Rating: A-
One of the neatest aspects of this series is the depth of its cast. Maomao and (to a lesser extent) Jinshi are clearly the stars, but all four of the high-level concubines also have their strong appeals: Gyokuyou is the clever and mischievous one (as we see again in this episode), Lihua is the noble one, Loulan is the mysterious (and possibly conniving) one, and Lishu is the childish innocent who’s in over her head. But all three of those aspect also make her one of the series’ most sympathetic characters, and that is fully on display in this episode’s main segment.
Last episode ended with Lishu claiming that her pavilion’s bath house was haunted, something that her new head lady-in-waiting confirms in this episode. As expected, the “haunting” turns out to be a combination of mundane occurrences coincidentally happening together. Heating or air conditioning vents making nearby curtains or wall scrolls flutter would hardly be unusual in modern-day homes, and I can attest from personal experience about how continual dampness can damage a wall in a bathroom, so the circumstances described here for how the curtains moved are entirely credible to me. The “magic mirror” is more unusual but a real-world thing, too, and it’s definitely not hard to understand how its image could be mistaken for ghostly if one isn’t familiar with its properties or other ways to project images.
But the mystery aspect here is really secondary to what this part of the episode says about Lishu (and to a lesser extent Kanan, her former taster/current lady-in-waiting), and how smoothly that is handled is a credit both to the source material and to the adaptation. Kanan didn’t get promoted to head lady-in-waiting by asserting herself; Maomao scaring her straight (and perhaps also her coming to understand that Lishu had legitimate reason for being picky about her food) made Kanan more loyal and sympathetic to Lishu personally, clearly the most so of any of Diamond Pavilion’s ladies-in-waiting. She’s focused more on being protective/supportive towards Lishu, so she either doesn’t have the time or the strength of will (and possibly both) to reign the rest of the staff in like Hongniang does at Jade Pavilion. This episode is also the first indicator we’ve had that Lishu is aware of the problem herself, but both her age and circumstances have prevented her from asserting her will here as well. Her comments about her mother this episode may well explain some of that; that’s one hell of a load of guilt to be carrying, though the gift of the copper mirror strikes me as something meant to be comforting rather than accusatory. For a girl who’s been isolated much of her life, and no longer has Ah-Duo around as a motherly ally, her desperation at clinging to such a keepsake is completely understandable.
This episode also reaffirms again that, while Jinshi may not be the master mystery-solver that Maomao is, he does know how to assert his authority in a way which amply gets the point across without being blunt. He may not be on Lakan’s level of deviousness and intimidation, but he’s becoming the kind of person whose bad side you wouldn’t want to be on. The only place where he’s lacking is in dealing with Maomao, and he seems to be becoming more forceful in his approach towards her since the charm he’s always relied on clearly isn’t working. Still, given who her biological father is, he has legitimate reason for being cautious about how he reveals things to Maomao and tries to win her over. But at least he can finally say her name now!
Next episode’s impetus looks to be less a mystery and more a problem to be solved, and while there’s no indication that the new eunuchs are going to come up again, I have to think that the recurring mention of them is eventually leading to something. And is that Loumen appearing at the end of the preview? Definitely interested to see where that is going.
USA Anime 