OK, that got complicated real fast.
Another interesting episode of The Apothecary Diaries. In the present, yes, but even more so in the past. The intrigue surrounding the main cast leveled up by an order of magnitude, especially Jinshi. Unfortunately he kind of made he hate him again, just when my antipathy towards the character was starting to dial back a bit. It’s not necessarily a bad thing to have a main cast member that you dislike, but I get the sense that I’m not supposed to dislike Jinshi as much as I do.
First, we have some more exploration of little Lishu, who gets invited to the Jade Pavillion for a tea party with Gyokuyou. The politics betwixt the four concubines are intense and complex, but if any of them would seem less likely to be overtly hostile to another it would be Gyokuyou towards Lishu. The girl has come to trust Maomao a bit, but she’s not sharp enough to realize that her ladies in waiting are bullying her. Her terrified reaction towards honey stems back to an incident in infancy (hopefully everyone nowadays knows you never give honey to very young children), but I didn’t get the sense that Gyokuyou did that on purpose. Maomao concocted a way to bail her out just the same.
Next, Jinshi assigns Maomao to the Garnet Pavillion, home of the Pure Consort Ah-Duo (Kaido Yuko). He doesn’t give her a reason, but this is where the obvious suspicion for the poisoning incident would fall. The driving force at the Garnet Pavillion is Fengming (Hidaka Noriko no less). She’s amiable, smart, and hard-working. She’s also sporting a bandage on her arm, and has a motive to potentially take out Lishu – namely, that a new concubine is coming and of the four the one in the most precarious position is her mistress Ah-Duo. Her family is also in the honey business, interestingly enough (and Jinshi loves his honey).
That whole business with Jinshi trying to make Maomao lick honey off his fingers was pretty creepy if you ask me. That was a sort of power harassment any way you look at it, and if Gyokuyou hadn’t come along – and gotten royally pissed – when she did, Maomao was in real trouble there. I get that he’s supposed to be largely a comic character, but this was not funny and not charming – it was just gross. But Jinshi is here to stay, and his role in the big picture looks a lot different after the final moments of this week’s episode.
Maomao – prompted by Jinshi’s bullying – gets a flash of inspiration and asks Gaujjun for some help in researching events of the past at the Rear Palace. Specifically 17 years earlier, when the current emperor had a son with Ah-Duo. He was still a prince at the time, however, which is a crucial distinction. The baby died, and the apothecary who delivered the child was expelled from the palace. His name was Luomen, which is very familiar to Maomao – it’s her oyaji back home. I think that explains his remark about it being ironic that she be assigned to the Rear Palace, at the very least.
This is where things get complicated and a bit confusing. We know there were two boys born around that time, the current emperor’s son the former emperor’s younger brother. The former died – officially. But it’s strongly implied that Jinshi is Ah-Duo’s son – they certainly look remarkably similar – and the next logical leap is that in fact, no baby died and in further fact Jinshi is the son of the current Emperor (though whether his birth before his father’s ascension impacts his status as heir I don’t know). If that’s the case, why pretend he died? And presumably the eunuch thing is (as I predicted) a cover story, an excuse for him to remain at the Rear Palace without revealing his identity.
There’s a lot still to slot into place here. There could have been a switch of babies and the emperor’s younger brother could, in fact, be his son – which would make Jinshi his younger brother. That doesn’t sound as “right” to me but I’m not ruling it out. In any event Jinshi is clearly connected directly to the throne, Oyaji was almost certainly expelled (and lucky that’s all it was) for knowing too much, and Maomao is wading into extremely shark-infested waters by looking into all this.
Nellie
December 10, 2023 at 6:11 pmIf it makes you better, it seems that the author had intended for Jinshi to come off as unlikeable in that. After last week’s episode aired she basically said in a tweet, “Jinshi’ll be pretty disgusting in the following episode. If you can handle that, you’ve handled him at his meanest.” (PS: A friend translated this for me)
Apparently she also apologised to Otsuka Takeo for making the character so obnoxious at the beginning.
Guardian Enzo
December 10, 2023 at 6:47 pmGood to know, thanks.
Nellie
December 10, 2023 at 10:14 pmI should clarify that the tweet she made about this week’s episode and the tweet mentioning her apologising to Otsuka are two completely different tweet. The latter, I think, was made around the time of the premiere.
Dove
December 10, 2023 at 6:27 pmI expected people to take issue with the honey scene. If it makes you feel better, that’s the worst Jinshi will probably be in this season. He does generally get better, though his long-term character thdevelopment in the LNs is a very bumpy ride. I think that’s all I can’t without spoiling anything.
Derrick
December 10, 2023 at 7:04 pmPower relations is murky at best
say
December 10, 2023 at 7:40 pmJust a correction about the two babies: one was Ah-Duo and the Crown Prince (now the Emperor)’s son and the other was the Dowager Empress and the Late Emperor’s second son who would be the current Emperor’s brother.
I have read someone complaining that Jinshi doesn’t have a role as prominent as Maomao and that they expected him to solve the mysteries with Maomao’s help, not viceversa. I would argue that this is one of few medias in anime form aimed at girls, so female characters don’t get for once the supportive role.
For the same reason, the main male character isn’t a model role, he isn’t a character who won’t abuse his power ever. As women know they usually dribble the ball even with men technically on their side. In my opinion, you have to give up identifying with male characters to enjoy this show like girls do with female characters while watching shounen anime.
Dove
December 10, 2023 at 9:43 pm“In my opinion, you have to give up identifying with male characters to enjoy this show like girls do with female characters while watching shounen anime.”
I disagree with this on principle.
I don’t “give up” on female characters written in stories aimed at males, and vice-versa. A lot of my favourite female characters come from stories aimed primarily at men, and I have many favourite male characters who were written for a primarily female audience. I would also argue that stories with women and girls at the centre aren’t as rare as you make them sound.
say
December 11, 2023 at 2:42 amI think I didn’t make my point clear: to give up IDENTIFYING is different from expecting them to be poorly written. I mean that when you stop doing that you are less annoyed. In this show all the male characters are flat compared to the female ones, but I wouldn’t think of it as a reason to praise the show less. All the female characters in Rurouni Kenshin or Hikaru no Go are flat compared to the male counterparts and those shows are still considered masterpieces. Wouldn’t I prefer if both male and female characters were equally developed? Sure! But I also think that people get stricter when the less developed are the male ones. And it isn’t fine, especially in a media aimed at girls.
In anime? Shoujo and Josei are adapted less than shounen and seinen, and full adaptation are even rarer. Go check if you don’t believe me. LiA reflects the proportion as well.
Okuni
December 11, 2023 at 10:59 amI have to stand on a hill with say on this point. I have been watching anime since !! Princess Knight !! and I think there are six anime in my head and heart because every character gets well written. Wouldn’t I also prefer if both make and female characters were equally developed? Sure Cubed.
Also, why are people getting all hit in the sensitivity spot about Jinshi and the honey on the fingers? I have been expecting him to act out some testosterone for several episodes – sure, it’s a kink and a power territory defense, so it is cringeworthy. Jinshi is screwed down pretty tight in his role, he has a personna established and he hasn’t revealed how much of that is real and how much is fake. He would certainly, given the challenge that Maomao presents and the power he has or doesn’t have over her, mess with her to prove he can. This was never meant to be a kid show.
Dove
December 11, 2023 at 3:22 pmNah, it’s my fault for not reading carefully and jumping to conclusions. Sorry, and thanks for the clarification.
You’ve raised some interesting points which I’d love to discuss in the context of Kusuriya, but a discussion about that would probably entail me spoiling a lot of stuff from the LNs.
Guardian Enzo
December 11, 2023 at 4:03 pmAnd I appreciate your restraint. For some reason the spoilers have been crazy with this series.
Kamui
December 10, 2023 at 9:46 pmJinshi was never my favorite, to the point everything around him just leaves my head. It’s funny how for Conan I couldn’t care less about the “case of the week” and being annoyed at how slowly the main plot moves. While for Kusuriya the “main” mystery bores me to tears while the procedurals are really interesting. Basically, one character’s power to ruin something for me is stupidly high hahahaha.
Nicc
December 11, 2023 at 9:40 amIndeed, this was an interesting episode and with some reveals. The news about the suicide of the servant has quickly spread around and that forms the backbone of this episode. There’s another tea party for Maomao to help with and they are a regular occurrence. The politics is complicated and it makes sense that they would want to get a feel with how the others are doing. Maomao notes that the servants are more on edge when other concubines are visiting than when the Emperor is around. I agree that Gyokuyou probably wouldn’t be hostitle towards Lishu. Lishu’s taster seems to have been scared straight, but her ladies-in-waiting are still another story. The tea of the day is served with honey, which Lishu seems to have a problem with. Right, Maomao reads the room and gets it changed with neither side losing face.
JInshi then sends Maomao off to the Garnet Pavillion to do some espionage without actually him saying so. Spycraft isn’t her speciality, but her skills of observation are still useful. We do meet Ah-Duo for the first time since the garden party from a few episodes back, but she’s not the focus during Maomao’s short stay there. We do learn a few things about Ah-Duo such as how she’s actually older than the Emperor and then lost a child with him when he was still a prince. Her androgynous appearance is also noted (I got reminded of Brigitte Lin. Go check out “Peking Opera Blues” and “Swordsman II”) and she was the one drinking on the rooftop at the start of the episode.
The focus is on Fengming, who is the Head Lady-in-Waiting in the Garnet Pavillion. As you said, she’s very dilligent, hard-working and loyal. Those are the same qualities that could make her want to take out a rival. As Maomao notes, the concubines are expected to “bear fruit”. If they don’t, they could find themselves on the way out and there’s a rumor that a new concubine is on the way. And, not to mention that Maomao noticed the bandage on her left arm. And, yep, there’s the honey too. Honey was even used in the candles, which must have been fragrant.
After Maomao’s time is done, she gives her report to Jinshi, who doesn’t seem all that surprised with her findings. I’m not sure what the heck Jinshi was thinking with trying to force-feed honey to Maomao with his fingers, but he was rightly admonished by Gyokuyou when she showed up. Even if it was a prank, that went too far.
However, that’s also when Maomao got some kind of revelation because of the honey. That leads to another visit to Lishu and then for Maomao to ask for some records of the past. A familiar name shows up, which he dad. He was the one who delivered the baby for Ah-Duo and was kicked out the palace when he baby died. Indeed, he’s lucky that’s all it was and could have been executed for that. It does seem to imply that Jinshi is related to Ah-Duo. They do look alike and even Maomao mentions off-hand that Ah-Duo reminded her of somebody when she was at the Garnet Pavillion. Yep, it’s looking complicated and I wonder if it has anything to do with the new concubine that may be coming.