Finally forced myself to finish the last few episodes, I had stopped somewhere around episode 6 or 7 since it was a series fuckin snooze fest for around 4 episodes in a row, but surely enough I loved the last 3 episodes, their pace was faster with little to no filler scenes. This would have worked better as a movie or two max, they dragged it out like crazy.
The Kempeitai detective and the trade minister were the only two good actors on the show IMO, Smith, Blake and whatshisface not-Brad-Pitt were mediocre. I've always liked Alexa Davalos from the Angel days so I enjoyed her.
Also I thought this was a series event type thing but since it's so different from the book they may milk it for longer, I'll check out season 2 when it comes out since this season ended on such a thrilling note.