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Harleyquin
Posts: 2858 |
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#6
Maomao earns her coin in this episode, although those who know her would really wish she didn't look like she gets an orgasm every time she tastes poison. We know by now she really likes poisons as a researcher, but she takes her interests way too far. "Mad Scientist" indeed. That's the scene in the trailer from a few months ago which got everyone talking; at least the context behind it makes sense. There's the usual palace politics behind the scenes, which this franchise is really good at illustrating. They've picked the wrong target in Maomao though, since someone who grew up with brothels has more than enough in her armoury to fend off potential bullies of the same sex. They should have accepted her peace offering though, would have saved trouble later on. When Lihua came in personally to give a hairpin, that would have been the message to keep their hands off her. Unfortunately for Maomao, she does have a concubine she serves so she has to smooth over relations with her regarding the excessive gifts. Even though they're completely misunderstanding Maomao's situation, Gyokuyou's attendants are exceptionally nice people. Completely out of character from usual attendants (the catty behaviour of the other attendants is more to type), but Maomao appreciates their kindness and didn't object when they asked for warmers and provided them all with their own with spares. Maomao usually does the bare minimum when it comes to her job; investigating conspiracies more thoroughly is the job of the eunuchs and they can't rely on her beyond her remit. Jinshi and Gaoshun have their work cut out for them since attempted poisoning of the concubines when the emperor is in attendance is very brazen, failure to find the culprit in short order will lose them their heads if there's an actual victim before the perpetrators are caught.
Is that how you've interpreted it? I saw it as the food taster deliberately letting the concubine consume the fish knowing she would be the only one who would suffer. Allergies aren't poison in the conventional sense, so the food taster can say she did her job because nothing happened to her. After all, Maomao called her in as well because she saw the smirk (which was in reaction to Lishu's terrified reaction to consuming the fish) and even commented on it internally. Letting her know the allergies can actually kill instead of just giving her a rash is meant to warn her that bullying will only go so far if the target dies and her head goes with it. To everyone else, the poison was in the soup, not the fish and vinegar dish which was swapped. That's the one which Jinshi and the other eunuchs have to focus on; the allergy case is FYI to Jinshi and Gaoshun in case there's a repeat because the responsibility has already been passed to Lishu's food tester to follow instructions or be accused of deliberate neglect. However it appears the dishes served from fish and vinegar were all swapped from Lishu to Gyokuyou, so the soup was intended for Lishu and Maomao prevented a disaster by sounding the alarm. That's why Jinshi believes the target is Lishu, or at least that's my read of what's going on. |
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smurky turkey
Posts: 1963 |
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Well, let me clarify:
Early in the episode you hear several ladies saying that Lishu is a picky eater in a rather snarky way. It also seems like her ladies are not all that happy with her in general. There was the shocked look on Lishu's food taster's face when Mao explained how dangerous an allergic reaction can be. Those things make me think that the food taster switched out the dish to make Lishu eat something she usually skips to make her feel bad, but without knowing that it could have caused a severe reaction. Mao her explanation makes me believe that knowledge about an allergic reaction is not a common thing. So I agree in that it was deliberate bullying, yet I do not believe the food taster knew how her actions could have been fatal, hence she getting off with a warning/stare. |
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Harleyquin
Posts: 2858 |
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We do not know who swapped out the dish as of the end of this week's episode, so if you know for sure it was the taster I'd recommend keeping it under spoilers. And if the taster DID swap the dish, what in the world would make the first statement logically coherent when the fish clearly could have caused a much more serious allergic reaction akin to Maomao's with Buckwheat noodles? What I see from this episode: 1. Maomao comments about the change to the emperor's favourite dish, which is prepared by the palace also in charge of the concubines' needs. The usual serving is with fish, but Maomao is served with an Octopus variant instead. She shrugs it off as a mismatched order since her mistress isn't fussy and the dish isn't poisoned anyway. 2. She sees a terrified Lishu eat the standard version of this dish, which is served with mackerel. She also sees the taster assigned to her smirk as Lishu struggles with the fish. Maomao then thinks to herself that the whole scene is unsavoury. 3. The start of the episode sees Lishu's attendants gossip unfavourably about Lishu's fussy eating and how undignified it is. 4. After the exchange between Lishu, Lishu's attendant and Maomao, Jinshi first asks Maomao why Lishu's food taster was also summoned. After Maomao refuses to give a straight answer, an exasperated Jinshi asks her straight out if the assassination target was Lishu, Maomao's answer to this is to the affirmative provided none of the other dishes to other concubines and the emperor was poisoned. 5. Lishu was called to the palace to be a concubine to the previous emperor at the age of 9. She is now 14, and it would not be a surprise if each and every one of her attendants is older than her in terms of biological age. My conclusions (I'll provide the Japanese transcript to back my arguments up if challenged): 1. Lishu knows she has an allergy to fish, so she requests the palace cook to prepare a separate variant of the emperor's favourite dish which is also served to the other concubines. She does not tell her attendants why, and they don't think highly of a 14-year old concubine with fussy eating habits given her position. 2. During the garden party, Lishu's usual octopus variant is not served to her and the standard one with fish is served instead. The swap is with Gyokuyou's portion, which Maomao is testing for poison. 3. When Maomao observes Lishu eating the fish in a terrified manner and sees her food taster smirk when the fish is eaten, she decries the unsightly event. 4. When Maomao explains to everyone in the room when Lishu is summoned about allergies and their effects on people, she pointedly remarks about how some foods are not consumable to certain individuals and that it is not a matter of fussy eating. This is the same vocabulary used by Lishu's attendants at the start of the episode, furthermore Maomao presses the point about allergic reactions being much more serious than skin rashes if the victim is unlucky and it is more adverse than normal. 5. Maomao does not explicitly say why she asked Lishu's taster to attend the summons, but she also states Lishu was clearly the target for the poisoned soup. There are two issues here, one being Lishu's attendants bullying their mistress by forcing her to eat foods she is allergic to with no way of refusal, and the other being the poisoned soup which was served to Maomao. As of this episode, we do not know if the soup was meant for Gyokuyou or Lishu, but Jinshi has made up his mind that the assassination target (i.e. soup) was Lishu to begin with. 6. Why is Lishu the target? Perhaps that explanation of her relationship with another concubine (Ah Duo) might be key. Although they are now equal in rank under the new emperor, under the predecessor Ah Duo was technically Lishu's daughter-in-law by political marriage. The attendants do not get on well, but we have not seen the two individuals themselves interact with each other as of this episode. Last edited by Harleyquin on Sun Nov 12, 2023 7:19 am; edited 1 time in total |
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smurky turkey
Posts: 1963 |
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Maybe I am thinking too simple, but I assumed that Lishu her food taster switched out her meal to have it include the fish she is allergic to. Her smirking and thus not being surprised that Lishu's meal included something that she tries to avoid diet wise makes me think that she has to be the one. This switch forced Lishu to eat something she is allergic to, but it also accidentally prevented her from eating the poison, which went to a person who was not the target.
So Lishu is the target. The question I pose is in how far the food taster knew how dangerous an allergic reaction can be or if she just thought that Lishu is being a picky eater for no real reason. In the case of it just being trying to teach her a lesson without knowing about the allergies it is relatively harmless as far as the food taster knows. If she did know something about it being an allergy thing then In the best case it is just a rash and an upset stomach, in the worst case it would mean death, thus it is then a question how much she knew about allergies. |
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Harleyquin
Posts: 2858 |
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You are conflating two issues into one, which I initially did. The fish dish was definitely a swap, so Lishu was forced to eat fish in public despite her refusal to do so when not in official ceremonies. Maomao has handled this by warning the taster with Jinshi and Gaoshun as witnesses that doing so again might lead to a more adverse reaction which could kill Lishu. Judging by the reaction of the taster and everyone else, it seems allergies being lethal is not common knowledge. You are also free to assume that the soup was initially meant for Lishu but was swapped by the taster as well. There is nothing in this episode to prove or disprove this assumption; we only know that Jinshi is sure the soup was meant for Lishu and that it ended up for Gyokuyou instead with Maomao successfully calling it out for poison. If your assumption is based on reading the source material, then you need to hide it under spoilers as that is very unfair to everyone else who isn't reading the same. The question of why the soup ended up on Maomao's post instead of Lishu's taster needs to be answered next episode, as it's important to figuring out the overall mystery behind the attempted assassination.
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smurky turkey
Posts: 1963 |
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Maybe that is where my confusion comes from. I keep thinking that the poison soup dish and fish containing one were swapped out for one another. The result of this would be one not getting the fish dish but the poison soup and the other not the poison soup but the dish containing the fish she is allergic to.
If those are not related than there are 2 seperate swaps, one for the poison soup going to the wrong person and one replacing the non-fish dish for a fish dish. Edit: it is fine if we think differently about this btw, my assumption is that Lishu's food taster made the switch to bully her lady and that caused the poison soup and fish dish to be swapped, thus having Mao taste the poison meant for someone else and Lishu getting her allergy rash due to the fish, but I could be wrong and I do not wish to take over the whole topic. |
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Alan45
 Village Elder Posts: 9849 Location: Virginia |
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Based on Jinshi's decision that Lishu was the target, it is logical to assume that both the fish dish and the soup were on the same tray. The food taster swapped trays to get the fish dish to Lishu not knowing that it got the poisoned soup away from her. Likely the whole of each consort's meal was on its own tray and the switch may have been as simple as the food taster picking up the wrong tray and leaving only Lishu's tray to go to Maomao to taste.
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Harleyquin
Posts: 2858 |
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#7
I had wondered why Jinshi was so certain the soup was intended for Lishu (and so did a lot of viewers by my guess). First order of business for the episode is Maomao proving Jinshi right with a very detailed explanation that's peculiar to the franchise. Unlike the quote's speculation at the bottom, it is now confirmed the swap was made by Lishu's taster long before it was to be served and it has nothing to do with trays. The bullying and the reasoning behind it is also fully explained by Maomao (with the running joke of her turning into her namesake when questioned by Gaoshun on this). Rewatch episode 6 to see how Maomao holds the bowl before she tests the soup for poison, that's why she's so confident about the prints on the bowl because the unidentified holders all have different finger sizes making it easier to distinguish individual grips. Maomao then uses the hairpins in a very surprising fashion after getting the hot tip from Xiaolan. It's great having friends like this who willingly part with gossip and useful information in exchange for food. Maomao expected Libai to react the way he would, so she came fully prepared using her connections from a life lived outside the palace walls. A combination of men unable to resist temptation and many years helping out the high-end brothel eventually gets her the ticket out she needed; say what you want about Maomao but she never forgot about her father and finally gets to see him again ten months after her kidnapping. Good thing too that she lives so close, distance for communication and transport being less of an issue than they otherwise would have been given the time period. The brothel madam is so hard-nosed even Maomao has a hard time convincing her to do cooperate. She eventually does out of self interest, but Maomao has work to do to convince her not to make life more difficult than it already is with the added burden of finding "fresh meat". Unfortunately for Maomao, it appears her side job of solving mysteries forces her to work even on vacation if the trailer is any indication. Maomao's father's reaction to his daughter's reappearance after 10 months is surprisingly laid back. Perhaps he was warned beforehand via Maomao's letter sent to the brothel? She couldn't have written it until after starting service as a food taster, and most likely did not write it before she learned the tip from Xiaolan. Good thing the palace imperial post doesn't censor outgoing letters from its inhabitants. His final monologue before the episode ends is also interesting, as it appears he has history with the rear palace. More mystery about Jinshi himself. He's been with Gaoshun for ages, and the dialogue they have while he's slumped over the table indicates he's definitely not who he claims to be. His reaction to Maomao leaving the palace for 3 days was comedy gold for Gyokuyou, but he's got a conspiracy to uncover so will have to make do without his talented pawn in the meantime.
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smurky turkey
Posts: 1963 |
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Huh, Mao leaving the rear palace (if only for a few days) came a lot sooner than I expected. The outside world also seems just as dangerous and interesting when it comes to mysteries and hidden pasts (looking at you pops). I do wonder about who is trying to poison Lishu though. Her ladies in waiting not liking her was already clear last week, especially so in the case of the meal switching food taster, yet I find it hard to believe that they dislike her enough in order to go for an assassination. That said, there is no clear motive for why someone would want to get rid of her in the first place.
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Harleyquin
Posts: 2858 |
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#8
There's always the warning at the start of the episode about the whole work being fiction, and after watching this week's episode I now understand why they're so keen on emphasising that. Tobacco is an import from the Americas and the Caribbean to the rest of the world during the Age of Discovery, yet this setting still uses wooden tablets instead of paper for writing. There's so much dissonance chronologically that it's true what others say when they analyse the setting and find it a selective mismash of different periods of history, using the Chinese mainland during the dynastic eras as its backdrop. This week's mystery is also more involved than previous weeks, and the detail put into it is surprisingly packed for just a week's worth of content. Maomao figures it all out eventually, but it says a lot about her birthplace that it can be even more ruthless than the imperial palace in its plots and interpersonal relationships. It's also an insight into Maomao's world; even the most unassuming brothel servants can subtly influence the outcome of attempted murders in the only way they can without arousing suspicion until well after the fact. The medical knowledge on show is also superb: tobacco has to be treated before it can be smoked because it's inherently poisonous (the old fashioned way unlike modern cigarettes) while charcoal for centuries was used for specific medical purposes. That said, there's still time for the episode to introduce other personages in Maomao's life. It's clear the brothel's Three Princesses dote on Maomao, as seen from her flashbacks and Meimei's indulging. We do not know why they're doing this despite being at best maintaining a commercial relationship as apothecary and customer, so here's hoping the show will enlighten us more on that. That scene with the annex and Maomao's baleful glare also needs explaining. The show's sole comedic moment is saved for the end, as Jinshi ends up pouting when he hears Maomao's explanation for her short excursion. His worst fears appear to be realised, with Maomao blissfully unaware she's feeding his overblow misconception with the language she used. Through it all, her patron is getting week's worth of laughter from overhearing the exchange while Gaoshun and Hongniang are adding more wrinkles to their faces thinking about how to deal with the fallout afterwards. It's really well done without breaking the budget, since a lot of the value comes from the situation rather than relying on fancy visuals to sell the point. Looks like next week starts a completely new story arc, this time involving the moat which was briefly mentioned in previous weeks. This week's mystery upped the ante on the mystery aspect, so I'm curious if next week will keep the standards set this week at a similar level or raise them. |
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smurky turkey
Posts: 1963 |
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Yup, whether in the palace or outside of it, it is a pretty harsh world. I do hope the merchant's son gets a proper ending so to speak. As for Mao's father, given his abilities he could be a lot more than a local apothecary, making me even more curious about his past.
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Harleyquin
Posts: 2858 |
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#9
They've gone from using wooden tablets for writing last episode to proper paper in this episode, haven't seen that since episode one. For this universe, they must have a specific purpose using wood instead of paper, since the latter is SO much easier to write on and has more capacity. But that's an irrelevant rant for the storyline at present. Only thing that comes to mind is cost: unlike mass-produced paper of today the author probably thought of something like Washi, which is high-quality and expensive and applied it to this setting as exclusively used for government reports requiring lots of words. Wood being cheaper is easier for taking short notes (medicine, military orders). Death is the overarching theme for this episode, and the episode title is even spoken aloud by Maomao during the episode. Although it's officially one murder and one suicide each, the latter is especially suspicious given the revelation at the end of the episode. The plotting behind the scenes continues, and Jinshi hasn't made much headway on that front. That might all change, especially as it appears Maomao is going to meet the fourth member of the Emperor's favourite concubines. We aren't told what happened to the eunuchs responsible for manslaughter, but I can't imagine it would have been pleasant. Especially when the victim was someone Jinshi respected greatly. Maomao's monologue regarding that is interesting; she will do her job up to the limit she's allowed to, but there are certain boundaries she refuses to cross because she doesn't want to get her hands dirty with the actual accusations and punishment. It's her own brand of work to rule, but Jinshi and Gaoshun appear to have worked with her long enough to give her leeway knowing what she gets herself into if she's more involved. Feet binding is interesting, since outside of mainland China and countries with large Chinese diaspora it doesn't get much attention. As a plot device, it works well to differentiate the concubine in episode three with this week's victim. The drinking age limit is so Japanese though; my limited world knowledge indicates it's the only country with the legal threshold of adulthood at 20 (for alcohol it's 18 for most countries and 21 for the United States). That long scene with the insert song using the plant as the foreground for a montage of shots takes up a lot of airtime. Most of the montage is flashbacks to previous episodes, but some of the shots are new and there's little context involved. Perhaps viewers might get a more detailed explanation of some of these scenes later on, especially as it's inexplicable why Maomao has this sudden turn towards Memento Mori when fingering a plant whose berries are most certainly poisonous despite its usual ornamental use. Although the episode gets heavier as it airs, there's still time to squeeze in some comedy. Jinshi sulking, Maomao's excuse to drink alcohol and getting punished for it by Jinshi with his peculiar micro-aggressions as well as the resident quack's clear aversion to doing autopsies along with the reaction to Maomao's ban on touching corpses are low-key compared to last week. Perhaps it'll be more light-hearted and less discreet in the following weeks, especially when Maomao's patron and the other concubines are involved. |
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Alan45
Village Elder Posts: 9849 Location: Virginia |
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Paper is relatively rare and expensive. Its use is limited to the government and upper classes. Wood is cheap and old-school. It is used by the literate middle and lower classes, older documents and people who don't like change.
Sir Kounen was an upper level government official working in the outer court. Those drinking with him are not eunechs but rather lower level government workers. |
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Harleyquin
Posts: 2858 |
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#10
If the attempted poisoning is going to be the main plotline for this adaptation, then this episode has certainly progressed matters on that front. It's mostly serious, with the almost mandatory comic episode between Maomao and Jinshi seamlessly mixed in as part of the episode. It would come as no surprise that Ah Duo and Jinshi have a resemblance. Same hair colour, roughly the same height and if Ah Duo changes her clothes and hairstyle even Maomao admits she could pass as one of the court officials. Yet Maomao doesn't appear to have made the connection between the two of them specifically. It might just be a coincidence, but there could be more to it than just strangers looking similar to each other through sheer chance. Jinshi likes playing with his toy, which shows in the attempted honey feeding exercise. As amusing as that was (even if Gyokuyou managed to save Maomao from certain indignity), he does value her as an asset to be fully exploited. He even knows she's reluctant to be used in such a manner, but is content to nudge her in certain directions betting that her insight and observation skills will eventually inspire her to come up with something that he and Gaoshun would never anticipate given their different positions and access levels. Lishu is very unfortunate to have so many allergies in a setting which doesn't have general awareness of these and how dangerous they are. Not just fish, but honey as well. To top it off, Fengming comes from a family dealing with honey which makes it even worse if she's aware of the allergy and seeks to exploit it for her mistress's benefit. That's motive aplenty to finger her for the conspiracy and attempted poisoning, but there's no hard evidence linking the poisoning to her. If she is responsible as Jinshi is beginning to suspect, it will come down to Maomao to expose her as his hands are tied. I wonder how much Gyokuyou knows about the situation, as she has no animosity towards her fellow concubine. She could have taken Maomao's word at face value, or she could have ascertained Maomao's true meaning together with Lishu's expression and found a way for her to still be a good host and save Lishu from a potential allergic reaction. I wouldn't put it past her for the latter, and she's dangerous if crossed as witnessed this week. That bombshell at the end is quite something, although it does answer the question posed a few weeks ago about Maomao's adopted father. Interesting he has a proper surname unlike Maomao and so many commoners, so that's something that could be explored in future episodes. His identity aside, Maomao must suspect something now that she's read up on what happened to Ah Duo during the previous emperor's reign, but casual viewers will need to wait as there's not enough information to work with to figure it out before Maomao does. |
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Harleyquin
Posts: 2858 |
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#11
This is a heavy episode. A lot is revealed in the closing of the garden banquet poison arc and the ramifications of Maomao's proposal and the palace authorities tidying up are going to be felt for several episodes to come. Maomao has also noticed the resemblance between Ah Duo and Jinshi, but her conjecture at the end if true would be of huge consequence as Jinshi's true identity would be known to her when he has plenty of reasons to keep it secret. Putting aside how common it is for lethal allergies to pervade the concubine palace as well as general ignorance on dealing with possible allergies, another prevailing trend in this franchise is the gap in perception between those with authority and the subordinates serving under them. All of the ladies in waiting who have borne the brunt of Maomao's ire or been investigated by her because of various reasons would not be accused of outright treason, but misguided intentions have had real consequences in terms of human lives. Gyoukuyou is the only prime concubine so far who has avoided this fate because her ladies in waiting are in sync with her intentions, perhaps an unintended benefit of having the fewest ladies in waiting of the prime concubines. We are not told explicitly what happened between Jinshi and Ah Duo during the drinking session, but his behaviour when he caught Maomao was difficult to explain. If it did tie in with Maomao's conjecture, it would not be totally unreasonable. Since DNA testing is out of scope for this franchise, there won't be definitive evidence proving or disproving Maomao's conjecture, but the court won't want loose ends and loose tongues to be the spark for coups. That trailer is really loaded with lots of surprises. This episode was good, but it looks like the episode dealing with the fallout might top even this one. Looking forward to it. |
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