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Apothecary Diaries Ep 17: Unedited Access (Patreon)

Published:
2025-12-03 01:00:04
Edited:
2025-12-17 18:55:05
Imported:
2025-12

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  • 572259404.mp4

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Hello everyone! I hope you enjoy your unedited access to my detailed analysis of episode 17 of the Apothecary Diaries. I nailed some predictions again! But again, I am very good at being right and also very good at being wrong, haha!

As I predicted at the end of episode 15, Maomao is most likely the result of a forced pregnancy with Master Lakan (I am guessing?), and the mysterious courtesan is indeed Maomao's mother. A round of digital flowers to Master Jinshi for his willingness to go through all that hassle to find out the source behind Lakan's story and invisible 4-dimensional chess match.

What am I taking away from this episode? The insidious role of cognitive biases, and the only way to correct our false assumptions and biases, is by fact-checking and confirming with the source!

P.S., Enthusiasts, your 48-hour early access will become available on 12/15, and Supporters, your unedited access will go live on 12/17 :)

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Comments

CervenySun

Aww this episode is a particularly adorable episode. Grandma pimp 😆

Jan Negrey

Jaunt is a walk, but I also like the connotation with Jaundice. Which is mostly known for unhealthily looking skin. Yellowing pallor of skin and eyes.

Jan Negrey

Character in Hiragana is "ki".

Krisko94

Its kinda nice seeing the slow progression of the "romance". Jinshi clearly is down bad, but MaoMao is clueless. The nice thing is, while it may not be attraction yet, she CONSTANTLY talks about how beautiful he is. Seeing it potentially progress beyond that should be a fun ride.

Psychotherapist Reacts

That’s true! Beauty is divine and humans attraction toward beauty is universal, even Maomao is not immune

Jan Negrey

**POTENTIAL SPOILERS!** - For Review. DO NOT READ Benoit. This has information from Light Novel. This is Light Novel commentary. It could be spoilery, although this far into the show I doubt that it is. But maybe it would be better if others read it first and tell Benoit if he should read it. Because it is stated in Light Novel about this "Jaunt around town": This is expanded in Light Novel a bit earlier, but "ka" in the name Jinka is indeed for flower (Hua), but it is also reserved name for Imperial Lineage (in theory). So technically if someone has "ka" in their name they are either "Royal", or they pretend to be "Royal" or... their parents had very high aspirations and were not worried about running afoul of the law. Which to be fair wasn't strictly enforced. You can meet (especially in the Light Novel) few people with such names, often servants, or people who "pretend to be Royal" - this isn't said in Anime, but by this point (or slightly later) we would know that "Joka" - one of the three Princesses of Verdigris house plays a character of "I'm really a princess but Emperor doesn't recognize me" or "illegitimate daughter of imperial lineage". Which is dangerous. Now Jinshi probably used this as a joke or to see Mao Mao's reaction for using this forbidden word in Chinese. And yes, it's meaning is also blossoming. Mind you 90% of my knowledge comes from studying Japanese Kanji decade ago. Also Koukyuu no Karasu - which is a great light novel with mediocre adaptation to Anime. Fun Anime, but without subsequent seasons, worthless. And it is of the same genre of "Chinese Palace intrigue". In character there are even some similarities between protagonists of both shows. Again, I think Jinshi used it as more of a joke and a bit "look at me Mao Mao" - by both using forbidden name and showing that he doesn't care about the law. Sort of "cool rebel". Although this law wasn't enforced. It was only used if someone was actually pretending to be of Royal lineage, or if they committed another crime and this was used as enhancement. But some servants had it (especially from rural areas, where parents didn't read or write) - it was used: 1. Because it sounded nice and some more educated commoners thought that it would be homage to the emperor. 2. Some masters liked to change their "servants" (slaves) names to use that character. After all if someone was to be punished it would be said servant. Especially if you bribed the official in charge. 3. Sometimes higher aristocracy had connections to Royal Family. It was said in the Anime, but no attention was given to it, that Consort Lihua is technically distant cousin of the Emperor (at least 4 generations removed, so even in modern times too far for incest) - in such cases, sometimes the family would use this name to "show off" their connection. Dangerous practice, but again, the law wasn't enforced, unless someone claimed to be of Royal descent (so heavenly/divine - not like commoners or even aristocracy. They would claim that they have part of this special lineage. More than "regular" humans).

Jan Negrey

As for Eunuchs having military training: 1. They could have had it before they became Eunuchs. 2. Rear Palace likely has "some" security force. Either permanent or summoned in special circumstances. First line of such unit (that would hopefully not need backup from outside), would probably be comprised of Eunuchs who had some military training. 3. As a "manager of Rear Palace" it would make sense for Jinshi to have "some" knowledge of martial arts and combat. So Mao Mao is actually a bit wrong when she see calluses on Jinshi's hands. Military isn't her area of expertise (as shown when she wonders about the camp and thinks it's for soldiers, not Eunuchs, but she isn't sure), so she might think that Jinshi is at most..."pencil pusher" (without pencils), but since he is supposed to also mediate any issues in the rear palace, he would at least have basic training to not make it impossible for Gaoshun and rear palace "police" to protect him. Now - the LEVEL of training and intensity would be suspicious, hence the comment about calluses isn't entirely wrong, but Mao Mao's line of thought in that scene is wrong. 4. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if ladies in waiting of some of the concubines would have some training. They are after all responsible for their mistresses protection.

Dissacharyde

I usually am no fan of filler episode, but this one, as it gives a lot of info to the viewer, isn't half-bad. Brace for impact everyone, this ride is gonna get bumpy xD 7 Episodes to go in this Season.

Dissacharyde

I guess it depends on your definition of filler. But a whole Episode of dressing up to go out, then going out and talk, is a filler-Episode in my books :D

Abstract_Funk

Two points i want to bring up of what i noticed about MaoMao and the show: 1. MaoMao works a lot on authority over rank. There are many occasions where, because of her areas of expertise, MaoMao has the authority in a situation (like ordering people around/ignoring them even though they far outrank them). This authority is backed up both through her own skills and usefulness in those situations, but also by other high ranking people like jinshi, gaoshun, multiple of the high ranking concubines and even the emperor himself. It like a low level police officer pulling over a police captain. The police officer has the authority to write a ticket even though the captain outranks them. 2. My thoughts on whether MaoMao is autistic or not. I always read MaoMao as somewhere between aromantic/asexual and demiromantic/demisexual instead of autistic. She doesn't seem to be interested in any romantic or sexual feelings aimed towards her, but she is able to still appreciate good looking people on an aesthetic level. She seems to look at beautiful people like how she might look at a painting or architecture, understanding why it's beautiful but not really wanting to date them. With demiromantic/sexual there could still be attraction later but she would need to grow closer to Jinshi first. This mainly comes from my observations of my aro/ace friends.

Leslie

Jack of all trades, master of none... better than a master of one. Not the original phrase despite that being an incredibly pervasive rumor, but definitely the version I like best. :) On autism and trauma... it's interesting that they have so many overlapping symptoms. Autism and PTSD typically have pretty high comorbidity, don't they? I wonder if people often don't realize a trait they associate with their autism is actually not a direct symptom but a downstream one caused by trauma/stress/etc... especially for those with a more internalized presentation that get diagnosed later in life... they've had so much more time to tangle things together in their minds. This is something I've always been tangentially aware of, but your commentary in this show in particular has made me think a lot more about it. Like I said once (in a youtube comment), I have adhd, not autism (to my knowledge), but it's still a topic i'm very interested in. That aside... how far are you, now? :3

Psychotherapist Reacts

Wait is that the original saying?? I had no idea an 100% agreed about trauma and it’s far reaching implications and influence on our behaviors since behavior traits are how autism get diagnosed usually. Just finished ep 19!

Leslie

Not the original, but a very common rumor online is that it is. It's just the version of the saying I like more. Originally jack of all trades was the entire saying and meant as a compliment. Master of none was added later. 19 is a great episode after everything that happens in 18

Lv6 Esper

didn't we already know a few episodes ago that luomen wasn't her blood father?

Psychotherapist Reacts

I have no clue, there’s so many details to this show, I can’t keep track first time watching

anty rak

I really love the "romance" side of the show like it's very subtle and almost not existent and allows you to focus more on the characters and solving the mystery. I would so love to comment on your conjecture but I am afraid of spoiling or hinting too much like if i say "maybe consider this or that" you'll figure it out prematurely, so I'm, here to enjoy seeing you figuring stuff up as the show goes on.

Waiting4Erik

Yes. Maomao discovered that her father was the previous court physician. And since palace physicians are eunuchs, that was our first clue that he isn’t Maomao’s real father. But now it seems that Maomao was aware that she is adopted.

Star Lin

Haven't seen anyone mention it in the comments but this may be the first time that he's been able to be out of the palace (outside of any royal duties) and being able to be 'himself'. Even with the guard watching them, he can at least pretend that he's a normal person.

Jon Daux

Regarding her sexuality it seems like an interesting and well thought about perspective. At the same time, another comment said something interesting about her autism, suggesting that rather than being autism (which would be an inherent part of her) it's that her trauma resulted in her displaying the traits people mistake with autism. I wonder if the same can be said for her aversion (or complete unawareness) of romance being a learned trait due to her trauma from growing up in the brothels. Very quickly sex became meaningless to her as she saw it all around, as did she see lust and beauty everywhere. From birth, this is enough to desensitise anybody. My interpretation is that rather than it intrinsically being difficult for her to love, it's more that she needs to learn how to find significance in it again. Or I suppose she needs to unlearn her desensitisation and how to actually feel those emotions again.

Psychotherapist Reacts

Very possible! Seeing all the horrible abuse, sexual trauma, etc growing up in a brothel could 100% influence her libido and sexuality

Jon Daux

I find it funny that you had this excellent theory that the concubine was was Maomao's mother, and she was born after Lakan raped or coerced her into sex, but didn't piece that together with Lakan being her father instead of Luomen haha. Understandable completely though, you were going wild with all these great predictions at this point it's easy to miss a single logical step.