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I’m sure there will be a tendency to compare Shōgun to Game of Thrones with ninjas in the place of dragons. My more frequent parallel was to House of Cards; most of the action — occasional beheadings in lieu of subway pushing — takes the form of talk. I think this adaptation plays for 21st century American audiences a bit the way House of Cards would play for a 17th century Japanese audience, once that audience got over its confusion about the streaming TV business model and irritation at having to root for a character played by Kevin Spacey.
Even if you don’t understand what a given character is doing, you understand the stakes. The fun in Shōgun — and it’s more rich, respectful and interestingly twisty than “fun” — comes from trying to keep up with the individual power plays and figuring out how they fit within this feudal context; understanding the hierarchies and potential for upward mobility, fathoming the freedom of self-determination compared to the gravitational pull of fate.
