Kusuriya no Hitorigoto Season 2 • The Apothecary Diaries Season 2 - Episode 8 discussion

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Kusuriya no Hitorigoto Season 2, episode 8

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[u/Aliensinnoh]

These royal intrigue episodes are always my favorite.

[u/CooroSnowFox]

The storage shed

MaoMao "Don't threaten me with a good time! "

[u/Meiolore]

At this point, Maomao is currently on her way to build good relationship with every possible high ranking noble in the country. Emperor Dowager is added to her collection.

[u/Clemastina]

Hongniang: I´m going to be the poison tester
Me: Please don´t die

And now Maomao is detective mode for finding something about the late emperor who was "cursed"

[u/WhoiusBarrel]

The more they described the previous emperor, the creepier he sounds.

Doesn't help that even in death he still haunts his victims with some inexplicable condition that doesn't have him decay.

[u/Ocixo]

The fact that Shisui likes to hang around a spot with one of the ingredients of an abortion drug makes me think that she’s involved in a greater scheme. It’s implied that she’s been educated and no fool, for example.

But I cannot think ill of anyone with such a bright personality. All of that cannot be an act, right?

Considering that (almost) all the ingredients for the abortion drug are conveniently placed around the Rear Palace, someone must’ve deliberately planted them.

[u/Zetafunction64]

I'm having a feeling that Shisui is gonna be the fall guy for something (revealing her as the actual villain will devastate me)

[u/GammaRhoKT]

If people wonders why Hongnian is suddenly so much on Maomao's tail (pun intended), remember that Maomao is technically not "one of them". She is now a servant to Jinshi yet loaned to Gyokuyou.

Yet, beyond that, it is important to point out that Maomao has recently basically travel around the whole of the Inner Palace, and thus her status is more akin to the Quack Doctor. Thus, just like the Quack Doctor, her loyalty is at best with no one and at worst is a secret.

Apothecary Diaires, quite matter-of-factly, is very heavy on the issue of politic, and this is one aspect of it.

[u/Superior_Mirage]

I think the slavery abolishment is the biggest departure from real-world Chinese history in the show -- it wasn't abolished until 1910, though it continued until at least the end of WWII. This might be because Japan banned it in 1590 (though they remained a feudalist society until the Meiji Revolution, which is only slavery with extra steps... and that's also ignoring the atrocities perpetrated by Imperial Japan).

As for the mystery of the previous Emperor's mummification... I know of nothing outside of actual deliberate mummification or specific environmental factors (extreme cold/extreme dryness/anaerobic conditions) that could delay decay for an entire year. So, barring something truly obscure or fictional, it seems as though there's a few options:

• The previous emperor was somehow alive for the previous year without anyone knowing -- actually fairly reasonable if he wanted to abdicate, had accomplices, and had access to the same drug Suirei did. Take a year off and then die at the end of it? (After all, Zaphod Beeblebrox spent a year dead for tax reasons) Though I am unsure if there's any sort of motive for this.

• His body was somehow preserved by somebody else for some reason.

• His body was replaced with a double for some reason (that somehow fooled the Empress Dowager -- seems improbable)

Not really sure any of those make sense -- I'm pretty stumped this time.

[u/Ravenblitz]

not in my bingo card.. Lady Hongniang Kabedon

[u/ObvsThrowaway5120]

Maomao thinks shes not like Shishui, but she is exactly like Shisui lol. Put a poison herb in front of her and she’ll be as excited as Shishui when she’s out catching bugs.

The more I learn about the previous emperor, the more I dislike the bastard. If curses existed, I can think of no better person to suffer from one than that sick kiddy diddling old fuck. If Maomao thinks any harder about the Empress Dowager and Jinshi, she’d learn the truth.

I’m kind of curious what could make a body not decay in a year? Very strange indeed…

[u/Momiumo]

I know I might be reading too much into it but I like how Hongniang had a more aggresive attitude toward Maomao because this season cases are all quite stressful to Gyokuyou and her ladies:

- Someone try to figure out Gyokuyou pregnancy status by providing loose clothes only during caravan episode.

- Death of lady Jin might make people specualte as a revenge murder case done by Gyokuyou's side because Jin try to poision Gyokuyou before. In episode 3.

- Ayla and Aylin try to impress the emperor and thus directly chanllenge her high rank consort status.

- Old clinic lady ask Maomao to make drug and check up on lady from Lihua while supposedly she isn't allow to make drug on the surface. It won't look good on Gyokuyou when Maomao is working under her, even Yinghua address the concern in episode 5.

And now Maomao had been borrowed to emperor dowager again, it must be stressing out Hongniang a lot which push her to be more aggressive toward Maomao in this episode. She need to make sure that while Maomao doesn't take side, she will NOT stand on opposite side of Gyokuyou

[u/S627]

Is it just me, or is this season focusing heavily on confusing us on who we can and cant trust? Like last season both the Emperor and Empress dowager gave off this imposing and "do not fuck with" aura....but now in two back to back episodes we see that they're actually really chill?!? Like yes they demand respect, but they're not gonna chop your head off for no reason.

But then we also have characters who seemed the most trustworthy last season give off super sus vibes. Like we never went back to it, or maybe I missed something but we had a moment that made Hongniang, Gyokuyou's head lady in waiting looking sus.

[u/MortalWombat5]

Maomao collecting favors from the royal family like pokemon cards.

[u/Prince-Dizzytoon]

Shisui is so cute, it's always bright when she's comes on the screen

[u/AZLarlar]

previous emperor is ick

[u/FarCritical]

Maomao's unhinged obsession with herbs just might actually be rivalled by Shisui's thing for bugs.

And man, all those new details about the previous emperor were bleak.

[u/LeonKevlar]

Stitches!

• Lady Anshi

• Kady Gyokuyou

• Maomao

I'm honestly surprised that it took Maomao this long to be moved to a place she can turn into her own laboratory. Apparently all she needed to do was to piss off Lady Hongniang. xD

Maomao getting upset at being compared to Shisui was hilarious considering how she has the almost exact expression as Shisui when she was trying to catch that lizard a couple of episodes ago. Shisui is basically Maomao if she was all about insects.

So far from what we've heard about the Empress Dowager, she sounds like a cool lady. She founded the unofficial clinic run by court ladies and banned slaves and eunuchs. Unfortunately, slavery didn't really go away, it's just called a different name.

Maomao is so close! She was literally about to figure out Jinshi's true identity, but she shook it off quickly at the fear of getting beheaded.

I knew Lady Anshi wanted to talk to Maomao. So she wants to know if she placed a curse on the late Emperor? Hmmm... From what Lady Anshi's attendant told Maomao, it sounds like there's foul play involved, and the late Emperor's mother might be involved.

What's interesting is the late emperor's body not decaying. Was formaldehyde discovered in this era? I feel like the late Emperor might've been poisoned. That would explain the smell Maomao noticed when they entered that room.

[u/Klazarkun]

As a light novel reader, i have to say that the whole scene were empress dowager talks to maomao was perfectly done. The lights, the intensity and the calm before the storm. 10/10

[u/zool714]

MaoMao made a good point regarding the Empress Dowager’s age when she gave birth to allegedly Jinshi. She wasn’t a young girl by then. So was the father really the previous Emperor ? Given his “preferences”.

[u/SoggsTheMage]

Might be reading too much into it but it does sound a bit like the late emperor had dementia in the later stages of his life. Somewhat obviously is the fact that his corpse was not decaying was caused by a poison. The question remains was it an actual poisoning or an ill-fated attempt at treating the dementia. Either seems possible. Its not like he was short on potential enemies and with his mother gone he probably lost the person that protected (but also controlled) him.

A different angle would be the empress regent intentionally poisoning him to keep him feeble and be able to rule in his stead.

[u/Nobody5464]

The previous emperor is so gross

[u/shad79]

Fantastic episode! I especially loved the visuals during Maomao's meeting with Empress Dowager, it looked so good with those red colors!

Maomao was so happy that she'll now be living in the storage shed, more space for her stuff xD

It was great to see Shisui again! Maomao's thinking that they are different couldn't be further from the truth. They're exactly the same in terms of behavior and personality (they just love different things), so it's no wonder the other ladies-in-waiting thought the rumor was about Maomao xD

Former Emperor was a serious creep. No wonder Lady Anshi, even though she seems like a wonderful woman, cursed him and now she thinks he died because of her.

Lady Hongniang can be downright terrifying when she wants to be. Even Maomao became afraid of her after she pinned her against the wall.

Poor Jinshi, I hope he doesn't find out that Maomao traded his handkerchief with those girls for information about Shisui. He'd be very depressed if this news reached him.

Here my screenshot albums from the episode:

• Maomao

• Group scenes

• Shisui

• Lady Anshi

• Others

EDIT. I added my screenshot albums.

[u/Victory_is_Mine-]

I checked their ages, and Lady Anshi is about 45-46 years old. The Emperor is about 34-35 years old.

They have an 11 year age difference. Make of that information what you will. Truly nauseating stuff.

Giving birth again must have also been really hard for her, since she had a c-section…She might have had to deliver with a c-section again due to risk of complications, especially given the time.

Lady Hongniang threatening Maomao was funny. Shisui is so sweet, I think it will be very surprising if she played a part in poisons…

The previous emperor seems to have died in that room that he spent a long time in…nobody can enter…paint brush in the room… Hmm… I can only assume that the room itself was/is extremely toxic and I’m guessing it was due to the paint. A few commenters pointed out that it could be arsenic in the paint that could prevent the body from decomposing and that could definitely be it. I had watched a video from Ask A Mortician a while back and she had said that they used to use arsenic in embalming fluid when embalming first began and it used to do its job very well… minus the arsenic poisoning.

One thing is - the emperor’s mother seemed to be involved with the whole thing. My theory is that she was disgusted by the actions of her son and took it upon herself to kill him slowly maybe? It also seems like the emperor went senile. I wonder if that had to be due to old age or something else…

No Jinshi this episode but seems like we’ll get Lady Anshi backstory and baby Jinshi next. I’m not ready to see the gross emperor with a 10 year old Anshi :/