REVIEW: ‘The Apothecary Diaries’ Episode 23 — “Balsam And Woodsorrel”

The Apothecary Diaries (Kusuriya no Hitorigoto) Episode 23, “Balsam and Woodsorrel” picks up right where its predecessor left off. Done hiding, Maomao (Aoi Yûki) comes face to face with Lakan (Takuya Kirimoto). She uses the moment to challenge him to chess. A best-of-five match. Heavy stakes are at play and Lakan is a master of the game. Has Maomao gotten in over her head?

Maomao and Lakan’s chess match create the perfect stakes for the episode. Surprising no one, Lakan wants Maomao to live with him if he wins. Maomao demands that Lakan buy out a courtesan’s contract from the Verdigris should she prevail. She also places a pair of special rules on the game. First, she pours some medicine into three of five cups of strong liquor. She then mixes the identical cups up so neither knows where the medicine is. After each game, the winner picks a cup for the loser to drink from. While medicine is the added ingredient, Maomao makes clear that, if the same person consumes all three, it will become poisonous. The second rule she adds is simple. If a player abandons the match for any reason, they forfeit. Lakan readily agrees.

Lakan’s acceptance of Maomao’s terms with virtually no hesitation tells us a lot about the man. While he has been pursuing Maomao for a long time, he knows nothing about her. If he did, he would know that she would never set such rules unless she knew how to work them in her favor. He’d also know about her built-up immunity to poisons, making the first rule less threatening to her. But more importantly, he’d know the forfeiture clause would only be there if she had a plan to make him abandon a game.

That he knows so little about Maomao despite being so desperate to have her with him speaks volumes of the man’s intentions. He doesn’t want Maomao in his life as a person, but rather as a prize. She’s a trophy to show he acquired her.

As The Apothecary Diaries Episode 23 sees the matches unfold, Jinshi (Takeo Otsuka) watches from the sideline. He is mortified as Maomao quickly loses two games to the expert Lakan. Fearful of losing Maomao, Jinshi does all he can to remain quiet and observe. It really shows Maomao’s skills that it never occurs to Jinshi that she has a plan.

As the third match wraps up, we see Maomao take a win. She swiftly thanks her opponent for letting her steal one from him. Lakan acknowledges her observation, stating that he couldn’t risk his beloved daughter drinking poison. He reaches for one of the three remaining cups, hoping to claim the altered one. When he drinks the liquid the horrible taste convinces him he chose correctly. While he does claim the tainted cup, the liquor within makes short work of Lakan as he passes out.

The Apothecary Diaries Episode 23’s opening sequence has played out exactly as Maomao intended. With her opponent “abandoning” the game, she is the victor. While Lakan may be considered a master strategist, he needs to work on thinking outside the box if he ever intends to best Maomao.

From here, the episode takes an unexpected turn. Rather than follow Maomao and Jinshi in the moments following the match, the narrative turns its attention towards Lakan. The episode goes back into the antagonist’s past as we learn how he came to be who he is.

What we learn about Lakan crafts an interesting tale. With a particular focus placed on his struggle with identifying people. This unique trait is one of the great burdens Lakan toils with. Not being able to recognize people visually makes his early years quite challenging. Only through the aid of his kind uncle is he able to overcome his disability.

Speaking of Lakan’s uncle, there are several moments during this sequence where it is strongly hinted that the uncle is Maomao’s adopted father. While this raises some interesting questions concerning why Lakan was able to find her all the years she lived with her father, it also has its problems if true. So many plot lines have concerned her dad that the interconnectivity is starting to stretch thin. It feels far-fetched that so many different moments happen to connect through this man.

The Apothecary Diaries Episode 23‘s flashback focuses on his connection to the brothel and Maomao’s mother once it sees Lakan reach adulthood. The sequence of events is far kinder to Lakan than I expected. With all previous depictions of the character being a manipulative schemer, I expected his connections here to be just as bad. Rather, Lakan is presented as a lonely man who has found a kindred spirit in the courtesan Fengxian.

While the pair come to enjoy their recurring games of chess and go, Fengxian’s growing popularity causes the cost of spending time with her to increase. Being a successful but low-ranking officer, he cannot see her more than once every few months. When their hands touch one night, above the go board, something more carnal replaces their usual entertainment.

Later, Lakan is forced to go abroad to avoid being caught up in a scandal surrounding his uncle. While he expects to only be gone three months at the most, he ends up being absent for three years. Once he returns he learns that Fengxian had been trying to contact him. Only then does he learn she was carrying his child.

Lakan’s revelation, as well as his inability to reconnect with Fengxian, creates a tragic moment. Those at the brothel blame him for abandoning her, even though that’s not entirely true. The flashback ends with Lakan, crying, kneeling in mud amidst a rainstorm outside of Verdigris House.

The Apothecary Diaries Episode 23 delivers some surprising background about its central antagonist. It grows the character into a fleshed-out person, rather than just a dastardly villain. We can only guess at how his role in the series will unfold from here as the series prepares for its finale.

The Apothecary Diaries Season 1 is streaming now on Crunchyroll.