TV REVIEW : ‘Ginger Tree’: Culture Clash

“The Ginger Tree” is a slow-evolving come-on with a disappointing payoff. This four-part BBC-Japanese co-production (premiering Sunday at 8 p.m. on Channels 50 and 24, at 9 p.m. on Channels 28 and 15) is intriguing for a while.

The first two episodes of this “Masterpiece Theatre” presentation draw you into an almost mystical universe of clashing cultures and feelings while showing the loneliness and isolation of Mary McKenzie (Samantha Bond), a Scotswoman who travels to Manchuria in 1903 to marry a cold and plodding British army officer (Adrian Rawlins).

All but ignored by her mechanical husband, she has an affair with a Japanese military attache (Daisuke Ryu), finding in her relationship with this young nobleman the lacking warmth and affection.

Bond is radiant as this young woman, trapped first in passionless wedlock and then in the country of her married Japanese lover, who brings her to Tokyo to bear their child and become his concubine.

Adapted by Christopher Hampton from Oswald Wynd’s novel, “The Ginger Tree” is lushly and meticulously mounted in England, Japan and Taiwan, its deeply fascinating crosscurrent of diverse cultures initially set against the darkening clouds of the Russo-Japanese War. Although cruelly victimized by Japanese tradition, the spiny and resourceful Mary ultimately adapts to her new homeland. As Mary gains assurance, the drop-off in intensity is dramatic. There is simply never any doubt where this part of the story is taking you or how it will arrive there. It’s an unsatisfying resolution to a drama that begins so promisingly.