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<\/a>I always dislike mid-season hiatuses like we got with The Apothecary Diaries<\/em> last week. But fortunately it doesn\u2019t take long to get back into the swing of things, as the current plotline is pretty robust. As I noted earlier, there\u2019s a sense here of a transition point. The story has been ever-expanding, asking questions it doesn\u2019t answer and unspooling threads with loose ends. I expect it to be a very slow process, but one does at least get the idea that we\u2019re finally in explanation mode. Not neatly of course, but some tying together of those threads.<\/p>\n<\/a>There can be little doubt this is about the throne, that\u2019s clear. I don\u2019t know how much Shisui knows but she\u2019s at the heart of it, and by fleeing the palace she\u2019s subjected her entire clan to an execution order. Whether that includes the servants left behind is an interesting question \u2013 \u201cjust following orders\u201d likely wouldn\u2019t carry much weight in this setting. In any event there\u2019s no going back \u2013 they\u2019re enemies of the emperor now, and by advancing to this stage the mastermind(s) of the plan surely know that. Acting now by extracting Suirei indicates that they feel ready for that next step.<\/p>\n<\/a>Color is a recurring theme here. The green on the fox masks<\/a> for the festival, a nod to the color blindness subplot. The worship of the white fox, indicative of the tribe from the West. Thee presence of the envoy (Ayla by name, as it turns out) in the village indicates that ancestral ties have not been forgotten. There seems to be a belief by this group that they\u2019re the rightful heirs to the throne, and the current Imperial line usurpers. Which said line would obviously disagree with, in most violent terms.<\/p>\n<\/a>I don\u2019t know whether Shisui is in fact Shishou\u2019s daughter, or that was merely a role she was playing. And as such it\u2019s not clear she would be this line\u2019s candidate for ascendancy, though she certainly isn\u2019t being treated like she is. I don\u2019t know if she and Suirei are actually sisters, or if Kyou-u is actually their brother (I don\u2019t think so). The village is certainly an interesting place, and the festival is depicted in quite atmospheric fashion. Maomao more or less plays along, low-key playing detective and trying to figure out what game is actually being played here. And waiting on her promised resurrection potion, of course.<\/p>\n<\/a>Maomao refuses Shisui\u2019s inquiry about giving her Jinshi\u2019s hair stick. And she declines the offer of a frog-kebab at the festival for obvious reasons (she also demurs on locust, settling for chicken). It\u2019s quite haunting on the whole, with the previous year\u2019s masks being burned<\/a>. Supposedly the wishes written on the masks are granted if they send their smoke up to Heaven, not so if they fall in the water. Shisui\u2019s words and Kyou-u\u2019s face<\/a> suggest there\u2019s something more at play here, possibly quite dark. Eventually Suirei gives up the recipe for the potion, then says she\u2019s going away for a while. Shisui follows suit, leaving Maomao to read Suirei\u2019s herb texts and ponder what she\u2019s been seeing.<\/p>\n<\/a>Unable to resist playing detective, Maomao decides to check out the old rice storehouse that\u2019s no longer in use. She drafts Kyou-u to help, as he has a secret exit he uses to get out of studying. He\u2019s also surprisingly adept at picking locks<\/a>, and soon the unlikely pair are inside. There they find rats in cages (Suirei\u2019s test subjects), and the making of a firearms production facility<\/a>. But soon trouble arrives in the form of Ayla<\/a> and Shenmei<\/a> (Fukami Rica<\/em><\/a>), whose mere mention seemed to terrify Kyou-u. And judging by the way Shisui talked about her mother, I\u2019m guessing she and Shenmei are the same person.<\/p>\n