This episode of The Apothecary Diaries was filled with so much information that it was honestly difficult to absorb all of it. I had to take a second and just take in the entire backstory of the previous emperor. I cannot hide just how much I despise that man despite how many attempts the episode made to show that he held compassion regardless. What infuriated me even more was the way they tried to fade the p*dophile into Jinshi.
The most loveable male character I’ve encountered is nothing like his predator grandfather, and no one can change my mind. His fear of women stems from the previous empress dowager and how she treated him, dragging him around and mistreating him. However, that doesn’t necessarily justify his actions. In order to numb his torment, he took it out on innocent girls. It wasn’t his own relief that won in the end but the suffering of the naive young girls who had no idea what they were getting into.
The Apothecary Diaries’ Worst Character
When I first read the manga of The Apothecary Diaries, I was absolutely disgusted by the introduction of the previous emperor. Yes, he was shown as a weak man who was unfit for ruling and simply wanted to paint. However, that never justified just how audacious his tactics have to be. It was understandable that the current empress dowager would be hostile towards the man who became her waking nightmare. It is only after Maomao discovers the paintings hidden behind the wallpaper that, both metaphorically and literally, things start coming into the picture.
Despite being an unfit ruler, the previous emperor confined himself to a secluded room to paint for hours on end. He was afraid of the consequences of his actions. While this isn’t a tale that Maomao had the liberty to learn, we do get an insight into Anshi’s mind and it is much darker than anyone could anticipate. Here was an innocent girl who only wanted to help a scared-looking man. Before she knew it, she had become another victim of his antics. Her second child was swapped, something she too had known.
Although Jinshi isn’t her son, he is still her grandson, and she loves him the same. The horrors she witnessed in her childhood make her wary of her two sons, keeping a constant eye on them in perhaps the most healthy way possible. She just wanted to make sure they didn’t turn out like the man who forgot about her after defiling her. While many believe he began hiding in the room after his mother passed away, only Anshi knew the truth, and she was proud of it.
She had tormented him as a form of revenge. There is a certain cynical sense of satisfaction that comes into mind when you notice that no one is talking about it because the story is simple: not all villains deserve to be redeemed. Her seeing the now late emperor in Jinshi is her secretly admitting that despite his wrongdoings, she unbeknownstly felt something for him. This is the twisted nature that comes with trauma and abuse, especially one encountered by a mere child.
Breadcrumbs in developing Jinshi and Maomao’s relationship
Throughout the season, we have only seen tidbits of Maomao’s affection towards Jinshi and more so the other way round. Regardless, there are certain, umissable details that cannot be ignored. While even Anshi couldn’t help but point out Jinshi’s love for Maomao albeit with a warning, pertaining to her own past experiences with her lost child; Maomao’s expression is more subtle.
She notices when he’s nervous or happy. She understands so much about him that it doesn’t really make sense to her why anyone else wouldn’t. In her state of obliviousness, she doesn’t realise why her attention towards the prince is unusual. Obviously these two weren’t the focus of the episode, but that is exactly why these details become so easy to miss.
On the other hand, if the woman the previous emperor painted right before he died really was Anshi, then the reasons for his art may not be affection but his own tormented mind. It was only after she visited him that he closed himself off; before that, he was openly abusing his power to interact with young girls and taking them under his wing. Concubine Lishu stands as an example of that. If we, as fans, think she is too young now, imagine how it was six years ago when she actually became a part of his court.
Rating: 9/10
The Apothecary Diaries is available to watch on Crunchyroll.
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