The Apothecary Diaries Season 3 ‒ Episodes 49-51
Only three episodes in and Maomao is already facing dual scourges. True to the series' usual methods, both of them are setting up to be longer-term problems rather than single-episode issues. Of the two, the impending swarm of locusts that Loulan warned Maomao about before she left at the end of last season seems to be the more dangerous. Locusts could have a serious impact on the harvests needed to feed not just farmers, but everyone who relies on farmers for food…and last I checked, that was the entire population. But I don't think we should underestimate the problem hinted at in episodes forty-nine and fifty and finally revealed in episode fifty-one, because someone feeding the capital city's poor ergot-laced food is alarmingly close to human experimentation.
Maomao seizes on very quickly. Although she's aware that eating ergot can cause ergotism, that doesn't make it common knowledge, and the terrible truth is that for people without enough to eat, just being handed something is enough to make them consume it. That goes double if the food is made with sugar, which was strictly reserved for the upper classes. They can't afford to be picky or to look gift horses in the mouth, and someone is taking advantage of them.
That person is referred to as “the white lady.” Jinshi, over his pretty head in paperwork, is aware that she's not a one-time sighting; multiple reports have come in mentioning her. We've seen her, too, walking around with what are revealed this week to be poisoned offerings of food, so all that's left is for Maomao and Jinshi to put the pieces together. But the question remains as to why she's doing this. As Maomao and Sazen note, human experimentation does happen, although most apothecary researchers test on themselves; that's what killed the Shi apothecary and how Maomao ended up with all of those scars on her arm. It's not great, but at least they aren't hurting anyone else with their activities. But if the white lady is experimenting on the poor, that's something else entirely. That's taking advantage of those who can't consent (or don't know enough to consent); in at least two cases, we know she gave ergot-laced cakes to the elderly and a mute child. That doesn't exactly sound like she wanted people to question her gifts.
Inadvertently, though, she did save the two sisters. Had the younger never developed gangrenous ergotism, Maomao would never have been summoned to their house. She wouldn't have taken the younger girl out and eventually gotten both girls taken on at Verdigris House as apprentices. The difference between when Maomao first meets them and the girls at the end of the episode is striking – and it says a lot about how simple (or seemingly simple) things like food and shelter and safety can make a difference. There's also perhaps a bit of cynicism to Maomao's help; there's a very good chance that the girls' father would have forced them into sex work regardless, and outside of someplace like Verdigris House, with Granny's watchful eye, that work becomes astronomically more dangerous. If the girls were going to end up in sex work regardless, at least Maomao could make sure that it was safe sex work. It's no different than what she's doing for Chou-u – finding him a safe place to exist and helping him to discover a way to survive. I love that she's gone full big sister mode with him and that she recognizes him doing the same for the younger sister.
These episodes don't do a great job of remembering that Chou-u is meant to be partially paralyzed, though. Episode fifty-one does it best, taking more care to show his arm simply hanging by his side, but it's still not entirely clear how much use he has of it. I'll give it a pass, though, for that one scene of poor Gaoshun attempting to become one with the corner after Maomao completely failed to understand Jinshi's meaning about not wanting to sleep alone. Or maybe she did know and pretended she didn't – after all, she was raised by Pairin and look at how much she enjoys teasing Basen this week.
As Maomao tracks down the missing insect book and Jinshi prepares to tell her about the white lady (and maybe try his luck again), the connection between the two issues should start coming clear. Ergot infection can substantially reduce crop yields and harm livestock as well as humans, so I believe the two situations are related. I suppose we'll find out.
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The Apothecary Diaries Season 3 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
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