Jason Mantzoukas

In the opening moments of episode one, it's about a young girl who is the daughter to an apothecary.

It's feudal China.

She works in the pleasure district creating salves and balms and medicines for the sex workers in a brothel.

She is kidnapped.

and sold into essentially slavery in the rear palace where all the emperor's courtesans live, courtesans or?

Concubines.

Concubines, sorry.

Where the emperor's concubines live and she is like meant to be just like a servant there.

But then they slowly realize that she has an apothecary skill set.

And so they start to put her to work solving the mysteries of the palace.

So it is palace intrigue.

It is also a will-they-won't-they between her and the guy that runs the rear palace, Master Jinshi, who is, well, I won't say anything more about him.

And so it really becomes,

comes this story where she is trying she's she just exists now in this new world and is Mao Mao is her name and she is one of my all-time favorite characters in stories now I'm obsessed with this character because she is it is it's like it is a medical it's a mystery procedural but it's always building out these character relationships and these character dynamics that she has with the other ladies-in-waiting with the staff of the rear palace and

all this intrigue, all of these assassination attempts.

There's so much going on.

And her cursory knowledge of and ability to, she's also obsessed with poisons.

Yes.

Not just that they exist, but she wants to drink them all.

She wants to drink all poisons to see what they do.