Shōgun (2024) | E09 — Dir. Frederick E.O. Toye

Shōgun - 1x09 - Crimson Sky

Blackthorne's 'consider living for meee 🥺' gambit is sooo good because the obvious rejoinder (consider how little your feelings matter in the face of all Mariko has endured) is one he is already WELL aware of. It's so obvious that the only reason he's trying this fucking where's-my-hug style gambit is because there's literally no other option available to him--beyond, that is, accepting her plan.

And in the end what's a truer expression of love than that moment, holding the blade above her, waiting?

He doesn't understand the choice she's making--in fact, he hates it. After all, his whole life in this country has been in essence a second life. He was rebirthed starving and scurvetic and fucking stinking, covered in guts as he emerged from the pit! Life takes you to the edge and back again but so long as you are at its table there are always dice to be rolled. Death is, therefore, defeat, and off the table entirely. It is never a choice.

Blackthorne feels that as he experiences the world, so he defines it. If he ceases, the world ends also. It's not a selfish feeling: it comes very naturally to very many of us. What's the point in thinking about the world without us in it? We can no longer influence it, nor reap its rewards. He will probably always feel this, and for him it's true.

For Mariko, though, death is the reason she was kept alive. Her life has meaning to her, of course. Yet that subjective meaning--her experiential life--is subordinate to and distinct from her life's purpose. She has always stood where she was supposed to stand, left the room when it was time, known what to say--and she knows, as clearly as the trees know when to drop their blossom, that her death is always an option. Death confers a meaning onto her life that extends beyond her subjective experience and into the world. If she ceases to be, the world will react to it--and from her death, if she uses it correctly, a thousand ripples will emanate. She has gone through her whole life feeling this, and for her it's true.

Blackthorne talks in this episode about the simple words he has picked up in his time here. These pale in comparison to what he has learned about translation, which is: some things can never be communicated in a way you will understand. That does not mean they are untrue. It does not even mean your own, opposite truth is rendered false!

Sometimes all you can do when you love someone is make their incomprehensible choice easier for them to bear.

Blackthorne x Mariko

SHŌGUN (2024)

Weekly shogun shitposting

"She (Kiku) had not been prepared for what soon became obvious: clearly the Anjin-san desired the Lady Toda, though he hid it well as any civilized person could hide it. This in itself was not surprising, for the Lady Toda was most beautiful and accomplished and, most important, she alone could talk with him. What astounded her was that she was certain the Lady Toda desired him equally, if not more." - Shōgun by James Clavell

"Mariko-san?" At once fingers reached up in the darkness and touched his lips, cautioning silence. He nodded, understanding the awful risk they were taking. - Shōgun by James Clavell

Shōgun (2024) | Episode 4 | The Eightfold Fence

SHOGUN: 1.07: A Stick of Time

each week i tune into shogun in order to see toranaga do the political equivalent of sticking out his leg and making eye contact with yabushige while yabushige trips over him

the bene gesserits are a result of the white woman's inate need to girlboss and try to get everyone she knows to join her mlm, starting a galactic jihad

Mothra's crush

BRIDGERTON (2020 - ) | s02 ep08 'THE VISCOUNT WHO LOVE ME' / s03 SNEAK PEEK (insp.)

the day twitter died for me was the day they killed the silly cute bot accounts.

there was an account that would every morning post a video of an elite from halo saying greetings.

every morning i would make a cup of tea in my custom printed mug that said "dont talk to me until ive had my [picture of an elite] greetings" and scroll twitter. and after 10-15 minutes, i would come across the bot's morning greetings post, and i knew it was time for me to get up and start my day.

you've ruined everything, elon. you stole my greetings. those mornings were so nice.

Shōgun (2024) | E06 — Dir. Hiromi Kamata

"We all have things we must war against. Yet most of us do it with honor." "Forgive me... but most of you are men."

Shōgun (2024) | Episode 6 | Ladies of the Willow World

so anyone else totally normal about shogun?? and john and mariko? cool yeah me too