What a twist of fate. The "noble" Toranaga turned out to truly be a self-serving megalomaniac who saw his friends, vassals, and even his own son as mere pawns to further his cause to rule Japan. It's almost cruel that Ishido and Ochiba were right about Toranaga's schemes against the heir all along, and that we as the audience have been strung along to root for a ruthless despot.
As for Blackthorne, his purpose gets revealed to us: he is merely a source of entertainment and ultimately inconsequential to the overall movement of Toranaga's schemes. Even the vision of Blackthorne being an aged grandpa in a lavish English home turned out to be no more than a "dream of a dream". Like Blackthorne, we have all been misled by the cunning Toranaga.
After the thrilling penultimate finale, I was almost expecting Shogun to end in some epic battle. After all, the real life Battle of Sekigahara took place on an epic scale. But in hindsight, I realise that portraying such an epic battle might have felt too rushed. Instead, all we get is a flash forward of Toranaga's machinations. Pure political scheming, from beginning to end.
I do not consider this to be a satisfying finale, and yet perhaps, it is a finale apt for a show that has told us multiple times that we are all mere cogs of a much larger machine at work. We live, and we die.
As for Blackthorne, his purpose gets revealed to us: he is merely a source of entertainment and ultimately inconsequential to the overall movement of Toranaga's schemes. Even the vision of Blackthorne being an aged grandpa in a lavish English home turned out to be no more than a "dream of a dream". Like Blackthorne, we have all been misled by the cunning Toranaga.
After the thrilling penultimate finale, I was almost expecting Shogun to end in some epic battle. After all, the real life Battle of Sekigahara took place on an epic scale. But in hindsight, I realise that portraying such an epic battle might have felt too rushed. Instead, all we get is a flash forward of Toranaga's machinations. Pure political scheming, from beginning to end.
I do not consider this to be a satisfying finale, and yet perhaps, it is a finale apt for a show that has told us multiple times that we are all mere cogs of a much larger machine at work. We live, and we die.