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[series:4761#628] | ||||||
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(12 episodes watched): I almost missed this series, and didn't even watch episode one until the season was winding down, but I'm glad I did. Maomao quickly endeared herself to me, with her laconic attitude (like taking being kidnapped in stride). She has no interest whatsoever in the advances of Jinshi, the clever and dashing manager of the Rear Palace, at least not for now (he likes to use his looks to persuade the girls of the Rear Palace to do as he wishes). There's a feud between purple-haired courtesan Lihua, whose son died of the mysterious illness before Maomao figured out the cure, and Maomao's patron the red-haired Gyokujou. It would be very easy for this show to fall into a pattern where each episode is a mini mystery where Maomao saves the day by identifying the strange side effect of this substance or that one, and we are expected to be thrilled by that. But so far it looks like there also will be a long running plot involving the feud and Jinshi's interest in Maomao. And the characters seem complex and interesting. I sort of wish there was less SD, but it can be funny at times. After watching episode one I said to myself, I think I'll download more of this! I didn't see the point of episode three, however. Rumor has it that there's some sort of dancing spirit on the wall of the Rear Palace, and Maomao figures out what the real explanation is. But it didn't move the longterm plot forward much, and seemed a good deal more like one of those 'mini mysteries' that I have been anxious about. We're not out of the woods yet. Fortunately episode four clearly played a part in the overall plot, as the Emperor himself asks (effectively, orders) that Maomao care for Lihua, who is still sick from the ailment that killed her son. This seems to defuse to rivalry between the two consorts, at least temporarily. In episode five another palace mystery is revealed and Maomao is ordered to take part in a Garden Party that the Emperor himself will attend. Also, we learn something surprising about her appearance. If I understood things correctly (and that was kind of difficult), the was a plot to poison Consort Gyokujou but Maomao, who has developed a good deal of immunity to poisons, heads it off. There was something about food being given to the wrong person, which I didn't get. It has something to do with people developing rashes (allergies?) which again I don't completely understand. Never assume that viewers watching a show you are making will understand it just as well as you do! You may have forgotten to include adequate clues that lead them to a conclusion that was obvious to you. In episode seven Maomao uses the precursors of modern forensic evidence techniques to make some progress towards identifying the poisoner in the Rear Palace. The target was Gyokujou, right? I thought so, but there was no confirmation of it in this episode and the confusing mistakes muddy the waters. It sort of sounded like the young consort of the previous Emperor might have been the intended victim. Afterwards Maomao learns of a custom of trading gifted hairpins for permission to briefly leave the Forbidden City, and goes to visit her elderly father (but she has misunderstood something about the practice). With time I got the feeling that this show wasn't as novel as it had first seemed and in fact fell into a common niche: the protagonist solves various mysteries, some in as little as 23-minutes, using obscure knowledge of trivia-like facts. But the solutions aren't really all that complex or surprising. They don't really have all that much of a Chinese flavor, either. In episode eight Maomao uses a sophisticated technique of cardiopulmonary resucitation which I'm pretty sure wan't invented until the 19th century in the West (I remember reading that one of its first uses was to prevent Abraham Lincoln from dying immediately after being shot). In episode 11 Maomao reveals her solution to the poisoning case. It makes some sense, but how did she reach it? Was it something her father told her that tipped her off? Maybe I missed an important clue, or maybe there just weren't enough for the viewer to figure out the answer. And where do things go from here? What is the main plotline of this show? Surely Jinshi must play a major part. It turns out that anyone who had even the slightest connection to the poisoner is to be banished from the Rear Palace, and that would include Maomao. Jinshi could make an exception in her case, but due to a misunderstanding he doesn't. Both wind up with the result they didn't want. As we watch a replay of notable moments throughout the series, I wondered if this was the final episode, but it turns out that there is one more. Will she suddenly fall in love with a eunuch? Suddenly, because so far there has been little sign that she has feelings for him. Last updated Thursday, February 08 2024. Created Thursday, December 14 2023. | ||||||||
