Have you seen..?

Two TV series I've enjoyed recently

Dear word explorers,

How is the late Spring / early summer treating you so far? The urgent thrust of leaf and bud is evident everywhere you look. No wonder the May full moon is usually referred to as the Blossom Moon.

Daylight hours are also stretching, throwing off my sense of time and eroding my sleep. Sure, you can hang black-out curtains or wear an eye mask, but if you leave your window open a crack then the dawn chorus will wake you from about 5 am. At the height of summer I’ve heard the birds commence their solar hymns by 3 am. I doubt the sun will hear their praises from his golden barque, but they repeat their devotions without need for celestial notice.

Although, if you are strolling slowly home through streets whiskered with grey daybreak, happily weary from a night of frolics, that welcoming song may grant you an energy boost for the final push to bed.

‘Dawn’ by Edmund Hodgson Smart, 1907.

If any of you are looking for a new TV series to watch, then I suggest you add Shōgun¹ (2024) to your roster — it’s available on Hulu/Disney+. Created by Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks, it’s the recent adaptation of the blockbuster book (and weighty tome) written by James Clavell in 1975, which was first translated to the screen back in 1980. The original show, starring Richard Chamberlain, Toshiro Mifune, and Yoko Shimada, is worth mentioning since it appeared during the first gold rush of American mini-series, such as Rich Man, Poor Man (1976), Roots (1977), Salem’s Lot (1979), Thorn Birds (1983), V (1983) and North and South (1985). British audiences were long used to this prestige format, and during that era they enjoyed outstanding series such as I, Claudius (1976), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979) and Brideshead Revisted (1981).

This version is first-rate historical fiction, where the characters and events are heavily based upon the political upheaval that ended with the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate in 1603. The story revolves around the arrival of a Dutch trading vessel to Japan in 1600, piloted by the English Protestant navigator, John Blackthorn (Cosmo Jarvis). Due to the critical time period, the European struggle along religious lines is an important element in the story. Up to this point the Catholic Portuguese had a monopoly upon Japanese trade, which was highly lucrative and allowed them to control the narrative about Europe to the isolationist Japanese. The Dutch/British and the Spanish/Portuguese arrogantly thought they could divvy up the world thanks to their advances in technology and warfare. They had not reckoned with the complexity of Imperial Japan.

Blackthorn’s arrival threatens Jesuit schemes of Catholic conversion, but also offers an opportunity to Lord Yoshii Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada), a powerful daimyō and ruler of the region where Blackthorn’s ship docks. Blackthorn is immediately confronted with a highly stratified and civilised country, which operates upon different norms. He stumbles into tense manoeuvrings between five regents over the control of the child heir of the recently deceased Taikō. Toranaga is one of the regents who is close to being ousted by his enemy, Lord Ishido Kazunari (Takehiro Hira).

Blackthorn proves to be a useful pawn in the ensuing machinations, and eventually he gains an inkling of the layers of intrigue in which he is enmeshed. He is aided in his understanding by the high-born, Catholic convert, Toda Mariko (Anna Sawai) who serves as his interlocutor of language and customs, and after a time, romance sparks between them.

Over the eight episodes there are fantastic fights and Machiavellian ploys aplenty, along with sumptuous costumes, poetry, and theatre. Having watched some behind-the-scenes videos, it’s clear that there was a rigorous attention to period detail, down to the fact that the Japanese being spoken is congruent with the era. The lead actor Hiroyuki Sanada was also one of the co-producers of the show, and was determined to replicate the time period faithfully.

The series is driven by intrigue and trying to figure out who is playing whom. It is stuffed with remarkable characters played by talented actors aided by fantastic dialogue (and silence). There’s a particularly memorable final scene in the series, which was a satisfying ending to what has been my favourite TV series of 2024 so far. As much as I enjoy series like this, it’s a reminder that while the 1600s might have been a fascinating era, it was a awful one for women and ‘peasants’.

But good news, the series has been so successful with audiences and critics that they are planning another two seasons.

For a completely different pace, try out Sugar (2024) on Apple TV, created by Mark Protosevich, and starring Colin Farrell as John Sugar, a PI working in LA to track down Olivia Siegel (Sydney Chandler) the missing granddaughter of ageing film director, Jonathan Siegel (James Cromwell).

Who doesn’t like a classic detective series, especially one with a sharp-dressed Farrell, who plays ‘one of the good guys’? But it’s LA, so there are dirty deals, corrupt and damaged people, and that neediness for fame and fortune that warps people’s morals. It’s got iconic palm trees against crystal blue skies, long, snaking highways, and one seriously gorgeous car (and dog).

Much to my liking, there’s a weird element that gets clearer as the show progresses. Who is Sugar’s handler, Ruby (Kirby) and what is the nature of the erudite, multinational group of people she organises? Why do they write obsessive notes, and what’s in the injection Sugar takes when stressed?

There are odd turns and false starts, and of course, betrayal. This would not be noir without it. The directors decided on a conceit to intersperse scenes with snippets of classic black and white gumshoe movies, and while I understand their reasoning I’m unconvinced it works much of the time.

The shows hangs upon an exceptional performance by Farrell, who plays an alienated man, haunted by the past and his mission to find innocents taken by evil people. He’s very good at what he does, but delving into dark places leaves an imprint. Farrell is both fragile and vulnerable until suddenly violent.

He’s the perfect flawed detective, and I’d be happy to watch more investigations by him.

Until next week, I’ll leave you with a zinger from the 1950 thriller, Shakedown (courtesy of screenwriters Martin Goldsmith & Alfred Lewis Levitt).

“Decency and integrity are fancy words, but they never kept anybody well fed. And I’ve got quite an appetite.”

1. The term Shōgun (将軍,  'army commander') is the abbreviation of the Japanese title sei-i taishōgun, which has the literal translation of 'Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Force Against the Barbarians'.