Rating: A
I was going to skip reviewing this one separately and just combine it with episode 19, rather than post a review this late. However, episode 18 turned out to be loaded, the culmination of many hints and mysteries presented to date, and the previews suggest that next episode will be even more loaded. (Okay, I’m not going to be coy here. I know what has to be coming next, and as big as this episode’s revelations are, next episode should be the most pivotal one of this season’s half of the series.) So let’s take a somewhat delayed look at what transpired.
Last episode ended – and this episode starts – with Maomao answering a stunned Jinshi’s question about what it means to “devalue” a high-ranking courtesan. Maomao commenting about how she managed to avoid showing emotion as she walks away suggests that this is a very personal matter for her, and much of the rest of the episode lays out why. Though never said bluntly or directly, the inescapable conclusion is that the woman laying in the annex, wasting away from an advanced case of syphilis, is the courtesan that Lakan was talking about to Jinshi in previous episodes, as well as Maomao’s biological mother. In other words, that means that Lakan is her father, and she is very probably the result of Lakan’s attempt to “devalue” said courtesan.
What the revelations here do not make clear is how much consent was involving in this event. Did Lakan taken Maomao’s mother forcibly, or was she fully complicit in the devaluation? The exact way Lakan worded things back in episode 16 suggests the latter; he’s a canny man who words things carefully, so I can’t imagine that he actually did force her after lamenting that he was tempted to do it but implied that he didn’t. If that is the case, though, then something else went horribly wrong, to the degree that Maomao’s mother may have tried to kill her when Maomao was just a toddler. Maomao’s narrative strongly implies that her mother was left with no choice but to start sleeping with customers regularly after having her, and somewhere in that process she contracted syphilis. Overwhelmed by how her life was collapsing, she took her frustrations out on a young Maomao. Though the episode doesn’t specify this, I’m guessing that Luomon – who arrived on the scene after the devaluation incident but before Maomao’s mother went full-blown into her affliction – probably adopted her in the wake of that incident.
All of this explains and links together a lot about Maomao’s circumstances: how she came to be an apothecary’s daughter, why she was practically raised in a brothel, how she came to be so beloved by Verdigris House’s stars, and why Lakan is so keenly interested in her. It explains why Maomao so glumly visited the annex in an earlier episode and why the disease-addled woman might not want to see Maomao. Assuming Maomao knows Lakan is her father (and based on her reaction to Jinshi when he mentioned that Lakan wants to meet her, I think it’s safe to say that she does), it also explains, to a degree, why she’s been so particular about asserting that she’s a commoner; it’s not just a way to keep Jinshi at a distance, but also a way to distance herself from the noble-born Lakan. This also explains why Maomao claimed in an earlier episode that she doesn’t have a mother. Who wouldn’t be emotionally detached from their parents under circumstances like these? I also do like the implication that Maomao is who she is because of her pedigree; she gets her hair color, respectable looks, and disposition from her mother, her eccentric way of approaching things from her father, and her intelligence from both.
The one big question not answered by this episode is why Maomao’s mother is still at Verdigris House rather than cast out on the street, as would seem to be the normal fate of a courtesan who can’t work anymore. Obviously she’s confined because of her advanced condition, but why keep her? That Meimei refers to her as “big Sis” suggests that she was one of Verdigris’s top courtesans in her time, but there has to be more to it. Does the old matron feel partly responsible, perhaps?
Artistically, the episode is definitely pulling some punches here compared to the manga version. The artistry conspicuously hides her nose behind thick strands of hair in every shot, because – as the manga version of those scenes shows – it has collapsed in a condition known as “saddle nose,” which is a known possible effect of tertiary-stage syphilis. Also artistically striking was one sequence around the 6:40 mark, which showed the mother with her fingernails, eye make-up, and sores highlighted in red before showing a tree outside also blooming red.
Maomao’s parentage is hardly the only thing going on this episode, however. Her conversations with Meimei and Pairin are also telling. The latter is apparently getting offers (but why would she leave when she can get all the sex she wants here?), and Meimei seems to be waiting for something herself. Based on her comments to Maomao while walking to the bath house, is she, perhaps, waiting for someone special to make her an offer, somewhat like the courtesan who left the Rear Palace back in episode 3? Jinshi is also shaken further both by guessing that Lakan is Maomao’s biological father and having to deal with Lakan seeming to know his real identity.
The latter part of the episode is also laying further groundwork for other plot lines, including one which seems to be centered around Suirei, the tall woman Maomao first met back in episode 14. Her cryptic comments here further suggest that she’s up to something – and based on the ominous music at the end of the episode, quite possibly something dastardly – and perhaps challenging Maomao to figure out what that is. The detail about the upcoming vegetarian meal isn’t an idle one, either; the importance of that will come up more immediately, though.
While this episode isn’t totally devoid of humor (or, for that matter, fan service), this is one of the more purely and heavily dramatic portions of the series likely to be adapted this season. This strong episode should be followed by another strong one if the adaptation teams sticks to form.
NOTE: The review for next week’s episode may also be later than normal due to a convention. After that, I don’t expect other delays through the end of the season.
USA Anime 