The Apothecary Diaries

Episode 13

I know it's only been a week without it, but damn, I missed this show. We're now embarking on the second novel of the original series, and that means Maomao's position has changed: rather than working in the inner palace, she's now working directly for Jinshi in the outer palace, something he is very pleased about. And why shouldn't he be? After she spent twelve episodes more or less evading his advances, he's finally got her right where he wants her: in his house. Of course, he'd rather no one else noticed her, but for once she agrees with him; Maomao no more wants to be noticed for her beauty than he wants other guys to see her.

More interesting than that is the fact that this episode and the new theme songs set up the story to explore Jinshi more as a character. Previously we only saw him from the outside, as the preternaturally beautiful eunuch in charge of the inner palace. He was an object of most people's desire and Maomao's distrust, and about all that we truly knew was that he had a thing for everyone's favorite acerbic apothecary. Now, however, we're getting more of an idea of who he actually is. The episode opens with the revelation of his self-dissatisfaction. He feels that the only thing he has going for him is his beauty, which seems to feel like a slap in the face – he notes that despite all of his effort, he's only slightly gifted at most things he tries. This seems to set his appearance up as something he may actively resent; he may be the tender of the emperor's flower garden, but he's better known as the man so beautiful that everyone falls for him. His hard work goes largely unremarked upon.

This may make him more like Maomao than she realizes. She, too, appears to resent her natural beauty, and unlike Jinshi, she's in a position where she can downplay it with clothing choices and freckles. She can allow her work to tell her story rather than her physical appearance, and that's something that Jinshi may be drawn to – along with the fact that she alone isn't fawning over him. That may be an old romance staple, but it works here, because Maomao, like the cat she's named for, only does what she wants to do.

Or at least as much as she can – she appears not to want to be a court lady, although why isn't clear. Possibly it would put her in the light too much; she's already dealing with the petty jealousy of other women in the outer palace who aren't pleased that she's joined Suiren as Jinshi's only other servant. (Gaoshun is his aide, which is somewhat different.) Also becoming a court lady would mean that she'd have to fill more of a secretarial role by her reckoning, and that sounds like it would allow her even less time to play with herbs than cleaning and serving. Everything Maomao does is based on what she wants, which is to practice medicine in one way or another, even if her dad has to occasionally warn her away from looking like a would-be poisoner. You can bet that if she asked Jinshi for a stable by a well, it wasn't because she had the burning desire to raise horses.

We only touch on the start of this storyline. The tall, quiet court lady has a bigger role to play, and if you pay attention to the opening theme's imagery, that man with the monocle is also set to do more than just lurk on balconies. Maomao and Jinshi are about to have a whole new set of problems to solve, so stick around and see what happens next.

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The Apothecary Diaries is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.