Once loyalty begins, it does not have an end. Otherwise, it would not be loyalty.

Completing my trip up Empire's top 20 TV shows of 2024

#1 :  Shōgun

While the elevator pitch for this adaptation of James Clavell’s 1975 novel might have been ‘Game Of Thrones in 17th century Japan’, the reality of this transportational 10-part series is nowhere near as cynical. A sonnet to Japan’s rich culture and deep beauty (despite being filmed entirely on location in Canada), Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks’ sweeping epic perfectly captures the clash of two vastly different worlds as English sailor John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis) is shipwrecked in Edo period Osaka and taken into the service of warlord Torunaga (a magnificent Hiroyuki Sanada). It may be a historical epic, but set against customs and culture so alien to modern eyes (<spoiler>) that it almost feels like a fantasy.

This got excellent write-ups and did very well at the Emmys (winning EIGHTEEN awards) but I don't think I'd have bothered watching it unless forced to do so and it's not related to a fear of subtitles - I think I just thought it would be impenetrable and would feel too much like a history lesson. Hopefully, I'll be proved hilariously wide of the mark.

Oh yes - hilariously wide of the mark because this is proper good. Empire does a good job in summing it up above - "transportational" is a good way of putting it because you really feel you're in a very alien place indeed but it's well written in that you understand what's happening, even if you personally can't relate to why. It's impressively savage (with some quite shocking deaths) and full of intrigue - it certainly has overtones of Game Of Thrones on both those fronts. Additional interest comes from the fact that it's at least based on a true story which is that of William Adams, who landed in Japan in 1600, becoming the first Englishman to do so - I'm not sure Game Of Thrones can make a similar claim.

It would have been easy for them to attempt to focus on John Blackthorne but for large portions of this he is merely a bit player in other people's machinations and Cosmo Jarvis (who has been in quite a few things, but nothing i've seen) does a good job as him, the stranger abroad - you feel you're there with him in having absolutely no clue what's going on. And Hitoyuki Samada as Lord Yoshii Torunaga (who has appeared in many things, often as a mysterious Asian fellow) and Anna Sawai as Toda Mariko (who we previously saw in Pachinko, but of course I didn't recognise her) both do an excellent job of presenting exactly as much information as they think we deserve (which is often very little). Everyone else does a great job - and there are lots of them (and I did got confused as to who was who quite often).

It's also very well filmed, looking absolutely beautiful - it feels very authentic (although I have absolutely no idea if it is). Everyone also has very fine costumes (staggeringly impractical ones as well, one might suggest) but the hairstyles and hats have to get a special mention for their sheer variety.

One minor niggle for me is that it's weird that all the Japanese speak Japanese, but the Portuguese speak English - I guess if they were to be linguistically accurate it would be 99.9% subtitles, which would probably be too much for most people. But in all other aspects, this show very much treats its audience as grown-ups and trusts they'll pay attention and work out what's going on. And boy does it reward that investment - I thought this was great and am happy Empire picked it as their #1 so it's a strong recommendation from me.

#2 - Yeah, I liked this