The Apothecary Diaries Season 2 has a larger scope than the previous season, focusing on developing the world’s backstory. The narrative centers around the imperial family’s history and the rear palace, unlike Season 1, which was focused more on Jinshi and Maomao themselves.
The structure of most episodes remains the same: a mystery case that highlights Maomao’s intelligence or knowledge. It does not really work as a typical whodunit, as episodes are short, hints are a bit too on the nose, or the solution requires very specific knowledge. In some sense, the series is a showcase of Maomao more than anything.
In reality, the story works well as a palace drama thanks to its characters. Even minor characters are usually fleshed out well enough to feel multidimensional. The highlights of this season are Loulan, who embodies the role of a scheming tanuki, and Gyokuyou, who proves to be a master of palace politics and relationships.
There is, however, a tendency in the series to focus every occurrence through a single lens. Everything in this season ties back to the Late Emperor, his relationship with women and the trauma he caused. While a narrative focus makes sense, the overreliance makes the world feel uncanny. The most jarring example of this is the focus on the physical similarity between Jinshi and the Late Emperor. Jinshi’s appearance had already been used in the previous season to highlight his true origin as the son of Ah-Duo. It is plausible enough that Jinshi looks like his grandfather but this is not hinted enough: some remarks on the beauty of the Late Emperor would probably made this easier to digest.
Despite this, I still enjoyed the season, especially when it focused on a larger plot with Maomao’s kidnapping. The focus on a larger plot without the pretense of problem solving works very well. I look forward to the next season. I hope that the trope of teasing something more between Maomao and Jinshi gives away to a proper relationship.