Not feeling well today so a short rundown. Anyway not much happen.
General Ma somehow chose to arrest Sam Hou and Hin Yeung on suspicion of affair which is forbidden and whilst General Ma was keen to blame it on both of them, Sam Hou managed to explain what happened (she was there to release lanterns in memory of her dead mother, he was there for her, some assassin appeared and General Ma miraculously appeared immediately and killed the assassin) and the emperor let them go but General Ma said Sam Hou must be punished as she was discovered with love letters. Of course Sam Hou denied that, the emperor questioned General Ma who said "It can be one love letter or dozens of love letter, however many your majesty may require but it doesn't matter however much your majesty require if you do not believe my word" and so matter was postponed. 4 dept heads and Madam Choi met with Empress Dowager who could not help and Susanna and Michelle united in this issue. In the end emperor and mother gave that General Ma a piece of very valuable land and a 1 month hard labour (as in maid hard labour) for Sam Hou which Sam Hou accepted with a smile, as always. Hin Yeung advised the emperor to be patient and look out for General Ma who has become very arrogant and Emperor said he will deal with him by making him feel invincible and then pulling him down!
We all know it won't work since this is episode 12, we have about 22 episodes more to go? Clearly General Ma will continue to be a major villain.
Susanna was given by Michelle a choice between 2 gift boxes given by Empress Dowager (they're gifts from foreign emissaries and Susanna at the time having some verbal exchange with Mrs Man simply took one. When she was eating and upset over what that Mrs Man said, Kam Ling came and volunteered to be assistant head until Sam Hou comes back and Susanna agreed and so Kam Ling was very happy when suddenly Susanna vomited blood and she was poisoned!
But who? Immediately Empress Dowager asked her maid who opened the desert boxes in the first place and they came from Empress Dowager Kwok (I made a mistake as to her title, Kwok merely refers to her surname - how bland eh?) so Empress Dowager thought Susan was actually trying to poison her. Meanwhile everybody thought Michelle did it and Michelle went to see Mrs Man to ask her to be a witness since she was there but Mrs Man refused and I suppose idiot Michelle will still side her just to hurt Susanna. Empress Dowager had a face off with Susan who then proposed they all go to temple to pray for Susanna and whilst there she openly criticised Empress Dowager since under her care someone wanted to poison another, which was unheard of during her time and she gave Empress Dowager 5 days to find the culprit or she takes over the dept, again. And she swears on her grandchildren's life that she did not poison Susanna. And I believe her, since she seems above all these poisoning thing. If she wanted to, she would have just plunge a knife into empress dowager.
Susan Tse was masterful in this scene, oh how I hate her but how masterful and so was Mary Hon who still fears this former formidable empress dowager.
Meanwhile Kam Ling spied on Sam HOu to see if she's ok, and she is and she reported to the emperor and offered her friendship to him which he accepted.
Susanna was on the way getting better when Kam Ling overheard how the 2 other heads suggested she pin the blame on Michelle which she refused. Kam Ling completed her task for Susanna whom Susanna complimented as good and Kam Ling expressed her disappointment at human nature and how despicable they can be even against friends and how fake and Susanna actually said she believed Kam Ling and Sam Hou are 2 very true friends which made Kam Ling smiled. To me this is a strange statement to make since she distrusts Kam ling. At what point did she thaw her heart for Kam Ling? Anyway Susanna still wasn't well after eating a bit of food and then they saw something to do with Kam Ling's silver jewelry for the Empress Dowager and Susanna's chopsticks, remember, gift from Lui Shan from last episode.
Meeting time between 4 heads and Madam Choi and Susanna actually used the same chopstick to give each a piece of desert but Lui Shan was the only one who hesitated to accept. Some words exchanged and implicated certain elements in furnishings can be poisonous and Lui Shan said something about keeping those poisonous substances in some box somewhere which Madam Choi and the rest slammed their chopsticks and said she was a liar. Then Susanna said "It was you, you were the one who tried to poison me!" and...
next episode, we will learn why. I also wanna know why, why on earth she wanna poison her? WHY?! WHY?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So it wasn't Susan!
Anyway I don't understand why General Ma is so powerful. Since everyone says he has enemies amongst the officials, just imagine he, Hin Yeung and Emperor at some isolated place. Why can't the emperor just cry "GENERAL MA, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" and Hin Yeung screaming "GENERAL MA! DON'T YOU DARE HURT HIS MAJESTY!!!" and kill General Ma for treason. Why not eh? That would be a realistic and fascinating ending. Emperors should learn to be like Shih Huang Ti- kill off your enemies and then your own men to secure your own future.
I still find the story not just lacking, but darn ridiculous.
As for the whole emperor thing, the dress may be opulent, the gardens gorgeous, the sets not so but the entire feel is like one mansion with a master of mansion. I do not see an emperor scale of things, I see a "lau yeh" scale of things. And the things happening to the emperor is so ridiculous politically, it is also impossible. This is not Palace Schemes, this is Mansion Schemes.
No comment as to performances except for Susan Tse and Mary Hon. I am not in the mood to write more. Hopefully will regain mood to write a proper one for next episode.
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December 16, 2010 at 12:02 PM
The silver and chopstick thing is that silver will turn black when it touches poison. That's how they know the chopstick is poison. This trick has been used many times in wuxia series. They poke a silver needle into food to check whether the food is poison or not.
Yes, the politics is riduculous. And fomidable General Ma seems very petty to insist on Sam Hou, a mere palace maid, being punished. The revenge had on Sam Hou is even more petty in the next episode.
Thanks for the recount even when you are sick. Get well soon.