The Apothecary Diaries: Episode 8 FULL LENGTH Reaction!
Added 2024-09-04 13:00:02 +0000 UTC*STALKED HEADPHONE WARNINGS*
What I thought was going to be a happy, slice of life trip home for MaoMao has turned into yet another detective case! Luckily, MaoMao's totally on board with working with her dad to help and figure things out!
After a sad day, this episode not only didn't steer the "Rule of 8" wrong, but made my day so much brighter! PLUS, Jinshi...we are ONTO YOU, sir! Too bad MaoMao doesn't seem to be! "That's rough, buddy."
LINK TO REACTION: https://share.vidyard.com/watch/98AdemCHVamuZrmF8TGdM6?
Thank you for watching with me and for all the support!
Comments
That is a very articulate way of putting it with animals vs. people, so thank you very much for the kind words - I definitely wanted to get that out of my system, and the channel gave me an outlet for that - but at least this episode helped to make me feel better! 😀 That’s a great note about how caretakers can be in the moment urgent to help remedy the crisis, but then transition to the “after care” attitude. I agree, knowing MaoMao still has a ways to go to “catch up” to her dad is done well in this episode, too, and I love how her father helps her to “grow” by not giving the answers directly, but leading her to find the information she needs. And yes, the courtesan enacting her own justice definitely fits in this world and I love that this series gives us women that - despite being positioned at the short end of the stick - still manage to make lemonade out of lemons. That’s been a theme of the book I’ve been reading, too, which has been refreshing! Poor Jinshi – he’s such a romantic, emotional man at heart to contrast with MaoMao, isn’t he? I love his pout, too! And yes, he completely misunderstood that Lihaku’s “night of blissful dreams” was not connected to her own physical body but what she offered him – it felt straight out of an MXTX novel! But yes, also on Jinshi for assuming about MaoMao and her sensuality, when everyone else is like, “Dude. Does MaoMao look like she’d be that type of person?” 😛 Yes, Tiger Lilies are one of my favorite flowers along with roses and sunflowers! That’s awesome – I wonder, since Jinshi is tied to the color purple, if there’s any significance with that, or if purple goes with the “poison” motif? I’m glad I’m not the only one that “Staying Alive” was used for CPR! #millennials haha! Ah, that IS a weird moment - I was a little confused about that at first, so I agree that was a weird choice in adaptation, so thank you for clarifying that! That makes more sense! YES! This episode definitely lived up to the “Rule of 8” hype and I really enjoyed it! Thank you so much for the comment and kind words! ONWARDS!
Romaniablack
2024-09-10 14:33:22 +0000 UTCYES! It’s so cool to see a series that blends comedy and drama well together – and yessss, miscommunication is so frustrating in real life, so to see it in fiction and where you’re the audience that knows how it can be solved - you just want to shake them! 😛 Yessss, I love that this series likes to “show not tell” in the best of ways! Definitely can see the connections to Violet Evergarden in that sense! And yes, while the three princesses may be in a “good place,” everyone in the Pleasure District as well as the rear palace are all in “shiny cages.” Thank you for the comment and kind words! So excited for the future episodes!
Romaniablack
2024-09-10 04:10:34 +0000 UTCAh, thank you so much for the comment and kind words! I was definitely in the moment emotionally about Yvette, but I appreciate that. At least the episode made up for it, right?! And hahah, definitely not an exception to the Rule of 8! 😀 And YES, that’s such a fun comparison to the old crime dramas – I hadn’t thought of that with how you *think* it’s going to be a vacation episode and then, BAM! DRAMA! Poor, poor peacock Jinshi! He really is going through it, and MaoMao doesn’t even realize it! I also love how MaoMao is INSTANTLY “on it” when she needs to get things done - especially when someone else is in danger. I would definitely have her on my “zombie apocalypse team!” 😀 Hahaha it’s going to be HARD to not binge this show but I can say I won’t be through the whole season by the time you all get to episode 12 haha! But regardless, I’m so ready to see where this show takes us and MaoMao!
Romaniablack
2024-09-10 03:52:49 +0000 UTCI love how this series mixes humor and seriousness so well. I am with you on miscommunication. But at the same time, it happens so much in my own life, that I can't deny the reality of it happening. Non-verbal cues make up 70-90% of communication and this series makes excellent use of that (much like violet evergarden did). A last thought, This series constantly reminds us of the old saying "A Cage, no matter how gilded it is, is still a cage". For the three princesses of the Verdigres house (spelling, I know) and for the emperor's concubines, their cage is very gilded but it remains a cage.
C. Davis
2024-09-05 23:12:15 +0000 UTCSo sorry to hear about Yvette, our animal friends are such precious angels. What a peaceful episode huh, haha! I wonder, did you really think you were going to get an exception to your rule of 8 here? Nope, definitely not, what an episode! Reminds me of TV crime dramas I used to watch, were the main characters take a vacation and just end up naturally working a murder mystery at the resort like it was any other episode! Poor peacock Jinshi, this is the second time he's been floored I think, with the first being the realization behind MaoMao's freckles. "So, I lost to a consolation prize." Oh, he is drowning in his sorrows. MaoMao's incredible ability to take control of a situation when needed also repeats this episode - like back in episode 4 where she slapped some sense into the lady-in-waiting on orders to treat consort Lihua. MaoMao is really someone you are glad to have nearby when things start to go down the wrong path! I enjoyed the play-by-play of the exchange between Jinshi and MaoMao at the end - I wouldn't bet against you being through all of the episodes before we even get to 12 haha. Good luck not watching ahead! You know what they say killed the cat, but ain't nothing gonna stop our MaoMao!
L Freya
2024-09-04 23:33:18 +0000 UTCSending you massive hugs for the loss of the calf. No length of time living on or around a farm can prepare you for that kind of thing. No apologies for sharing about it; it definitely helps (and is more healthy) to talk about death than try to bottle it up and pretend everything is fine. Animals are definitely harder than people because, for the most part, people can verbalise their pain or that there is some kind of issue. And some animals show no outward signs of there being a problem at all. I absolutely adore that, once both the courtesan and customer were out of immediate danger, Maomao was much more relaxed and her Dad had the same energy when he finally arrived at the brothel. Reminds me so much of how healthcare workers tend to be in A&E. When there's a life threatening emergency everything tends to happen at a very quick pace, and once they manage to stabilise the patient the workers and pace become a lot calmer, which in turn helps the patient (and their friends/family) to be a bit calmer and less worried. Also Maomao not noticing the lack of tobacco leaves in their vomit is such a great way to show that whilst she does have a vast and exceptional apothecary knowledge, she isn't yet at the level her Dad is. I just love the way their lesson in this moment take place. Her Dad guides her to the answer/knowledge which I feel will help ensure she remembers the lesson better than if he'd simply told Maomao the information. I believe the lack of tobacco leaves in their vomit showed her Dad that the poison of choice (in this case the tobacco) had already been diluted within a liquid. The leaves I think would have shown up in their vomit if they had simply ingested them, and if they had taken the poison this way then charcoal was the best and safest option to help rid their bodies of the tobacco leaves in their systems. As what they'd taken had already been diluted before entering their stomach, then giving them both water (like the other courtesan was about to do before Maomao called for charcoal) wouldn't have been a dangerous remedy. Yes! Maomao's Dad is the one that made her be more hesitant with speaking her conjectures out loud. It's understandable for Maomao to try and make sense of the information she has regarding the merchant's son and the courtesan, but if the wrong person overheard any suppositions she might make it could result in an outcome Maomao didn't mean to occur. I liked the courtesan being revealed to be the clever mastermind. It shows these women, although considered to be on the lower rungs of society, have their own sense of justice, and aren't simply "a pretty face to be admired". The courtesan makes me think of some beautiful flowers that use their beauty in order to entice and blind their prey to the danger they actually are. Pouty Jinshi when he storms off to wait for Maomao is definitely one of my favourite Jinshi 🤣 It isn't exactly a joke that Maomao granted Lihaku "a night of blissful dreams". It was through her connection to the brothel that Lihaku was able to meet with Pairin, and the Madam also expects her to pay for Pairin's time. In a way Maomao did work very hard for the money she'd already saved up to then give to the old lady as a part payment for Lihaku's time with Pairin. Maomao could definitely have been clearer with the communication, but it's also on Jinshi for making the assumption 😂 Especially when it looks like Consort Gyokuyou, Gaoshun and Hongniang all seem to understand that Maomao didn't mean her words the way Jinshi took them to mean. I'm with you on the tiger lilies. They are a beautiful flower. We have pink, orange, and white ones. I also managed to get black and orange ones for my Mum when I went to Amsterdam but they sadly only grew one year and then never again. We also have giant lilies that we've had for six years and keep getting taller every year. They've now become taller than me and the flowers themselves are almost bigger than my face. I think the ones shown at the beginning of this episode were purple tiger lilies, which I believe tiger lilies symbolise wealth in the Japanese and Chinese language of flowers. But I don't know if purple ones have a different meaning. For First Aid we learned the Stayin' Alive way too! Some songs, like that, that have the perfect beat for CPR are kinda tongue-in-cheek for the situation that calls for you to perform CPR 😂 The part I found weird in this episode is how we learn that the little girl's big sister was one of the victims of the merchant's son, and then later Maomao makes the comment about the possibility of the courtesan dying just like the girl's sister did. The comment I've noticed *a lot* of people miss because it is placed in a weird moment with there being no lead up to Maomao learning of the big sister's death. I feel it would have been better for the courtesan to have quietly told Maomao, onscreen, about the big sister dying once she saw the little girl had fallen asleep in her arms. As it is the conversation she has with Maomao leaves most people thinking the merchant's son cancelled his purchase of the big sister and she was therefore left heartbroken, and not that it led to her death. So non-spoiler, but annex in this context is just a building that is part of the brothel but not the main building. I'm so glad the episode helped make you feel better. Did it meet your expectations for your beloved Episode 8? 😁
Anime Annie
2024-09-04 20:36:11 +0000 UTC
