A general worth their salt proves their tactical acumen from the way they choose to handle their relations, both their oppositions and allies. As events in FX’s historical drama series Shogun unfold, Lord Yoshi Toranaga emerges as a methodical strategist solely based on how well he estimates his adversaries and accordingly prepared himself, but the same cannot be said for the people closely associated with him, as shown in the fourth episode titled The Eightfold Fence.

In the previous episode, Toranaga put Yabushige in charge of escorting the majority of his clan, along with Blackthorne, back to Ajiro and attempted a daring escape from Osaka Castle by switching places with his wife at the last moment. A number of times, Blackthorne proved his loyalty to Toranaga by keeping his cover from getting blown. Eventually, Toranaga’s ruse gets revealed, and Ishido makes a last-ditch attempt by blocking the bay...