A very interesting episode with a bit of gore, lot of mind games but not everything was intentional, on episode 7 Toronaga's son Nagakado died after he slipped and crack his back head while trying to kill his uncle Saeki, after Nagakado failed attempt Saeki gather his men and took control of the situation going back to the original dilemma, Toronaga having to surrender but after his son died there was a variable and it was time, this gave Toronaga 49 days, the customary time to bury his son and go through all the traditional ceremony, enough time for Toronaga to think how could he save his clan, if you have been watching the series you know he can't die yet so something or some one was going to act in favor of him.
Toronaga and what is left of his men go back to Edo to bury his son and gather things up before going to Osaka and meet Ishido to surrender but what was strange to me that all of the sudden Toronaga is ill badly, coughing all the way and looking pale. Everyone next to him does not want to surrender, they want to fight even when they are out number but Toronaga is Lord, they must obey his command, honor is above everything at least until this point in time.
I really though we would see more of a romantic scenario between Mariko and John at this point, if they really slept together but she have kept her boundaries in and out of home this shows how much different Japanese culture is than others, it is script to every single dot. The other couple on the horizon is Ishido and Lady Ochiba, he has really been falling for her and it seems for ever even when Taiko was alive, the reason I would think this is because he has done what ever she wanted, this entire plan to destroy Toronaga is her doing although he is no stranger of power hungry, Ishido now feels his plan will finally be accomplished so the final nail on the coffin would be marry Lady Ochiba who is the mother of the heir, this will provide Ishido enough power to act and do what ever he wants and he would probably be turn into the temporary ruler of Japan but I'm not sure if she is not measuring this correct because that means he could also kill the heir.
Before they cremate Nagakado, all Toronaga's Vassal join at night to drink sake, talk and remember what a good guy Nagakado was, he was still a boy eager to show up he could be more, learning from his mistakes who was not willing to let his father die just because someone was trying to bully him over power but to be honest what a stupid and unfortunate way of dying, the guy slipped the last second when he had Saeki in the ground about to cut his head off, falls on his back and crack the back of his head against a rock dying almost immediately. That night and day after during the funeral ceremony, most of Toronaga's vassal didn't want to die nor surrender, they wanted to at least die fighting but this meant going against their lord will.
This is the scene that got me thinking something was fake, most likely Toronaga was fake, Father Martin decides to visit Toronaga before he goes to Osaka to advice him to form and alliance with Lady Ochiba and take off power from Ishido, I really think he doesn't understand the situation very well since she is the one pushing Ishido to finish Toronaga, Ishido is enemy with Toronaga for power but she purely hates him. Martin came to bargain with Toronaga for land, he wanted to build a church in Edo, towards he end Toronaga agree but not before one last request "That he return to Osaka and tell what he sees there" Toronaga basically wanted Martin to be his messenger and tell others how sick he is and that for real this time he will surrender, I don't know Rick, looks fake to me.
After Toronaga sends back Martin to Osaka, Hiromatsu kinda read his intentions and told every other vassal that Toronaga is going to fight, there is something going on, this includes his grandson Buntaro who is a great warrior loyal warrior who does fear death. He has been trying to work things out with Mariko after he beat her up one night a few episodes ago because he was jealous of John and her, Mariko has been playing her role of wife as Toronaga commands her. Buntaro invites her to drink tea with him, same as when John flatter Kiku when she was serving him tea its very similar to Buntaro preparing tea for Mariko its an entire ceremony. After Mariko congratulate him for his performance he had the great idea to ask her to both die that night, told her he doesn't believe what Hiromatsu is saying and that he finally will let her have what she was asking for all this time, die. One thing is that a foreigner like John ask them to act against Toronaga but another is that a "warrior" like him ask Mariko to go against her lord, he really show his hand this time and to make things worst for him Mariko ask her many times to let her die because she never wanted to be with him but dying was the only honorable way because she would not divorce him or leave him, that would not only make her look bad but also go against what her father wanted her to do.
Talk about honor and going against their lord will, John goes to Yabushigue to fight for him and Yabushigue refuses ironically because he wants to serve Toronaga and cant go against his orders, the man that was playing double agent for the most part of the series and that he would let it slide because he is a foreigner. Most at this point not clue if to follow Toronaga to death, they all want to die fighting if necessary, even young Omi feels there is a point of return in loyalty, when it takes you no where or even takes you to die in vane.
As always without intentions to spoil the meat and potatoes of the episode I try mainly to talk about the base and structure of events that let to the results of this episode, Toronaga is taking whats left of his army and warriors to the edge mainly for many reasons, to find out who are the loyal ones, to find out who are willing to fight even when out number and even those who would try to take advantage of his situation to gain power over him like Martin did asking for land when he knows Toronaga is about to die but had no clue he was just another pawn on his entire plan, another great episode and I just hope we get two episodes of battle, there are only two episodes left and this is suppose to be a mini series so one episode of battle in my opinion would not be enough to satisfy most viewers.
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