Cinepals - SHOGUN 1x6 "Ladies of the Willow World" Reaction & Review!

Episode Date: March 26, 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 ~Jaby Koay~ Twitter & Instagram: @JabyKoay

This is an ad by Regain Couples Therapy. Let's be honest. Loving your partner doesn't mean you always like them, and guess what? That's normal. Regain, powered by BetterHelp, offers couples therapy that's flexible, affordable, and 100% online. Whether you're reconnecting or working through conflict, Regain is here to support you both. See why people wish they'd tried couples therapy sooner. Visit regained.com slash couplespod to get 10% off your first month.

That's regained.com slash couplespod. We're about to get into Shogun Season 1, Episode 6. Very excited to come back into this show with you guys. Thanks so much for returning. Here we go. This is a very interesting episode. Not one battle was really seen in this entire episode. Right, but they were battling.

But they were battling. All kinds of battles, as was made clear by Mariko. How she said women are always at war. There's a lot to unpack there. And they didn't even really bother to explain what she meant by that. But I feel like there's so much you can deduce on your own. Yeah, exactly. It can be like just being a woman existing in life is war.

Or in that era, particularly. Yeah, exactly when you don't have control over a lot of things that happen to you. But also, maybe it's just like women are at war just because. Like, there's no reason. We just do. You know, however you want to interpret it, I suppose. All that dialogue of negotiation leading up to the scene with the geishas, I was like, There's no way this is going to be this much emphasis placed on the negotiation for them to just pull the rug and him be like, yeah, I don't want this. And that's that. There had to be some kind of consequence. Either he says no and then there's ramifications for no or he goes through with it. And the ramifications are internal for those characters having to deal with it and suffer through those moments. Right. And it's like it's a great honor. He shouldn't refuse it. It would be a bad look overall. And so obviously he has to go through with it. I think.

he's finally understanding that there are certain things like cultural norms and stuff like that that he just has to kind of accept and go through with you know yeah yeah so I mean out of all the things that you have to do I think you have to suffer for yeah like I think sleeping with a beautiful woman who is highly trained and highly skilled in pleasure is probably like not the worst thing that you could ever do you know it would be uncomfortable for me they're so well trained that they would know exactly what to do to make you feel comfortable. Probably.

You know? Yeah, that's entirely, yeah, that's true. If she spent years learning how to pour sake, how many years did she spend learning all the thousand different ways that you can pleasure a man? We already saw her in episode one and just how insightful she is. Yeah, she's quick. She's quick.

She knew exactly what, like, Yobu Shige, what would turn him on. And in this instance, she knew exactly what was going on between Mariko and... Right. It made me wonder if she was twisting the knife a little bit. If she was at all, like, just being a little bit malicious in that moment, taking advantage of the situation for some reason. I don't know why she would do that. If she knows how they feel about each other, I don't know.

It just seemed like there was a little bit of manipulation in there. I just couldn't quite figure out why. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, she did offer Mariko to come in the room with them, you know? Yeah, but she probably knew... She's playing 4D chess. I'm sure she knew that Mariko was going to say now. Yeah, maybe.

It was really nicely done the way you said, like you noticed that the way she positioned herself, so she was kind of hidden behind Mariko, so that eventually it felt like it was Mariko herself. Speaking to Blackthorn, I thought it was really cool how they showed her, like a flashback to her memories, all of that trauma and stuff.

And it's like, she's vulnerable, you know, and he sees her. He sees, yeah. And that's scary. Right. And so she's like, no, it's too much. I can't handle. Well, I mean, she was forcibly put into a situation where she had to, you know,

make herself vulnerable to him. Yeah. Because she talked about, she talked about her past that she's tried to like kind of bury. Yeah. He not only sees her, he accepts her and he wants her. Exactly. Versus her husband who's just, but like they. He's complicated too, though.

They explained his position as well. You know, he's like, I did what I thought would have made her happy. I thought she would have been great. but instead she's just ice and she just asks for a swift death and I'm like, yo, I get your perspective. It's just, it's so hard to feel empathy though given what you did.

Like, I get it. I get the frustration. Yeah. But what you did was so, so awful. That you beat her up. Yeah, exactly. It's just like, that's gross. Yeah, but I do.

I really love all of the acting that we're seeing in this episode, like with Bon Taro and all of the different emotions that flash across his face or across all of the actors' faces, in fact, and I just love how restrained it all is because it feels really true to the culture where it's like, you see the things

and as audience, we're out here just trying to interpret what they're not saying and just trying to read the expressions on their face. So for him, for Bundaro, I was just kind of like, maybe he does really love her in his own way, but there's also anger there. There's also resentment.

And there's like all sorts of different feelings. I just really appreciate the acting. And also, especially with Lady Ochiba and Mariko as well, like they're both so good at that like really calm face. But with Lady Oceba, I feel so much simmering rage, the anger that's like underlying every single flutter of her eyelids. I'm like, oh, this lady's scary. Yeah, she does a good job of having some kind of layered emotional thing going on that's coming through in each statement she makes. Even when they were just talking to the actor who played her husband,

I'm just like, this is wild. When he said something about, she said something about his height. Yeah. I don't know why. Maybe it's just because I'm used to like American shows like Game of Thrones or something. Like I was ready for her to cut him. I didn't anticipate that he was then going to be asked to be part of the council. Yeah.

That was the last thing I expected. And then it made sense because, like, they're thinking they can just manipulate him. There was the follow-up to that scene, though, with the exchange in the forest where they killed the former council member where they were going to impeach. The way they handled that was fascinating because they didn't show you the violence. They showed you the aftermath and it was sufficient. Yeah. There was that pushing shot on him while he's on the ground and you see his hand. And it's like chopped up to the bone, which says to me, like, that was a slow, slow death.

They tortured him because it could have easily. been just decapitation or something. Yeah, I was wondering about that, though, because I'm like, okay, why did they choose to, what was it, this part of the hand? Like, is there something distinctive about that? Some fingers are missing. That, that they could bring that to whoever. Oh, that's entirely. And just be like, hey, we killed him. Yeah, that's possible. That's possible. Like, I'm just like thinking back to my memory of black rain. It's totally different. But in the, it's a Michael Douglas movie that takes place in Japan. It's about the yakuza. Oh. And as part of like a punishment, I think it's these fingers. It's been a long time since I've watched it, but there is a tradition with

dishonor, you have to chop off your own fingers. At least like two of them or something like that to show that you've atoned for your sin or your offense. He died. Well, yeah, exactly. You atoned with your death. Yeah. Whatever the case is, like, I thought that that was a cool way to present that information because it was just very efficient. Very, very efficient. Like, you just cut to the overhead shot as it's like kind of the camera's moving over all the bodies and you're like, Jesus, this, you can imagine how horrifying that that scene was without actually showing it. Yeah. No, that was really great. I mean, the drama as well is just top tier. It's like every twist and turn in this show, especially the reveal when it's like, oh my gosh, Mariko's friend,

like her best friend when they were little is Lady Ochiba now. And, Mariko's father killed her father Like, oh my gosh, what a crazy reveal You know, it's just wild It does feel a little bit like House of the Dragon To a certain degree I know this predates it I know this pre-dates it

No, no, but apparently this inspired George R.R. Martin Oh, okay, that makes sense. For Game of Thrones Yeah, yeah. Apparently, Lady Ochiba is an inspiration for Searcy Well, Toronaga, he's got me so curious because I never know what he actually knows because he seems so sharp in like three steps ahead of everybody else.

But then he'll say something and I'm like, okay, so he doesn't actually know that part. You know, like, I thought he was going to say something that indicated his knowledge and understanding that Mariko is actually interested in Blackthorn. Yeah. But he made, he didn't say anything about it. I'm like, I can't tell he's holding out or. It's like maybe it's just out of being polite. That's true. You don't talk about that.

Yeah. It is interesting, though, hearing about the divorce. thing because I was like wait that's an option but then I don't even know if Mariko would do that because she's Catholic that is very true I didn't even consider that that is a very real thing yeah that's a true that's a true true no blade can protect you from the true true that's a true she's a Catholic in the 1600s in in today's day and age Catholics are out there having divorces left right and center but it depends well like yeah I mean, I know my fair share, but, well, obviously, the way we treat marriage these days is very different from how it was back then, but...

No, but you're right. Like, that is a real thing, and I didn't consider that that could factor into that conversation. So, but she, the fact of the matter is, it hasn't been brought to her attention that that's an option or a possibility yet. I mean, it could come up in the next episodes, but... But, like, I don't even think she would have the power to... to divorce her husband. Do you know what I mean? It's like your husband could divorce you. Right. All I'm saying is it hasn't been, that information hasn't been put in front of her yet. So we don't know how she would react. Right. That's all I'm saying. Yeah.

But it's an interesting thing to, I mean, they mentioned it. So who knows if it stops there or it'll come back. Anyways, you guys, thanks so much for hanging with us. Hopefully you enjoyed that. I'm Jabby Kouye. This is Achara Cook. Peace out.