The Apothecary Diaries episode 18 premiered on Saturday, February 10, 2024, at 1 a.m. JST. Viewers who couldn’t watch the episode can still stream it through Crunchyroll. The anime’s latest episode was eventful since it brought forward various revelations.
The episode resumed from where the previous episode left off. Maomao reveals to Jinshi that to make a courtesan lose her social standing, she has to be pregnant. This surprises Jinshi and makes him uneasy.
Maomao then wakes up from a nightmare of the time when she was an infant. In the nightmare, her mother, who happens to be a courtesan, tries to kill her. After the chilling scene, Maomao’s father asks her to drop some medicine at the Verdigris House.
The series finally reveals that the person she had been dropping medicine for is the same courtesan who gave birth to Maomao. Her condition, as seen in the episode, was fragile as she battled with syphilis.
The series then shows a flashback of a time when her mother was a courtesan and caught the disease. Eventually, the disease spread throughout her body, putting her job as a courtesan at stake. However, the Verdigris House was generous enough to let her stay there despite not being of service there.
The Apothecary Diaries episode 18 recap: Is Lord Lakan Maomao’s father?
Jinshi and the apothecary then returned to the palace. Another shocking revelation unfolds as Lakan reveals himself to be Maomao’s father by blood. Jinshi comes to know about it as Lakan asks him to inform Maomao that he will visit his daughter soon.
When Jinshi breaks the news of the visit to Maomao, the look on her face catches him off-guard. Consequently, he ensures Maomao that he will try to dodge Lakan’s visit. Towards the end of the episode, Maomao encounters the mysterious Suirei, who coldly warns Maomao not to visit the herbal garden often.
Suirei then reveals to Maomao that she has been planting an herb that can resurrect people back from the dead. This unexpected revelation shocks and excites Maomao at the same time, given her interest in apothecary and medicine. However, Suirei confirms that she is joking.
The Apothecary Diaries episode 18 ending: Suirei and morning glories, explained
The episode comes to a close with an enigmatic scene wherein Suirei reveals that she will soon be planting morning glories in the garden. With tense music and the famous myth behind morning glories, the episode ends in a mystifying manner.
As far as the Asian legend goes, the morning glory flower is associated with the idea of rebirth and resurrection. This is because the flower can bloom anew every other day. As such, morning glories symbolize love as well as rebirth or resurrection.
The myth behind why morning glory holds such significance has a profound effect on the storyline. Since Suirei jokingly claimed to be planting herbs that resurrect people back from the dead, her intention of planting morning glory goes well with her claim. However, whether or not she intends to do it can only be followed in the upcoming episodes.
In case Suirei does intend to plan on planting morning glories to resurrect someone back from the dead, then who could it be? Since the flower also represents reunion with someone one loves, who is it that Suirei intends to resurrect and reunite with?
Thus, these revelations within a single episode make fans wonder how far the narrative would take them. With just eight episodes left in the season, it will be interesting to see what the plot has in store for Maomao, Jinshi, Lakan, and others.
