Chinese Drama 2021

The Imperial Coroner (Chinese Drama Review & Summary)

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Global Granary Drama Recommendation

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• Genre: Historical Costume Drama Fiction, Forensic, Tang Dynasty
• Release Date: 29 April 2021
• Origin: China
• Cdrama: 36 Episodes

Cast

• Su Xiao Tong as Chu Chu
• Wang Zi Qi as Xiao Jinyu/Prince An
• Yang Ting Dong as Vice Ministwe Jing Yi
• Zhao Yao Ke as Leng Yue
• Wang Yan Bin as Xiao Jin Li (Prince An’s Brother)
• Guo Qiu Cheng as Xue Ru Cheng
• Mu Huai Hu

 

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Snippets

• 24 June 2024: A Season 2 had been announced during today’s Tencent Video Drama Party.  And the good news is that the origanal cast is returning.

 

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Episode 1

I really enjoyed this first episode.  The lead girl is just adorably intelligent and the lead guy is very tsundere.

This is about ancient forensic which is really interesting.

Anyway, according to his drama, during the middle and towards the end of the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Xuanzong, who was helped by eunuchs to the throne rewarded them with being in charge of the armies to keep the Imperial place safe.

The Emperor created the Three Judicial Offices which he put under Commandery Prince An, Xiao Jinyu’s supervision.  Xiao Jinyu was the son of a princess and a general who the emperor owed his life to during a battle.

These Three Judicial Offices manage all the criminal cases and they employ coroners to solve the cases.

There is a Coroner Qualification Test annually and anyone can participate in the test, including women as long as they can show logical intelligence.

And this is how the lead girl came in.  She was Chu Chu who immediately impressed the Vice-Minister of the Three Judicial Offices even before the test began.

When she had a skill assessment test which she did not realise was being watched by Prince An, she impressed the tutors with her expertise, they realised that she was au fait with everything a coroner should do, even the little things like disinfecting oneself after examination of a corpse.

She progressed to the second part of the skill test, which is the live specimen.

She was told to wait a while for the live specimen to turn up.  When she saw a man with a bruised forehead she assumed that he was the specimen.

Everyone was sniggering in shock because the specimen she found was Prince An.

Prince An signaled not to interfere and allowed Chu Chu to examine him and tell him how he got the bruise.

He was very impressed with her didactic thinking.

She then found out that he was Prince An and he also has a very logical mind and their way od thinking and looking at things seemed in sync.

She told him that she had heard of him.  He was the Chief of Six Systems, who knew everything.

The prince denied it but she did not believe him. She was convinced that he was the legendary Handsome Judge.

Episode 2

A man from the inn barged in to demand that Chu Chu pay her bills.

Chu Chu said that she will pay when she’s got the money.  She reminded him that she left her pendant and a letter explaining the payment.

The prince saw the pendant and became extremely interested in it.

The pendant, it turned out was a love token of Princess Xiping to Xiao Heng.

A wily minister got to hear of this and was wondering how a lowly girl has the love token of the princess.

I really love this drama.  It is so interesting with a good script and watchable young actors.  I highly recommend it.

3

4

5

Episode 6 – 7

They found out that the basement of Ruhui restaurant was used a spying hideout.  Confidential documents regarding the powerful in the municipality were found in the basement, but most have been burnt.

Prince An had become interested in his missing father and had asked his mother if he had a distinguishing mark.

Chu Chu met the feisty Leng Yue who asked her what Chu Chu thing of her.  Being the coroner that she was, Chu Chu looked Leng Yue over and innocently said that she had perfect face, perfect body, perfect everything.  Everyone would like to marry such perfect.  Chu Chu added that if she had been a man, she would also like to marry someone like Leng Yue.

Leng Yue laughed merrily.  She was still laughing when Prince An arrived.

Chu Chu found out from Prince An that Leng Yue was the granddaughter of a powerful general.

Prince An asked Chu Chu to write an autopsy report.

The Prince was happy with the report Chu Chu made which encouraged Chu Chu if the Prince like beautiful girls.

He said of course he does.  Beautiful women are pleasant to look at.

Episode 8

Poor Chu Chu did not pass her imperial test, no did.  She also thought that Prince An had something going with the lovely Leng Yue.

With this in mind, Chu Chu decided to go back home but she had lost her pass so she can’t leave the palace.

She went to tell this to the prince, who said that he will ask General Wu to sort out her pass.  He asked her why she wanted to leave.

She told him that since she did not pass her exam and lost all her autopsy instruments she can’t really do anything so she had to go home.

General Wu came to see Chu Chu.  He told her that the prince wanted her to perform an autopsy to the person who was supposed to have died of the plague.

Prince An had a talk with the Emperor and told him that the recent spate of supposedly accidental death of ministers was no accident.

He said that not only the ministers had been murdered, but there were also more who had gone unnoticed,

Prince An showed a couple of seemingly identical coins but on closer look, one was counterfeit.  So Prince An reckoned that the deaths had something  to do with counterfeiting.

The Emperor tasked Prince An to go to the Southwest to carry out his investigation.

Episode 9

Remembering that Prince An confirmed that he likes beautiful women, Chu Chu put on make-up rather thickly, she could have give Kim Kardashian a run of her money.  She highlighted and sculpted her cheeks.

Excitedly she answered the door when the Prince came calling.

He was shocked when he saw her.  He asked her if she was learning how to dress up a corpse.

Poor Chu Chu hesitantly agreed.

The prince said for her to wash her face before they talk.

Chu Chu gave him the ladle she policed.  She explained that it is now a mirror; one side is convex and the other side concave.

Anyway, Prince An was chuffed but what he wanted to talk about with Chu Chu was going with him to the Southwest.

The next day, Chu Chu was surprised to find that Leng Yue and Jing Yi were going with them as well.

They were ambushed on their way.

Episode 10

Xue Ru Cheng was made the new Minister of War.

Prince An, Jing Yi, Leng Yue, and their troops managed to fight off the bandits.

They then met Prince An brother, General Xue.

Prince An and General Xue escorted Chu Chu to her village in Xianzhou.  Along the way, they met her brother, Chu He, who became belligerent just to protect her from the strange men she was with.

Chu Chu told her brother that they are good people.  When they got to her house, the Prince and the General met Chu chu’s grandad and father.

At first, they were wary of the Prince and the General, not knowing their true identities but they were assured by the Prince’s knowledge of autopsy which was all they needed to know. :). Aww, these autopsy people!!!😜

Anyway, Granpa and Dad thought that the Prince wanted information about Chu chu but instead, the Prince was asking them about the witch doctor that used to live in their village.

He was told that the man grew pretty close to Chu Chu but has been gone for four or five years now.

Prince An asked permission to lodge in their house for the evening.

Episode 11

Chu Chu’s family was surprised by their request.  It was not the done thing to stay in a place where an autopsy is performed.  It was deemed unluchky.

But the Prince assured them that he has an autopsy room in his won manor, which Chu Chu confirmed.

The general asked the prince why he wanted to stay at the house, the prince said that he wanted to find out the mystery surrounding Chu Chu because he does not feel that she was the daughter of the house.  She was being treated too special, there is no real warmth. The prince also mentioned that the witch doctor was their father and they had to find out everything about it and he reckoned Chu Chu’s family knew more than what they are telling.

Meanwhile, Jing Yi and Leng Yue started investigating the counterfeit coins.  The officers , Prefect Li and the Magistrate, they spoke to immediately confessed that it was all their fault and willing to accept their punishment.

They are so cute, Chu Chu and Prince An.

Prince An drank with her family so Chu Chu made him hot soup because she noticed that he suffers from dicky stomach.

Prince An asked her to keep it a secret.  He doesn’t want his brother or Jing Yi to find out because they would watch him closer even more.

He then gave her a pouch of his own handmade autopsy tools. Awww

Episode12

This drama is getting better and better.

Chu He challenged Prince An to prove that he was nobility.  To prove it, he must catch the ghost at the haunted house.

When Prince An heard that the haunted house was where the Witch doctor lived he was happy to visit the haunted house.

They found a well preserved corpse hidden in the yard.

Prince An tasked Chu Chu to perform the autopsy.

Chu Chu said that the corpse is neither a man or a woman.

Prince An concluded that they were looking at a body of a eunuch.

It looks like the eunuch was killed by the witch doctor in self defense.

When Prince An got Chu Chu alone, he once again asked her about the token and where she got it.  He then showed her the other half of the token which he told her was carved by his father as a love token to his Prince An’s mother.

Suddenly Chu Chu realised that Prince An did not care for her or admire her talent.  He had been indulging her from the beginning because of the token.

She got so annoyed she told him he was basically a liar, he never believed that she was a great coroner.  She ran off.

Anyway Jing Yi finally found out the truth about Chu Chu’s real family that she was adopted.

Jing Yi brought the record of Chu Chu’s mother.

In turn, Prince An asked Chu Chu’s grandpa about it.

Grandpa said perhaps it was time to reveal the truth.

The whole Chu family sat down to have a talk about Chu Chu who walked in the middle of it.

The father said that he was called one night at the Xu Manor where Mrs Xu, the sister of the owner of the manor reported that his sister committed suicide.

Father Xu did not realised that the dead Mrs Xu was heavily pregnant but he took the baby out of her body and found a healthy baby girl.

Grandpa said that that kind of pregnancy delivery is called a coffin baby.  So Chu Chu is a coffin baby.

Anyway, they decided to take care of the baby for now, and then they went to see Mr. Xu to discuss the baby but the whole Xu family had banished.

They knew that they were in trouble with the law so Dad Chu knelt down in front of Prince An followed by Chu and Grandpa.

Chu Chu knelt down as well and piteously begged Prince An to spare her family.  She then told that he was really after the token.  She would tell him everything she knows.

Prince An was aghast at what Chu Chu said as if he was going to take advantage of the situation.  He asked her if she trusted him.

Episode 13

Prince An was shocked that he spewed blood.

He was lying in bed when he had Chu Chu summoned.  He told Chu Chu that he will signed her certificate as a bonafide coroner.  She passed.

Because now he knew who her mother was.

Chu Chu told him about the Witch Doctor as well as everything she knew about him which really amounted to nothing much.

Prince An told her not worry because he found out enough from the booklets she gave him as well as the letter.

Chu Chu’s grandpa turned up and gave her a hairpin belonging to her mother.  Prince An was very interested on it and started drawing it.

Meanwhile Chu He told his father that they should not allow Chu Chu to leave again.  He wanted to marry Chu Chu which rather shocked his father.

Chu He said that fairly early on, he knew that Chu Chu was not his sister.

Episode 14

Prince An asked Chu Chu permission to dig up her mother’s corpse to examine whether she committed suicide or not.

Chu Chu agreed because she wanted to find as well.

General Xiao reported to Prince An that Leng Yue had been furtively shadowing Jing Yi and they don’t know why?!!!

In the palace, Minister Xue and Minister Jing went to see the emperor.  They told him that General Leng had a growing control over the Southwest and they reckoned that he might go independent.  So to prevent this, they should promote Xiao Jin Li as the general in the south west.

The emperor was not too happy with the idea but they told him that perhaps the Emperor should issue an edict to marry Leng Yue to Xiao Jin Li.

Minister Xue was rather concerned with this plan because it would put Xiao Jin Li and Prince An into danger.

Meanwhile, Chu Chu had finished her autopsy on her mother’s remains and she was sure that she did not kill herself but was murdered.

Episode 15

It looks like Jing Yi had been spying for his father, Minister Jing.

Jing Yi had kept his father well informed with was happening in the Southwest.

Meanwhile, Leng Yue had a quick word with Prince An.  She told him honestly that she does not want to marry him because she had always seen him just a brother.

Prince An, who was rather surprised told her that he never really thought of marrying her.

Chu Chu was making of a clay bust/head of her mother.  She said that she can tell from the skull of her mother how she would look like in the flesh.

Leng Yue went to see Chu Chu in her temporary studio.  Chu Chu said that children get their looks from both their parents.

Prince An then overheard the conversation between Leng Yue and Chu Chu about him and his brother.

Leng Yue told Chu Chu that Xiao Jin Li and Xiao Jin Yu are brothers, in fact, they are twins.

Chu Chu was not convinced.  She can’t believe that the two were twins.

Episode 16

Xu Rugui kidnapped Chu Chu and Prince An thinks that Rugui knew something about Chu Chu’s parents.

It turned out that Xu Rugui was Chu Chu’s uncle, her mother’s brother.  He is Xu Zongfang.  He allowed his sister to be killed by the butler, yes the butler did it because he was scared that his own family will be implicated with his sister’s problem.

Chu Chu’s father was a commander in the military who rebelled against the king so all the members of the family of the rebel were killed and Chu Chu must be the last of her family.

Prince An was able to rescue Chu Chu and Xu Rugui was also captured.

The Prince put Xu Rugui under water droplets torture which was apparently very effective to make even the most taciturn to sing like a canary.

Xu Rugui said that the mastermind of the surveillance from the Rugui Restaurant basement was from inside the palace itself.

It was Eunuch Qin.

Episode 17

Eunuch Qin was masterminding something from behind the scene and had been whispering on the Emperor’s ear.

Thank goodness, the Emperor seemed has a thinking mind and not trust his head eunuch at all.

Meanwhile, Chu Chu realised the enormity of her parents being called a traitor so she was preparing for her death as well and made her grandpa to bury her next to her mother and to visit her grave with her father and brother once in a while.

Prince An was trying to make sure that Chu Chu’s issue does not reach the emperor yet but walls have ears plus the fact that Chu He who has an unrequited love for Chu Chu was so jealous of Prince An that he had become rather vengeful.

He was trying to help Xu Rugui escape.

Episode 18

This episode has more hint of romance.

Chu He abetted Xu Rugui into escaping by giving him a chisel to cut off the rope he was tied in.

Chu He wanted Rugui to escape so he leaves by himself and not take Chu Chu away.

But bandits got to Rugui and he was injured but at the same time Chu He stalked Rugui to make sure that he was leaving.

Chu He though fell into a ravine and into the water.

Jin Li who was hunted Rugui realised what had happened to Chu He and reported this to Prince An who was by the riverside with Chu Chu.

While Prince An and Jin LI were conferring, Chu Chu saw her brother’s cloak floating in the river.

Chu Chu jumped immediately which was seen by Prince An who jumped after her then everyone jumped after them.

Chu Chu managed to rescue her brother with the help of the Prince. Chu Chu brought up her brother but went back again to rescue the prince..

As soon as Prince An became conscious, he asked for Chu Chu, who was still being helped to the shore.

Prince An ran to Chu Chu and hugged her tightly.

Chu Chu was very surprised but not as surprised as the other people surrounding them.

Chu He was brought to safety and Chu Chu was tending to him.

Meanwhile, Jin Li went to see his brother.  He was very worried because he knew Prince An had been sickly and can’t swim from young age.

Jin Li was scolding his brother and who was rather embarrassed about his reaction to Chu Chu.

Anyway, Jin Li told tended to him like a devoted twin.  They are so cute.

Episode 19

Chu Chu was looking after her brother which did not really please Prince An.  When Chu Chu refused to leave, Prince An told her that the Three Judicial Justice had just to make do with one less coroner because she will be fired.

Chu Chu then left worriedly.

Her brother confessed everything to Prince An.

Meanwhile in the Capital Minister Han was harking that Prince An recruited the daughter of a rebel so he was finished.

Vice Magistrate Tan was going to kill Chu Chu because he blamed him for the death of Butler Tan, his father.

Episode 20

The Romance Brothel was hiding Xu Rugui’s family but now Eunuch Qin had ordered General Zhou to have the whole family killed.

Jin Yu and Jin LI are the cutest twins.

The gorgeous General Wu secretly saved Xu Rugui’s family.

Prince An was really annoyed with Chu Chu when she came to see him and give him the polished ladle/mirror she fished out from the river.

Knowing that she went to the river without telling anyone and she could have drowned without anyone knowing drove him to destruction.  He told her to leave and go back home and she was under house arrest.  She must not leave without his say so.

As soon as she left, poor Prince An was in pain.  He probably suffers from IBS. or ulcer 🙁

Episode 21

They finally found the witch doctor but it was his cadaver which was surprisingly well preserved in the bog, swamp.

Cipher secret message vindicating Chu Chu’s father and his soldiers of being rebels.

Episode 22

Prince An wanted to know how his father died.

Chu Chu confirmed after examination that his father was dying.  Because he self-cured and never consulted a medicine man, his disease spread to his bones.  And knowing that death was imminent, he wrapped himself in a blanket and threw himself into the swamp.

The Minister of War went to the Southwest to arrest Chu Chu, who he thinks is ruining his carefully laid plan of removing Prince An from the Thee Judicial offices.

Prince An though told the Minister of War that he had the evidence that Chu Chu’s father was anything but a rebel.

Prince An’s father left a testament regarding the issue.

Episode 23

The Minister of War took Prince An to inform him that he noticed that the Prince has a crush on his young coroner.  The minister continued that the way Prince An protect Chu Chu was more than employer and employee.  He reminded Prince An that in his stature Chu Chu was not good enough for him.

Meanwhile. Prince An’s mother was worried and annoyed when she received the report from the Imperial Astrologer that Leng Yue and General Xiao are compatible.  The Princess wanted both her sons, Prince An and General Xiao to be able to choose their own partner in life.

And Prince An had chosen.  He even proposed to Chu Chu which scared the girl and turned him down.

She said she will stay with him forever as his coroner but she could not marry him.

Chu He went missing again and they reckoned that he went looking for Xu Rugui to redeem himself.

They did find Chu He and Xu Rugui.

Prince An was so clever that he deduced that Li Zhang has something to do with the minting of contraband coins.

Episode 24

Prince An did not give up on Chu Chu.  He tried wooing her but it backfired when he gave her rouge and powder.  She said the powder would interfere in her job as a coronor.

He understood, kind of, then as a piece de resistance he gave her a little bouquet fo little pink flowers.  He said that he saw the flowers and thought of her immediately so he picked some for her,

She accepted the flowers, though she looked more insulted than happy.

In front of him she threw the flowers in a pig swill.

He went complaining to Jin Yu, who said that he could not believe that Chu Chu would be so unfeeling.

Ling Yue heard what they were talking about.  She told them that Chu Chu put the flowers into the pig swill because the flowers are fed to pigs.

Jin Yu and Ling Yue had a right laugh when they remembered that Prince An told Chu Chu that she reminded him of the flowers so he had to pick them.  They said that Chu Chu might be thinking that he thinks she looks like a pig.

Even his brother Xiao Jin Li laughed but reminded Prince An to be true to himself.

Prince An and his team had found the hideout of where the fake coins were being made.  It was in a cave.

Episode 25

Prince An and Chu Chu got trapped at the far end of the cave.  Prince An started to have hallucinations and it was left to Chu Chu to make sure he comes out of it.  He was imagining that he was being attacked by bats. Then he fell into a pond just like when he was little.

He became unconscious and Chu Chu had to give him rescusitation.

When he came to, the Prince frightened Chu Chu a little bit so she confessed why she would not marry him.

She said that she had decided to be a coroner throughout her life.  And she wanted to stay with him as a coroner.  She told him that coroners are treated like evil incarnate, the bringer of death and she does not want Prince An to be mocked or laughed out if he was in a relationship with her.

The Prince said that she will be the only one who will be in his heart and she counter confessed as well, he was the only one she has ever loved. Aww

They got rescued finally and their romance continued on at Chu Chu’s place where her grandpa set Prince An’s dislocated arm.

Prince An told Chu Chu that he does not want to return to Chang’an yet because they have not really gotten the mastermind of the fake coins yet.

Li Zhang was just a small fish in a big pond.

Meanwhile, the Minister of War was escorting back to Chang’an the prisoner, Rugui but they were ambushed by bandits.

Episode 26

The Emperor was livid that a minister was attacked in broad daylight.

The situation was getting out of hand which worried Prince An, General Xiao, Ling Yue and JIng Yi.

Prince An was regretful that he did not send Chu Chu to a safe place before everything went chaotic.

But he promised Chu Chu that he was going to do everything to clear his father’s name as well as Chu Chu’s father and family.

He was only concerned that when she becomes a real lady, she would not really like him anymore.

She told him that she will only liked him.  And when he asked again if she would marry him, this time Chu Chu was not hesitant.

She told him he will.

Their sweet moment was overheard by her brother Chu He.

Who later confronted Prince An about his real intention about Chu Chu.

Prince An gave his Thee Judicial offices token to Chu He and told him that he could go to Chang’an at anytime and no one will stop him when he showed them the token.  He can then check on Chu Chu anytime.

Chu He said he will and Prince An had better believe it.

Episode 27

Eunuch Qin went to visit the injured Minister of War.  He inflicted more injury to the minister as he dug his fingers into the minister’s newly dressed wound.  Eunuch Qin then told the minister that the Emperor was very annoyed that the minister’s mission was a failure and losing Xu Rugui in the process.

Meanwhile, Prince An and his team travelled to the border to see General Leng who had asked for help because for some reason his soldiers are getting ill and a few had committed suicide.

Chu Chu made Jing Yi looked battered so he could infiltrate the medical room.

General Leng, who was a misogynist, as what was the norm during that time, did not want Leng Yue to assist Chu Chu with the autopsy or military duties.  But Leng Yue had a mind of her own and was prepared to go on arguing with her grandpa if Prince An did not intervene.

Anyway General Leng and his commander explained that rumours had started that the soldiers killing themselves was supernatural in nature.

When Chu Chu finished the examination, she did not find any sign that the soldiers committed suicide but rather they looked like they were killed.  One drowned, one hanged himself, etc.

Leng Yue said that those who committed suicide are professional soldiers and if they really want to kill themselves, they would use their sword.

Very intelligent drama.

Eunuch Qin was trying to set Princess Xiping (mother of Prince An and General Xiao) up.  They reckoned that one of her boys was adopted.  They said that they will find out the truth and then will have the Princess put to death for deceiving the Emperor.

Episode 28

Eunuch Qin continues to investigate Princess Xiping.

Meanwhile, Chu Chu told Prince An that the three soldiers died strangely.  They were living but not quite. One of them who had self-strangled himself was the most curious as what he did was beyond reasoning.

Meanwhile, Jing Yi had a nightmare, where he was being physically violent.  They found out later that the cause might be datura flowers which will cause hallucination just like what happened to the three soldiers.

General Leng was seriously ill with bone disease.  But he made up with Leng Yue his granddaughter.

Episode 29

General Hou Bin was the latest to die by suicide at the camp.  He was poisoned by the datura flower and dung beetles like those previous deaths.

General Leng had gagged and tied Leng Yue up for her good because he doesn’t want to be in the thick of what was going on in the camp.

Not realising this, she was screaming at him that he was the worst grandpa and the Lengs would be ashamed of him.

Prince An and posse heard her shouting and found Leng Yue tied up.

Prince An explained everything including what was in General Leng’s mind.

Leng Yue looked at her sad grandpa.

Anyway, between all these intelligent people, they found out that General Leng was systematically being poisoned.

He was prescribed by an herbal moxa by his physician but someone had been adding the toxic cinnabar to the moxa which caused the bone disease on the general.

The suspect was Wu Chen who was in charge of the purchase of medicine for the army.  Wu Chen had been buying powdered datura seed which he had been adding to medications for malignant sores.

The datura seeds could cause extreme hallucinations.

Chu Chu confirmed that the soldiers who died mysteriously had had malignant sores.

The general ordered that Wu Chen should be found.

They found him the next day already dead and presumed to have fallen and drown to the nearby well.

Prince An ordered Chu Chu to conduct a thorough examination.

Chu Chu said that she was going to braise Wu Chen.

Leng Yue asked askance if Chu Chu was going to eat Wu Chen. 🙂

Episode 30

Chu Chu used newly steamed plum cake to make the bruised resurface from the body of Wu Chen.  The reasoning was that since Wu Chen had been left in the water for hours, any bruise will not show.

With the appearance of the bruises on his back Chu Chu declared that Wu Chen did not commit suicide but was murdered.

The murderer was Zhao Jie.  He became a traitor because with General Leng ailing Zhao Jie allowed himself to be manipulated by someone in Chang’an with the promise of being appointed as the new general of the Leng army.

General Xiao Jin Li with the help of Leng Yue managed to subdue Zhao Jie and his band of soldiers.

General Xiao Jin Li at first was in denial that some military men would be complicit in killing their own kind but Chu Chu said that the autopsy on the dead soldiers who rebelled alongside Zhao Jie was not just recruited bandits but soldiers who had trained in the military.

Episode 31

Episode 32

Epiosde 33

Epiosde 34

Episode 35

Episdoe 36