The Apothecary Diaries, episode 19

Rating: A+

This episode represents the biggest dramatic peak in this part of the story. It is the culmination of everything that has happened so far this season and some details going back to last season, too, all bound together into one grand scheme, one greater even than the schemers who are active parts of the story. I knew this was coming from the source material, and anticipated that it would be one of the season’s highlights, but the adaptation effort here exceeds even those expectations. This is, easily, the best episode of any series that I have seen so far in the Winter ’24 season.

There are so many little details to parse here, but let’s start with the grand scenario at hand. Since the early stages of the series, there’s been a sense that someone is plotting something big in a very subtle fashion, and that sense has only increased since Maomao moved to working in the outer court. Given that the ultimate target seems to have been Jinshi (i.e., the Emperor’s younger brother), the plan had to operate by making all the steps look as coincidental as possible. Or perhaps, as Maomao postulated herself, a truly linear plot never existed, and instead, a net of incidents was thrown out that could conglomerate into something big in multiple different ways, depending on what worked and what didn’t. That seems to be the more likely scenario. The removal of an official a year ago set one possible direction for the plan in motion, and steps were then taken to reinforce that path as it became clear that a scheme to use a less sturdy part for the suspended banner rod in the ceremonial hall could be used. The only chance that anyone would link some food poisoning cases to a fire started by a careless smoker to a mystery about a metalworking formula would be if the same person were deeply involved in all of those incidents. Even so, even Maomao only ferreted out the scheme with the help of a coincidental encounter with someone who had formerly studied safety concerns in that very hall. In other words, the plan should have worked, and it took a truly extraordinary effort by one individual to thwart it.

The mystery effort provides a strong thrill factor, as does Maomao’s dramatic efforts to get into the ceremonial hall – something she only accomplishes with help from the least desirable figure imaginable to her. But it’s also interesting how Lakan fits into this. If he wasn’t present already in some official capacity then he may simply have seen Maomao running (she was definitely shown as being conspicuous in that act) and decided to follow here. While it might be logical to assume that he’s behind this, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Given that he examined some of the same cases that Maomao did, he must have had his own suspicions about an overarching plot, and since he had set Maomao on at least one of the key incidents, he reasonably could have suspected that Maomao had figured something out. Hence him stepping up was probably as much about him being curious to see what played out as it was about helping his daughter and being displeased with the one guard Maomao goaded. (That was quite the dark expression from a character otherwise seen always smiling.) And his expression at the end – as Jinshi was walking out with the unconscious Maomao – was quite telling. He was shocked, clearly the most thrown-off his game that we’ve yet seen him, so he wasn’t at all expecting either Maomao’s state or Jinshi to be carrying her or both.

In fact, the expression work in the episode is at least as much of a highlight as anything else here. It wasn’t just Lakan; Maomao also had her share of great expressions, too. The real champion on that, though, is Jinshi. The stunned expression he had at first after she saved him, the deeply concerned expression as she was passing out, and the severe, determined expression he wore as he carried Maomao out collectively makes for a great expressive range. Kudos also go to Aoi Yuki and Takeo Otsuka for some fantastic voice work as Maomao and Jinshi; they’ve been great all throughout the series so far, but haven’t shined more brightly than they do here. Strong scene-staging, good supporting animation, and on-point music also contribute.

The fallout from this will be big, and we still have yet to see how deeply Suirei is actually involved in all of this. (I’ll also be interested to see if next episode goes into more detail about how the metal buckles failed; the artistry gave a hint on that, and it does have something to do with things shown in the metalworker’s will incident, but narratively speaking, the story could get by without it.) However, this is a grand moment on the level of the “this is poison” incident, and the episode achieved here is one that I expect to rewatch many times to appreciate its excellence.