The Apothecary Diaries: Episode 20 FULL LENGTH Reaction!
Added 2024-11-27 14:00:06 +0000 UTC*ESCAPING HEADPHONE WARNINGS*
After MaoMao saved Jinshi, the duo work together to try and piece together who was responsible, but while no definitive answers are found, one thing is for certain: The "Moriarty" to MaoMao's "Sherlock" has ARRIVED!
And I cannot WAIT to talk about it!
LINK TO REACTION: https://share.vidyard.com/watch/Zgzoe2SMgCraW6uwdRjcEu?
Thank you for watching with me and for all the support!
Comments
I am HOPING that the chibi series has that same vibe as MDZSQ! That would be great! The Opium Wars in China is so fascinating to me! And yes, that is so interesting to consider the same time of various historical events matching up! Especially because of what was happening in the world the same time as Sun Yaoting’s time in the Imperial Palace. But yes, get you a girl like MaoMao! She is such a combination character! But yes, I love that the show doesn’t stray from the realism with MaoMao’s wound. I also love the validation of getting the reveal of SuiRei confirmed to an extent! The mystery solving fun so wonderful and addictive to watch and it gets me caught up in the story. But yesssss, MaoMao is so great but also SO FRUSTRATING! Her “decisions” on what to focus on and what to “avoid thinking about because it’s not my business” makes me want to GENTLY shake her! Girl is in deniaaaal! I get how she feels about her status, but I’m like, “GIRL.” Bless Gaoshun for dealing with kid Jinshi and Loumen for kid MaoMao, haha! Thank you for explaining the herbs, though! Speaking of which, that is true about Gaoshun being so sweet and fatherly (which makes more sense now). I definitely agree both care for her and don’t view her as a “toy” anymore, either. Ahhh, that is a really good point about Loumen and him going abroad to learn medicine! But yeah, the zombie-like stuff with SuiRei made me think of Rob Zombie’s “Living Dead Girl,” haha!! Yeah, the moment it was mentioned in the Discord, I figured that Jinshi wasn’t a Eunuch, which is sad that it was spoiled, but the surprises with Gaoshun was fun! And the fact that it’s medicine is interesting, too. Oohhh, and the fact it’s POISON. If MaoMao finds out, she’ll never let them live it down! XD Still, the fact it could be chemical castration is WILD. But also, all the info on the ways Jinshi has been passing himself off as older AND a eunuch! It’s wild! Bless, Gaoshun, though, for wanting to be with his grandkids! Especially after dealing with these two! And yes, it’s great to see the current Emperor is at least DECENT! Also, Suiren is terrifying, but in a…good way? 😛 I just LOVE MaoMao and Jinshi - it’s like if MXTX wrote a heterosexual couple! 😛And yes, genetics and gender are such complicated things! I still feel for Lihua - regardless of her son possibly changing the ENTIRE story, it has such significance…but still…what a sad plot point. So now the question is who the Milverton is….I might need to wait until Season 2 for that answer! ;) But yes! I love that Jinshi wants to take it even further to distance himself to the “crown” than Harry did - would MaoMao be as controversial a choice for Jinshi as Megan was for Harry? 😛Annnnnd now you have me wanting to read omegaverse Apothecary fics! 😀 Ahh, I’ve never taken contraceptives before but my friend has (for hygienic reasons) and would likely say the same thing! Thank you for the comment and kind words!!
Romaniablack
2024-12-11 05:30:15 +0000 UTCThe chibi miniseries definitely makes me think of Mo Dao Zu Shi Q with it giving little tidbits of information 😁 Will be a fun time once Season 1 is done. I agree with you on finding history so fascinating and complicated that there can be such far reaching consequences such as the Opium Wars in China, and that something only decades or a century ago can have an effect elsewhere in the world. I feel like this is all the more true today because there is so much inter-communication and diplomacy between countries an entire continent away. In a similar vein I especially find history fascinating when learning of different events happening at the same time, such as Anne Frank and Martin Luther King Jr. being born the same year (1929), or A New Hope releasing in cinemas four months before the last execution by guillotine was carried out in France (1977). Just as Sun Yaoting became a eunuch only a few years before World War I and served until after World War II. I feel like because of the way we typically learn history makes it harder to grasp how two such events could occur throughout the world. Like I learned about the Neolithic Age in Britain and the Pyramids of Egypt in school at two separate times and yet was never taught that studies discovered the two events coincided. Get you a girl like Maomao who can pull off innocent, drop dead gorgeous, and maniacally villainous 🤣 I love that this show is realistic about wounds, even for our protagonist. What Maomao suffered in the previous episode will take a fair amount of time to recover from, and requires care and resting to properly heal from. There is no time skip to Maomao suddenly be all better again, nor does she have "protagonist armour" that allows her to magically fine immediately afterwards. I find it great that they show Maomao injured and it pain, but also her being foolish and ripping her stitches open later. Adds yet more realism to her character, and helps the viewer be a bit more understanding with where Jinshi's mindset could be when seeing her so badly injured. I was so pleased for you getting validation that the male we've kept getting glimpses of for these cases was Suirei 😁 That part of trying to uncover their identity honestly feels like a mini detective plot for the viewer to participate in, considering none of our characters make mention of said male continually be present for several of the cases Maomao works on. Maomao, whilst definitely one of my favourite female characters, is also one of the most frustrating because of how she questions and considers things (like Jinshi's status or Suirei's involvement) and then just brings said internal questioning to a sudden halt because it might lead her into dangerous territory because she'd have too much knowledge for someone of her status. It definitely makes you want to grab her and shake her a little just to have full confirmation of the theories she has. But at the same time I do like that Maomao is this way because it's a great way to show the danger of being someone with such a low social status getting too involved in things "above her paygrade" as it were without Maomao actually having to face said consequences. And at the same time we do get to see that on some occasions her curiosity is just too great. She isn't curious enough to dig deeper into something related to social order and the imperial palace, but when it comes to someone linked to medicine and poisons Maomao can't hold herself back. Also feel like that further proves Luomen was right to bar Maomao from having anything to do with corpses 🤣 The item dangling from the string above Maomao I believe is just an ingredient being dried. Very common for herbs, flowers, or meat to be wrapped up like that and then tied to hang from the ceiling to dry out. As that looked to be Maomao's room I'd be more prone to think they're some type of medicinal herbs she's gathered and drying out in order to prolong their use and possibly even their efficacy (some ingredients for medications worked best, I believe, if in dried form rather than freshly picked). Gaoshun getting Maomao a chair to sit on always makes me feel so soft. One, he's taking care of our injured girl (so fatherly 🥰), but two, she's basically being given permission to sit whilst people higher up the social pecking order stand. Even though she's injured, by social convention of that kind of time period, someone of Jinshi's and Gaoshun's social standing in the imperial palace would not be expected to let someone of Maomao's standing sit in their presence, especially not with them not sitting also. Such a minor thing, but I think it shows how much both Jinshi and Gaoshun cares for Maomao, but also Gaoshun's own consideration of Maomao and how his view of her as "Jinshi's toy" has potentially completely changed now that she's saved his master. I love the idea of a different culture and country thinking of an anaesthesia-type medicine as being a drug that kills a person and then can bring them back to life. Especially with the creepy music they play, and the way they made Suirei climbing out of her coffin almost zombie-like. Highlights how someone used to Eastern medicine could view some Western medicine of the time as being almost supernatural. Also, for me, it reminded me that it was previously mentioned Luomen was able to travel abroad to learn medicine, which links to why Maomao is aware that it is a possibility and not simply a fantasy as the pharmacist puts it. Back when Bamce mentioned about Jinshi needing testosterone to be built like he is, I did look into the idea of how Jinshi could be a eunuch and still have his muscle mass and learned that there were some eunuchs who produced enough testosterone in their adrenal gland to enable such a thing if he was a "proper" eunuch. Back then I did mention it as a potential realistic reasoning for Jinshi being the way he is whilst still being a eunuch. All in the attempt to not spoil you for the reveal that Jinshi and Gaoshun are medicating themselves (or you could even describe it as poisoning themselves as medicines can be considered poisons, especially if being taken unnecessarily) in order to appear as eunuchs 😆 But yeah, as if the shock of learning neither Gaoshun nor Jinshi are "proper eunuchs" (and instead are "medicated eunuchs" as it were), they just gotta throw it in there that Gaoshun isn't just a father, but a grandfather! 🤣 And that Maomao was right in saying Basen looked like Gaoshun, but then also just whack you around the head with the knowledge that Jinshi isn't actually 24 but only 19 (which for us shippers then makes the age gap between Maomao and Jinshi just right for a lot of people). When information gets dropped they really do try and give you whiplash with all they throw at you in one go 😆 Gaoshun wanting to spend time with his grandchild makes me smile. He has to put up with Jinshi and Maomao's (quite often childish) antics, so no wonder he'd prefer to spend his quality time with an *actual* child instead 😂 We finally getting proper confirmation that the current emperor is at least better than his father in terms of the age of the women he spends time with. It gives him a positive, but not too big a one for me because, in my opinion, the bar should not be so low that he is deserving of praise for not spending intimate time with a child 😅 All the times you mentioned Suiren being terrifying I was just waiting for you to get to this episode and that smile of hers after saying (in her own way) that she'd miss having a worker like Maomao 🤣 I loved your fangirling over Jinshi and Maomao as a ship at the beginning of the discussion! 🥰 Like you I know a number of males who just don't have the right genes and/or hormone balance to be able to grow beards, just as I know a number of women who have the opposite problem and can be just as adversely affected by said hair growth. For the medicine they're taking, honestly my first thought was the inhumane "treatment" that used to be given to homosexual men here in the UK after being convicted of homosexual acts: a hormone treatment that is effectively chemical castration. For it though there were a whole host of other side effects, including but not limited to: depression, infertility, anaemia, and enlargement of breasts. I think what Gaoshun and Jinshi are taking is a much safer drug but it is still a form of chemical castration. Totally agree with you that the death of Lihua's son back in Episode 1 plays way more significance to the current story. If he had survived so many other dominoes would have fallen into place and changed the story completely. It's not something I've noticed many other people pick up on, even with Jinshi speaking about the emperor getting himself a male heir. Yes, we've got our Moriarty to Maomao's Sherlock 🤣🥳 Definitely felt very similar to YuuMori's Sherlock's glee at the puzzle of discovering the true identity of the Lord of Crime 😁 I will be interested to see who you decide is our Milverton 🤔 Laughed so hard at the Jinshi/Harry comparison I had to pause the video 🤣 In this case though he wants to end up as just the spare (or not even that) so that someone else can be the emperor's heir (whilst Harry was the "spare") 😆 "This is not an omegaverse" made me wonder if there are FanFics with that AU that delve into the potential complications Jinshi might have with getting pregnant whilst taking the medication 🤦♀ Exam time was a common time for my friends to freak out over missed or late periods, but it was likely just down to them feeling too stressed out over their exams. Diet can also sometimes affect a person's cycle too. It is definitely something that I think every person who gets periods experiences at least once, but I definitely found it more common for me when I first started getting periods or any time I had to come off of various contraceptives because of their side effects.
Anime Annie
2024-12-03 21:53:18 +0000 UTCThank you so much! I'm soooo hyped about getting to watch week to week with you all! <3
Romaniablack
2024-12-02 21:44:35 +0000 UTCYes - excited for the quick turnaround with season 2 - hope it catches a lot of new eyes for you!
L Freya
2024-12-01 00:34:11 +0000 UTCI LOVE a good mystery and this series has been scratching that itch so well, so thank you! Ahaha, let's let Jinshi be Prince Harry, why don't we? I would love some "showdowns" with SuiRei and MaoMao in S2 if we don't get it this season, but yeah, Gaoshun, you can't retire - Jinshi's going to need you for back up! The one good thing is that we are IMMEDIATELY diving into Season 2 after this season, so I'm honestly not TOO sad - I'm excited that I don't have to say goodbye to this series that quickly! Thank you for the comment and kind words!
Romaniablack
2024-11-30 18:03:56 +0000 UTCHahaha, Gaoshun wants to retire, dang it! I love MaoMao's mad scientist side here, it's so good! I love the full blown Sherlock and Moriarty nature of it all! Thank you for the comment and kind words! I'm so excited to see where this last set of episodes take us! :D
Romaniablack
2024-11-30 18:02:03 +0000 UTCThat is true! Thank you for the comment!
Romaniablack
2024-11-30 18:01:00 +0000 UTCThank you for the comment!! :D
Romaniablack
2024-11-30 17:54:10 +0000 UTCLove the in-depth breakdown, and like Amalia mentioned in their comment - great job catching Suirei and the OP spoiler coffin so quickly (you even mentioned last ep too)! I enjoyed seeing you getting involved in the mystery left to unravel and the discussion over Jinshi being Prince Harry haha and tying everything to Sherlock in ways. I'd be down for some sinister MaoMao in S2, but I don't know if Jinshi can handle it! Only four more episodes left, I don't think you're ready for it to end!
L Freya
2024-11-30 14:53:37 +0000 UTCGaoshun be like: Jinshi, get married so I can stop babysitting you and go babysit my grandkids instead! XD MaoMao really giving in to her mad scientist side in this episode, with a diabolical laugh and everything! I liked the parallel you drew with Sherlock MaoMao and Moriarty Suirei too. Feel like these two could have a very entertaining battle of wits if given the opportunity to face each other more directly. Nice catch with Suirei posing as a guy too. I didn’t make that connection until the show told us in this episode. Thanks for the video!
Amalia Jungclaus
2024-11-28 09:37:27 +0000 UTCJinshi is also 19 y/o. When it comes to growing facial hair, some men don't grow it until their 20s. I also think that Suirei was testing Maomao to determine if she was going to be a problem. That's why she asked if she knew about a resurrection drug. Had Maomao responded that she was familiar with it, maybe Suirei would have killed her before the plan went into effect.
William Pina
2024-11-27 18:27:51 +0000 UTCFirst
Icy
2024-11-27 14:05:46 +0000 UTC
