TV Recap: FX’s “Shōgun” Episode 10 – The Series’ Title Takes on New Meaning in the Series Finale

“Life and death aren’t the same,” Mariko told Blackthorne in the ninth episode of FX’s Shōgun. “Both can have value and purpose.” We see just how true those words were in the series finale, titled “A Dream of a Dream.” Arigatou gozaimasu for following along with our detailed episode recaps. And now, it’s time to end this adaptation of James Clavell’s novel.

Chapter 10 – "A Dream of a Dream” – Written by Maegan Houang & Emily Yoshida

Flash Forward

An old man lies on his deathbed. He holds a cross on a red chain in his hand. The Western-style room has a fireplace crackling in the corner. It’s adorned with many Japanese artifacts, including a katana blade on a tokonoma and a samurai helmet. Two young boys, Percy (Azriel Dalman) and Nigel (John JJ Miller), examine the sword as their grandfather opens his blue eyes. “Was it really given to you by a savage?” Percy asks. The man in the bed seems to have no trouble remembering the events that led to him receiving it. His grip tightens on the cross as we go deep inside his memory, back to the moment he lost someone very close to him. An explosion in a storage shed in Osaka…

Present

John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis) is awoken on the floor of the storage shed, fires crackling throughout the room. His ears are ringing. He can barely hear Kashigi Yabushige (Tadanobu Asano) rouse him up. But once he comes to, it doesn’t take him long to get on his knees and crawl towards the body of Toda Mariko (Anna Sawai). He cradles her, trying to shake her awake. She doesn’t stir. He bends down. She’s not breathing. He prays over her dead body. In the corner, Yabushige watches. “Forgive me,” he repeats.

The Council of Regents meets. Lord Kiyama (Hiromoto Ida) and Lord Ohno (Takeshi Kurokawa) both agree that Mariko should’ve been allowed to leave Osaka when she asked to. Lord Saeki (Eita Okuno) has a letter from his brother, passing it to Lord Ishido (Takehiro Hira). It reveals that Lord Toranaga has left Edo to prepare for war in response to Mariko’s death. Kiyama believes a member of the Council orchestrated the attack. Ishido says the only one capable of carrying out such a cunning attack was Toranaga himself to sow division between them. “What matters is we are united,” he encourages the other Lords. Ohno says they shouldn’t begin marching until Lady Mariko has been given a proper Christian burial. Ishido refuses, so Lady Ochiba (Fumi Nikaido) interjects. He agrees to give her a proper burial but also proceeds to write the declaration of war with the entire Council’s agreement. Almost immediately, a small earthquake hits Osaka, giving everyone a startle. Kiyama believes this is a sign. “The vote is done,” Ishido insists.

Ishido finds Yabushige sitting on the engawa of a garden. “I thought Lady Mariko would only be captured,” Yabushige says, seemingly in a daze. Ishido assures Yabushige that he will have a seat on the Council once Toranaga is defeated. Yabushige stumbles towards the small pond in the garden, remembering how the last time a Taikō went to war against Toranaga, there was an earthquake that was seen as a bad omen. The Taikō blamed it all on a catfish. Yabushige jumps in the pond, splashing his arms around, looking for a catfish. Ishido reminds him that there aren’t any in this pond. “I know,” Yabushige responds. Ishido orders Yabushige to return to Izu to gather his army and await further instructions. Instead, Yabushige resumes his frenzied search for a catfish in the garden pond.

Lord Yoshii Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada) travels to Ajiro with a group of soldiers. Along the way, he takes his most prized falcon, removes her blinders, and sends her away. “I return you to the sky,” he says, his eyes welling up with tears.

Blackthorne awakens with a bandage on his head, his ears ringing. “Lady Mariko was buried the other day,” the Doctor (Soichi Sato) informs him, revealing that Blackthorne has been out for several days. Blackthorne finds Mariko’s cross on the tatami mat next to him. He is told to get up to be escorted to the harbor by Lord Kiyama’s men. Blackthorne takes Mariko’s cross with him. He’s convinced that Kiyama’s samurai will execute him, and is surprised to see Father Martin Alvito (Tommy Bastow) with them. Alvito says he’s there to ensure Blackthorne’s safe transfer to Toranaga’s galley. Blackthorne limps as they walk through the woods, with Alvito filling him in on what he missed while recovering. “Lady Ochiba has placed her son’s support,” Alvito says about the upcoming war. “Toranaga will be dead in weeks.”

“Then you don’t know Yoshii Toranaga.” All of the other hostages were released from Osaka. Blackthorne shakes his head, saying that’s all Toranaga wanted, and he managed to do it without a war. “Just a woman,” he sighs. Blackthorne tells Alvito that he tried to pray for Mariko, asking if he thinks it was enough. Alvito shares that Mariko came to him for absolution before her death. “I think it would’ve pleased her to see us being civil,” he adds. Blackthorne agrees. Blackthorne recalls almost being killed in these woods once before, asking if that’s the plan today. “You were meant to die in these woods,” Alvito confirms, “but an arrangement was made.”

They arrive at Osaka Bay. “Go with God, Anjin-sama,” Alvito bids farewell. But he stops as Blackthorne walks on the dock towards a dinghy. “It was Lady Maria,” Alvito says, causing Blackthorne to stop and turn around. “She asked the church to spare your life before she died. And now I have. I have kept my word to her. Goodbye, and good luck.” Blackthorne boards the boat, and as the rower pushes them out towards the galley, Blackthorne fights to hold back tears. He loses this battle.

The Heir, Nakamura Yaechiyo (Sen Mars), looks at a small tree in his garden, one that was planted the day he was born, watching the rain drip off its bare branches, springtime buds waiting to open. Ochiba sits on the engawa watching, a brush in her hand to write. Yaechiyo goes to her and reads what she wrote. “What does it mean, ‘On a leafless branch’?” he asks. She tells him that is the start of a poem written by her dear friend. She asks for his help finishing it. “A branch can have fruit, also flowers,” her son adds. But she modifies it, saying, “Flowers are only flowers because they fall. But thankfully, the wind.” Her addition is also inspired by her last conversation with Mariko. And just as she finishes the poem, the wind begins to blow through the garden.

Yabushige stands at the front of the galley as it sails to Ajiro. Blackthorne limps toward him. “We should never have gone to Osaka,” Yabushige laments. He asks Blackthorne to let him join him on the Erasmus’ return voyage. Blackthorne recognizes that Yabushige is not acting like himself, asking him to pull himself together. But it is soon Blackthorne who is in need of consoling because as they pull into Ajiro, we see what has become of his ship. It’s been burned, and sunk, and all that can be seen is the bow protruding above the shallow waters.

Immediately upon stepping foot ashore, Yabushige is apprehended by two guards under the orders of his nephew, Kashigi Omi (Hiroto Kanai). “I’m instructed to ask for your swords,” Omi tells his uncle, whose vassal, Takemaru (Yuki Kedoin), brings them forward. Omi announces that all of Yabushige’s men are now serving Lord Toranaga.

“Enemies slipped past our guards by cover of night,” Muraji (Yasunari Takeshima) tells Blackthorne about Erasmus’ destruction. “They knew exactly where to strike. Christians, we think.” Blackthorne looks out at the wreck of his ship. “Mariko-sama…” he realizes aloud. As he follows Omi and Yabushige into the village, Blackthorne learns that Toranaga has ordered a cruel search for traitors who aided the attack on the ship. Severed heads are displayed on spikes.

Yabushige is brought before Toranaga at the same spot where Blackthorne was first brought before Yabushige. He is put on his knees. “You were seen letting intruders into my quarters,” Toranaga says, holding up a letter that Omi received from one of Mariko’s ladies-in-waiting. “They say you were guilt-stricken and asked for forgiveness,” Omi adds. Yabushige admits his role in Mariko’s death. Toranaga orders him to commit seppuku tomorrow at sunset. Yabushige asks that Izu be given to Omi. “Izu is no longer yours to give,” Toranaga reminds him. Yabushige is asked to pick his second in death. “Let it be the Anjin,” he asks, but Toranaga denies this request. He chooses Toranaga, and he agrees. “Until tomorrow, then,” Toranaga says as Yabushige is dragged away.

Blackthorne sits on the engawa of his house looking at his garden. Usami Fuji (Moeka Hoshi) sits next to him and he comments on how healthy she looks, having fully recovered from the earthquake. “No translator,” Blackthorne says, looking sad. Fuji’s eyes become weepy.

Toranaga meets his newborn son for the first time. “So many have been lost since we parted in Osaka,” he tells his wife, Lady Kiri (Yoriko Dōguchi), and consort, Lady Shizu (Mako Fujimoto). Kiri gives Toranaga a letter. “The morning we left Osaka Castle, this came in secret from Lady Ochiba,” she tells him. He unfolds the parchment, which seems long. He closes his eyes and takes in a deep sigh before standing up. “If I could use words like scattering flowers and falling leaves, what a bonfire my poems would make,” he reads from the letter, saying these words are Mariko’s. “Only her words remain with us now,” he says, his eyes on the brink of tears. “But what a bonfire she made.”

Blackthorne and Fuji eat dinner together. He notices the two boxes in the corner wrapped in white linens. She tells them they’re the remains of her husband and son. “I should bury them in the family temple, but I wish to be close to them.” Fuji then shares that her service to Toranaga has come to an end and that she is leaving to become a nun. Blackthorne asks her to stay, but she says she can’t. He tells her she will be the best nun, and then asks her for one last favor. He’d like her to write to Toranaga for him, asking for a meeting about the state of Ajiro.

The next morning, Blackthorne meditates in his garden before walking with Fuji through the village. As they reach the end, they are stopped by Omi and his guards, as well as Muraji. Blackthorne’s gun and sword are collected. He is then taken to see Toranaga.

Alone with Toranaga and Muraji, Blackthorne is let in on a little secret. “Forgive me, for the deception, Anjin,” Muraji explains, revealing that he is a samurai spy who was assigned by Toranaga to learn the Portuguese religion and move to Ajiro to keep an eye on things for him. “My lord says he will not rest until he finds those who helped destroy your ship.” Blackthorne asks Toranaga to leave the villagers alone. “My enemies didn’t burn my ship,” he explains. “It was Mariko-sama. She hated my war against the Catholics, so she made an arrangement in Osaka to trade my survival for the destruction of my ship.” Toranaga refuses to stop, saying there are still disloyal people in Ajiro. Blackthorne gets on his knees and removes his sword, bowing low. “I was the disloyal one,” he says, vowing to commit seppuku in exchange for the village being spared. In Portuguese, Blackthorne rambles about how he came to Japan to take advantage of its people. “Teki,” he says, pointing to himself, just like Alvito taught him to say the first time he met Toranaga. The wind begins to blow. Blackthorne clutches his fist around Mariko’s cross, inspired by her. “I, Anjin, by my death, protest the callous punishment of this village by Yoshii Toranaga.” He unsheaths his katana, points the blade against his naval, and begins to push when Toranaga’s hand grabs the hilt and rips the sword out of Blackthorne’s grasp. “If you’re finally done, rebuild that ship, and make me a fleet,” Toranaga orders him. Shortly after, we see the heads being removed from the spikes in the village.

Later, Toranaga sits in a chair atop a cliff overlooking the ocean. Omi brings Yabushige to him, thanking his uncle for making him his heir. “I considered you the son I never had,” Yabushige says, handing his nephew his death poem. He reads it aloud – “My dead body, Don’t burn it, Don’t bury it, Just leave it in the field. And with it, fill the belly of some hungry dog.” Yabushige hands Takemaru his final will. “Have a good death,” his servant wishes him as Yabushige steps forward towards Toranaga alone.

“I’m sorry to say it goes no further than this,” Yabushige greets his lord and old friend, promising that Omi will be a loyal vassal to him. Toranaga thanks him. “And the Anjin… You have me to thank for him, too,” Yabushige reminds him, sitting on the ground and looking out to take in what Toranaga sees. “If only I could have lived to see it,” he laments, wishing that he could see the conclusion of Toranaga’s master plan, his nephew’s first war, and the sails of Blackthorne’s fleet leaving Japan in service to Toranaga. “The ship had to be destroyed,” Toranaga responds. “It was between that and the Anjin’s life. Appointing a watchman to spread gunpowder wasn’t that hard. Mariko negotiated for the Church, and I agreed.” Yabushige is stunned. “You burned that ship?” he asks. “It was a necessary ruse to test the Anjin. Perhaps someday I’ll tell him the truth. But then he’ll have rebuilt the ship, and I’ll likely have to destroy it again. I don’t think it’s his fate to ever leave Japan.” Yabushige marvels at Toranaga’s ability to line things up in his favor. “How does it feel to shape the wind to your will?” he asks. “I don’t control the wind,” Toranaga replies. “I only study it.”

Yabushige asks how Toranaga will win the war since their forces will be outnumbered. He wants to know what Crimson Sky entails to pull off such a feat. “Crimson Sky is already finished,” Toranaga reveals. “With the Regents united, I could never send an army to Osaka. It would have meant certain death. So I sent a woman to do what an army never could.” Toranaga looks out at the sea. “Don’t you see what’s coming next?” he asks Yabushige. As he explains how everything will unfold, we see it all happening.

A month from now, Toranaga will face off against Ishido on the battlefield. However, Mariko’s actions have turned Lady Ochiba against Ishido. Without the support of her son, the other Regents turned on him. Ishido’s army is relatively small in the final battle. Power is then yielded to Toranaga, who moves the capital from Osaka to Edo. He ushes in an era of peace. “All of us have made this possible,” Toranaga concludes. “You, me, Lady Mariko, even the barbarian who came out of the sea.” He reminisces about all of the times he considered killing the Anjin, sparing his life because he found him amusing, and he saw in him a good distraction for his enemies. He asks Yabushige if he remembers what the Anjin said on the first day they met when Toranaga said Blackthorne would lose a fight against the Portuguese. “Unless I win,” Yabu recalls. “If you win, anything is possible,” Toranaga responds. “Even Shōgun,” Yabushige asks. He says this must be what Toranaga wanted all along. “You’re no better than us, in your secret heart,” Yabushige says, asking Toranaga to confirm before sending him to his grave. “Why tell a dead man the future?” Toranaga smiles.

Yabushige commits seppuku. Toranaga is his second.

Blackthorne leads Fuji to the shore, where a rowboat contains the ashes of her husband and son. “Come to sea, last thing I ask,” he begs her. Out on the water, he tells her that as a sailor, it’s believed that those whose bodies become part of the sea live on in it forever. He suggests that she spread her loved ones' ashes there instead of her family temple. She likes the idea. Blackthorne’s hands help her as they spread the ashes. Fuji prays. And the Blackthorne pulls out Mariko’s cross. He holds it out over the water. Fuji’s hands cup his. “Let your hands be the last to hold her,” (quoting the way Mariko helped console her on the day of Fuji’s husband’s and son’s execution). Blackthorne lets go of Mariko’s cross. It drops into the sea.

Sometime later, Blackthorne and a crew stand on the shores using ropes to try and pull the hull of Erasmus out of the water so that it can be rebuilt. Mariko’s husband, Buntaro (Shinnosuke Abe), approaches. The two men bow to each other, and Buntaro grabs a rope to help. The crew had been trying for so long, and it seemed like they weren’t getting far. But with Buntaro’s help, the hull of the Erasmus finally begins to move closer to the shore. Muraji gives Blackthorne a bamboo bottle of water. As a gesture of goodwill, Blackthorne gives it to Buntaro, who drinks it.

Furth down to shore, Toranaga watches as Blackthorne leads a crew to resurrect Erasmus. Blackthorne sees him. They smile at one another. And then Toranaga’s gaze shifts to the mountains. To all of Japan. It’s all his.

The end.

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