The Women of 'Shōgun'

Blaine Duncan (00:05.198)

Hey, welcome back to taking it down or welcome to the show for the first time. If it is your first time, I hope you enjoy your stay. We're a TV and streaming podcast and a part of the Alabama takes family podcast. Tell you what, before I get any deeper, let's hear from our friends over at Polyphonic Press. Hey, this is Jeremy from Polyphonic Press, along with my cohost and best friend, John Van Dyke. We are exploring classic albums completely at random.

At the top of each show, we have no idea what album we're going to be listening to. We have the patented random album generator to give us an album. Sometimes it's an album we're very familiar with and sometimes it's an artist we have never heard of. Either way, it gives us a chance to really listen to these classic releases and gives us insights that we may never have thought of before. For something to come out of them, maybe he needed the other Beatles in the room at that time. Well, I think so, and I think if you...

If you watched that Peter Jackson documentary from a few years ago about the Let It Be sessions, I think, you know, it was kind of, the writing was on the wall. I mean, they were breaking up. John Lennon didn't sign the papers to officially dissolve the Beatles until 1974. So if this sounds interesting, be sure to follow Polyphonic Press on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and everywhere else podcasts are available.

We upload every Tuesday morning and we strongly encourage you to listen along with us. Cheers.

Blaine Duncan (01:42.606)

Alright, I hope you're all good. I don't know if you folks believe in this sort of thing, but I do. Where you can sort of call up what happens next to a degree or what happens soon, right? You get me? One night last week, right before I was falling asleep, I was thinking about the past and where all friends of mine had landed, what they were doing. And I started thinking about this roommate I had in college.

He and I really didn't know one another when we moved in together. And that was something I'd never done. I'd always known the person I'd roomed with or even grew up with them to an extent. But I had met his girlfriend at the time and she and I had become acquaintances through college. And then I met him through her. He and I hung out maybe a time or two, very little though. He needed a roommate. I was in dire straits on finding a place to live. And we decided to give it a go.

just outside the city limits of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, kind of right there at the city limits between Tuscaloosa and Cottondale, I suppose. And I won't give away his name. I don't know if he wants me to go to that kind of detail. So I'm about to fall asleep. I'm thinking, man, I wonder what he was up to, because here's the deal. In 2008, I got married. I moved out from his apartment. And around that time, he dropped all socials.

Kudos to him. I mean, that takes some wherewithal. I wish I could sometimes. Sometimes I don't because I enjoy it, but that's neither here nor there. He drops all socials about 2008, shortly after I move out and we lose all contact with one another. Haven't heard from him since 2008. Here it is, 2024. I thought of him one night before falling asleep, wondering where he was, hoping he was well. Always loved him.

He sends me a friend request the very next morning. That's not a joke. The next morning I woke up to a friend request from him. He's back on Facebook. What a thrill that was. I can't express how happy I was to hear from him. So think positively. You never know. This week I saw Mary Poppins, an adaptation of Mary Poppins on the stage as a play, as a musical. I had no experience with Mary Poppins at all. No clue.

Blaine Duncan (04:06.926)

other than it was a Disney production. My daughter also saw it twice as an audience member there on stage. And folks, let me tell you something. Since that point, and this is not an exaggeration or a hyperbole at all, Mary Poppins has been on a loop in our house. And I've got questions. Where does Mary Poppins come from? Is she a witch? Is she evil? Is Burt also a wizard? Is he magic? Does he have it too?

Do they come from the same place? Are they in love? Are they related? Like, what's his backstory? Is this, are they related and in love? Is this a Game of Thrones situation happening? As a southerner, I saw it as a send up of the British polite society and facade of that. Nannies are absolutely foreign to me anyway, of course, that's not just a British concept, but wow. What's a, I'd never heard of a nanny for a long time.

And a nanny in my town was your damn meemaw. That's who your nanny was. Right? Let's sally forth into this week's full episode. I'll take projection.

Blaine Duncan (05:24.558)

Alright, it's our full episode. It's really just me this week. So it might be a short episode. By the way, we are also sponsored by Kodachrome Gardens out of Florence, Alabama. Kodachrome Gardens is an urban farm, an effort to get fresh produce right there in the city to those who want and need it at a price that you can afford. Visit Kodachrome Gardens online, find them on Instagram, keep up with what they're doing every Saturday morning.

Go get yourself some fresh produce very nearby if you're in Florence or Muscle Shoals. So yeah, we had a weird schedule this weekend. We didn't quite get together, couldn't make it work, so it's just me. I wanna continue my discussion of Shogun with you guys though, it's just us. Don't tell Adam, don't tell Donovan, it's just us. Shogun warrants talk and thought. I'm not gonna spoil anything until I get past a few ideas.

We like to start with no spoilers and if it's a show we haven't discussed, we open the floor to label it as a recommended show. A recommended show with certain qualifications or just a hell no, stay away. I don't watch. We've discussed how stellar this show is. The interest level for all of us is high. And here's what I want to say to listeners who have not seen it or haven't caught up to the sixth episode, keep it spoiler free there. This show just handles itself with such.

Nuance handles its story with care good writing stellar acting if you ask me I have seen some complaints on one particular guy. I Don't think he warrants complaints. Honestly, I think what he's doing is perfect for the role. He's playing maybe elsewhere he would be a Problem as far as his acting is concerned, but nope, not at all. I really do recommend this one Yeah, it's got a lot of subtitles who cares in fact that that

might keep you more in tune with what's going on, more focused. I'm gonna spoil it going forward, don't listen, unless you've watched that sixth episode of Shogun Ladies of the Willow World. So here we are back in the saddle of the horse riding it, riding this old horse to the gates of Osaka once again, spoiling it going forward. I'm gonna ask Adam this soon, but what's the inference? What's the...

Blaine Duncan (07:42.606)

significance of those men who have shaved heads versus those who do not. What I've determined is it's a ranking. The men with shaved heads, they do have importance, but not quite as important as some of the lords like Toranaga and those gentlemen. So this episode begins with a flashback of poor Mariko's childhood as a father of a girl, man. Let me tell you, that was a bit tough. It had moments of toughness there. There's a lot to be taken away from that brief opening of

of what she sees, what she's witnessed to, how she's just a girl in a man's world. And one thing that's established in that flashback is that Mariko had a childhood with Lady Ochiba before that was her name. Like they were buddies as kids. It also lets you know that there is a huge and gross age gap between Lady Ochiba and the former ruler who had died. That flashback also serves to paint a very sweet image of two girls as tiny kids. This is what -

visual storytelling can do. You get this image and it lasts all of 15 seconds on screen of these two girls as tiny kids sleeping in the same bed and they're sleeping back to back and then they scoot next to each other so their backs touch each other for comfort. It tells you so much that they were close, that they loved each other, that they're seeking comfort from one another in this cruel world where they have been privy to men's...

heads getting chopped off. It's just excellent storytelling there, saying so much in a matter of seconds with no words spoken at all. That's the kind of stuff that Shogun's been doing well. So Mariko's father murders Lady Ochaba's father. If you didn't catch that, that I can understand, it took a minute. Mariko's father murders Lady Ochaba's father. Makes you wonder.

Now that Lady Ochiba is back at the castle and kind of running things, if she's after Torunaga or Markiro, both. It's also not immediately clear, but Torunaga was friends with Markiro's dad. And he maybe told Markiro's dad to assassinate the leader, Lady Ochiba's father. Maybe he had a hand in that and he's not such a nice guy. Lady Ochiba certainly kind of thinks so, right? She's angry at him.

Blaine Duncan (10:08.334)

By the way, Lady Ochiba's father was not nice. He was cruel, vicious. We get a sense of that. Unless we forget, Torinaga kidnapped Lady Ochiba in the opening episode. That was kind of fuzzy. It was ambiguous. But I think now we know he had her legitimately kidnapped. He was holding her. Not cruelly, but he was not letting her leave. Yabushige, continuing to ride a new wheel is just a point of comedy for me.

He turns to one of his I guess what guys his men and says It's time to ride a new wheel. We got it, you know, probably about to go to war every other day He's thinking about riding a new wheel. What what the hell would he have to change so much? Is my question but I'm gonna tell you that actor and his looks of concern are enough to make you smile and enjoy the episode There's a plenty of talk in this episode on who or what's really in control the person?

or fate. In fact, it's a little bit on the nose at times because they say it so much, but you get the idea. You get the thematic notion of this episode quite well because of it. A lot less of the Anjan in this episode are Blackthorn character and a lot more of the women in this episode deservedly so because they have stories to tell even though they're not in control at all. Some of their stories are purposefully hazy. You know, you get this image of

Markerow in the snow Which has never been just you know explained. It's one of her flashback images the center of the episode We got this scene that's so heavy on subtext between Markerow and the lady of the teahouse Including how they sit down their cups. There's a there's something about if you point your cup a certain way it signifies something and Since this episode is all about the women

You know, how are they dealing with male society? And not only that, but with one another. Who's got a little bit more power than the other lady? Leads me to thinking about Blackthorn's recitation of the Lord's Prayer as Marco Rose was saying it on the other side. You know, Blackthorn is not a heavily religious guy at all. He doesn't care for it. You get that sense. He doesn't give a shit, but he does recite the Lord's Prayer with her.

Blaine Duncan (12:34.67)

in English as she does it in Japanese. And it's like a way of connecting, a way of tenderness, a way of saying, I'm here too. A lot going on in that one. And it's such an original and fascinating display of difficult love where he is in the tea house and it's time for Makiro to leave. It's so layered with subtext that entire scene, but it was all subtext that the viewers understood pretty clearly, right?

In the spirit of their country, there's a lot of silence around the idea that they're truly falling in love. And since it's not spoken, you could even see it another way or two, I think. There's a little bit of interpretation of it. And then he reaches for her hand, brushes it lightly so that no one else sees. He is certainly in love with her, demonstrated with him, I think, reciting the Lord's Prayer with her. And she with him. And she also was dredging up a lot of emotions.

when she was translating for the concubine. Some of it might have been love for him. A lot of it was just where she's being. She shifts from that third person to first person in her translation about the concubine's willow world. She's in the willow world as well. The concubine was Kiku, I'm thinking is her name.

She, but anyway, Kiku tells Blackthorn that she wait for the moments that you visit again and Markoro translated as she is grateful. Markoro, that's a, there's your son Mark, Markio has something for Blackthorn. She doesn't want Kiku to sleep with him again. Assuming that's what they did. It had to have been, I guess. Nothing's ever shown. We don't know for certain, but you got to think that's what happened.

We do find out that Markio was married off by her father in order to survive so that Markio survives and continues her fight or the family's fight for good, you know. She did not realize this, which I had it figured out in the flashback. I do find it odd that she didn't think through this. She's very smart. How did she not realize that's why her father married her off to this kind of a miserable son of a bitch? But I think he might like her. He's horrible at showing it.

Blaine Duncan (14:50.766)

And we get this moment where Torinaga tells her all this stuff and it's so poetic where she claims, hey, men can go to war, but women are just at war. Some things don't change, right? Another ambiguity is who's in the right here. I know Torinaga is presented as one of the central characters, if not one of the protagonists, but is he a good guy at all? You know, we like him. We like his, we respect how he's acting. It's kind of tough to tell.

I'm also curious as to what horrific things Lady Ochaba had to endure beyond being drugged by the ruler's wife. She was given herbs and pretty much forced to sleep with the ruler in order to bear a son for him. And what did Torinaga do to her and her family and why? What's up there? She does send a frightening message to Ishido that she clawed out fate's eyes.

Frighten him enough to butcher the council member who wouldn't vote for Edo the actor to join the regents This guy won't vote for Edo the actor what what happens? Well toward the end Ishido goes has him butchered that'll take care of him, right? So now they can figure out I guess one more to two more maybe regents I don't know that might already Get Edo there into the council of regents. They need one more

And then the plan to impeach Torunaga and kill him and all of his followers and all of his men and women begins. But Torunaga at the end, he says, we're going to go for Crimson Sky. It's time to do this. Crimson Sky being the plan to try to attack the castle in one swoop and leaving no one alive almost. Just burn it to the ground, start anew. He becomes a Shogun.

Sets up for a fantastic, fascinating set of episodes to end. This being the sixth, we've got four more. You know, you almost hate to say that there's four more. You want more episodes than this. And we'll probably continue along this train of thought with Shogun. But that's it for this week. Follow the podcast in your app. Let us know what you think about it. If you...

Blaine Duncan (17:13.198)

If you're on YouTube, if you like YouTube, subscribe to the Alabama take there and you'll see all of our podcasts the day that they release as well as taking it down on video every Wednesday evening. Taking it down on video is off this week, but most Wednesday evenings around five 30 or six, you'll see a new episode of it. We are in the midst of covering and talking about twin peaks the entirety. So that might be several episodes long.

for taking it down on video. And big news, thealabamateight .com is beginning a makeover. We hope we'll improve your experience on finding what you want there, using the site itself to listen to and find the podcasts, as well as read the insightful writing, some very good writing from Brian Oluw based on Alabama's first Final Four appearance. Go to the site, go to thealabamateight .com, visit, enjoy, read.

Share. We'll talk to you next week. Maybe Adam and Donovan will be back. That's it for me. See you later.