Shōgun (Anjin)

What separates “Shōgun” from countless other shows that have tried to be “the next Game of Thrones”, as of the opening seventy minutes, is how it conveys the importance of its power struggles with a tangible degree of immediacy. You’re not expected to trust that events from this episode will reverberate in some meaningful manner in a few weeks; these power struggles matter in the present, and their stakes are directly conveyed. There’s something to be said for watching a chessboard come to life, but it’s nice to see event television respect the time of its mature audience for once.

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