Kusuriya no Hitorigoto 2nd Season Episode 18 Discussion

I'm glad this conspiracy is slowly growing larger and taking solid shape, but I didn't like how the show went from the old lady in the clinic all the way to Concubine Luolan. A bunch of new information got dropped on us really quickly, and the connections were too far-fetched.

The grave of the lady-in-waiting, the random leap to the daughter she had, the random leap to the concubine she served, the random leap to the concubine's later marriage to Shishou, the random leap to their daughter Luolan...

It's also a little strange that it's been 10 days without Jinshi making any sort of progress with finding Maomao. She told him the escape route and the name of the person(s) involved, and he still hasn't found anything?

@perseii I mean, all they know is where they left the rear palace, nothing about the route outside, and one of the names she gave was literally made up.

I'm glad this conspiracy is slowly growing larger and taking solid shape, but I didn't like how the show went from the old lady in the clinic all the way to Concubine Luolan. A bunch of new information got dropped on us really quickly, and the connections were too far-fetched.

The grave of the lady-in-waiting, the random leap to the daughter she had, the random leap to the concubine she served, the random leap to the concubine's later marriage to Shishou, the random leap to their daughter Luolan...

It's also a little strange that it's been 10 days without Jinshi making any sort of progress with finding Maomao. She told him the escape route and the name of the person(s) involved, and he still hasn't found anything?

@perseii Episode 9 mentions that the emperor had previously had another child with a former lady-in-waiting (named Taihou in episode 18). This child was not recognized, as the lady-in-waiting had been accused of sleeping with the inner court physician. For this reason, the reigning empress decided to make all doctors working at the inner court eunuchs. The doctor and the child (a girl) were banished from the court.

The former lady-in-waiting worked in the service of a concubine, who happened to be Loulan's mother. Before marrying Shishou, she was the concubine of the former emperor.

The clinic's old lady, ShenIü, a friend and colleague of Taihou's, was also the former emperor's victim and seems to have actively participated in the conspiracy. (Maomao had estimated at least to the affair of Lihua's lady-in-waiting, but probably the white powder and other events are indirectly his doing).

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That aside, the episode was impressively directed. I was quite shaken when Jinshi made the connection between Taihou and Loulan. I was also moved by the victim ShenIü, whose story is particularly sad. I'm glad Maomao's line "she could have lived worse, and died with the emperor's death" was removed from episode 16.

Quack doctor’s disrespect is unreal lmaoo. You literally have Luomen and the others on their toes for Gyokuyou, and he’s being told to take care of Maomao the cat… NOOOOO, lol. Anyway, jokes aside, I’m just glad it wasn’t anything serious with Gyokuyou, and we jumped back to the main subject… Maomao’s disappearance. Seriously, very shrewd of Jinshi to take a hint and jumping on that clinic lady within a glance. I mean you know, the things you try to hide eventually come back to bite you, so yeah it was coming for her.

Trauma aside, I’m glad man figured out everything. Now you see, THAT GHOST STORY EPISODE we had some weeks ago, was actually very practically part of a BIGGER picture all along. As yeah, the one who died was actually once used to be the head maid of Loulan’s mother, and Suirei is actually her DAUGHTER… YEAHHHH, I loved how all of it was connected. You seriously never have anything just for the sake of it, in this series. This tells why Suirei and Shisui are around each other.

Jinshi went ABSOLUTELY STEROIDS btw on Loulan’s fake, seriously, he was at his limits, and he laid out all of it on Loulan’s fake and her ladies in waiting. You have to feel for them lol. The eunuch they all know has a side this dangerous to him as well lmao. The truth is out, in more ways than one, and yeah all of it has taken a very dangerous political angle as well. Expected of Lakan’s son, but yeah, I’m waiting for the man himself to come face to face with Jinshi next time lol.

Great episode! All that build-up is paying off. Now yeah, after this one it shouldn't be hard enough to guess who ACTUALLY Loulan is xD

I don't remember that, thanks for the reminder. It would've been nice if this episode mentioned that to remind us (maybe it did? it was all so fast)

I knew about the rest of what you wrote, thanks. What I don't really understand is why Jinshi would make all of these connections. To someone in his position, at that very moment, why would he think Luolan has anything to do with this? It's just 4-5 loosely connected pieces of information that don't look particularly suspicious or relevant...

@perseii I think the animation staff also want to allow their viewers to think and connect from everything they've watched. This is not an anime where you're taken by the hand. ;)

Taihou is already mentioned elsewhere, since episode 10 on ghost stories was not placed at random.

The connection to Loulan is obvious, as Jinshi had no way of knowing what plot was afoot at the time. It was the tomb of a woman before whom ShenIü (but also Suirei) prayed.
The woman's words took him back to her past (+ShenIu's speech on Jinshi's striking resemblance to the former emperor), when she had been Loulan's mother's lady in waiting. That's how you conduct an investigation, even if it's based on small clues. :)
The anime actually backed this up with a Luomen/Maomao quote just beforehand. On their ability to be rational. Which helped Jinshi to calm down.

Right there, see the problem? It's very "I'm your father's brother's nephew's cousin's roommate," haha.

But it's not a big deal, really, maybe I'm just clueless and not seeing an obvious connection there that anyone would've made.

@perseii No, I really don't.

The Taihou situation caused a scandal in the imperial palace at the time. Although Jinshi wasn't born at the time, as an intendant working at the inner court, it's only natural that he should have heard of the affair. What's more, he receives a map showing the location of the cemetery, which is not just any cemetery, but that of the former emperor's victims.

The only clue about Taihou, the former ghost storyteller, was her connection with the former concubine who happens to be Loulan's mother (and her connection with Suirei, for the viewer).

There’s a plot afoot… but they still haven’t answered one major question… why kidnap Maomao?

No this is 100% what is happening. I can't believe it!! It was so well done, I didn't even expect anything at all like it. it's so cool. I'm so hyped about this hahah and they've also been telling us all along!!


this is so exciting hahaha