As many other viewers at first I was disappointed with episode 10, I was truly expecting a big battle between armies but usually this kind of battles take form two to four episodes, since episode eight I was loosing hope it will ever become a reality, it turn out as I expect; it was all mind tricks and without the swing of a sword Toronaga wins, master class of trickery and showing that he is above anyone else, nobody lives or dies if he does not allow it, I come to the conclusion that it was not Buntaro who did not let Mariko die but Toronaga who was her lord and got her into a different path that suit his interest first.
- IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt18177528/
- Platform: FXNOW
A dream of a dream, this was all a dream, John never gets old and have grandchildren back home, he never got out of Japan, I even look it up and it is on the novel the series is based on that John was even once allow to go back and he never did. This scene with Mariko rosary in his hands, the Samurai sword and helmet on his room was his imagination, a dream probably after the blast that killed Mariko, latter on he throws the rosary into the sea, that's when I confirm this theory but right here I had my doubts.
After the blast Mariko dies and John feels like there is no purpose for him so from this point he is not afraid of dying and start to take life very lightly, Yabushigue starts to feel the remorse for what he did, because of him Mariko is dead. Ishido plan was to capture Mariko and probably take her away but the assassins he hired went too far at trying to capture her, they never thought she would put herself in front of the door they were bout to blow up, its here when things backfire for Ishido without he even realizing what was about to happen, his war with Toronaga ended the minute Mariko died and yet not the Church or the Council members knew this.
Every member of Toronaga clan is allow to go back home and leave Osaka since recent events and Mariko's death including John was permitted by Lord Kiyama who wanted him dead many times to go but behind all this there was a negotiation with Mariko, my understanding is that she was the one who act as middle man for Father Martin to be allow to build a church in Izu so when the time comes if necessary they spare John's life, Lord Kiyama was a Catholic, the one with enough power and part of the Church to allow John go back to Edo without any harm so he send escorts for him and Father Martin Alvito until John gets on a ship on his way to Edo where Toronaga is.
When they arrive to Ajiro, John saw his ship burn down for the first time and Yabushigue was finally arrested for treason. Ajiro Village is suffering because there is suppose to be traitor within and Toronaga is trying to squeeze him out but it was all a test for John and again no body had a clue about it.
Hiromatsu once told Toronaga, there is a way to win this battle without going to war, get Lady Ochiba on your side and the war is yours. At the time Lady Ochiba had a deep feeling of Hate against Toronaga because she feels Mariko was send away because of him and her father was killed becase of him, always whispering with others, planning; Toronaga had no idea or at least made everyone think he had no idea of how to change this situation with Lady Ochiba. All it took Toronaga was leverage the relationship between Mariko and Lady Ochiba to win the war, the leverage was forcing Ishido kill Mariko, this way Mariko serve her lord and finally die as she wish many years ago. After Mariko death Lady Ochiba got tired of Ishido, she could not let Mariko accidental death slide and on top she had to put her foot down so Mariko could have a proper burial, since Ishido was more focus into getting the Council approval to go to war with the heir army backing them up.
Many of the things that uncover I didn't know until half of the episode had happen and I like that, its like solving a puzzle but things start to unfold, this was Toronaga last trick of the series for John. When Toronaga surrender to his brother John insult him by saying he was a fool so Toronaga wanted to test his loyalty, Toronaga on purpose burn down John ship and said there was a traitor in Ajiro village, Toronaga terrorize the village, there was no traitor it was him but this was all part of a plan to see how far John would go because his ship was burn down although he never expected John to attempt to take his life in form of protest, all this time John was trying to stay alive and now embrace the Japanese culture of death for honor. Toronaga stop him because no body dies unless he wants it so, he convince who to rebuild his ship and build him a fleet.
This last sequence of scenes reveal everything, lets dissect all this characters:
- Omi, he was always after his uncle Yabushigue fief, he wanted more power and was always thought of someone with less rank, after Yabushigue is set to die by Toronaga, he name Omi as hi heir, Omi was always loyal to Toronaga but made his uncle believe he was on his dside.
- Yabushige, finally betray Toronaga who always knew this was going to happen soon or latter and is order to commit seppuku, before dying he name Omi his heir and gave him his death poem that shows how obsesses he was with savage death.
- Lady Ochiba, this one surprise me a bit but not much, she stop her hate for Toronaga but just because Ishido killed someone very loved by her and on top had no remorse for Mariko death trying to force the rest of the Council to go to war immediately.
- Toronaga, he had spies everywhere and Yabushige was been monitored since the beginning, he explains Yabushige how everything was part of his plan, everyone who died had a purpose including Mariko and Hiromatsu, Yabushige was like an insurance for Mariko's death either Ishido killed her directly or Yabushige gets her for Ishido but the most impressing sentence was before Yabushigue died he say "Why tell a dead man the future?" same thing he told Omi after he had John and his ship under his command, it was here when Yabushigue understood how much out smart he was.
Toronaga always wanted peace without war and this could only happen under one condition, the era of Shogun, he wanted to become Shogun but he had too many obstacles, he never mention it directly but thats is what I think from his conversation with Yabushigue before he killed him.
John was never important for him but just a distraction, he was always a distraction, John claim to use Toronaga but it was all the way around, he first use him to gain time before he gets impeach, then he use John to get out of Osaka. Toronaga manipulated so many people it makes me doubt if things happen just because he wanted like the death of his son Nagakado.
The series does deserve a 9/10 I wont discuss that because after watching episode 10 for a second time I learn to appreciate Toronaga's plan, I did expect a big battle and leaves me with certain feeling of deception but that phrase "Why tell a dead man the future?" is what change everything for me and make me start thinking the type of men he is, he does harm to test others or even because it please him, he had eyes and ears on everyone and nothing happened without him knowing or approval.
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