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Jinmao dynamic is lowkey crazy cause Jinshi will try to be very indirect with courting Maomao bc he doesn't want her to feel cornered or like he's forcing her to do anything.... and in return Maomao will pretend like there's nothing between them till he becomes unhinged. He's either extremly careful not to scare her off or (SPOILERS LN 7 ans 8) saying he'll make her his wife and branding himself a slave so no other woman can have him. No in between.
Jinshi: *insinuating he wants a relationship with Maomao*
Maomao: Oh no you don't. You're either gonna be direct or I'm gonna act like there's nothing between us.
Jinshi: Oh yeah? Challenge accepted. How about *random unhinged behaviour nobody could ever have predicted*
And I think it's beautiful.
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Thinking about the Japanese tendency towards nuance and understatement and Luomen's reaction to Maomao going missing. She's his daughter, she means the world to him, he's taught her his pharmaceutical and differential diagnosis skills even though it leans towards the taboo for a woman to do so. It hits like a brick for him to dismiss her short disappearance so casually in front of a freaking-out Jinshi.
One year, with Luomen not knowing whether Maomao was alive or dead; a year of worrying and waiting, and nothing he can do about it even if he hadn't been exiled from the rear palace. Jinshi is pitching a fit about ten or so days, and meanwhile the machinery of the emperor's rear palace is responsible for the disappearances of so many young women who get picked off the streets to serve, with their own parents left to wait and worry and watch.
"One time, Maomao went missing for a year" is a deserved slap in the face for the men responsible - hey, Jinshi and fam, this time you and your retainers are concerned because Maomao is your pet House MD, and how do you think Luomen felt? Suck it up, buttercup, and maybe it's about time to rethink how things are done around here.
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It’s incredibly important to me that the anime decided to include this scene that wasn’t in the manga. In the manga, Maomao does pass out in Jinshi’s lap after saving him from what was obviously an assassination attempt.
HOWEVER, the manga cuts off at this point, keeping strictly in Maomao’s perspective, and cuts straight to when she regains consciousness in bed after being treated for her injuries. The manga doesn’t show how she got back. They SAY how, and she briefly mentions, “wow that must have been embarrassing; he carried me back,” but we don’t SEE it. We don’t get to feel the true impact of what that means. But the anime DID show us, and holy shit.
They SHOW us how taboo this is. They show Jinshi carrying her out of the temple, after a public attempt on his life.
They show us the shock and horror on Lakan’s face as Jinshi silently walks past him. Horror at the state his daughter is in, horror at another man—a man with a status he could never dare to question—staking such a public claim over his child, horror at the fact that he could never have this level of closeness with her (as Maomao would never allow it).
Everyone hides their gazes, as is their custom when someone of his rank passes by, but the air is different this time. Jinshi is furious, he’s terrified, and he could not give a single shit about how inappropriate it looks to these palace officials.
The shot that slowly follows her trail of blood—even though it’s a small detail—that in particular leaves such a intense impression of how poignant this is for him.
Maomao talked about this scene in the manga like it was nothing to her. She did what she set out to do: she saved the person who was targeted by the attack. She didn’t even know the target would be someone she knew. But she has no idea that this happened afterwards as a result of her bravery. To her, it likely wasn’t even an act of bravery at all. She acted on impulse; she did what she knew was the right thing to do.
The anime didn’t need to include this, because the manga didn’t show it. But damn, I’m so glad they did.
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i’m rewatching the apothecary diaries season 1 in preparation for starting season 2 (i like to wait until a little bit into the season to start new shows) and i forgot how immediately jinshi’s whole “maomao glared at me like i was a bug and i got so hard i passed out for a second” thing started. literally the moment he realized his #prettyboyswag moves were actually making her shudder in disgust he was sooooo ready to become her full time malewife.
think abt it. he has been raised with a silver spoon in his mouth and everyone around him chomping at the bit to make him happy (besides his nanny and gaoshun’s family ig) and then this wickedly smart servant girl begrudgingly treats him with the only bare minimum amount of respect she can get away with considering their statuses and doesn’t even bother to hide her distain for his whole Deal and he’s this close to proposing marriage, eunuch cover be damned.
maomao please put this man on a leash already his desperation is scaring the hoes
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One of my favorite choices the Apothecary Diaries made was making the Emperor a “normal guy” (as far as I know as an anime-only). He’s not evil. He’s not hindering Mao Mao’s journey. He respects the concubines.
If anything his lack of autonomy and presence as the most powerful person in the country further enhances the show’s themes of working within the confines of class and gender inequality.
The previous emperor was a horrible, horrible pervert. Okay, then this emperor only weds women of age… Until he’s forced to take his father’s precious wife due to politics. The current emperor reasonably avoids her.
Eunuchs exist? Bam! now the surgery is outlawed, but this will create a reduction in male labor around the palace.
The emperor clearly favors few women. Well, now he must recognize a concubine with a powerful politician father playing the system.
He supports Mao Mao toeing the line of social expectations for women, but hasn’t removed the law against women preparing medicine. It makes one think, if he wanted to, could he make the change at all? For every two steps forward, he’s forced to take one step back.
In this universe even the Emperor is limited by social pressure and the expectations of his station. His life and that of his children is out of his control, and if that isn’t such a compelling piece of world building I don’t know what is.
If that’s how the author twists the narrative of the Emperor you better believe her female characters dealing with women’s issues in this society are even better written.
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To me what’s so beautiful about Maomao and Jinshi’s relationship is the normalcy of it. People can be “oh they’re freaks together” but no, not really. They have quirks yes, but for them it’s the rhythm they get into together so fast that sets them apart as being clearly meant for one another. It’s what shows that we say love is hard but it isn’t when it’s right. Jinshi makes accommodation for Maomao without much thought because he knows he wants her in his life. Working hard for her is easy in that being with her is the reprieve. For Maomao, she’s found someone who can match her intellect, whom she doesn’t always have to explain her thought processes to and what she needs nor wants. Being with Jinshi means less mental strain because he already understands her sometimes before she even gets to a conclusion. And this is how love should be, not loud, not always big and flashy but just having someone who knows you and someone you’re willing to make the everyday choices for because being with them is the reward in and of itself.
