The Apothecary Diaries, episode 45

Rating: A

The screen shot I’m using here is a bit misleading, as it represents the one humorous part of what is otherwise a very dark episode. However, in some senses it’s also the perfect shot to use, since it reflects the sensibilities of the series as a whole: even in the midst of truly dire situations, Maomao is still Maomao, and supporting characters have learned to take advantage of that.

In this case, Loulan knows Maomao well enough (from her Shisui identity) to know that this form of punishment – called “taibon,” which basically involves locking a victim in a room with a box full of poisonous vermin – isn’t going to faze someone used to testing poisons on herself in the slightest, hence why she diverts her mother to it. Even so, the irony that Shisui and Jinshi’s hairpins are being put to use as makeshift meat skewers is (both figuratively and literally) delicious. Jinshi’s reaction, upon learning of this unintentional bit of help, will be classic if we ever get to see it.

Whether Loulan giving Maomao her hairpin so it could be used like that was unintentional is a whole other story. She’s long proven to be far cleverer than her Shisui persona originally suggested, and she knew Maomao had Jinshi’s hairpin, too, so it’s not at all out of the question that she gave Maomao the hairpin as much as an innocuous tool for self-defense as for a way to symbolize her connection to Maomao. She’s also clearly studied her mother carefully (though primarily as a survival instinct) and so knows the degree to which she can manipulate both her and the circumstances around her, as well as the limitations on what she can get away with. It’s certainly not a coincidence that she’s always in Loulan Mode around her mother.

That also means she’s well aware of where this whole situation is going. She knows as well as Maomao and Jinshi do that this can’t help ending badly for everyone involved, even the children, and the revenge her mother wants isn’t what she wants anyway. The adult men working in the gunpowder factory are nobodies, so she chases them off because they could reasonably get away and blend back into the regular population, but the same isn’t true for the children. History has several notable cases of mass suicides even including women and children as acts of defiance and/or to prevent the children from suffering from enemies (Masada immediately comes to mind here), and poisoned sweet beverages is practically a go-to method in such cases, so what Loulan is doing in the last scene could be viewed as a mercy killing – if, indeed, that’s what is actually going on here.

But it’s probably not. After all, the “resurrection drug” has had a quite prominent role in the series, and Loulan making a point to show this to Maomao when it becomes clear that Maomao isn’t going to flee is extremely conspicuous. It further raises the question of whether Suirei’s development of the drug in the first place was to this ultimate end.

There are two other interesting details here as well. One is the clarification that Suirei isn’t the daughter of Taihou, but rather the granddaughter; her mother, not her, was the baby carried out of the Rear Palace by the doctor. That neatly resolves the timeline issues I mentioned last episode and kills my theory about Shisou having been the doctor in that scenario. But that does mean that Suirei is the former emperor’s granddaughter (and thus Jinshi’s cousin), too, which explains why her character design has always been faintly reminiscent of both Jinshi’s and the late Emperor in his youth.

The other detail involves how Loulan perceives herself. She knows that she was birthed primarily as a tool for revenge, and the indication here that she did, indeed, take abortifacients to prevent having the Emperor’s child is a firm rejection of her mother’s approach; she doesn’t want to be part of a revenge scheme or have a child that will be treated like a doll, like she was. Indeed, she seems unclear herself on what her real nature is; as much as her Shisui personality seems more natural, that could also be the product of artifice, too. That’s why Maomao’s decision to address her as Shisui – even when she’s dressed and made up as Loulan – is easily the episode’s most critical moment, and arguably one of the most important scenes of the second half of this season. Kudos to the production team for the emphasis placed on animating how her face lights up at Maomao’s acknowledgement of who Loulan wants to be, and also for capturing the incongruity of Loulan’s two identities together in a single shot.

Looks like the climactic battle at the stronghold is coming next episode. I’ve long heard that novel 4 was an especially strong part of the series, and that has certainly proven true in the adaptation. There’s still a lot to look forward to.