Shogun Episode 7 Recap: Toranaga’s Play
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We’re well into the second half of FX’s captivating historical drama Shogun now with Episode 7, titled A Stick of Time, putting the final pieces into place for the grand finale. Episode 7 focused on a single location: Ajiro, where Yoshii Toranaga and the remnants of his army are camped. He’s not alone, however, as his half-brother, Saeki Nobutatsu, brings over his sizable army at the beginning of the episode in order to forge a pact.
In the meantime, personal relationships continue to cause trouble – in particular Omi’s jealousy of Blackthorne and the complicated feelings between the Englishman and Mariko. Find all the details you might have missed in our Shogun Episode 7 recap.
Saeki’s Betrayal
Episode 7 begins with Toranaga welcoming his estranged half-brother Saeki at Ajiro to forge an alliance between them and assault Osaka together – the core of operation Crimson Sky, which you may remember from Episode 6.
However, that plan appears to be falling apart quickly. Unbeknownst to everyone, Saeki has already been approached by the Council of Regents – over which Lady Ochiba established her firm control in the previous episode – and was elected to become a member of the clique. Over dinner, he served Toranaga as well as Nagakado their death sentences, having surrounded the entire region with his forces. Yabushige, too, is denied friendship by Ishido, getting delivered the head of the general he sent to treat with the regent. He finally has to commit fully to one side.
It seems obvious on the surface: Intent on breaking out of his famous half-brother’s shadow, Saeki betrayed him to attain power and glory for himself. It’s a good story, as Saeki himself remarks. We’ll get back to this.
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Everyone Wants to Die
Most people in Toranaga’s inner circle have an unhealthy relationship with death. Mariko and Fuji are very open about their desire to kill themselves and emphasize this in Episode 7 – Mariko pleads with Toranaga to let her die and Fuji expresses her wish to her grandfather, who brings her the ashes of her husband and son (in what is otherwise an extremely wholesome scene). There is Yabushige, who is obsessed with his own death, but doesn’t want to die. There is Buntaro, who escaped death and yet finds life increasingly intolerable with Blackthorne around – especially after Omi fuels his fears about there being something between him and Mariko.
And then there’s Nagakado, who’s never seen a battle in his young life and has fallen for the same crap so many other young men in history have before and after him – that death is this glorious and beautiful thing. He, too, is obsessed with dying: He tells Fuji that he wishes he’d done what her husband did and he wants to accept his order to commit seppuku without hesitation. He tells Saeki that dying for his father’s cause will be a thing of beauty.
Related: Shogun Episode 6: Taiko vs. Shogun Explained
Naturally, everyone’s impending doom due to Saeki’s betrayal gets lots of heads spinning – Buntaro almost kills Blackthorne (after a hilarious scene between John and Yabushige, the master of comedy on the show) and is told off by Toranaga, Mariko wants to kill herself, Omi wishes for things to go back as they were, and Blackthorne just wants to get the hell out of Japan.
Toranaga has his hands full with managing everybody – and to be fair to them, on the surface he doesn’t really have grounds to deny them their wishes, because to anyone looking at him, it must seem as if he’s accepted his own death as well.
After much deliberation and tense conversations, Toranaga officially surrenders to Saeki and agrees to accompany him to Osaka, where certain death awaits.
Toranaga Always Has a Plan
If we’ve learned anything in this show so far, though, it’s that Toranaga always has a plan – and that he doesn’t share them with anyone else, because he doesn’t trust anyone completely. This makes it harder for him to get betrayed, but also leads to misunderstandings if his people, in turn, don’t trust him. That, I believe, is the core of this episode – on the surface, Toranaga has been outplayed and is giving up, but I do think there’s a plan at work here.
Remember, in Episode 6 Toranaga was vehemently arguing against Crimson Sky. Then he very publicly made the plan known to everyone. But, as mentioned above, Toranaga never shares his real plans. I think Crimson Sky – it even has a red color in the name – is a Red Herring.
Ishido playing Saeki against Toranaga must have been obvious to a seasoned schemer such as himself, so it’s difficult to believe that this “betrayal” is either real or not part of Toranaga’s plan – Saeki, whether knowingly or not, is going to be Toranaga’s entry ticket to Osaka. It might come down to the most classic of all ploys – the Trojan Horse.
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As I remarked above, Saeki betraying Toranaga to finally step out of his shadow is a good story. It’s such a great story that everyone would want to believe it – just like that story about Toranaga winning his first battle as a boy and then beheading the enemy warlord with a single strike. He and Hiromatsu know the truth behind the legend – that Toranaga horribly botched the beheading and needed nine strikes. But it’s such a good story that no one was questioning it. Ishido won’t want to question the story he’s orchestrated, making it the best possible cover for Toranaga’s real intentions – and that’s certainly not surrendering. Why else keep Mariko alive? Why keep Buntaro from going against Blackthorne? Why continue to bind Blackthorne to himself? Why hinder his son from accepting his death writ?
There is also that remarkable conversation between Toranaga and the clever old prostitute Gin, the owner of the tea house Kiku is working at. Gin sees through his facade and insinuates that she knows his full plan. Naturally, he tries to deny and play the outplayed fool, but Gin doesn’t budge – and so she tries to coerce Toranaga into buying her silence with a grant of land in Edo. He’s obviously impressed by this and we later hear him give the order to reserve some land for her – another thing he wouldn’t do if he earnestly thought about surrendering. Surely his lands would be divided among his rivals and his will wouldn’t matter.
Gin tells us that Toranaga has more men in Edo and could have easily avoided being trapped by his half-brother. This reinforces the idea that Toranaga is merely pretending to be weak – who in their right mind tells a potential ally that their army has been shattered by a natural disaster prior to negotiating a deal? Again, he’s selling the story he wants to sell.
While contemplating alone in the woods, Toranaga tries his best to land a stone on top of a torii – that gate you often see in front of Shinto shrines. Landing a stone or a coin on a torii signals good luck. Is that the action of a man accepting death?
Finally, there is Blackthorne’s outburst after Toranaga “surrenders” – he should have gotten his head cut off on the spot for it, but aside from Buntaro, who hates his guts anyways, no one got up to stop him. Earlier in this episode, he asks Toranaga for the role he intends him to play in Crimson Sky. He asks him to allow him to actually be of service instead of heaving honors on him for nothing in return. I believe his time to serve has come – his barbarian outburst may be another cover story. He’s definitely going to get his ship back – and his crew may already be close. Those ships in the cove flying Ishido’s banner? Why haven’t they landed troops? Could they be Toranaga’s men in disguise with Blackthorne’s crew in tow, preparing to repair the Erasmus in support of Toranaga’s covert assault on Osaka?
Nagakado Dies as He Lived
There’s a downside to Toranaga’s way of scheming – some people won’t ever get the hint, and foolish, death-seeking Nagakado has been a big, gullible dummy all season long. Not only didn’t the thought occur to him that the story Saeki told him about Toranaga wasn’t the truth, he even felt honored by hearing it – Toranaga must have rolled his eyes so hard that they made a 360° rotation.
Naturally, instead of trusting his father, Nagakado went off on his own to assassinate Saeki, horribly botching it. Dying as stupidly as he lived, he slips on the wet ground and gets his skull split by a rock, finally facing the reality of death, which everyone has been warning him about: It’s not beautiful. It’s lying in a pond of your own blood, spending your last moments in agony and failure.
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Shogun Episode 7 Recap: TL;DR
A flashback takes us to Toranaga’s first victorious battle, showing the enemy warlord surrendering. Hiromatsu is already on Toranaga’s side at this time.
Toranaga welcomes Saeki at Ajiro, hoping to forge an alliance.
Blackthorne asks Toranaga to reveal his role in the upcoming battle, but he keeps him out of the loop.
Gin hints to Omi that there’s something between Blackthorne and Mariko.
Fuji and Hiromatsu have a wholesome grandfather-granddaughter moment, but Fuji is still committed to die after her service to Blackthorne ends.
Saeki tells stories of young Toranaga over dinner before revealing that he’s become a regent; he serves death writs to Toranaga and Nagakado and has surrounded Ajiro.
Blackthorne hatches a plan to bring everyone out of Ajiro on the Erasmus, but Mariko doesn’t even entertain the idea.
Yabushige gets sent his general’s head from Ishido – he’s regarded as an enemy of the council.
Toranaga speaks to Gin, who thinks she sees through his plans and demands a bribe to stay silent about it; he’s impressed and later orders a grant of land to her.
Yabushige shows Blackthorne, who observes the Ishido ships anchoring next to the Erasmus, how to use a katana, Buntaro intervenes and almost kills Blackthorne.
Fuji trains with a naginata, Nagakado compliments her husband’s courage and says he should have been the one to stand up and die in his stead.
Buntaro asks Toranaga for permission to kill Blackthorne, but he denies it – if he believes that Mariko was unfaithful, he should start by killing her, which Buntaro doesn’t want to do; Mariko, in turn, asks Toranaga for permission to die, which he also denies.
Toranaga surrenders to Saeki and agrees to come to Osaka; Blackthorne causes a scene and storms off.
Saeki pillows Kuki, but she runs off – she’s in on Nagakado’s plan to assassinate his uncle, which may implicate Omi as well.
Nagakado botches the murder, slipping on the wet ground and dying.
