Shōgun star Anna Sawai explains episode 5’s painful and difficult sake scene with John Blackthorne and the big plot twist involving Mariko.

Shōgun star Anna Sawai explains episode 5’s painful sake scene and the big plot twist. Episode 5 of FX’s acclaimed period drama changed everything for Mariko and John Blackthorne, with its big plot twist featuring the return of Mariko’s presumed-dead husband, Buntaro. The drama came to a head in a dinner scene featuring Blackthorne’s sake-drinking competition with his unexpected rival, and Mariko’s complex response to the two men’s hostile behavior.

Shōgun episode 5 indeed was a pivotal one for Sawai’s Mariko, and the actor spoke recently about filming the sake scene, covering Mariko’s mixture of emotions over watching Buntaro and Backthorne try to out-drink each other, the way her character had to hide her own emotions from her returned husband, and how she felt “stuck” while attempting to play the scene. Check out her remarks below (via TVGuide):

On Mariko’s reaction to the drinking contest:

“Especially with someone like Blackthorne, who doesn’t understand the culture and who is pushing [Buntaro’s] buttons, I think [Mariko] feels there’s nothing good that’s going to happen after this. And you can see in her expression that she’s kind of like, ‘Please stop drinking.'”

On Mariko telling her painful life story (she is the daughter of a man who was hunted down for murdering his lord):

“It’s not that she’s ashamed of it. But she knows that it’s perceived in a certain way to other people, and so it’s a story that she doesn’t really want to tell in front of her husband.”

On the difficulty of playing the sake scene:

“I was feeling stuck. And I wonder if that’s because Mariko felt stuck. … Because she’s in front of Buntaro, she wouldn’t be very, very vulnerable. She would have a certain mask. … That’s where I was having a hard time. She is voicing it for the first time, so she should be emotional — but she has to hide it because of Buntaro.”

On how Shōgun co-creator Rachel Kondo helped her play the scene, which took two days to shoot:

“I remember feeling like I wasn’t doing well, and [director] Fred [E.O. Toye] was coming up to me, being like, ‘It’s good.’ [Co-creator] Justin [Marks] was coming up to me, and I was like, I need to talk to [co-creator] Rachel [Kondo]. And so I had a private moment with her, and then we went on shooting the rest of the scene.”

Where Do Mariko and Blackthorne Go From Here?

Buntaro’s return seemingly slammed the door on any romantic future for Blackthorne and Mariko. There is, of course, a possibility that the two could flee Japan entirely, and try to make a new life for themselves back in London. Such a scenario was indeed teased when Blackthorne told Mariko his story about going for a night out in his home city, a charming fantasy in which he imagined introducing her to the queen, taking her to see a play and going for a nighttime walk along the Thames.

It’s yet to be seen whether Mariko and Blackthorne might ultimately escape all the violent political drama going on in the world of Shōgun and start over together in a different, more peaceful place. For now, both of them have important business to attend to, as Lord Toranaga’s plans unfold, and they find themselves caught up in the story’s tumultuous events. It’s certain that Mariko’s emotions will remain divided as she continues dealing with Buntaro’s unexpected return, and her ongoing feelings for Blackthorne, all playing out under the shadow of her own painful backstory.