Am I the only one who had a fit of violent laughter because of 5?

The humor for me escalated from the preposterous situation where Japanese rules lead to the gardener's death and the increasingly disturbing stank of the pheasant.

I found the Japanese deference and adherence to rules pushed to absurd levels extremely funny, and it cultimated with John gifting the swords of shame to Toranaga as an act of kindness with Toranaga laughing with a wry smile after he had been completely flummoxed about the pheasant story and cultural misunderstandings.

The way the pheasant was filmed with increasing stank and the disturbed reactions of the Japanese staff all trying to put up with it but not daring to say anything besides the reserved, polite Japanese way, was a masterful and hilarious situational comedy on cultural differences that culminated in sudden tragicomic incomprehension.

I found it extremely witty and couldn't help but belly laugh. Especially because it was so macabre that the brain has no other way of rationalizing it.

I absolutely loved that episode. I had not laughed so much in a long time! The fact that the comedic aspect was not overdone and remained very subtle was absolutely genius. The situation stringing did all the work, and I thoroughly enjoyed it!