The Apothecary Diaries Season 2: Episode 9 FULL LENGTH Reaction!
Added 2025-03-12 13:00:13 +0000 UTC*AMBITIOUS HEADPHONE WARNINGS*
First we learn about Anshi, the Dowager Empress, but this episode, MaoMao is solving a mystery connecting her to the Late Emperor, and Ooooohhh, the family drama in this series is intense, y'all!
Anshi is NOT to be trifled with and I am in love with her layered character! It's also good to know that MaoMao literally has the approval to be with Jinshi from the entire royal family...now she just needs to realize it for herself!
LINK TO REACTION: https://share.vidyard.com/watch/z4cs232dbTNi8hXNfoxSFR
Thank you for watching with me and for all the support!
Comments
I can definitely see that connection! Thank you for the comment!
Romaniablack
2025-05-26 12:17:21 +0000 UTCI find it fascinating that the OG Emperor ended up dying from the orpiment pigments he used to paint Anshi's dress. It's a metaphor of the poison that was Anshi for him - even so many years later, he could not forget her, just as she planned and that girl, in the yellow dress, is what ended him.
Lulu-chan
2025-05-23 08:43:51 +0000 UTCThank you for ALL the replies today! Loved reading them!
L Freya
2025-03-17 22:09:18 +0000 UTCHahaha, at least the book SEEMED tame, like a romance Jinshi would want. Oooh, young Gaoshun is hot, but older Gaoshun has…experience. So older Gaoshun (who is the same age as me *nervous laugh*)! But I’ll take a spinoff with him any day! I could definitely see Anshi as an unreliable narrator - and agreed about the grooming her dad did to her as well. I was also looking at her current attitude and how that influences her memories as a reason to show she DID care about him in a twisted, weird way, whether it was groomed or not. Honestly, I feel so bad for Luomen! He takes all of this in stride! I definitely feel they handled this well for the subject matter. The OG Empress seems TERRIFYING, so I’m curious if they’ll ever show us more of her. And I feel I definitely addressed my stance on the issue numerous times in the discussion, so glad you agree, haha! Noto Mamiko was so good in this! She’s actually pretty perfect for this role. I definitely feel it’s warranted for Jinshi to not flaunt around his feelings for MaoMao to put her in danger, but honestly, Jinshi hasn’t been TOO heavy with the flirting - he’s kept himself back, but has shown enough moments that I guess others have noticed. The only thing I worry is that Jinshi will completely back off to where it will seem he “doesn’t” care about her, but then again, would MaoMao even notice? Or would she think he’s acting weird? I guess we’ll see. And yes, genetics really are wild! When it crops up GENERATIONS later, it’s so interesting! Luomen chiding MaoMao with a megaphone from his house just makes me laugh! Thank you for the comment and kind words!
Romaniablack
2025-03-17 20:19:01 +0000 UTCThank you for the comments!! This episode was WILD! Yes, the Old Man Yaoi ships have permeated the Apothecary Diary world! 😛 I love that everyone is just out here shipping Jinshi with Maomao as well! And that’s such a great line about how even monsters have feelings! Yes! Thank you for the comments and kind words!
Romaniablack
2025-03-17 20:06:37 +0000 UTCOoohh, that is a really good note for the “curse” and with Anshi; that definitely could be! I love the irony that her GRANDCHILD (potentially, so we think) is the one to do that and not her actual kid. Hm. Thank you for the comment and kind words! The DRAMA! This series always brings it! More tinfoil hat theories to come, I’m sure! ;)
Romaniablack
2025-03-17 20:04:12 +0000 UTCRight?! I just love when MaoMao goes into “Sherlock” mode! And yes, at least Jinshi is not aware of how much he resembles his grandfather in the looks department. Thank you for the comment and kind words! I’m SO excited to see what happens next in this series!
Romaniablack
2025-03-17 20:02:28 +0000 UTCYeah, I totally agree that it would have been great if he could have NOT used her as a coping mechanism and you know…left her alone until she was older. He’s such a twisted and sad character…it just makes you stare at disgust at him. Their relationship is SO complex.
Romaniablack
2025-03-14 21:06:35 +0000 UTCAnshi is really, REALLY fascinating! She’s definitely a character I appreciate her complexity and yes, the phrase “hurt people hurt people” is such a tried and true theme in media…someone just has to break the cycle! I can see that interpretation of the Emperor and Jinshi’s scene and Anshi protecting him. I had another interpretation the show could be making with the pigment, but I’ll save it for Episode 10’s intro. But I am glad Anshi is so fierce! Oh, if there’s one thing this show has talked about, it’s how women are a victim of that society, which MaoMao has talked about since season 1, but it’s not just the women - like you said, the eunuch’s would as well, which I talked about in the discussion, too. And OH, if I were to be in that world? Let me be Gaoshun’s wife in a HEARTBEAT PLEASE! 😛Thank you for the comment!
Romaniablack
2025-03-14 21:03:30 +0000 UTCYeah, I feel you with hard read/watch - I’m not happy with the Late Emperor’s character - but showing how pitiful he was, it makes you want to slap him even harder. And yesssss, the avoiding with MaoMao and Anxiety of Jinshi is SUCH a recipe for a slow burn, but they are worth it! Thank you for the comment!
Romaniablack
2025-03-14 20:57:46 +0000 UTCHelloo Yoann Thanks for the the comment May I ask you to remove the part about the next episodes plz? It hints at something complex happening and as you know Romania likes to go in completely blind That for your understanding
Be Happy
2025-03-14 20:14:44 +0000 UTCAnime only - first half of the episode was just me gushing over Maomao being such a genius, that girl has got to be related to Sherlock! It's almost uncanny how fast she solves the mysteries, and she sure knows her poisons! I do feel bad for Jinshi having some of the old emperor's looks, but at least he doesn't seem to suffer for that in general. He has no trouble with ladies, that's for sure! Thanks for the reaction and discussion, you definitely put a good amount of care in covering the sensitive subjects respectably, and it was a great discussion! The show is moving in to less comfy topics - curious to see what happens next!
L Freya
2025-03-14 12:04:19 +0000 UTCYour comment about how it was strangely fitting that the child born of love ended up living while the one born of hate/spite died made me think of something. Maybe part of the reason Anshi believed that she, specifically, had cursed the late emperor and caused his death was because of Jinshi and how similar he looks to his supposed father. If Anshi believes Jinshi is her kid, then she would also believe that he is a product of the night that she assaulted the late emperor. How fitting it is, how karmic it would be, for that child to look so like the late emperor. She wanted to make sure he never forgot her, but then she gave birth to a child that would cause her to remember him every time she looked at him. This episode man, just…oof. As always, thank you for the video and your insightful commentary! I like the new theory about Suirei, that would be so dramatic!
Amalia Jungclaus
2025-03-14 08:04:15 +0000 UTCI do feel like the show is feeling out and showing how the father’s and families treat the women in their families as sexualized tools to gain themselves power. Monster sometimes beget monsters, but even monsters have feelings.
LoreleiS
2025-03-13 00:44:49 +0000 UTCThis was such a rollercoaster episode. It made me feel things I did not feel reading it in the light novel.i am totally boarding the old man yaoi ship. Also, the Empress Dowager mentioned Surien was her head lady in waiting so MaoMoa has selective hearing. I also really want a scene sometime in the future where MaoMao finally realizes that everyone has shipped her and Jinishi for a very long time. I adore Jinishi family keep reminding him “if you want to keep her in your life protect her.” Jinishi is such a sweetie in this episode with his mother/ grandmother.
LoreleiS
2025-03-12 23:09:26 +0000 UTCWhen you were joking about Jinshi's smut books I burst out laughing 😂 Now the glimpse we see of the one novel Maomao picks up seems on the wholesome side but honestly all my NSFW brain can think of is they could be the Ancient Chinese version of a Harlequin novel 🤣 This show has me torn. Do I want young Gaoshun or present day Gaoshun more? Such a debilitating question 😉 I do feel like Empress Dowager Anshi could be described as an unreliable narrator when we see her past in this episode for two reasons. One we're getting her perspective many years after she went through all this, and time can definitely change how a person thinks and feels about moments in their past. The other reason being that her father basically groomed her into this role; she was a child being used by the adults around her and so while she can believe herself to have had the power to make those decisions and desire for the power she'd gain as the Emperor's concubine, she was still just a child. That's not to say that a child can't be manipulative, but I definitely believe her father's ambition pushed her to act in a specific way to benefit him and her family, not because Anshi the child wanted it. In her own way she may have grown feelings for the previous emperor, and that is partly why she reacted the way she did once she was "too old" for him. It's crazy to think that Luomen was forced to become a eunuch because 1) they couldn't accept the possibility of the emperor having a daughter, and 2) the emperor got such a young girl pregnant that she needed an operation to safely deliver the baby. This one is a definite doozy of an episode. But I think the anime did a really good job with their portrayal, and keeping on the fine line of making us informed of the previous emperor's disgusting predilection whilst not going into the realm of being unnecessarily more graphic for the sake of it. Same for Empress Dowager Anshi forcing herself on the previous emperor. There's no need for it to be graphicly shown. What they give us is enough to paint a picture in our minds and help us to further understand the hidden reason for the guilt Empress Dowager Anshi feels that made her believe she'd cursed the previous emperor. Also I feel by giving us some backstory on how the previous emperor felt around women, and the way his mother treated him in that one flashback, it helps give some reason for why the previous emperor would avoid such women while also not allowing that to be used as an excuse to justify his behaviour with young girls. To me having such a reason helped solidify that, like with so many other controversial aspects/topics this show delves into, this isn't just an added aspect to a character in order to gain shock value. In real life there are quite a number of abusers who suffered some form of abuse or trauma themselves. It can help us understand their actions but does not mean their actions can be (or should be) condoned. Gotta take my hat off to Noto Mamiko for her voice acting this episode 😍 The soft, sweet and girlish way she speaks in contrast to the somewhat more guttural and mature inner voice she has in her thoughts gives this extra layer to the Empress Dowager. She has aged and matured both physically and mentally, and her inner voice shows that. But she still looks and speaks in a much younger manner. It makes us the viewer much more aware of the layers her character has. The person Empress Dowager Anshi presents herself as is not simply all she is. I have seen some of the fandom only thinking of her as a child victim of the previous emperor and her father [which she is], but to me that robs her of her autonomy as a woman, especially given her current age and position. As a part of a course on the Protection of Children I did I can remember the phrase: a victim will always be a victim, but that is not all that they are. And I feel Empress Dowager Anshi is a perfect example of this. Empress Dowager Anshi's last words to Jinshi in this episode reminded me a lot of Gaoshun calling Maomao Jinshi's toy back in Season 1 (and made me feel sad for Jinshi when I imagined Maomao being put in his box of confiscated toys 🥺). Also, to me, it was a soft reminder to Jinshi not to be so open with his feelings about Maomao. And I don't think she was wrong to warn him about that given how many people around the two of them have been making comments or asking questions about the other (for example, the Emperor's teasing in Episode 7, or even in this episode with Suiren questioning Maomao on what she thinks about Jinshi). I would definitely agree with you that Consort Lihua is more cunning than Consort Gyokuyou, especially if I just base it off of how Consort Lihua dealt with the whole Lady Shin situation. She created a way, and very quickly mind you, that meant Lady Shin would be banished from the imperial palace and punished that way, but that she wouldn't face the charge of treason for attempting to harm the Emperor's child(ren). Give me that Gaoshun romance spin-off, yes please 😍 Genetics really is crazy. When going through my paternal grandparents things when we had to sell their house we came across a large box of old photographs (some daguerreotypes, ambrotypes and tintypes). My Dad originally thought they were just random pictures my grandparents had bought at car boot sales until I was able to match different people in different photographs and them aging. And then we came across two photographs that cemented that these people are our relations. One was of my great great-grandmother with her parents. My Dad was able to recognise her from later photographs. The other was a tintype circa 1860-1890. If my brother chose to grow a handlebar moustache he'd be a twin for the man in the photograph. And yet while through the generations there are certain genetic aspects passed down, there is none who look so close to either myself or my brother. It felt kind of freaky that the genetics got continually passed down until my brother ended up looking just like our great great great-uncle. I wouldn't say the previous emperor groomed Empress Dowager Anshi, but I definitely think her father did. Especially given she already knew the part she was meant to play by being her half-sister's lady-in-waiting. Add in her half-sister being unaware of their father's goal and being raised as a "princess" (which I took to meaning she was protected from such knowledge whilst the concubine's daughter, Anshi, was not), it definitely adds to the realistic aspect that can come with an adult secretly grooming a child. The way the painting is definitely leaves it open-ended as to who the woman in the centre of the picture is. Given it is the top layer revealed to them it suggests this was the final painting the previous emperor painted. Considering how he looked in the flashback of him painting it, it suggests that his mother would have been quite the elderly-looking woman by then. Maomao and Empress Dowager Anshi both thinking it was the previous empress dowager though did make me want to get a megaphone and remind Maomao of her father's teachings on conjecture 🤣 Luomen would have been chiding Maomao for automatically assuming it was the previous emperor's mother in the painting. It is very possible Empress Dowager Anshi is the one he painted, but with that colour being a favourite of hers to wear back then does leave the possibility that it is her in the painting and that he did remember her.
Anime Annie
2025-03-12 21:00:47 +0000 UTCIf only the late emperor had enough courage to connect with Anshi beyond using her as a cope with his mental issues, he might have learned to not fear at least her when she's older. Seeing as she was someone he thought about the most. As she grew up he wouldn't notice the changes in her appearance as much, if he was around her more than just for sex. In all of the options of how it might have turned out this one is still not the best but it would at least not leave Anshi used and discarded. Would also lead to no other girls getting harmed much sooner than when Anshi put a stop to it herself.
Coughme
2025-03-12 17:21:35 +0000 UTCI’ve been waiting for you to get here. I just find Anshi so fascinating and thats why I like her so much. I like almost everything about her. I was reminded of this saying in the discord “hurt people hurt people” that can be applied to almost all of my favorites. I’ve been waiting to see if this episode altered your perception on Jingshi’s nightmare. The way I interpreted the scene Anshi was protecting Jingshi from the emperor. I don’t think she wanted to risk him ever touching another child. As well as her combined hatred for the former empress and all the other people in the room. It was such a fierce glare and I thought she looked beautiful I said before in that moment she reminded me of JGY and NHS I also want to add Madam Yu. Despite Anshi not thinking of herself as a victim of the emperor that she was a “ambitious child” (even though I disagree) I feel that she was at least a victim of society in the way that everyone in this series is. She’s the victim of a society where people want to get ahead so badly they’ll sacrifice anything. The eunuchs sacrificing their body parts to be able to work, woman sacrificing their body and beauty to make ends meet, and parents sacrificing children it’s truly terrifying. I’m so glad the emperor in only six years has made so many positive changes such as abolishing slavery and stopping the making of eunuchs. If I had to transmigrate scum Villain style I would hope it’d be into this world, I’d very happily be a character like xiaolan (or gaoshan’s wife which ever comes first)
Icy
2025-03-12 17:05:33 +0000 UTCAnd it is how we do explain horrible actions without justifying them. It was a hard read and a hard watch for me. Great video as always. About Jinshi and Maomao, their different style of attachment ( anxious for J and avoidance for Maomao) is a recipe for a slow burn..
Yoann Bigor
2025-03-12 13:49:21 +0000 UTC
