This article contains spoilers for The Apothecary Diaries Season 2.
Summary
- Lady Jin’s murder mystery unfolds, involving a real and fake consort.
- Characters suspect Jin plotted to kill others, but her death remains mysterious.
- Jinshi was fooled for a year by a fake Lady Jin, while the real one was dead.
- Plot reveals jealousy, psychological harassment, and accidental murder.
- To cover up the murder, attendants pose one maid as the consort, hinting at dark consequences.
- Maomao’s hypothesis guides the audience’s understanding of the events.
The Apothecary Diaries Season 2 is starting to feed fans with information regarding major plot points of the series – and fans are excited about watching a specific scene on Crunchyroll in the upcoming weeks.
But, as usual, despite setting the stage for greater revelations, episodes still have their own mysteries to be solved. One of the most shocking mysteries during this season is the murder of Lady Jin, a minor character in the series whose death left a huge impact on fans. Jin was actually never properly introduced in the series – her first “appearance” is the information that she died, and most believe she was poisoned.
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The Real Consort Jin
There are actually two people who are called Consort Jin in the series: the real concubine Jin and a fake one.
Jin was a middle-ranking consort in the inner court – like many other consorts, her father has a significant role in the court, so she could use his authority to gain influence. However, Jin was not only arrogant, but many characters suspect she had plotted to kill other consorts, especially high-ranking ones.
Gyokuyou attendants, for example, believe Jin had tried to poison the Precious Consort months before the events of Season 2.
But everything changed when Jin suddenly fell ill, and became a reserved person. This illness also had affected her a year prior to the events of this season, and Jinshi visited her once a month to check on her health.
The Fake Concubine Jin
It turns out that Jinshi had been fooled for a year, as he actually had been checking on a fake Lady Jin – a court maid who was posing as the consort. And the real Lady Jin was actually dead.
Despite her attempts and plots to gain a higher position, Jin was never able to get the Emperor’s attention. However, one of her attendants, Tao, was being courted by a high official – and she and this servant resembled each other.
What actually happened to Jin is unknown, but the story shows Maomao’s hypothesis of how the events unfolded. Since this is fiction, Maomao’s hypothesis is to be taken as correct by the audience.
Anyway, Maomao believes that Lady Jin got jealous of her attendant and started to harass her psychologically and maybe even physically. Eventually, they got into a fight and the maid ended up accidentally killing Jin.
As the other attendants were on Tao’s side, they came up with a plan to hide the murder: Tao would pose as the consort while pretending to suffer from an illness caused by poisonous mushrooms, which allowed her to cover her face with bandages.
With this setup, they were able to hide the truth from the rest of the inner court for a year. However, the attendant was still being courted, and marriage plans were advancing. If she married, it would ruin the cover-up and all the ladies-in-waiting would likely suffer the consequences. Thus, the other attendants decided to kill the fake consort and bring an end to the story.
The Apothecary Diaries is streaming on Crunchyroll in the US, subbed and dubbed. In select Asian countries, the series is streaming on Netflix.
The Apothecary Diaries
- Release Date
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October 22, 2023
- Directors
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Norihiro Naganuma, Akinori Fudesaka
- Writers
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Norihiro Naganuma
- Franchise(s)
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The Apothecary Diaries
