Summary
An impeccable hour of television builds to a shocking, powerful climax.
Episode 9 of Shogun, “Crimson Sky”, is an hour-long funeral march. Its outcome is, in many ways, inevitable, and we’re thoroughly prepared for it throughout. And yet it’s still a devastating climax at the end of an installment so steeped in anxiety that I felt a year older after sitting through it.
Mariko, we’re reminded by a cold open, has been trying to die for at least 14 years. Even while pregnant, she wasn’t above wandering into the blustery night and hoping the cold would take her. The Catholicism she has clung to since then has been a coping mechanism more than anything, not a new purpose in life but a pastime until death.
This is why we understand, intuitively, that Lady Mariko has come to Osaka to die. After setting sail with Blackthorne and Yabushige at the end of Episode 8 on Toranaga’s orders, she has resigned herself to a meaningful death in pursuit of a larger objective. And, needless to say, she achieves it.
Arrival In Osaka
Pictured (C): Anna Sawai as Toda Mariko. CR: Katie Yu/FX
The audience — and, it turns out, the Jesuits — know why Mariko, Blackthorne, and Yabushige are in Osaka, but Ishido, in his arrogance, grossly underestimates the purpose of the visit.
Remember, he thinks that Yabushige is there to formally declare Toranaga’s surrender. Mariko’s arrival is a shock. And her opening gambit is more shocking still.
Mariko presents herself to Ishido and declares she’ll be leaving the next day — and with the hostages. If you recall, Ishido is only able to rule with an iron fist in Osaka because he has the families of the other Regents held hostage. However, he can’t publicly acknowledge that they’re his hostages, or it’ll cause a revolt, so he keeps them around under the pretext of being honored guests.
Mariko puts Ishido in an impossible position. She’s under orders from her liege lord to return to him. If Ishido won’t let her, he has to justify that — and he can’t without admitting he’ll be keeping her against her will.
Ishido Reveals His Hand
Pictured: Fumi Mikado as Ochiba no Kata. CR: Katie Yu/FX
Mariko calls Ishido’s bluff by trying to leave with her retinue and a couple of the captive ladies. Predictably, Ishido prevents her from doing so, thus proving that he is preventing her from following Toranaga’s orders and keeping her against her will.
A fight breaks out between Mariko’s samurai contingent and several of Ishido’s guards. Almost all of them end up dead. Another fight breaks out between Mariko and the remainder of Ishido’s men, who’re under orders from Lord Kiyama not to kill her. Mariko is unharmed, but can’t fight her way through.
“Defeated”, Mariko has proven her point. She explains that due to the offense of not being allowed to leave, she will take her own life at sunset, and formerly requests Lord Kiyama to be her second. As a fellow Catholic, he understands that suicide is a sin to Christians and that Mariko will be met with eternal damnation without his presence. Ishido doesn’t want to hear it.
Lady Ochiba points out to Ishido that Mariko has already won. If he lets her die, the high families in Osaka will revolt. And if he lets her live, the other hostages will demand to leave also, stripping him of his bargaining power.
Permission to Leave
Pictured: (L-R) Fumi Mikado as Ochiba no Kata, Anna Sawai as Toda Mariko, Cosmo Jarvis as John Blackthorne. CR: Katie Yu/FX
Ochiba manages to meet with Mariko briefly by summoning Blackthorne on the pretext of the Heir wishing to meet him and then inviting Mariko along as his translator. They discuss their shared childhood, and Ochiba wants Mariko to translate so Blackthorne understands their relationship.
Ochiba would like to talk Mariko out of committing suicide, but she realizes midway through the conversation that her mind is made up. “Flowers are only flowers because they fall,” says Mariko of her impending death, implying that it will define her more than her life has. A lonely tear trickles down Ochiba’s face as Mariko and Blackthorne leave.
Shogun Episode 9 Has A Shocking Climax
Pictured: Tadanobu Asano as Kashigi Yabushige. CR: Katie Yu/FX
In an extended and shockingly tense sequence, Mariko prepares to commit seppuku. Kiyama is not in attendance, so Blackthorne reluctantly offers to be her second. At the last moment, Ishido arrives with Mariko’s permits to leave Osaka. Predictably, the other hostages wish to leave too, and Ishido has no choice but to allow them to do so.
Thoughts of a happy ending are quickly put aside, though. Yabushige pledges his service to Ishido, and his first task is to allow a contingent of shinobi access to the castle. Mariko and Blackthorne, who have spent the night together, are able to fight many of them off, but they’re eventually cornered in a storeroom as the ninjas try to gain access from outside.
Mariko finds death after all, pressing herself against the door so that the breaching explosion will only kill her and not everyone in the room, including Blackthorne, Yabu, and the hostages. Shogun Episode 9 ends with the explosion and Mariko’s demise.
