Shogun dares his greatest trick in the finale

Spoilers for the finale of Shogun. Don't read this until you've finished the series.

It's unbelievable what happened in episode 10 of this exceptional series. And not as you might think when you read these lines, which sound like the spectacle of bombastic expectations. No, the last episode of Shogun we'll ever see was completely different than many expected.

And while this kind of ending felt pretty anti-climactic at first – and especially after the insanely intense last two episodes – I've come to love the way this great series ended. Who would have expected that?

Well, readers of the book, for one thing. It certainly says a lot about our viewing habits that we somehow expect a heated battle in the Game of Thrones format, which seems to be de rigueur today. Instead, we realize, mostly through conversations, that the actual war has already been won even before Toranaga and the troops that Ishido thought were on his side meet in Sekigahara.

A finale without a big bang

The big bang doesn't happen because we already heard it at the end of the last episode. The actual “battle” was called “Crimson Sky” and took place in Episode 9. It culminated in Lady Mariko's calculated rebellion against the quasi-hostage detention in Osaka, which she also exposed. For years, too many “guests” had come to terms with this without anyone saying so or putting up with a test. Ultimately, Ishido's power was disgraced and the ties that bound him and his allies together into a community of convenience were severed.

Okay, there's a bit of a bang when, three quarters of the way through the episode, we realize that the events of the penultimate episode had already caused the alliance of Toranaga's opponents to collapse – and that we, who had expected a battle spectacle, also fell victim to Toranaga's brilliant maneuvers are. That was the real stroke of genius of a finale that was more of a coda to the actual completed story. The old fox had shown it not only to his enemies, but also to us.

I'm pretty sure not everyone will like this ending and especially with the scenes of a not very well-made-up John Blackthorne on his deathbed after returning home to England, you risked a good bit of immersion. But here too, it was remarkable how the writers of the series anticipated the fate of the perspective character right from the beginning of the episode, which I also found quite brave. Another point of criticism would be that one would have liked to see more clearly how Toranaga's opponents get what they deserve, but the team around Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo doesn't give in to this base instinct either. Somehow you want to congratulate them for this courage.

What do I do now on Tuesdays at 9:00 a.m.?

Overall, for me, Shogun is one of the strongest series in recent years. Only a few productions have comparable trust in the dialogue book and actors. There wasn't a word too many here, every microscopic facial expression had an addressee and a purpose, and the camera was always alert enough to bring us close to the characters. So that we read as much in the faces as in the subtitles that were supposed to translate the Japanese for us. What little action there was was maximally effective and the way that old Japan was staged from a Western perspective to be both absurd and strange and yet admirable and highly developed right up to the end is a feat that I'm still not sure how it was possible to achieve.

A very remarkable series that I already miss. My Tuesdays will never be the same.