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「蟇盆」 (Taibon)
“Taibon”
I love the relationship between Mao Mao and Kyou-u. He’s like the little brother she never had- he annoys her, gets into trouble, but tries to help in his own way. Smart and brave as he is, he is still just a child, something we are painfully reminded of when he tries to “rescue” Mao Mao by slipping her a lock pick while distracting the guard. You don’t need hindsight to see how bad an idea that is, but kid that he is, he wants to save her in whatever way he can.
Shenmei seriously has impeccable timing. It’s like she’s got a spidey sense for when and where trouble is happening. So, naturally, she shows up right when Suirei and the guard are dealing with Kyou-u’s rescue attempt. At the same time, we meet Kyo-u’s mother. I was wondering if Shenmei had killed her, and Suirei and Shisui wanted to shield him from that. But no- she’s just a zombified lady in waiting, probably due to whatever drug Shenmei was administering to her servants. It was heartbreaking to see her total lack of reaction upon witnessing Shenmei abusing her son- clearly she must be under some kind of drug or something, otherwise she wouldn’t stay silent like that. Any mother worth her salt would step in to protect her son- goodness knows, I’d probably beat that bitch so hard, no rejuvenating potion no matter how strong, would restore her.
Speaking of rejuvenating potion- it turns out what Shenmei wants is not a simple immortality potion, but a concoction that will make her 10 years younger at first sip. So, yeah, Mao Mao can’t fool her with just a placebo. Furthermore, the previous apothecary was quite brilliant- they even invented the resurrection potion while researching a rejuvenation medicine. Which makes what happened to them even more of a shame. I appreciated Mao Mao’s nod to the rodents “It’s hard on you guys too”. Speaking as a former scientist, the rodents do bear a lot of the very messy burden of pharmaceutical trial and error. A necessary one, unfortunately, but one that often goes without acknowledgement.
This arc has seen a lot of character growth in Mao Mao- she’s started acting in the interests of others and no longer abstains as a mildly interested 3rd party. Kyou-u really brings this growth out in her. The way she steps in to save him here, whereas her old self might not have done anything shows how much affection or at least responsibility she holds for him. This points to her being so emotionless before as a lack of social experience/friendships, more than an actual inability to feel or react to people. This time, Mao Mao steps in by taking the blame, which lands her in a room of “Taiban” torture.
I was starting to get worried for her, especially with Suirei’s reaction. But then another part of me was wondering if there was something more to it, because Shisui doesn’t give off the “torture fiend” vibes her mother does. The taiban turns out to be a box of poisonous snakes and creepy crawlies- which knowing Mao Mao the way Shisui does, we know this is bound to be a kid on Christmas Day experience. And here, we see how Mao Mao’s hair ornaments come into play, in full Kusuriya fashion. Mao Mao decapacitates the critters with said pins and roasts them over a fire (apparently hair sticks make good skewers). The scene where the guard opened the door to Mao Mao chowing down made me laugh so hard. I have to say- that’s the most creative use I’ve seen yet for hair sticks. Those things can be sharp and dangerous- I’ve actually gotten pulled over by security at the airport for carrying hair sticks in my bag.
In the course of the episode, Mao Mao notices a gunpowder smell, and the nice guard warns Mao Mao not to escape through the underground workroom in case of a “kaboom”. Which, of course, we can take to mean an explosion is dead certain within the remaining 12 minutes of the episode Mao Mao being Mao Mao, she ignores the guy’s advice and heads straight to the epicenter of danger. Surprisingly, what sets off the “kaboom” is not Mao Mao or an accident, but Shisui. Mao Mao refusing to leave Shisui is a sad moment. We all know that there’s no saving her- the only options are death or death, and it’s probably better for Loulan to die at her own hands in the gunpowder factory than a brutal capital punishment at the hands of the emperor once the approaching army captures her. This is Mao Mao’s last hurrah with one of the first palace friends she made. Another pivotal moment here is when Mao Mao belabors over what to call Shisui/Loulan. And the choice she makes here shows that Mao Mao is starting to learn how to get inside another person’s head. The choice she makes “Shisui” is the right one– she was the servant girl, the quirky, loving girl all along, not the placid, stone-faced puppet she had to be in front of her mother. That her mother only recognized her daughter when she was all dolled up, but not when dressed as servant is hard to take, but also par for the course with the standard “mother villain”. We also learn that Suirei is not some common born girl, but connected to royalty through the lady who was expelled from the palace for having the illegitimate girl, her mother. Suirei’s is a tough fate, for sure.
Shisui is a kind girl, that much is clear- disguising herself as a maid and enduring her mother’s wrath to be close with her sister. Even the pity she shows on refusing to carry a child for the emperor, taking an abortifacient rather than carry it to term. She knows how the child would be manipulated and the court thrown into chaos should she have chosen to give birth.
The worst gut punch came at the very end when Shisui led Mao Mao to the kids. At first what appears to be sleeping children, Mao Mao soon discovers are poisoned corpses, Kyou-u among them. Rather than see the children slaughtered by the army, she gives them a peaceful death, reading them a story before giving them the kool aid. On the one hand, I understand her thinking- perhaps that is a kinder death than the trauma the army would inflict on them before being beheaded. That had to have hurt her immensely, doing what she did. At the same time, surely there had to be some way to try to save them. Even in the Tale of the Heike, a historical account to which this is reminiscent of, some of the rebel clan and their children managed to escape and hide. (They actually escaped to and hid in caves not too far from where I live). Mao Mao’s been learning so many new emotions, she can’t hide them from seeping through her expression. Never more so clear than here, when she discovers Kyou-u’s body. There is no dead end or wasted development in Kusuryia, heck, even Suirei didn’t die, so I’m hoping they come through somehow with Kyou-u. He’s become such a pivotal part of Mao Mao’s character growth, and I’ve become rather fond of him.
Preview
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