Random thoughts after rewatching The Apothecary Diaries Season 1 Episode 9

This note includes a spoiler.

I rewatched The Apothecary Diaries season 1 episode 9 twice. In this episode, the poison was alcohol and salt, and sweetness was involved too.

Gaoshun was like a father to Jinshi. He also said he had known Jinshi since he was a kid, and he was surprised by Jinshi's childish behavior toward Maomao. He didn't seem to welcome it because Jinshi should behave like a higher-up, so he is a strict and disciplined person.

When I saw Maomao drinking alcohol, I wondered how old she was. But it made sense that there was no age restriction on drinking it at that time. She was also upset and acted her age, which was rare. Jinshi was trying to pass a bill forbidding teenagers from drinking alcohol. He was so happy when he found her weakness.

When her dad said she might make medicine out of a corpse and she might dig up graves, it totally made sense that she shouldn't cross that line. He really understood her well and he gave her good advice. Jinshi and Gaoshun were also able to imagine she would do it, so they understood who she was.

When they were trying to figure out why a maid had died near the wall, it was a little out of the blue to me why Maomao started thinking about how she wanted to die. She even asked Jinshi to have her killed in the way she preferred. The sequence where she imagined how she wanted to die was drawn in red, as red suggests blood and can be seen as deadly. And in that scene, she was thinking about people who had nearly died, or who were trying to kill someone. There were so many attempts to assassinate someone up to this point, surprisingly.

In the last scene, why did Jinshi look for someone who had their arms burned? Was it related to someone who poisoned somebody at the garden party? I forgot, but by the end of this episode it turns out to be related to Consort Ah-Duo and her head lady-in-waiting.

Scores

• Episode: 5/10
• Maomao: 7/10
  • She showed she was afraid of being forbidden to drink alcohol. It seemed to be rare and she looked like a kid
• Maomao's Dad: 7/10
  • The advice he gave Maomao was so good.
• Jinshi: 7/10
  • He showed his childish behavior when he was given the runaround.
  • He also tried to solve a rear palace issue like an adult
• Gaoshun: 7/10
  • Gaoshun was like a father to Jinshi, probably strict and disciplined. Maybe a good father
• Quack doctor: 6/10
  • He worked in the rear palace, and unlike Maomao, who had already seen a few deadly scenes, he still wasn't used to seeing an autopsy. Not courageous, and easily frightened