Funny / Shōgun (2024)

"Anjin"

• In a bit of Black Comedy, John decides to, in a moment of bravado as a response to his treatment, tell Omi that he pisses on his whole country, grabbing his groin to make sure the man gets the message. Omi wearily signals his men to stomp on him, then unceremouniously undoes his belt and pisses on his head as he's held down.
• John's many interactions with the Japanese samurai (especially with Yabushige) tends to boil down to him talking trash to them, then being beaten up while they talk trash to him in turn. Not even getting an interpreter helps him, especially as he tends to get Catholic Portuguese and Spaniards who have it in for him on principle (at least until Father Alvito and Mariko).
• The sequence leading to Yabushige almost drowning was him essentially being baited by Blackthorne into a Game of Chicken (since they don't want to let him rescue the near-drowned Rodrigues). His entire sequence of trying to prove his manliness is Instantly Proven Wrong, and would be borderline Looney Tunes-funny if there wasn't a real risk of him dying (or as it turns out, being compelled to commit suicide).
• Rodrigues joyfully tells John that only one of the surviving crewmen from the Erasmus was killed.
• Nestor Carbonell's Rodrigues is a scene-stealing dispenser of snark, and is such a wild character that even if he does like Blackthorne and appreciates him saving his life, he would still go ahead with snitching on Blackthorne to his Catholic employers.

Rodrigues: Bow to the Bastard-sama if you wanna live, the man is like a king here. And tell him "goyosha wo".

Blackthorne: Goyosha wo. [Pardon me.]

Rodrigues: Goyosha kodasare, goyosha kodasare to all the shit-eating samas huh?

"Servants of Two Masters"

• The scene it's in somber (as it is the Taiko's death throes), but we get the Establishing Character Moment for another one of Toranaga's nemeses, Lady Ochiba (the mother of the heir), whose intimidating beauty is as withering as her disrespect for everyone else.
  Priest: (in Japanese, to Regent Kiyama) If he doesn't receive the Sacrament, he'll be lost to God's Kingdom.
  Ochiba: (in Japanese) Or maybe God's Kingdom is up your own ass... Have you thought of that?
• The entourage leaves with the dying Taiko and Toranaga left behind to talk. The Taiko refers to how Ochiba could have been married to Toranaga instead, and Toranaga, very politely, emphasizes how much of a bullet he's dodged.
  Taiko: (in Japanese) To think there was a time when Ochiba could have been married to you.
  Toranaga: (in Japanese, just after trading Death Glares with Ochiba) I never cared for beautiful women.
  Taiko: (in Japanese) And I cared too much.
• The scene with Toranaga, his consort Lady Kiri and the Todas (old Hiromatsu and Mariko) is a demonstration of samurai domesticity, with Toranaga playfully flirting with Kiri (who's pretty plump and Hollywood Homely—a Brick Joke regarding his comment on beautiful women) and gently chiding Hiromatsu for being outsmarted by Mariko (in reading his Gambit Pileup).
  Toranaga: (in Japanese) After all these years, she still picks on me.
  Kiri: (in Japanese) And you were as unmanageable then as you are now.
  Toranaga: (in Japanese) Just like the size of your rump.
  ...
  Toranaga: (in Japanese, to Hiromatsu) You could use some of your daughter-in-law's intuition.
• After Yabushige rescues Blackthorne and tries to play it off as "I was just passing through" Toranaga tells him in as polite a way as he can that he knows he's full of shit. And you can tell by Yabushige's face he knows Toranaga is on to him.
• After John's allowed to settle into Lord Toranaga's castle, he's told by Mariko that he needed to take a bath. He politely declined, but he later smelled his arm to see if he stinks.
• While the entire assassination attempt sequence is Nightmare Fuel, there's almost a comical anti-climax as to how the female assassin was disabled by a casual sword slash by Toranaga to her throat, plus the calm but clearly disdainful way he tips her over to the garden to bleed out.

"Tomorrow Is Tomorrow"

• Mariko fumbling her words a bit when John calls the doctor tending to his wound from last episode a "Warlock", and just barely speaking over the "r" when she repeats it, briefly slipping into her native Japanese. There's also John delving into Buffy Speak when describing what the doctor's doing.
  Blackthrone: This warlock here, he aims to... bleed me to (waving his arms)... release the foulness from my blood.
• While John is flinching from the "Warlock's" treatment, Mariko asks if he would like "pillow with a woman" (Per the annoyed Warlocks' suggestion). Upon hearing this translated;
  Blackthrone: If he's not a warlock then he's most certainly a pimp.
  • John's even more taken aback when Mariko asks, in a completely neutral manner, if he'd prefer a man instead.
    Blackthrone: Dear God, where am I...?
• Realizing that Toranaga is about to be found disguised in the litter, Blackthorne creates a distraction by yelling at the gate guard for intruding on the privacy and purity of a woman's quarters, even grabbing onto the guard's legs when beaten down to the ground.
  Blackthrone: Peering into ladies' private quarters!? It's not proper!
  Guard: What is the barbarian saying!?
  Blackthrone: Worse than that - It's VULGAR! Unholy perversion!
  • Among his insults is telling the gate guard that he's a silly little man whose hair looks like a pony's tail. For some reason, the pony's tail comment is the only part he worries could be offensive and apologizes to Mariko about it.
  • While everyone bemoans having to guard someone like Blackthorne, what caps it off is Blackthorne later telling Mariko that he couldn't give a shit about the purity of a woman, and that he considers most of his countrymen to have the same attitude seeing as there are whores everywhere in London.
• Speaking of Blackthorne and Mariko, our protagonist is somewhat bewildered at how casual (albeit very formal and poetic) Mariko speaks of his perceived need for "release" (especially as the doctor previously treating his wound openly told Blackthorne that "You Need to Get Laid"). This is further made awkward when Blackthorne and Mariko try to talk about their children, as well as Buntaro (her husband) just being a plain dick to her and their son. (At least, until the fallout of their escape forces Buntaro into a You Shall Not Pass! Heroic Sacrifice.)
  • As a point regarding Blackthorne's children: he allegedly named them "Tudor" and "Elizabeth". The man's many things, but you can't accuse him of not being enough of a patriotic English.
• Blackthorne and Rodrigues continue to throw snarks at each other when they leave Osaka.
  • Blackthorne even calls Rodrigues "black-eyed" referring to his brown eyes but it's funny remembering how Nestor Carbonell's thick eyelashes were commented on back when he was playing Richard "Guyliner" Alpert.
  • Rodrigues' insults Blackthorne by asking "how's your mother", then immediately groans in discomfort when Blackthorne tells him she's dead.

"The Eightfold Fence"

• Blackthorne adopts Rodrigues' habit of hiding behind the language barrier to insult Omi when meeting him again.
  Blackthorne: Goyosha wo... and fuck yourself, you sniveling little shit-rag.
  Omi: Nods approvingly
• The whole sequence of Omi trying to confiscate Blackthorne's pistols involves no shortage of ridiculousness, such as:
  • Omi clearly losing his patience and dignity throughout the scene;
  • Blackthorne belligerently pointing his guns at Omi and his men, with his improving (but still heavily-accented) Japanese;
  • Mariko trying her best to be the voice of reason amongst the men; and
  • The crowner of this whole thing, Lady Fuji—soft-spoken, fragile-looking, always-crying Lady Fuji—being the one to defuse it by a) asking for Blackthorne's guns as his consort; and then b) aiming them at Omi herself. It comes outta nowhere, but is both a Moment of Awesome and a reminder that she is still, after all, a samurai princess.
• Blackthorne was told by Mariko that he's not obligated to eat some of the food he's given—that being natto (a notable Love It or Hate It delicacy even for Japanese). He eats it anyway and he says it tastes like cheese.
• Blackthorne decided to bathe in a pool after he was told on occasions that he smelled bad. Mariko then catches him flat-out nude, and the subsequent conversation of how Blackthorne would host Mariko if she ever manages to reach Britain is essentially her asking him what he'll do for her during a date. The next scene just piles on this emerging romantic/sexual tension.
• The entire sequence of Blackthorne being seduced in the dark by a woman (all but stated to be Mariko herself) gains greater hilarity the next day. Blackthorne's way too chipper and licking his lips while looking at Mariko, while Mariko nonchalantly (but with a very sly smile) states that he must have liked "the courtesan" who visited him.
  • A number of viewers noticed that Mariko seems to have timed seducing Blackthorne after he's freshly bathed—especially since he's been The Pigpen for the most part. One wonders if Blackthorne bathing and their recent conversation was what put Mariko in the mood, or she's been harboring desires of Blackthorne before and was just put off by his hygiene prior.
  • There's a bit of Black Comedy in remembering that we're only one episode away from her (recently-deceased) husband Buntaro's death by Heroic Sacrifice, and Mariko's jumped another man already. Between being looked down on by his father Hiromatsu, the larger political role Mariko plays in Toranaga's schemes, and his being mostly portrayed as a subpar husband and father, Buntaro's slowly shaping into the (posthumous) Butt-Monkey of the story (not unlike Hirotaro of The Last Samurai).
  • We should also remember that all of this is happening in front of Fuji, who very clearly has zero idea what's going on (and who, considering she's supposed to be Blackthorne's legal wife now, would have to say something about the matter).
• If one is willing to indulge the Black Comedy, there's something hilariously petty about Nagakado's massacre of Jozen's retinue with the cannons—especially as Jozen's dialogue towards him has been nothing but dismissive, trash-talking and patronizing. Considering how immature Nagakado is, one can't help but think he sincerely believes the Disproportionate Retribution was fully justified.
  • What most certainly does count as Black Comedy throughout that scene is Yabushige's complete lack of dignity as Nagakado's recklessness takes hold. Throughout the previous episodes, he constantly tried to position himself as a clever schemer and double-dealer trying to play both sides to come out the winner, yet the moment an impulsive kid blows his own plans up in his face, he's immediately reduced into a groveling Freak Out. It's clearly something both Toranaga and Ishido realized a long time ago: He thinks he's a player, when he really ain't shit.

"Broken to the Fist"

• The bulk of this episode is much grim and emotionally heart-wrenching (as shown in this episode's entries in the series Tear Jerker and Nightmare Fuel pages). However, certain elements still feed the Black Comedy:
  • Toranaga scolding his son Nagakado for his stunt last episode is punctuated by his horse whinnying and being antsy, which irritates him as it's in the middle of him delivering a Hard Truth Aesop to the boy.
    Toranaga: Maybe it was his eager nephew who tricked you into being so stupid.
    Nagakado: Father...
    Toranaga: You will address me as Lord! Stop behaving like a child! (horse acts up) Bloody animals... Horses are worse than men for treachery.
  • The funny is piled upon with the fact that Toranaga isn't angry at his son for doing it at all, and more doing it at another person's bidding (i.e. Omi, who gets granted command over Nagakado and Yabushige). Yabushige's subsequent acting up/tantrum over the spy and shouting at Omi is really less about a security leak and more the fact that he is being Out-Gambitted by his own nephew.
  • When Buntaro tries to mock his niece Fuji's marriage to a "barbarian", she sideswiped him by a) pointing out she is in fact married to Toranaga's hatamoto (technically outranking even Buntaro), and b) she doesn't need to worry about "pillowing" him since he's interested in other women (all but slyly alluding to Mariko's affair with him). One would be amused by her Refuge in Audacity against her clearly-mentally disturbed uncle if he didn't lash out at dinner later.
  • John's preparation of rabbit stew (which, being savory, makes perfect sense to look drenched and oily) just manages to look like Foreign Queasine to his Japanese guests, that Mariko can only lamely point to how "they're picky eaters". These from the people who also eat natto.
  • Fuji's family swords (which Blackthorne now carry) are revealed to be It's All Junk: they're not symbols of her father's valor in battle—her father died a coward and grandfather Hiromatsu bought them cheaply to placate Fuji's feelings. While that's another melange of Tear Jerker, the fact that these swords ended up being offered to Toranaga (giving them greater value than they would have otherwise) almost feels like a poetic joke.
    • Toranaga's incredulous chuckle after being offered these swords (mind, after he freshly lost his own during the earthquake) all but suggests he knows exactly what these swords have been. His reaction after being offered these by Blackthorne somewhat screams "how do I keep getting saved by this barbarian" and "this man's really cottoning into our ways far too fast." This, we should remember, after he initially dismissed Blackthorne's Culture Clash-induced Heroic BSoD as nonsense and beneath him.

"A Stick of Time"

• Within a largely-grim episode, the one single moment of Black Comedy we get is Toranaga and Hiromatsu discussing how the story of the former's victory against Mizoguchi has an Awful Truth behind it.
  Hiromatsu: It's absurd.
  Toranaga: A single stroke? You were there.
  Hiromatsu: It was nine times before that head came off. What a fսcking mess you made.
  Toranaga: Who picks a child to be his second?

"The Abyss of Life"

• In an otherwise grim episode, there's the moment when Father Alvito discovers that while Toranaga kept his promise to allow the Portugues to build a church in Edo, the former regent did not inform him that he had given the adjoining plot of land to Gin so she can fulfill her dream of building a courtesan guild. The look on the priest's face when told of his new neighbors' occupation is priceless.

"A Dream of a Dream"

• In the otherwise very bittersweet scene of Toranaga reciting Mariko's poem, Lady Kiri once again proves her status as the only person who gets to snark at her husband:
  Kiri: Those words are too beautiful to belong to you.
• With Mariko dead, Muraji steps up to play translator for Blackthorne when he interacts with the Japanese. It quickly becomes apparent that while he can speak and translate Portuguese very well, he lacks the same level of tact that Mariko had, and ends up stumbling over how to translate Blackthorne's many Flowery Insults properly.