It’s rare to feel like a limited series is being inhibited by its form. One of the specific joys of the recent so-called golden era of television was in the way a flourishing TV landscape enabled rich exploration of the limited series format — shows that were particularly good because they were determined to tell a fully conceived story, with a consistent ethos from beginning to end, all in one go. It often meant better, more fully fleshed works that didn’t tarnish their own legacies.
“Shōgun,” the ambitious new FX limited series, embodies a strange space: a sweeping, thoughtfully crafted show that, as a self-contained tale of feudal Japan, spends most of its time building a tantalizing sense of anticipation, before meeting what feels like a premature end.
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