“The Eightfold Fence” and “Broken to the Fist” focus on John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis) teaching Lord Toranaga’s (Hiroyuki Sanada) soldiers while continuing to struggle with cultural nuance of the foreign land. Blackthorne and Mariko (Anna Sawai) are drawn closer together only to be pushed apart by the miraculous appearance of her douchebag of a husband Buntaro (Shinnosuke Abe) who continues to struggle with his wife earning greater favor with their lord. In a forceful display of power, the samurai forces Mariko to explain to Blackthorne her past and unfortunate familial ties. That, along with Buntaro beating his wife that night, nearly forces a deadly confrontation between Buntaro and Blackthorne (who does witness an example of the samurai’s skill with a bow).
While succeeding in his duties at showing how well the cannons can be used, Blackthorne struggles with more than just Buntaro’s return as an offhand remark leads to one of the members of his household being put to death and Toranaga’s son (Yuki Kura) makes use of the cannon to kill Ishido’s men to the surprise of everyone else likely starting a war. However, the peasant’s death does end up serving a purpose to hide Toranaga’s spy as well as to help Blackthorne learn more about the culture and how the Japanese bury their feelings and grief internally behind an eightfold fence keeping them safe and hidden.
