, there is this one old man, ex samurai who fought next to Toronaga in Korea serve now as his personal spy who Yabushige has been looking for, the only one next to Yabushige and who would benefit from his failure is his nephew Omi who in fact was the one who convince Nagakado to kill Ishido messenger, its mind games left and right, the only two who are wise enough to not fall into them are Toronaga and Ishido.

Source On top of that highly volatile combination of circumstances there is Buntaro now under the same roof as John, both cultures keep going head to head during the entire evening, this did not end well but it was expected since the relationship between Buntaro and John is almost none existing. Every episode I like more and more Usami for several reasons

She is loyal to John and Toronaga, specially John atm
Living meme, jajaja the faces she put when disgusted by John
She even face Mariko when ask to let her know if John is in danger

Obviously this is a very western production of a Japanese based tv series although it does apply that very funny comedy side that we only see in Japanese media, specially with Mariko and Usami.

I have mention before that I really don't care that much about the story behind a TV series or Movie, unless its a documentary; the fact is that the only purpose of this productions are to entertain, anyone living or making live decisions based on what they see on tv or movies is a fool, the irony how I don't see anyone complaining about how close to the true story is this tv series and that's ok reason is the production is awesome. I hope to enjoy the rest of the episodes as much as this first five episodes, we are half way of the mini series, so far I have zero complains and I hope my opinion doesn't change that much compare to who good Masters of The Air started but over all was not the great series I though it was at first.

#shogunseries, #historicaldrama, #jamesclavell, #17thcentury, #johnblackthorne, #englishsailor, #shipwrecked, #japaneseculture, #feudaljapan, #lordtoranaga, #daimyo, #ladymariko, #williamadams, #samurai, #tokugawaieyasu, #culturalclashes, #politicalpower, #intrigue, #premieredate, #televisionseries Posted Using [InLeo Alpha](https://inleo.io/@skiptvads/shogun-2024-broken-to-the-fist-episode-5-recap)

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