Spoilers

“The Abyss of Life”

Whoa.

The scene near the end of this episode was unbelievably powerful and tense. The confrontation between Toranaga and Hiromatsu, which led to Hiromatsu committing seppuku. Man, what a moment among a pretty solid episode filled with moments.

It seemed as if Toranaga has more planned than what it appeared. He claimed that Osaka must believe he has given everything up. The loss of his son last episode and Hiromatsu’s death in this one has given Toranaga, who appeared very sick and frail from the trip, time.

John faced a member of his crew finally after months and it did not go well either. John had attempted to sway Yabushige to forming an alliance. Yabushige rejects the offer in name of loyalty to Toranaga. However, the death of Hiromatsu changed his opinion, saying that he did not want to die for the crazy old man.

There was a powerful scene over some tea between Mariko and her husband Buntaro. Buntaro wished to have them both commit suicide as a protest to Toranaga’s decision, but Mariko came out and specifically said that she did not want to follow him into death and that she would rather live a thousand years because of the way he had treated her.

Two more episodes remaining in this series and who knows where it is heading. This one left that knot in my stomach as I watched the pain involved in the machinations of Taranaga.