The Apothecary Diaries Season 2 Episode 9 Reaction
Added 2025-04-23 00:38:19 +0000 UTCPossibly one of my favorite episodes of this show, EVERYTHING about this situation is so unbelievably messed up... I hope you guys are ready for an insane amount of discussion lol. I will say also give me a chance until the after episode discussion to fully sort my thoughts out on everything
Comments
Here's my thoughts on the whole situation. First, I think you have to ask, why was the Emperor either disgusted by or afraid of mature women? Was he himself abused? And who is the most likely person who fits the description? Totally no proof, just my guess. And there was no therapy to cope. Reacting as the Emperor did to whatever happened in his early years is still not right, not inevitable, but, sadly, some people are more resilient than others. It's possible to imagine that if he weren't the Emperor, and people around him weren't expecting him to take advantage of the harem system, shamelessly pushing their young daughters at him as avatars of their ambition, he might not have hurt so many, or anyone. In other words, his environment encouraged his behavior. Then, I think you didn't go back far enough in the video when trying to determine Anshi's mindset in the beginning, because I think they said some things about her father making it clear what her job was, with her sister none the wiser. But you have to temper this action of hers by remembering that expecting a child to do this is also abuse, given she was distant from having the ability to make fully-informed decisions at her age. (Even though the whole situation, the whole rear palace system, was bad as a concept from the start, even the people in the story recognize that the late Emperor's predilections were wildly deviant.) In addition, I think the Empress Dowager was actually in love with the Emperor. She had treasured the painting, but she forced herself to put any positive feelings for him aside. I think her feelings were hurt so much when he ignored her in favor of the Empress or the other girls, because of that love. Her response has no excuse, and she was an adult when she ambushed him. But again, this was her trying to handle this in the warped environment of the Palace. One thing she did do right, was protect Jinshi from these abusers. I think that’s what Jinshi was remembering. She didn't hold Jinshi's ancestry or appearance against him, and loved him as a mother. But it may be that the Emperor loved her somehow but couldn't overcome his fear, if he had indeed painted her, not his mother. Edit: Had a thought later on that maybe the Emperor had wanted to see Anshi or Jinshi for good reasons, but was dragged away from his mother. Maybe that's why he had the orpiment with him the Jinshi found. Supported by Jinsh saying, "What did he want to tell us?"
myst0dreamer
2025-05-13 07:24:27 +0000 UTCIdeally soon, we'll see. My semester is about to rap up to which I then plan to binge the rest to catch up
bluest
2025-05-03 16:16:50 +0000 UTCWhen might we expect the next batch of Apothecary Diaries?
Pengwynd
2025-05-03 03:56:31 +0000 UTCWith regards to why Jinshi cried when Ah-Duo was about to leave: you were already close as to the answer, you just have to take out the last bit of "because he knew she was his mother". Simple answer was that they were close. Jinshi basically grew up with Ah-Duo his only "sister-in-law". Given how close the current emperor and Jinshi were for Jinshi to "mistake" the current emperor as his father, one can assume Jinshi was also close to his wife. Another fact is that both Jinshi and Ah-Duo have drinking sessions alone together, something Jinshi won't and can't do with other concubines like Gyokuyou or Lihua. He was simply sad that someone he knew since childhood was leaving
MaiSan
2025-04-23 03:56:32 +0000 UTCWhew, damn near an hour long, nice! Yeah this was a hell of an episode.
Paco
2025-04-23 02:45:37 +0000 UTC
