Finally, something good to watch on TV again. Amid a sea of Disney-Marvel dross, the drip-feed of mediocre Netflix dime-a-dozens, and billion-dollar adaptations not worth the server space they’re housed on, in comes Shogun — an impressively grand but refreshingly human take on the final throes of Japan’s warring states era. 

Each of the major streaming services has tried their hand with a big swords and sandals (or, now katanas and kimonos) epic series. And, with the arguable exception of HBO’s Game of Thrones spinoff House of the Dragon, all have largely failed. Netflix’s The Witcher began with signs of promise in its first season before falling immediately off a cliff; Amazon’s The Wheel of Time and The Rings of Power were, like The Witcher’s later seasons, an insult to fans of the original material; and Disney’s small-screen Star Wars and Marvel servings go from bad to worse to unspeakable.