©Hinata, Shufunotomo Infos/“Pharmacist Monologue” Production Committee
Loulan always knew it had to end this way. But, she did her best to make sure she defeated only those who were truly complicit. Her two specific moves this week were related to her last request, illuminating the depth of her strategic thinking and the fact that she might die from Loulan, but she is always here with Shisui: She ensures that none of those who have been “dead”, i.e., those who have been “dead” again, will be killed, and cut the appearance of the face on Jinshi’s face.
The former is easy to figure out – she tries to save her sister. This may not be necessary considering that she is Kim Hee’s sister or aunt and therefore part of the Imperial family. It also again implies that she did not murder the children, but gave them the drug to resurrect Suirei for the first time. Heartbreakingly, seeing Maomao sleeping next to the toxic child’s body also ensures she is there, if they wake up. But why cut into the perfect cheeks of Jinxi?
I think it’s possible to see it as a gift in the end. By scarring him, she made sure he no longer looked Exactly Just like the former emperor, causing such a painful pain, at least two people have made statements this season. But it also means that Kim Hee can’t avoid killing her. She injured Prince of Moon. He can’t save her from himself now, something I think Kim Hee might have tried to do. Loulan/Shisui is a victim of her family ambitions and dysfunction, and the fact that she negotiated for the safety of the previous deceased and killed Shenmei (the real author of most of the issues) that she shows she is the same as her mother. She was hardly like her father, a man who stumbled upon the right thing to do, but chose to die without doing anything to help himself or his clan. He regards death as escape, and finally makes money, so he dies. As the daughter of that man, more importantly, as Shen Mei’s daughter, Lauran cannot be allowed to live. Being a hostage could be worse. So Loulan gives Jinshi no way out, making sure he can’t try “goodness” by keeping her while giving her an end to everything.
Like her father, Lauran smiled and went out. She danced to death. This reflects other times when we see the dance used in this series, most notably dancing on the wall to express freedom, or at least the concubine for this desire. Death or its appearance (I can’t imagine her surviving but without mentioning the body), is Lorrain’s freedom. This is the ultimate revelation, to remove all levels of her own true self. But dance is also used as a means of charm (Maomao) and scam (Jinshi). Jinshi also witnessed Maomao’s rooftop dance, and we get the same feeling that he cannot see from Loulan, albeit for very different reasons. Jinshi’s dance for ambassadors is to deceive them to believe in an ancient legend they need or at least want to believe. But maybe this is the last dance of Shisui that we all witnessed – a dream of a woman who never had the chance to be her true self.
Maomao is mostly not in this episode. She slept with the dead. She might wish they could wake up, but it also felt like a kind of solidarity. Maomao bid farewell to Shi Sui to Shi Clan in a way that makes sense to her. In my own cultural experience, it feels like she is sitting on Shiva. She is dealing with grief. Now that she’s awakened, she’s going to deal with more things, which is why Kim Hee hesitates to wake her up. But Maomao opened her eyes, both typical and symbolic, and she was ready to start dealing with her own losses and experiences.
The dead will never really disappear. We still feel their influence in the reverberation of actions in our lives. The late emperor and his mother still have a place in the country, and the Shiye family will remain a symbol of bad action prices. I hope Shisui will also be with those who know her under this name.
grade:
Pharmacist’s Diary Season 2 is currently on the air
crunchyroll On Friday.
