*Spoiler below* Nah that would be crazy! It's like saying that there is a surefire way to distinguish an emperor which Maomao is extremely unlikely to pass due to biological reasons and yet she passes it. No way no way at all. :)@@2006Whippet
I love the bros but i dont think i have ever wanted to reach through a computer screen and shake someone more then i do when they discuss jinshi being the emperor
One thing I like about this show is that it actually is intelligent and features a truly intelligent main character. A lot of the times, when a show tries to present a character as intelligent, it does so by pulling "facts" out of thin air that was not previously known to the audience or the characters as evidence of the smart character being able to think ahead of everyone else. Apothecary Diaries doesn't do that. The clues are actually all there, but it's so subtle that a lot of people (even the SOS bros) miss it. For example, the soldier who got rewarded in this episode was the same soldier in the soldiers' camp poisoning who put a stop to the attempt to execute the villagers and village chief who were suspected of poisoning the soldiers. And Maomao's hypothesis for determining the real cause of the poisoning didn't come out of left field as she was actually given all the clues she needed. Most viewers just missed the clues. Really good writing to have a show about an intelligent character actually be truly intelligent. Also, guys, it's episode 3. I don't know how it's taken this long but yet not one of you managed to figure out that the people in rear palace, especially the concubines, are intimately familiar with the Emperor. Heck, concubines Gyokuyou and Lihua have borne the Emperor's children! Unless the Emperor is wearing Mission Impossible-style latex masks over his face, he could not possibly interact with them as Jinshi and still be unrecognizable as the Emperor. Also, "It would be funnier if Jinshi was not the Emperor and was instead just a high ranking guy sent to manage the rear palace"? You mean like the show tells us that Jinshi is?
so true, also the fact that - unlike many other shows - this one doesn't do so by making its other characters less smart. There's other characters in this that are just as smart as if not even smarter than Maomao, and I think honestly most of the cast has a certain level of intelligence, and that in my eyes is so refreshing to see. also, they are *still* on this theory!?
@@animusswtor4822I just watched their episode 4 release where the emperor is properly introduced. At the end discussion, they were saying that they may have to accept that it was the emperor since the show is telling them it is, but they were still trying to convince themselves that, no, it's the show that's wrong and he can't possibly be the real emperor. It's absolute clown shoes.
I think you should watch Kubikiri Cycle man, an unknow anime but it's a 500 IQ case to solve, you have all the details but i never knw one person who can solve the things in this series
@@syd.a.mI'm always amazed at how the bros can look so deep into a character's inner psyche and have a discussion on human nature for like an hour talking about the deepest things, but in the same breathe continuously get the most simple things wrong that the show is even activelly telling them "it's like this. those are the hard facts." and they still go like "no, the show's wrong, our head canon is right".....
@@mmello6160 honestly such a shame that the rest of the Zaregoto Series isn't animated, cuz Kubikiri Cycle is the worst part of the novel..... at least in my eyes.... But I'm also an avid reader of mystery stories and at some point you just get incredibly tired of locked-room murders....
🤣 this is why I’ve been subbed to them for several years now. I absolutely enjoy hearing their crackpot theories, cuz it’s so interesting on how they brainstorm stuff. They’ll nail a lot of stuff on the head and next go down a headcanon rabbit hole.
The wood poison wasn't just from the fire, the soldiers were shown making chopsticks from the same woody plants, so it was multiple vectors. Rhododendrons and plants in that family can be nasty like that. If bees are restricted to only drawing nectar from those plants, the honey is poisonous and/or hallucinogenic. With Maomao's knowledge of plants and such, she'd probably know what plants were common in which regions, and knowing the symptoms of rhodo poisoning, be able to make a solid deduction.
@@eddmarioI learned about the honey from research for a Sherlock drabble I wrote ages ago where Dr Watson gets poisoned by baklava made with rhododendron honey. Andromedotoxin, lovely stuff. Also used by a Greek king in ancient times to poison a Roman army.😁
yep. and as someone that handles rhododendrons and azaleas at work, you also need to be careful just handling them. the stems of a lot of them have fine hairs on them that break off like fiberglass into your skin. makes your hands sting until you either tweeze them out (which is hard because they are so tiny) or wait for your skin to work them out over time
@@CaffieneKitty if you dont scrub them down vigorously to remove the hairs then yes 🤭 they are a really beautiful ornamental plant though! i dont want to scare people away from enjoying them. you have to brush against them with decent force, or many times in a small amount of time (like when wrangling price tags onto them 😬) to get the splinters to really get stuck in your skin. and the leaves and flowers are fine to touch generally. if your skin gently brushes against the stems, usually you can blow the hairs off of you without much trouble if some have come off the plant. i have a big azalea bush outside my window and i love arranging all of our varieties of azaleas at work to showcase them to customers when they are blooming. we only have a few non-azalea rhodos (azaleas are a specific subtype of rhodo, so all azaleas are rhodos but not all rhodos are azaleas) but i love the way rhodo leaves are splayed out like fans. a beautiful plant, just not good for food or using a stick as a back scratcher 😂
I think Gyokuyo envies Fuyoh because Fuyoh gets to have a marriage based on mutual love. Gyokuyo is just a pawn in a political marriage, destined for the purpose of producing heirs. Love, if it ever actually blossoms in any real sense, is ultimately inconsequential. She'll never be his one-and-only like Fuyoh is for her man.
From what I've gathered, the officer who requested Concubine Fuyou, despite her being "ill", was the guy who handled the accident from the previous episode. When the deployed army started suspecting the villagers being guilty of poisoning, he's the one that said to take care of the wounded first and then investigate instead of burning it all down. Obviously, he's never named so we only have very little screen time to check. He's also likely distinguished himself a few more times prior in setting, but that would still be on brand with how this show reveals information on the down low sometimes. The same as Concubine Gyokuyou being foreign, or that Gaoshun, despite being a serving eunich, is still quite a few steps above post-promotion Maomao.
Gyokuyou's statement at the end of the episode: She is currently the emperor's favorite. However that favor can be retracted at any time, and she has no power. If something happens to her - say for a reason beyond her control she can no longer have children - she will lose that favor. She was given to the Emperor as a political prize - he may enjoy her company in and out of the bedroom but there's no love there. The Emperor will not go to hell and high water for Gyokuyou's sake, and she knows this. She's intelligent enough to know her worth is only if she can give birth to a son and keep that son alive. Fuyou...gets the happiest ending of the story. She goes through a lot of trauma and uncertainty, being given as a concubine to someone she does not know or love, put in a position where she is constantly watched, all the time hoping that the person she loves is able to stay alive and make themselves influential enough to ask for her as 'reward.' She is lucky that she actually gets it. She gets to be with the person she loves, who loves her, and who put themselves at incredible risk for her sake. Gyokuyou will never have that person in her life, not anymore. She traded that possibility for power within the imperial harem, a power that is entirely dependent on the myriad dangers of childbirth and the extreme hope that she will keep the Emperor's favor and raise a son. While it may be the more 'realistic' option, it's the one that comes at the cost of Gyokuyou possibly having someone who truly loves her.
Gyokuyou knows her life is no different from that of the women of the pleasure district, only her worth is in giving birth instead of keeping her purity. She might even have less power than a woman from the brothels. I enjoy the compare contrast between pleasure district and the rear palace which is not far from each other.
Oh my god, how on earth do they still think he is the emperor when not only did Jinshi himself confirm he isn't but their showed the emperor many times and the concubines are clearly higher ranked than him in the way they talk to him casually and even order him, and they all talk about the emperor in the third person around Jinshi lol
so judging from their reaction i dont think the bros know what eunuch actually is (if they did the emperor misunderstanding wouldnt happen in the first place lol) tho im mostly talking abt caleb's "whats that?" when the word was mentioned
They know what eunuchs are, they're just deep in their own headcanon about Jinshi secretly being the emperor. At 5:10 Maomao was thinking "This guy doesn't come off like a eunuch." In response, Caleb asked, "Why is that?" as in "Why does Maomao think this guy _isn't_ a eunuch?"
Wait, they still think that about Jinshi even though he had an encounter with the doctor who delivered the princess and the late prince? If Jinshi was actually the emperor, do they think the doctor would act like that towards him? While it is amusing that they still think like this, it is slowly getting frustrating. 😶
Bro can the editor please just tell them that he’s not the emperor? They avoid the comments but I know in the past the editor has sent them comments that are important.
I'm glad that they almost have it figured out that Jinshi is not the emperor. Almost. It really should be 100% cleared up by next episode, which I am very excited for. Great reaction!
Yeah... Honestly, it's pretty wild that they made the assumption in the first place. Even more unbelievable is that they're still not totally convinced 3 episodes in.
The mystery absolutely could be solved. I immediately thought she was faking it but I was all but convinced when Mamao brought up the story from her past. Then form there it was easy to connect it to the solider being from her home town. Honestly, they give us so much.
Given that they are dicussing potential of Jinishi not being the emperor I have more hope that they actually clue into that fact instead of doubling down on it despite all evidence.
At this point I can't tell if they're joking or still genuinely believe Jinshi is the emperor. For the love of all that is good, bros, please realize that Jinshi is just the head eunuch
Well, one thing is certain. These guys don’t read their comment section 🤣🤣They still insist on Jinshi being Emperor, even though So many people already commented, that he is not 🤣🤣🤣
It's good to see they starting to lean away from the "Jinshi is the emperor" theory. The comments had me thinking they were doubling-down hard lol. 30:10 the reason why the girls are so shook by the bandages is because it implies Maomao is scarred. Maomao has also mentioned briefly that her freckles make her very unattractive. I think the bros might be thinking of things from a modern perspective, but in this time period and ESPECIALLY for women in the rear court, having any sort of freckle, mole or blemish was considered a demerit.
Episode 4 outright tells us who the real emperor is, and Maomao even addresses him as the emperor. So the SOS bros have no choice but to accept that he's the emperor as the show says he is. However, in their post-episode discussion, they insisted that it makes no sense for that person to be the emperor. They still think that maybe the real emperor might be hidden somewhere and that the person shown might be a decoy.
@@fettel1988 we ARE introduced to someone she calls a father. They obviously don't know the twist but the show already introduced someone she calls father.
Its not really well shown in the anime, but my understanding is that the source material heavily implies Gyokuyo is jealous because Fuyou gets the man she loves all to herself, Gyokuyo -loves- the emperor, but has to share him with the other concubines, not that she doesn't get to be with the man she loves. (though where I am getting a good/official translation outside the anime is iffy at best so I could be misinformed too.
I like that the series doesn’t really shy away from how horrible being a concubine could be. Most of the women are pretty miserable just trying to get by
