Reel Tastes & Travels – a light dose of entertainment to wake you up

Episode 2 and the plot thickens. Well… not really that much. This still feels very much like a set up episode with the actual mystery of the week briefly alluded to in the beginning and then swiftly resolved midway through the episode.

However, the episode does take you deeper into the dynamics of the rear palace and starts fleshing out the relationship between several of the key characters of the series. Following up from episode 1, Maomao moves into Concubine Gyokuyou’s palace which is currently managed by 3 other attendants in addition to the chief lady-in-waiting. This is on the lower side for such a senior concubine, but is by choice. As the emperor’s favorite, Gyokuyou knows that she is a target for others in the rear palace and chooses to rely on a few trusted attendants rather than fully revel in her favored position. Clearly Maomao, thanks to her timely intervention that saved the princess’ life, has earned sufficient trust to be granted a place in her palace.

This plays into Jinshi’s hand and we get a bit more insight into his character in this episode. I noted last time that he weaponizes his beauty and we see him do that again here even more deliberately . He openly confides in his right hand man, Gaoshun, that he sees Maomao as a chess piece and is ready to charm her with his looks to more easily manipulate her.

Unfortunately for him, Maomao proves immune. While dispassionately aware of his beauty, she is put off by his charm (to put it mildly). But unluckily for Maomao, her apparent indifference to him only serves to intrigue him and bring her even more squarely to his attention.

Back in Gyokuyou’s palace, the 3 attendants serve primarily as comic relief in this episode, shooting teary looks at Maomao and ascribing a tragic backstory to her on catching sight of her bandaged arm. Little do they know that the wounds are very much self-inflicted in her pursuit to further her knowledge of poisons and medicines. It turns out that Maomao has been brought on as Gyokuyou’s official food taster to check for any poisons in the meal. Considering that the last food tester ended up poisoned, the attendants naturally view Maomao as a tragic figure taking on a dangerous role. However, the viewers, being privy to her inner thoughts, get to see how delighted she is at the role. It fits right in with her almost single minded focus on becoming a better apothecary.

In a little sub-plot which doesn’t really go anywhere this episode, Jinshi asks Maomao to prepare a ‘stimulant’ for him. Maomao is delighted to have access to the doctor’s supplies and gets to work preparing an extremely effective ‘stimulant’, which hilariously turns out to be chocolate! <<Minor spoiler alert>> I don’t remember clearly if this sub-plot bears further fruit later but it does lay down some groundwork for the future. It highlights Maomao’s competency and knowledge and brings her into the orbit of the ‘quack’ doctor of the palace, who does have a bigger role to play in future storylines.

We are then brought back to the initial mystery – the poisoning of an army camp. The soldiers suspected they were poisoned by the village near their camp but wiser minds decided to investigate further. This investigation lands in Jinshi’s lap, an initial indication that he might be more than he seems. Why would a eunuch managing the affairs of the rear palace be tasked with investigating something that is potentially a matter of national security? Something to ponder as the series progresses. Jinshi comes to Maomao and she soon deduces (seemingly from a flower vase in the room) that the soldiers were not actually targeted but accidentally poisoned themselves by using the branches of a poisonous plant for the fire to cook their food. While this takes up only a small part of the episode, it sets up the plot beats of Jinshi investigating something and Maomao getting pulled into the investigation to leverage her medical knowledge. Looks like lying low isn’t going to be in the cards for Maomao!

Final thoughts

I was disappointed by how little time was actually given to the mystery of the week. And while Maomao definitely comes across as knowledgeable, her reasoning for jumping from a possible poisoning to accidental use of poisonous plants by the soldiers seemed weak, a consequence of the low screen time. We are given so few details to explain what prompted further investigation that it did not make sense to me why they would look for or accept another explanation so readily. Another quibble I had was the amount of exposition in the episode. Having read the manga, the explanations come across more naturally in the written medium but seem a bit clunky on screen. However, I can see how that might be the shortest way to quickly immerse the viewer into Maomao and Jinshi’s world. And I hold hopes that this will reduce with each episode as the players and the rules of the world become more established.