Cinepals - SHOGUN 1x2 "Servants of Two Masters" Reaction & Review!

Episode Date: March 4, 2024

Shōgun, a new and adapted historical drama series, has arrived, depicting war and power in 1600s Japan. Shōgun stars: Hiroyuki Sanada (The Wolverine, 47 Ronin, Bullet Train, Mortal Kombat (2021), & John Wick: Chapter 4), Cosmo Jarvis (Calm with Horses, Lady Macbeth, & Persuasion), Anna Sawai (F9: The Fast Saga, Pachinko, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters & Girl/Haji) & Tadanobu Asano (Thor, Battleship, & Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan)    Join our Patreon www.Patreon.com/JabyKoay for the full length reaction to this show and many others ans subscribe to our YouTube channel for the cutdowns www.youtube.com/@cinepals   SOCIAL MEDIA ~CinePals~ Twitter, Instagram, & TikTok: @TheCinePals ~Achara Kirk~ Twitter & Instagram: @AcharaKirk

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And then, yeah, now we're on zero, zero on that. I thought we had a communication going. I was clapping. I thought he was going, stop, stop, stop. I thought we were going to make some music. I got so excited. What's going on, everyone? I am Jabby Kauai, joined by Achari Kirk.

What's up? We're watching Shugan, episode two from FX. Very ex... It's FX, right? It is FX, yes. Okay, so it says Hulu. Oh, oh my god, he's so smart. Then it's got to be the other guy.

It was the dude who was having dinner with the priests. Oh, you're right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 100%. I get confused sometimes. Damn! It's good. That's exciting.

Such good criff hangers. Yeah. Yeah. And now it's like, oh no, got to wait. Gotta wait until the next episode. I really like that episode a lot. I thought it was fantastic. It was a good follow-up to episode one.

It built on it in such a strong way that I liked it more than the first episode. And, you know, normally you have a very strong pilot episode. You know what is? I'm just used to like Marvel and Disney Plus and all that stuff. And so oftentimes that happens with Disney Plus is you get a powerful, good first episode. And then it kind of, you know, you get diminishing returns. And this is an instance where it's like, oh, no, no, we're climbing.

And we just got started. Well, they released both of them at the same time, right? So I think maybe the first episode is more of like we're setting the scene and then now we're fully getting into the intrigue. Although, you know, there was still a lot of excitement and intrigue, I think, in the first episode. But here we're starting to kind of see more of the politics at play. I am so relieved that this does not succumb to the temptation of what is going on today. I mean, I'm noticing it more from YouTube side than anything.

But if you look up any video, how to maintain audience retention on YouTube, you're going to see all kinds of analytical information. And a lot of it has to do with just like making everything so exciting all the time and cut, cut, cut, cut, cut. And it's just like banana town, right? It's just like this unfortunate thing that has come about because of short form content like TikTok and Instagram Reels and now even YouTube shorts. Like, the way this started out was not quick.

It took its time. It's got some exciting stuff going on. And it's like kind of modernized with the music and et cetera, et cetera. Even this episode, the way it started off. It took its time to get through stuff, but it was still so compelling and like this cool, fun, slow burn. And then when, like, violence happens, it's freaking flipping violent. And it's quick, too. It's not, like, overstaying its welcome.

It, like, just happens. Like, in this episode, when the female assassin comes in and she just, like, straight up, just like, just kills people. There's no, like, drawn out fight or anything. She's in and out. You know, ninja style. There's a tiny part of me that wishes the Portuguese is Portuguese instead of English. Yeah. It's like, why are we doing Japanese then?

But it's just to create a distinction between two languages. That's it. Yeah, I think so. I mean, I did read a review. Someone wrote where they mentioned that. Like, it's cool, obviously. I love that we're getting all of the Japanese in Japanese. That's really exciting because I feel like there's so much more nuance in the language.

when it's being spoken that way and it just feels right but yeah this person was like okay so we're just supposed to believe that he's English he's speaking in an English accent and then everyone else is just speaking English in like accented

English and that's just supposed to be oh and they're speaking Portuguese we're just supposed to believe that the English is Portuguese and that's what we have to do it's a small thing it's a small thing it's fine it makes it easier I guess because otherwise maybe for the general public Watching an entire show subtitled would be just too much. Perhaps.

Yeah. There was this Bruce Lee movie I watched a long time ago called Return of the Dragon. Its original title was Way of the Dragon. I got the dub version. And so there's this scene in Italy, well, the whole thing takes place in Italy, where Bruce Lee is telling this translator, hey, tell him, I want his guys out of here. And then the little wimpy translator goes, he says, he wants your guys out of here now. If I see him here again, he won't leave a lie.

He told us not to come and cause any more trouble. And then the guy responds in English. I'm like, how come everybody's speaking English? Like, Bruce Lee can just tell the guy himself. This doesn't make any sense. Why isn't Bruce Lee just talking to the white guy himself and saying, get out of here? And it's because in the original, Bruce Lee was speaking Chinese. And the other guys were speaking English or Italian.

I think it was English. Anyway, everybody should just speak English and not know what they're saying to each other. I'm just kidding. No, I thought that this was super cool in the way it was shot in the action and everything like that. Even though it was minimal, it was like, like you said, it was quick. And so it felt more harrowing as a result.

I was a little upset by how quickly his samurai dudes just got executed by this lady. But it's like, what cloth does she cut from? We got to know more about that. That feels like a show into itself. Who is she? Just like this crazy assassin lady with a little knife that executed like 40 people.

Ninja. Yeah. You know? It's like samurai. Samurai are very different from ninjas. Although technically, historically ninjas were farmers who were just trying to fight for

their lands or whatever. That's why their weapons are mostly inspired from like farming equipment. But samurai have a code. You know, there is none. It's like in and out ninja style. There was this YouTube video I watched a while back. The last remaining ninja

like true ninja talked about like what the ninjas were used for back in, you know, old Japan. And one of the things he said, one of their skill sets was spreading gossip and I laughed. It's like, do you know who Sharon's dating right now?

No, gossip. People undermine gossip. I know. I know. People undermine gossip and they say that like old ladies do it but you know what though?

First of all, gossip can save lives because you can tell people like, hey, this is dangerous. And secondly, gossip can be used to sow dissension among people. This show is full of gossip.

Exactly. I understand in the like truer sense of the word, like what he, the last ninja, meant. It's just kind of hilarious to think about it in modern context. Yeah, so Becky was like a dating taud. Yeah, exactly. Silliness.

But anyway, what were you saying about the ninjas and the Samuaries? They're just different. There's a different. There's, samurai have code, like Sepuku. They're super honorable. But yeah, it's really fascinating to me just watching how they're acting. I love everything that is being said without being said, and sometimes it goes over my head, and that's okay.

I have to be like, wait, was he being, he's being insulting. He's definitely being rude right now. Yeah. But it all sounds like on the surface just really civil, and like that's the whole culture, it seems. When Toronaga was, you know, putting the pillows together and stuff like that, I'm like, oh, he's making a nicer bed. I was like, oh, yeah, he's got like a nice little silk sheets.

What's going on? And then I was like, oh, no, he's like literally just making a fake sleeping person at this point. Like, what are you doing? Yeah. But, yeah, no, I like all of that. And the way that Mariko behaves, I love that. Like, you know how she's just so polite and nice, but there's something in her eyes as well. Like when she put John Blackthorn in his place

and was like, he will address me as Mariko-Sama. And then just like, left, you know? And I liked that scene with her and her son as well, where finally you get to see this side of her that's just like more animated and relaxed and happy. And then as soon as the husband comes in, it's like just that stoic look on her face. And it's just so calm and everything.

And so I'm very curious. about her because we got to see behind her mask a little bit. I just think she's such a fascinating character because there's so much going on there. Yeah. And John proved his, I guess, what kind of person he is when we tried to save. Toronaga.

Yeah. Sorry, there's a lot of names to keep up with. Yeah. And they're not all like Bob and Steve. It's a little tough for me. But yeah, anyway. Yeah, exactly. I mean, I think he's proved that he's an honorable man.

And I think that Toronaga will respond to that in a positive way. The only thing now is like his enemies, Toranaaga's enemies are circling around him. And any time now they could decide, well, it seems like they've all agreed that he should be executed. So at this point, it's like, well, hopefully Blackthorn can help him find a way to be valuable or to sew enough dissension among the other reasons. that he'll not die. We only got a small little sample size amount of Toronaga's swordsmanship, by the way. Yeah. It was a tiny little, you know, Costco sample.

Yeah, I think it's going to be a badass. You know, we see him in the posters wearing the whole, like, gear. Yeah. You know, I can't wait to see when he throws down properly. It's going to be, he's going to be sick with it. And it's going to be, it's going to be brutal. It's going to be brutal. I mean, they were all kind of eyeing war.

Like even Ishido, that was also really beautifully portrayed when he's just like looking at the armor and just like looking at it, like thinking, I want war, you know, like, what are we doing? We're just sitting here signing papers and all of that. Like, it's all bubbling up under the surface and it's going to just explode at some point in this series. But I wonder if any of the people who are like enemies in this moment

are going to align. at least temporarily against the Portuguese. Yeah, anything's possible. And especially learning what Toranaga did about, you know, what the Portuguese are doing and like what their actual intentions are. I think that's going to change a lot. So you knew this history about the Portuguese on like and like when, okay, so from what I understand from my knowledge of high school history

and I don't remember everything exactly. But when Europe started exploring the new world, it was mainly Spain and Portugal. They were the two main countries that set out. And so at a certain point, they did draw a line. Like, I know this about South America, and this is why only, I think Brazil is the only Portuguese-speaking country, whereas all the others are Spanish-speaking.

It's because of this agreement that they had, where it was like, if it lands here, it's ours. And if it lands there, it's yours. I didn't actually know that it extended all. all the way to Japan as well. Oh, okay. But, yeah, that I kind of knew. Interesting.

Yeah, history, man. History class is so much fun. And violent. Well, yeah. I don't actually remember a lot about the shogunate from history class. All I know is that at some point, the shogunate is overthrown, and then it's the Meiji restoration after that. It's a fascinating story about a dude who was just like,

this person who was just trying to survive and it ends up in a situation way bigger than himself. Yeah. I mean, although he had a series of excursions that seemed pretty brutal, you know, before he landed there. Yeah. So that's going to have to be talked about at some point. They're definitely setting up for an interesting show, especially with just the way things are just gradually being shown to us. like nothing's just kind of coming out right away just like, oh, it's this, this, this, this.

It's like, no, you have to watch and you have to pay attention unlike me and misunderstanding the end. So it seems based off the fact that it's a mini-series, there's no season two in mind. It's like, this is just... Really? This is just 10 episodes and done and done.

I'm thinking that's what's going on here. I mean, it literally says TV miniseries. And like, I don't know how many seasons the original Shogun was, but I think it's based on a book. Yeah, it is based on a book. I don't think they plan to take it any further than that. I mean, right now it's looking incredible.

Like, they definitely spent a lot of money on the sets and the costumes and everything. And a lot of research appears to have gone into making it feel as authentic as possible. So, you know, if it's just one series or one season, then they can just kind of throw everything into it. The original was also a mini-series, and it was just five episodes. Oh, wow. Okay. In 1980. So...

So this has got 10, apparently. I feel like we need to watch that one. Just to get ahead. To get ahead? No, I'm enjoying this one so much, though. But we can get the whole thing in five episodes. You know, it almost feels like Dune to Shogun, you know? Well, yeah, because it's got a lot of those, like, politics going on and, like, feuds and bloodlines.

and all of that. That's what I meant. What did you mean? I was just talking about details. Like, you know, the original was five episodes off of that book. This is 10. So it's going in deeper. Yeah.

So, like, I'll really allow you to get invested in this even more and uncover more. Just to make even more use of that material. It's cool. You know, like, Dune, I'll wrap itself follow up in one movie before. Right. And now it's being spread out into multiple movies. Was the last samurai also inspired by this story? Uh, maybe a little bit.

Yeah, I mean, that's entirely possible. Because I keep thinking of the last samurai every time I, we're watching this. Last samurai inspired by Shogun. The last samurai's overall, was overall fairly close to history. The Meiji Restoration, which occurred roughly from 1868 to 1912, marked the collapse of the Tokugawa Shogunut and the rise of the imperial control under Emperor Meiji. It doesn't say anything about... Okay, well, no, it seems like this happens a lot after this story.

Last samurai was set around the Meiji Restoration, then it definitely didn't happen. I just asked his Shogun, a true story says, Clavel's novel is a totemic work of fiction, but it's also inherently rooted in reality. Black Throne is loosely based on a man named William Adams, the first Englishman to reach Japan. Adams would go on to play a considerable role in the country's international politics and become a samurai himself. Wow. That's interesting. But you can already see the direction that it's going.

Like, you can see that he has, first of all, the aptitude for the language and he's learning fast. And I think that watching Tokugawa take out the assassin so well, he's going to be like, oh, my gosh, that was dope. I want to learn how to do that. And I feel like the priest in the prison was kind of foreshadowing, like, in a way, because it seemed like Blackthorn was just so adamant that he was not. going to get into, like, stuff. Or was it the priest or was it in the other episode? No, it was, I think it was the priest. Never mind, fuck that.

You guys, thanks so much for hanging out. Hopefully you enjoyed that. I'm Jabby Kauai. This is. Achara Cook. Peace out.