MovieChat Forums > Shôgun (2024) Discussion > Episode 7 (spoilers)

Episode 7 (spoilers)


The show keeps on diverging more and more from the source material. Blackthorne is given nothing to do in the TV show after messing about with the cannon for a little while, but in the book he is assigned 200 samurai. The Jesuits are remarkably absent lately this late in the story.

Buntaro requests permission from Toranaga to kill Blackthorne, as he does not like the way he looks at his wife, In the book Buntaro had no such reservations about his wife and the pilot. Toranaga of the book knew he would need to have Buntaro killed if he ever suspected that the pilot was sleeping with his wife. Toranaga valued Blackthorne more than Buntaro.

The TV show does not even hint at an affair between Mariko and the pilot other than the one night after they moved in together in Ajiro.

Naga attempts to kill Saeki Nobutatsu, but fails. This was not in the book.

reply

Well, it's "Shegun" after all.

This show is now about Mariko, Ochiba and other chicks than about Blackthorne.
Even the damn whore house manager gets more meaningful screen time than Anjin.
And for all that dumb trash, they sacrificed so many cool bits of the original story, like Blackthorne picking his retainers.
But then again, why would he do so here - since he has been dropped and nobody really cares about him anymore. xD

It's ridiculous.

reply

The show is based upon a book. While Backthorne was one of the main characters, most of the action did not involve him at all.

This series is picking and choosing as little from the book as the 1980 series, and is all the more disappointing for it.

As little of the book that is making it into the series, every single female character is also striped to the bone compared to the novel.

reply

I don't care.

reply

Your posts say you care far too much. Hahaha.

reply

Nono, you misunderstand. I do care about the show missing its mark as I had high hopes for it.
I do not care about your reasoning and constant attempts to explain flaws away with "well but the book...".

I do not care about the book if THIS is what they got out of it.

reply

You should care about the book as it is far superior to the shows.

reply

Usually the case and I do want to read it some day, I am just a terrible reader of books, as my attention always drifts off spinning m,y own little sub stories and conversations while reading, which is frankly exhausting. And audio books put me to sleep, unfortunately. When I struggle to sleep, I fire up Crime and Punishment. Why take medication, if you can have Dostoyevsky... which sounds demeaning, but that's not my intent.

That's why I prefer visual entertainment, among other reasons.

And as great as the book might be - the 1980s show is objectively really good. Not perfect, what it is, but it sure works for me. Reading the book now, it might just spoil my love for that show.

reply

Both shows are/were disappointing. The 2024 even more so. They had a chance to improve upon the 1980 version and decided to make it worse instead.

reply

I don't see how the critically acclaimed 1980s Shogun is so disappointing.
"It's not the book!!" is not an argument, it never promised to copy the book, it's based on the book.

reply

It was disappointing to me because I thought it would at least resemble the book, but it didn't. In the book, the reader always knew what was going on and what each character was thinking. The 1980 series are pared down to those things Blackthorne observed and little more. The non-Japanese speaking audience was left in the dark on what was happening when English was not spoken.

reply

I liked the show until 6th ep, 7th was great, but this was just "what they fuck are they trying to prove". And at the end even more fucking pointless. It's like a circlejerk that they can't get out of because they're trying to hard to be smart.

reply