The Apothecary Diaries Season 2

Episode 38

Since Jinshi's never had to work to get a woman's attention before, it makes sense that he wouldn't be very good at it. Maomao is impervious to his beauty, and she's at least making a(n annoyingly) good show of not being impressed by his “frog.” Like a frustrated child, or perhaps a pampered prince, Jinshi is therefore resorting to some measures that are not strictly in good taste. Two weeks ago he grabbed her leg in a romance-novel-inspired reminder of their sexes, and this week he does his level best to touch her in less obvious, but no less pointed, ways. Maybe he's hoping Gyokuyou will get the message Maomao isn't? Or maybe he just can't help himself from dining at the Bad Decisions Buffet where Maomao's concerned.

In either case, he's very clear with Gyokuyou that Maomao is his, not hers. And even Gyokuyou wouldn't stop Maomao from helping Lishu; if she didn't object (that we saw) to Maomao tending to Lihua, there's no reason why she would for a much less threatening consort. And everyone knows that Lishu has been through more than enough already. We discover this week (or at least have it reaffirmed) that her bullies are still living in the Diamond Pavilion with her. Kanan, the former taster, may be the head lady-in-waiting now, but that the others haven't been sent away says volumes about how Lishu runs her pavilion. This poor child has been shuttled from inner palace to convent to inner palace, and it shows in her demeanor. She has no idea how to behave, and now with Ah-Duo gone, she doesn't even have an overt ally. Kanan tries to help, but Lishu is basically on her own.

All of this is to say that if anyone needs an intervention from the terror team of Maomao and Jinshi, it's Lishu. Jinshi really takes the main role this time, leaving Maomao to solve the mystery of the “ghost,” which she does with fair play aplomb. But it's Jinshi who manages to put the former head lady-in-waiting on notice, and it's Jinshi who steps in when Lishu is screaming in emotional pain. It makes sense, not so much because of who he is, but because he's probably best able to understand what she's going through. Jinshi's life probably hasn't always been easy, and he's clearly learned to compensate for it with his physical beauty. He had Suirei to stand up for him, and maybe Anshi, but for the most part, it was him, Suirei, and Gaoshun against the palace. Lishu has Kanan, and that's it, and unlike Suirei, Kanan isn't made of stern enough stuff to stand up for her. Maomao's not empathetic enough to step up here, but Jinshi, who also lost Ah-Duo, absolutely is.

The scene with Lishu and her mother's mirror is so desperately sad that it's haunting. The mirror is all she has left of the woman who bore her, and it's clear that she's been beating herself up about how soon after her birth her mother died. Whether the image in the mirror really is her mother doesn't matter; to Lishu, it represents her. She doesn't need a fancy looking-glass, she needs an old brass one because in it, she can see the past she never had. And if that former head lady-in-waiting tries to take the brass mirror, or anything else of Lishu's, again, I swear I will climb into the screen and smack her.

People's appearances can be deceiving. The brass mirror may not show Lishu's mother, and Jinshi certainly isn't the beautiful eunuch he presents to the world. What does that suggest about the gorgeous, yet scarred, new eunuch who just entered the rear palace? We're likely going to start finding out next week.

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