Welcome back to Anime Rants. In The Apothecary Diaries episode 32 (Season 2 episode 8), we meet Lady Anshi, the Empress Dowager. I don’t think it’s difficult for most of you, but in case any other dummies need to know, let’s make sure we know what an Empress Dowager is and what her place is within the imperial family.
A dowager is “a widow holding property or a title from her deceased husband.” (Source: Merriam-Webster Dictionary.) The Empress Dowager is therefore the wife of a dead Emperor. Based on my limited knowledge of Chinese history, I believe an Empress Dowager would command significant power, though less than the acting Emperor. The imperial family is a topic of great importance in this episode, so we will at some point review the structure of the family as we know it thus far.
Episode 32: The Empress Dowager
Episode Rating: 8/10
There were a few light-hearted scenes before we got to the meat of the episode. Maomao moved into a storage shed, which she preferred over her bedroom in Gyokuyo’s building. She also had another amusing encounter with Shisui, who was excited as ever about bugs. Shisui is such a cute character and I love seeing her happily blabbering and/or jumping around to catch butterflies and crickets.
One day, the Empress Dowager visited the Jade Pavilion. Lady Anshi seemed to be on excellent terms with Lady Gyokuyo. She was even aware of the concubine’s pregnancy, which she had been keeping secret from most of the court. While Gyokuyo was out of the room, Anshi asked Maomao to help her solve a problem/mystery. She believes that she cursed the previous Emperor. Maomao’s job was to investigate.
Maomao thought about what she knew concerning the current Emperor and his relatives. Now is therefore a good time to review the structure of the imperial family. The current Emperor, who we’ll call Emperor Chill, supposedly has only one child: Lingli, daughter of Concubine Gyokuyo. Emperor Chill’s mother is Anshi, and his father was the previous ruler, who we’ll call Emperor Pedo.
Jinshi is known as Emperor Chill’s younger brother, though he’s currently disguised as a eunuch. He is probably not the biological son of Anshi. Rather, Jinshi was born of Ah-Duo, who switched him out with the Empress Dowager’s second baby. This episode calls into question whether Jinshi is the son of Emperor Pedo at all. He might actually be the son of Emperor Chill rather than his brother. In that case, Jinshi is an heir to throne.
A few days later, the high-ranking concubines had a tea party with the Empress Dowager. While it was happening, Anshi’s trusted attendant (name unknown) showed Maomao around a certain building. This was the place where Emperor Pedo spent most of his time leading up to his death. The building would be torn down soon, so the attendant asked Maomao to investigate before then.
Maomao asked the attendant if there was any evidence of a curse, and she learned something truly intriguing. It was customary to keep the deceased Emperor’s body in a coffin in the mausoleum for a year or two. When the time was over, Emperor Chill and Lady Anshi opened the coffin, only to find that Emperor Pedo’s body had not rotted. This would certainly seem supernatural to people in Ancient China. That’s why Lady Anshi blamed a curse.
There was one other reason as well. Anshi hated the previous Emperor, wishing he would disappear almost every day. That’s understandable since the old man was a pedophile. Maomao stated as much in her narration, confirming the suspicion of many viewers. In addition, when he got Anshi pregnant, it was insanely hard on her young body. She needed surgery to remove the baby. Anyway, resentment was to be expected.
It was good to know that the Empress Dowager was the one behind the banning of slavery and the creation of eunuchs. This makes her one of the most interesting characters to me. Not only does she have power as woman, but she is also a humanist. I hope Anshi becomes a more regular character or we learn more about her.
(Side Note: Despite the bans, “slavery” still existed in other forms in the country of Li. Maomao made the connection, for example, that courtesans are essentially sex slaves. However, many of them were also proud, and being courtesans was probably a way for some women to feel empowered. Given her background, it’s natural that Maomao would be against a ban on prostitution.)
That’s pretty much all for this episode, but I did want to speculate a little before ending this post. We learned that Emperor Pedo and his old mother spent a lot of time together leading up to their deaths. The mother died first, and Emperor Pedo followed shortly. The room in which they spent time had a strange scent in it, Maomao noticed. Then there’s the fact that the old man’s body didn’t rot.
Given that information, I think Emperor Pedo and his mother were researching medicine, trying to create a drug for immortality or resurrection. They probably stumbled upon something like formaldehyde, which has a strong smell and slows down decay on dead bodies. I also suspect that Emperor Pedo and/or his mother had a connection to Suirei. Perhaps they were the ones that taught her about medicine. I could be very wrong about all this. Regardless, that’s all for today.
~Thanks for reading~
Written by 7Mononoke at Anime Rants
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