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Shōgun Recap: Silk, Gold, and Guns
Exposition takes the lead in an episode that seeks to lay everything out on the table.
It’s an uncharacteristically clumsy conversation for this show, but we learn that the Portuguese Jesuits imprison anyone who speaks against them, we get a bit of history about the three Catholic regents (namely, two converted for the wealth and one is a leprosy survivor), and it’s laid bare that Toranaga’s presence at Osaka Castle is as a hostage. It’s an exchange that sticks out mainly for how it contrasts with the masterful character introductions of the preceding scene: we only learn who Lady Kiri is through her familiar teasing with Toranaga, to which he replies, smiling, “After all these years, she still picks on me.” After such a quiet yet telling moment, Mariko’s summary feels jarringly out of place. Bouncing around between well-crafted character interactions and plodding conversations, “Servants of Two Masters” finally hits the crux of the show: the Portuguese trade has made certain Japanese lords very, very wealthy, and that has given the Jesuits a high level of influence over all of Japan.
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