REVIEW: ‘The Apothecary Diaries’ Season 3 Episode 2 – “The Fire-Rat Cloak”

Even with the dense lore and the ever-changing courses of the storyline, The Apothecary Diaries Season 3 Episode 2 reaffirms the series affinity for patterns. Each season follows a formula without ever becoming formulaic. “The Fire-Rat Cloak” hits the necessary beats with an unusual amount of visual fervor for an otherwise subtle episode, another reminder of the impending storm waiting to engulf the nation. 

As is often the case, The Apothecary Diaries Season 3 Episode 2 breaks off into two parts. The first introduces another component to what will likely be the season-long mystery. The second, meanwhile, reminds us of the stable yet uncertain ground that Maomao (Aoi Yūki) and Jinshi’s (Takeo Ōtsuka) relationship now stands on. Due to some beautiful animation that strays from the series’ norm, the first half is just as interesting even if  much of it belongs to monologues. 

It also continues to bring together story pieces from the previous two seasons. The story begins innocuously enough, driven by the charming dynamic Chou-u (Natsumi Fujiwara) and Maomao share. “The Fire-Rat Cloak” is a further reminder of the series’ commitment to showing the ugly truths of Maomao’s living quarters. Yes, she’s protected to a degree, but the world is unkind and scary, looming with threats if she or Chou-u were to stray off course. 

We see this in both their daily activities and in the overarching story. But the details enrich the world. Moments like Chou-u snuggling beneath a blanket and complaining about the cold, or asking Maomao why she wouldn’t splurge on better food since she can afford it, speak to financial insecurity. She has enough, but she knows it can run out. 

The Apothecary Diaries Season 3 Episode 2 deploys an unexpected visual style.

She practical. She knows what she needs to get by, but she also understands that Chou-u grew up in a different setting, which leads them to the shop for a coat, where the shopkeeper shares the latest mystery for Maomao to solve. He tells the story behind an intricately woven robe that is mistaken for cheap due to its deceptive simplicity. He says it once belonged to a beautiful young maiden who, to escape an unwanted marriage, set it on fire before jumping into a lake. Only the robe remained intact, the maiden disappearing before them.

The truth, or as close to it as she can get, Maomao realizes, is that the robe is made from a fire-resistant stone fiber. And, because of this, she realizes that it is likely connected to the foreign envoys from the west who were likely linked with the Shi Clan. If her instincts are right, as they so often are, this woman might’ve been a spy, able to get the upper hand despite the odds, but someone who now also roams a foreign country, lost to the tides of time.

It’s easy sometimes to get lost in these moments. They’re the kind of puzzles that make sense when the full picture comes together, but because of the many different pieces and how they intersect, it’s tough to keep them together. But The Apothecary Diaries Season 3 Episode 3 avoids this by maintaining visual interest. It’s not just through dialogue. The art style is stunning, evoking a sense of pixelated watercolors, blurred in a way that demonstrates how the story itself has yet to come into focus. 

The locus plague weighs heavily on the horizon. 

The direction, along with the gorgeous score, is a major highlight. It emphasizes the tense weight of expectation and the near larger-than-life circumstances that they’re facing down without overplaying their hand or working with melodrama. And it’s evident in the small beats and the major moments. Maomao and Chou-u walking home find mirroring colors in the robes Maomao holds with the pinks and reds of the sky. The lighting that pokes through the Verdigris house as the score builds addresses the scene with Maomao and Jinshi with necessary gravity. 

Because Jinshi, our other beautiful “maiden,” is truly going through it. The animation team is taking clear glee in getting to show his fatigue, the bags under his eyes growing since the premiere, the shadows of his face once again framing his scar. The series can so often default to overtly simplified character designs for the sake of easy gags that it’s always a nice reminder to see them work in rich, textured detail, be it in individual strands of hair, the line of the face or the contrasting royal colors of Jinshi’s robes. 

He meets with Maomao to talk about her request to find more of the notebooks on insects that the former apothecary of the Shi Clan left. He’s already undergoing a taxing schedule, burdened by his role in the Shi Clan rebellion, his interaction with Loulan that gave him that scar, and the legacy he bears that holds notes of complicity in how she behaved. It’s a complex scenario, and his refusal to respond to the notes being passed around in the inner palace about the rebellion shows someone dealing with more stress than usual. 

Maomao and Jinshi’s discussion pivots the tone from serious to silly.

Maomao notes it too, internally at least. She believes he’ll collapse at this rate, and it’s a nice show of her affection even if she doesn’t voice it. His stress is only doubled by Maomao’s request, especially since she believes they’re going to be dealing with a locust plague. She believes the notebooks will help but also knows that, in the wake of shifts in the palace, any major devastation will fall more heavily on those in power. The quick image of Jinshi in his royal, princely garb facing down the enormity of a potential plague only to be overwhelmed is potent. 

There’s only so much they can dwell on this, however, before The Apothecary Diaries Season 3 Episode 2 deftly switches tone. Maomao believes that Jinshi needs to sleep and suggests he rest at the Verdigris house. However, when he petulantly states he’ll need someone to stay with him, she takes it as he needs a sex worker. Obviously, he meant her, and she’s not so much ignorant of it as she is willfully ignoring that truth. 

It’s a funny sequence that reminds us both of their relative youth while reestablishing their dynamic. They aren’t romantic partners, friends, or even employee and employer. Instead, she is someone he comes to be vulnerable in front of, and he is someone she can be her true self in front of. It’s hard to define, and that’s interesting. 

The Apothecary Diaries Season 3 Episode 2 brings out everything that makes the series worthwhile.

He does not choose to spend the night with one of the women Maomao selects. Instead, he falls asleep and asks her to stay and sing a lullaby. With the golden lighting and Aoi Yūki’s performance, it’s an understated, lovely moment shared between two people with far too many expectations placed on them. It’s prickly solace, hard-won and unexpected and completely earned. 

The Apothecary Diaries Season 3 Episode 2 is a major step up from a low-key premiere. Bolstered by the playful charm of Maomao and Jinshi’s interaction and some bold artistic choices, “The Fire-Rat Cloak” contains a spark of life that helps push through the exposition-driven scenes. Between the mystery, political intrigue, lush settings, and the focus on the central relationship, it has a little bit of everything that makes the series such an intoxicating watch. 

The Apothecary Diaries Season 3 Episode 2 is out now on Crunchyroll. 

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