The Apothecary Diaries, episode 17

Rating: A

There have been other strong episodes in this series, but this one is a microcosm of what makes this series stand apart from most other series out there. Its brilliance is in the balance it achieves in its execution; while mostly a fun, light-hearted episode about Maomao helping Jinshi to pass as a commoner for some secret meeting, it still excels in its analytical and world-building aspects and is still well-capable of turning darkly serious when need be. Kudos to the production staff for delivering on this flawlessly even as it is stretching out the source material a bit.

While much of the episode is presented in fanciful fashion, the premise is still firmly ground in reality: Jinshi just stands out too much in appearance to have any hope of going out into the capital city without attracting attention, and hooded cloaks either don’t exist in this setting or would still be much too conspicuous. Asking Maomao to make him up as a commoner is entirely logical, too; who better could he ask for something like that than a commoner who already regularly downgrades her own appearance and was raised in an environment where make-up was a matter of course? Maomao being Maomao, she gets to have a bit of fun with it, and Gaoshun and Suiren are more partners in crime than objecting. (You have to think both of them have had their own issues with Jinshi over time.) And Gaoshun being Gaoshun, he’s not about to let Maomao slip away without getting caught up in this, too. He understands that dressing Maomao up to escort the dressed-down Jinshi (or, rather, he’s technically escorting her in the guise of a servant) is practical, fits in well with Jinshi’s predilections, and is perhaps a bit of payback, too. Really, the whole scenario is both logically tight and delightfully slick.

The episode doesn’t miss any little details, too. Jinshi doesn’t understand at first how to properly walk as a servant or that his training in things like posture and etiquette are actually detrimental when trying to pass as a commoner, but he certainly seems to be enjoying his play-acting and isn’t about to let Maomao get away with acting out of character for the way she’s dressed, either; indeed, if the episode has a theme, it’s “act in a manner befitting your style of dress.” Basen, who’s been called in to surreptitiously serve as a bodyguard, also gets in on the action, too; in fact, the scenes where he’s first shown drooling over the chicken skewers and then later shown chowing down on multiple of them are some of the episode’s funniest moments, and that’s saying something.

Not everything is fun and games, however. Though Luomen has come up in Maomao’s thoughts plenty of times, this is the first time she’s actually talked about him in front of Jinshi. Frankly, a doctor/apothecary skilled enough to have been allowed to study Western medicine and who’s a eunuch aren’t details which Maomao attaches much significance to, but there’s no way Jinshi wouldn’t pick up on their significance; the number of people who could meet that description would have to be very, very small indeed, and he can probably narrow it down to one if one adds in that he’s servicing the brothels rather than having a high court position, as that would naturally imply someone who once had high standing but was dismissed.

But the point where the episode truly turns is when Jinshi finally gets around to doing what Lakan suggested to him last episode: asking a denizen of the brothels what “devaluing a courtesan” entails. Lakan no doubt fully intended that Jinshi was going to ask Maomao this, and this scene only heightens the sense of devious purpose behind that action. The way that the episode frames Jinshi’s question is beautifully chilling, from Maomao’s icy stare to the way the camera shifts out to a side view as he both asks the question and responds to Maomao’s explanation to the visuals used during her explanation to the more somber and heavy shift of the musical score. Being able to deliver a scene like this with such potentially devastating meaning despite the episode’s earlier high spirits is a feat that no other recent series outside of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End could probably pull off.

There are plenty of other little details here, too, such as the unusually strong devotion to background animation in the scenes where Maomao is traveling around town with Jinshi, the care with which Jinshi chose his false name, and the (I think anime original) scene where Suiren is reminiscing about Jinshi with Gaoshun. The only very slight negative is a minor feel that the episode is stretching a little; I had expected it to get a big farther than this. Still, this is some great content, and more should be coming next episode.

NOTE: Due to a gaming convention I will be attending later this week, episode 18’s review will either be a day or two later than normal or else skipped entirely. In the latter case, I will cover it together with episode 19 the following week.