‘Shogun’ writers on saying goodbye to Mariko in ‘devastating’ episode 9 [Video]

Can’t get Shōgun‘s heartbreaking ninth episode, “Crimson Sky,” out of your head? Imagine living with it for five years.

That’s the case for Rachel Kondo and Caillin Puente, the two writers of the episode. (Kondo is also a co-creator and executive producer on the show; Puente is a story editor and associate producer.) The pair had the responsibility of bringing the most pivotal sequence of James Clavell’s original novel to life, in which Toda Mariko (Anna Sawai) attempts to leave Osaka.

Over the course of the episode, Mariko engineers a diplomatic crisis, undermines Ishido Kazunari (Takehiro Hira), and threatens to commit seppuku, despite pleas not to from both John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis) and Ochiba no Kata (Fumi Nikaido). After facing constant peril, Mariko is finally permitted to return to Ajiro, only to sacrifice herself in a fatal explosion that same night. It’s a wrenching, tragic send-off for one of Shōgun‘s central …