T5W#582-Top 5 Biggest Takeaways from the Season 3 Premiere of The Apothecary Diaries

Well it is about damn time.  It really has felt like almost a year and a half since we last saw everyones sassy, logical and all around bad ass Apothecary, Maomao.  But the wait is finally over: Season 3 of The Apothecary Diaries has begun.  And it has wasted no time teeing up things for a bigger season that is actually going to be split in half with Part 1 airing this Fall and Part 2 airing in the Spring, with the Apothecary Diaries Movie releasing in between them at Christmas.  In the here and now, the Third Season Premiere has a lot of questions and notable status quo changes, not to mention some lingering after effects from the end of Season Two.  Today on Top 5 Wednesday, we’re gonna get into some of the Season Premeire’s finer details as we look at the Top 5 Biggest Takeaways from the Season 3 Premiere of The Apothecary Diaries.

 
#5-No Maomao and Jinshi Scenes?

This was a bit of a surprise since these two are the core main characters/potential main couple of the whole franchise.  While they may be tending to their own matters in different parts of the Kingdom, I expected Maomao and Jinshi to share at least one brief scene together, whether it just be an awkward passing hello or Jinshi or Maoamo coming to one another to discuss the growing Locust plague or perhaps one of the many political intrigues brewing in court.  Jinshi might not be my favorite character but he is essential to Maomao’s story and it hopefully wont belong before these two cross paths again.

 
#4-Maomao’s New Roommate

During her stay with the Shi Clan, Maomao became a favorite of one of the children living there, Kyou-u.  After he narrowly survived the extermination of the Shi Clan (more on that in a moment), Jinshi had him and his fellow charges hidden in the city under new names and given new places to live.  It wasn’t made clear at the end of Season Two but Season Three confirms Kyou-u is now Chou-u and he is indeed living with Maomao.  Their sibling banter continues to be a highlight but Maomao knows the great risk of Chou-u’s secret being revealed and I’m sure we’ll see just how far she’s willing to protect this kid who’s already died once and was resurrected at great cost (long story, nothing supernatural).

 
#3-Wrath of the Divine?

The biggest problem facing Maomao’s neck of the woods in Season Three (at least for now), is a Locust Plague that has begun terrorizing the nation.  Crops are ruined.  Starvation is inevitable.  And Maomao is very worried that The Emperor might be blamed for this natural disaster.  According to Maomao, under the Emperor’s rule, there as been no Locust plague.  Then he decided to destroy an entire rebellious clan and many might see this act of violence as being in need of punishment.  Lack of food could make anyone believe anything and this feels like, if nothing else, an opening salvo of things to come in the aftermath of the Shi Clans demise.  Speaking of which…

 
#2-Fallout from the Fall of Shi

Just because Jinshi and the Emperor saw to their demise doesn’t mean the Ghosts of Shi have been laid to rest.  Much like Chou-u’s survival (and also Shisui/Loulan), bits and pieces of the Shi Clan still linger about.  While tracking down a book that could help her look into the Locust threat, Maomao reunites with the man who was her Jailer at the Shi Compound and learns various Shi valuables are in the wind and he’s keeping his own connections to the Shi under wraps so he doesn’t get killed.  There’s also the possibility of a political upheaval with the Shi out of the picture, which is one of Jinshi’s many concerns so far in this episode alone. 

 

#1-They Who Come with the Locusts

Navigating the chaos and terror of a storm of Locusts is a mysterious, white robbed and clothed individual who seems to arrive along with said storm to offer “A Medicine that will heal your heart and erase all worldly pains”.  Like I said above, the threat of Famine will make anyone believe anything.  But the greater question is: who the heck is this very creepy person and what kind of Star Trek V Sybok BS are the peddling?  Whatever the case, I doubt their intentions are pure and their sheer eerie presence alone makes them one of the biggest threats Maomao and Jinshi have ever faced (also while unlikely cause she was heading overseas last we saw her, if the Shi Clan remnants are involved I hope Shisui isnt among them, that’d be so wrong after everything she and Maomao went through together in the back half of Season Two).