Majestic. .... I never wanted to leave this world. Please, FX, never stop aiming this high. [11 - 31 Mar 2024, p.4]

Shōgun is television at its best, using its budget to create a gorgeous, immersive world but never letting spectacle detract from its emphasis on complex character arcs. The performances are compelling, aided by writing that flows from crude humor to poetic drama in a way that brings depth to protagonists and even minor characters. The series seamlessly blends intrigue, humor, romance and action in a beautifully executed limited series that keeps delivering surprises until its perfect ending.

The long-gestating production — first announced in 2018 — was worth the wait. Gorgeous and immersive from the very first frame, the new Shōgun is a stunning epic that never lets big-budget set pieces overshadow the human drama at its core.

The love story is perhaps the least convincing aspect of this iteration of “Shōgun,” but the rest of it feels impressive in its scope, attention to detail and storytelling that sucks viewers in by the end of episode two and holds their attention from then on.

If you come here expecting the Battle of Sekigahara, you’ll be disappointed. But subtlety and cleverness can be exciting too.

Shōgun makes for gripping television. Look past the knotty bureaucracy and you’ll find striking performances and stunning visuals.

His [Blackthorne's] journey toward “enlightenment” and his unconvincing affair with Mariko are thinly sketched—and, because “Shōgun” is at pains to foreground the regents’ war, he has more to offer the narrative as a source of discord and of new martial technology than as a romantic hero. In theory, elevating Mariko and Toranaga to primary characters is the “correct” update, helping to avoid another “whitewashed” tale about Japan. But both are so bound by repression and secrecy that they’re almost doomed to be dramatically inert.