Shōgun episode 2, "Servants of Two Masters," opens on the Taiko's death bed one year earlier. In a room full of people, Taiko briefly speaks to his son and heir Yaechiyo (Sen Mars), then asks everyone to leave. All except for Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada). After briefly reminiscing, with Taiko joking Toanaga should have married Lady Ochiba, he insists the vultures are already circling Yaechiyo.
He asks Toranaga to be the sole regent until Yaechiyo is of age. Toranaga declines, convinced it would put a target on both of their backs. Taiko agrees, so he forms the council to create a political stalemate. Still, he asks Toranga to protect Yaechiyo, which he agrees to do, and teach him that "the man who stands the greatest height is the loneliest in the land."
What else happened in "Servants of Two Masters?" Take a look below to find out.
Important meetings
Rodrigues (Nestor Carbonell) goes straight to the Catholic priests in Osaka to tell them about Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis), showing them his private letters that detail the ship's rampaging in Manilla. Father Dell'Aqua (Paulino Nunes) believes that proving Blackthorne is a pirate should be easy with this evidence. But Father Martin Alvito (Tommy Barstow), who works closely with Toranaga as the Council of Regents' interpreter, isn't so sure. He wants to be certain.
Martin arrives at Toranaga and Blackthorne's meeting to work as the interpreter. He's surprised to see Mariko (Anna Sawai), a student of his, there, too. Blackthorne is annoyed Martin will be translating for him, as he insists they're enemies and doesn't trust him to be faithful. Martin tells Toranaga exactly what Blackthorne says, though. Blackthorne explains he and Martin are enemies because they're from different religions and their countries, England and Portugal, are at war over the matter.
Ishido (Takeshiro Hira), Toranaga's main rival, then bursts into the room. He's confused why Toranaga is so interested in Blackthorne when his impeachment is so close? In order to keep Ishido peaceful, Toranaga sends Blackthorne to prison for an undetermined amount of time.
Toranaga's Blackthorne scheme
Afterwards, Toranaga, Mariko and her father-in-law Hiromatsu (Tokuma Nishioka) sit down to discuss the meeting. She doesn't trust Blackthorne and Hiromatsu doesn't understand what all this has to do with Toranaga's impeachment.
But Mariko does. She explains Blackthorne's troubling of the Portuguese catholics means Toranaga can use him to sow division between Ishido and the two Christian lords, Kiyama and Ohno, as they need a unanimous decision to kick Toranaga out of the council.
Toranaga's plan is already working, too. When Ishido meets with Kiyama (Hiromoto Ida), Ohno (Takeshi Kurokawa) and Sugiyama (Toshi Toda) to discuss Toranaga's fate, they say they'll only vote for him to be impeached after Blackthorne is killed. They've heard stories about Blackthorne murdering Christians, so he must be killed.
Ishido is only interested in them voting. When they flatly refuse to do so he openly wonders if they're only so passionate on the matter because they make so much money from the church.
Blackthorne's lucky prison escape
In prison, Blackthorne meets Father Domingo (Joaquin de Almeida), who helps to fully explain Japan's history and the Council of Regents. He also tells him that Toranaga is set to be impeached and killed. Once that happens, there will be no reason for Blackthorne to remain alive.
But Yabushige (Tadanobu Asano) intervenes. After speaking with Ishido, Yabushige (Tadanobu Asano) breaks Blackthorne out of prison so Ishido can use him when they inevitably have to go to war against Kiyama and Ohno. Yabushige then gives Blackthorne back to Toranaga, who can immediately see through his plan.
Blackthorne tells all
In front of Toranaga, and with just Mariko as his translator, Blackthorne is able to tell all about the Portuguese Catholics' stranglehold on Japan. He draws a map of the world as England sees it, then says that Portugal has a base in Macau where they're converting Japanese to Catholics and are planning to make the country their own.
The latter in particular displeases Toranaga. Now incensed, he asks why Blackthorne is helping them. He explains they want to vanquish a common enemy. After providing this information, Toranaga gives Blackthorne a room in his palace for the night.
Toranaga then has a meeting with Martin, who says a Portuguese ship must set sail that night. But after Blackthorne's revelations, Toranaga refuses and tells Martin he knows about the Macau base and wants to learn more about Portugal's plan before making any more deals. Martin goes back and tells Father Dell'Aqua, while Kiyama is also present.
In the palace, an assassin suddenly starts to kill numerous guards. She makes her way into Toranaga's room, but he kills her. Everyone assumes Ishido was trying to murder Toranaga and that they must go to war. But Toranaga explains he put Blackthorne in his room instead. Blackthorne was the target and he knows exactly who tried to kill him.
New episodes of Shōgun premiere Tuesdays on FX and Hulu in the US; they premiere on Disney Plus in the UK.
