©Hinata, Shufunotomo Infos/“Apothecary’s Monologue” Production Committee
Loulan may not have peace, but she will definitely let herself bed, which Maomao doesn’t know much about how to deal with it. I mentioned in several episodes that Maomao and her family are the ones who don’t wear masks on this show, but perhaps for Maomao, it’s more accurate to say that she doesn’t know the mask she is wearing. I’m not talking about her freckles or trying to downplay her appearance. This is more of a basic question of who she is as a person. Maomao has always seen himself as stoic, the kind of person who needs to do what needs to be done without any real emotional involvement. But in the face of Shisui/Loulan’s behavior, she suddenly discovered that she Do Care – a lot. The former spouse was just Maomao’s friend, and she certainly looked more like an innocent person from the Shi clan than any of her parents. Now, she is willing to sacrifice herself to disappoint them.
I realized that it was hard to see her as “innocent” when she poisoned a bunch of children, although she intended to avoid their suffering when the army arrived. Even Lihaku pointed out that these children will be killed because there is no hope for the Shiye family now. The only person who can get it from it is Suirei, because she has imperial blood, but even that doesn’t protect her. However, unlike Shishou or Shenmei, Loulan and Suirei are victims. Shenmei acted consciously, Shishou did nothing in the face of his wife’s behavior, making him complicit, but his daughter did her best when she was born. From this perspective, Loulan poisons the kids and can show her and her sister with good intentions. Even as Lihaku points out, children cannot be buried with their mothers, at least they don’t have to witness them falling into depravity.
Evil rarely wears the face we might expect on this show. The late emperor is a beautiful monster, his mother is the promoter, and so is Shenmei and Shishou, while Genders flipped over. Has Shenmei’s time broken in the palace? Maybe, but she didn’t get the help or support she needed at home either. Instead, while Shishou ignores it or knows nothing about it on purpose, she causes pain to as many people as possible. Shisui and Suirei’s kidnapping of Maomao may seem like a mistake at first, and it’s an expensive mistake, but that may not be – in Shisui’s idea, making Jinshi’s favorite court lady easily become the last plan she’s disappointed her family. She didn’t want Maomao to hurt, but she didn’t use her either.
Although it became dark again in the light novel series later, this is my money and the dirtiest Pharmacist’s Diary get. It was also a major turning point for Maomao and Jinshi: Maomao was forced to recognize that she was not as emotionally unhealthy as she liked, and Kim Hee had to postpone his mask and become his true self and do what was important to him. These are things you can’t go backtrack, they will see things they can’t see. Even though Loulan has been suggesting that the children are given potions of resurrection (until they are cremated or buried), seeing the sight of the bodies taken from the room is a troubled nightmare.
Is it all worth it in the end? Shenmei needs to go, that’s for sure, but blaming Shishou, Suirei and Loulan feels like punishing the victim. No matter where you are tracing this disaster, it almost doesn’t matter when you consider the number of people that won’t come out of the whole or at all.
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Pharmacist’s Diary Season 2 is currently on the air
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