The Eightfold Fence

Everything is so well done in this episode. The characters interactions are amazing. One hour to make you forget completely that you are a spectator and those are actors surrounded by cameras. I think that the real cinematography shifted from the big screen to the tv adaptations and series today. More and more often I find the need to rewatch and discover the amazing cinematography of tv series while not caring much of the most of the movies made lately for the big screen. This episode was one of the best episodes I saw in a tv series. I can compare it with another episode from another show about samurai and Japan, but of a different nature, ep. 5 from Blue Eye Samurai.

I am so happy after watching this episode. I wish now I could have a time machine and watch now all the other episodes.

Another great episode.

Full of dreamy, rainy Japanese scenery in the smaller village, as the Anjin finds himself in an increasingly better living situation and finds a way to make himself much more valuable to Team Toranaga than even he expected.

Great character development and relationship development in this one, as two characters emerge from their background roles to alter the course of the main plot. I enjoyed the shocking (and graphic) twist at the end that is not for the feint of heart!

Can't wait to see where this goes from here, particularly how Toranaga gets himself out of this huge mess.

This episode was my favorite one thus far, with some great development, exploration and deepening of characters. As well as some gorgeous settings and scenes!

This one gave us some great development on Mariko, as she slowly starts to open up, remimding us that you can never know what is going inside peoples heads, who they are and whether you know their goals!

This episode really gave me a feeling that perhaps we dont know everyone as well as we think we do, especially after the brutal last scene, that left me with no clue on what to expect next!

The visuals and settings were beautifull! I almost felt like i was transported to most captivating locations of rural Japan! This show really nails the tone and message and never feels like it is compromising!

Greetings from Lithuania.

4th episode called "The Eightfold Fence" was a slower yet rewarding experience in comparison with 3rd part. This time it's all about teaching tactics and finding yourselves in a new environment. It was a gorgeous looking episode with some good interactions between characters. I liked the dialogs in here, as they fleshed out characters, well, only two of them. And slowly I can already see we're things are going, I guess. The show started to slip into its trajectory, and it doesn't feel unique no more. It's not a bad thing if done right. And if it's done right we will see in next 6 episodes.

Blackthorne, Toranaga and company land in Ajiro, a village in Yabushige's fiefdom. This is where Blackthorne will train the gun regiment. Due to being elevated to hatamoto, Blackthorne now has his own house, servants...and consort, an unwilling one. He sets to work training the gun regiment.

An episode that makes everything that came before seem like mere background setup as here the plot develops in a big way. Episode 1 was most setup but Episodes 2 and 3 developed the plot and characters quite well. It did still feel like things were being put into place rather than moving forward.

Here, things move forward, and how. The best episode so far, covering all manner of action and drama. The personal relationships, especially that between Blackthorne and Mariko, are developing nicely and a semi-new character is introduced that has a major impact on Blackthorne's character arc.

The political machinations are every present and here they offer up a quandary for Yabushige and lead to a major development in the story.

Incredibly engaging and exciting. Can't wait to see what Episode 5 delivers.