Summary
- The Apothecary Diaries excels at crafting gripping mysteries, drawing fans in with intriguing cases.
- Season 2 introduces a complex murder mystery, showcasing MaoMao’s deduction skills.
- The series maintains a light tone even in serious cases, offering a unique storytelling style.
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A Death in the Palace
- A Murder in Disguise
- MaoMao Flexing Her Deduction Skill
Keeping the Tone Light
- A Lighter Murder Mystery
We Need a Higher Difficulty
- A Longer, Much More Complex Case
- The Curious Case of the Foreign Envoy
The Apothecary Diaries is a series that has a lot to offer, but its biggest strength has to be its ability to craft gripping mysteries. This is one of the biggest reasons why the fans love the first season so much, and this is also one of the reasons why the fans keep tuning in to watch a new episode every week.
The first episode of season 2 is an introduction to a new season, so it makes sense that we don’t see any mystery there. The second season is all about setting up several storylines for upcoming episodes, so while the tension has certainly increased a bit compared to the relaxed first episode, there’s still hardly any mystery there. And then episode 3 comes along, and we finally get to see MaoMao solving a proper mysterious case once again.
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A Death in the Palace
The biggest mystery in this episode is the death of one of the concubines in the Rear Palace. This concubine is said to have suffered from a strange illness that forced her to withdraw from the public eye for at least a year. And now it seems that the illness finally claimed her life. But is that really the case? Jinshi certainly doesn’t think so, which is why he asks her trusted detective, MaoMao, to find the truth.
A Murder in Disguise
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There in the wooden coffin in the middle of the room lay the corpse of a concubine who was once the most beautiful woman in her hometown. Now, her beautiful face is covered by reddish marks with half of her hair falling off of her scalp. Looking at the condition of this poor woman, anybody would instantly agree that her illness, whatever it is, has taken her life. But not MaoMao.
You see, MaoMao is familiar with that terrible reddish mark. She has seen that kind of terrible inflammation before, and she even knows what causes it. Once she digs deeper into this matter, however, it’s clear that there’s more to this concubine’s death than meets the eye.
MaoMao Flexing Her Deduction Skill
Throughout the episode, we see MaoMao fully embracing her role as the unofficial detective of the Inner Court. From looking for all kinds of mushrooms in the forest around the Rear Palace to asking the maids and the other officials who work for or around the late concubine to find out more about her and her mysterious disease, she does everything that needs to be done in order to find out the truth.
From the rashes on the late concubine’s hands to the type of mushroom that grows in a specific patch of the forest, nothing escapes MaoMao’s eagle eye. She truly flexes her deduction skills in this episode, and we want to see more of it.
Keeping the Tone Light
A Lighter Murder Mystery
One thing that almost every murder mystery story has in common is the tone. Once the murder happens and the investigation begins, everything feels serious, tense, gloomy, sad, depressive, and even suffocating. The heavy tone is there by design. It’s there to make the readers and the viewers feel the suspenseful nature of the story. It’s there to keep our eyes glued to the screen and make us gasp in disbelief when the truth is eventually revealed.
That is not the case at all in this episode. Yes, there is a death in the palace. Yes, there’s a chance that it’s foul play. Yes, there is a mushroom that can be used as a tool to commit a crime. But do we feel the dark and oppressive tone that is normally present in a murder mystery story? The answer is no. On the contrary, everything feels relatively light.
This tendency to keep everything light even when MaoMao is involved in a terrible case is one of the trademarks of The Apothecary Diaries. This has been the case since the first season, and it will likely stay like this till the end of the series. It’s safe to say that this is the author’s unique storytelling style.
However, we also feel that this is the author’s way of encouraging readers and viewers not to focus too heavily on one aspect of the story. The Apothecary Diaries has a lot to offer besides mysteries of the Inner Court. That’s why even with a death in the Palace, we still get humorous interactions between Maomao and other characters that bring a smile to our faces. It feels as though the author is echoing the Joker’s iconic question: ‘Why so serious?’
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We Need a Higher Difficulty
This episode offers a nice little mystery that satisfies our thirst to see more of Detective Maomao in action. It’s a great appetizer, but now it’s time for some longer mystery because this case is obviously too easy for Maomao. She needs to play at a higher difficulty.
A Longer, Much More Complex Case
While a bite-size mystery is enjoyable to watch, a much more elaborate, complex, and high-stakes mystery that requires several episodes to unfold will certainly be much more interesting to follow. Something like the case involving the judge and the courtesan from the previous season. That case combines mystery, drama, tragedy, romance, and even a dash of humor into a cocktail of nail-biting thriller. That’s The Apothecary Diaries at its finest, and hopefully, we can see something like that soon.
“When the apothecary is like that, she’s just looking for one final piece of evidence.”
–Jinshi
The Curious Case of the Foreign Envoy
If we look back at the previous episodes, there is one particular event that seems to be the perfect setup for a long mystery. The upcoming envoys from the foreign land. These important visitors have been mentioned in the first and second episodes, so it is safe to assume that their arrival will be an important storyline for Season 2. Looking forward to seeing what the fuss is all about and how Detective Maomao will find herself amidst the foreign politics of the Imperial Palace.
The Apothecary Diaries is available to stream on Netflix.
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The Apothecary Diaries
Release Date
October 22, 2023
Directors
Norihiro Naganuma
Writers
Norihiro Naganuma
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Fuente: successacademy.edu.vn
Categorías: Anime
