The Apothecary Diaries Season 2

Episode 39

Breech births, where the baby is born bottom-first rather than head-first, are no laughing matter. That's even true today, when medical advancements have (nominally) made giving birth a much less dangerous feat, but in The Apothecary Diaries' setting, the fact that Gyokuyou's second baby may be positioned incorrectly this close to her due date is cause for some major alarm. Not only is it much more difficult for the mother to give birth to a breech baby, endangering her life even further, it's also risky for the child, with dangers including asphyxiation and head entrapment. As Maomao notes when she's concerned about Gyokuyou's baby kicking down, if the baby is, in fact, one of four forms of breech, that's really not good for a lot of reasons.

But it is a great excuse for Maomao's dad to come back into the story! Luomen, for such an important character in Maomao's life, hasn't been in the series all that much, so we've mostly seen the effect he's had on her rather than the man himself. We know he's skilled and gentle and that Maomao loves and respects him, but their on-screen interactions have been few and far between. With her very intelligent suggestion that he be brought in to oversee Gyokuyou's birth, we now have the opportunity to not only see what a good doctor can do (the quack mostly sits around or defers to Maomao) and, perhaps more importantly, to see Maomao and Luomen interact. Since she keeps a distance between herself and most other people, even Xiaolan, who is unquestionably her friend, having the chance to watch her be less guarded with someone stands to show us a different side of her as a person.

It's also a great opportunity for Jinshi to make an attempt to gain the approval of someone Maomao cares about. Lakan may be the biological father, and his consent is probably at least a little important as the head of Maomao's family, but Maomao herself doesn't care about his opinion. But if Luomen approves of Jinshi, that could be an entirely different kettle of fish – or at least, it might be in Jinshi's mind. And since Jinshi is the one who had to approve Luomen's temporary return to the inner palace, I think it's safe to say that he was thinking as much about his own pursuit of Maomao as it is about ensuring that the emperor's child is born safely.

Of course, first Jinshi has to get his act together and tell Maomao who he really is. He keeps putting that off, although her reaction to the ox bezoar and disinterest in Jinshi himself had to be a blow; nothing could have made her priorities clearer. (Would he be relieved to know that she's still thinking about his frog?) But having failed to get through to her once, he's now setting conditions for his next try – his latest is when she wears the hairpin he gave her back at the garden banquet. I do wonder if this isn't an excuse not to tell her; he has to know that the chances of her voluntarily wearing such an expensive ornament are vanishing slim. But maybe that's the point – if she does wear it, then that must mean she cares about him a little bit, right?

In all honesty, she probably does. But Maomao, as she's noted, isn't good at feelings. She adores her dad and she loves her big sisters, but it took until this week for her to admit that she's fond of Xiaolan. Watching her spring into action to defend her friend and to come up with a way to mitigate the spoiling of Loulan's ice is both a wonderful demonstration of Maomao's innate good nature, but also a surprise to Maomao herself. Yes, it's a problem she can solve, but it's not a problem she realized she wanted to solve until she was actively doing it. It's also a potential in with Loulan, the most stand-offish of the consorts, but that's almost ancillary to helping her friend.

And if Maomao is beginning to understand that she has friends, that gives her more chances to be hurt. It's worth watching Shisui's actions in the ending theme; it takes her a beat or longer than Maomao and Xiaolan to start smiling during the group shot, and I think that – and the slight resemblance to the mysteriously beautiful eunuch – are worth keeping in mind.

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