“Please Don’t Expect Me To Always Be Good And Kind And Loving. There Are Times When I Will Be Cold

#rebellions are built on hope alcohol consumption that makes the unbearable weight of a fascist regime somehow manageable 

Apothecary Diaries is pog as fuck bc serious political issues and dynamics from a woman's POV are rarely depicted in ANY form of media

It's always a man's world where women's issues surround him. Even if we get a female perspective once in awhile- it all comes back to how it facilitates his game in the end. She's a footnote in the overarching scheme of things. Misogyny exists. Back to the real plot.

Apothecary Diaries is strictly from a female perspective and how each class of woman has to act, what limits they have, what rights they have and don't have between each class, etc. These women have to behave a certain way under a patriarchy, which you would think makes it a man's story, but it never is. The women are THE focus of this show, their struggles are THE plot. The focus is about how the patriarch effects them.

Take the concubines for example. The show dives into how bearing a child affects their rank, how traumatizing it is to lose that child, the consequences of that, etc. We have barely seen the emperor who sired all these kids because this is not about him.

Jinshi's personal plot is secondary to Mao Mao's journey- he is mostly there to provide new cases for Mao Mao to solve and to learn more about the shortcomings of his class when taking care of citizens like Mao Mao.

Jinshi is not a bad person, but by virtue of his position in the higher classes, he cannot understand how harsh life as a poor WOMAN is specifically- he can only catch glimpses of it from what Mao Mao tells him and feel outrage but powerless in his wealth and luxury

Mao Mao is a fortunate commoner woman for what privileges someone in her class should and shouldn't have. She happened to be adopted by a knowledgeable man. She is allowed to read, write, learn, and has enough skill to be a poison tester and have a job EXTREMELY out of her class limit as an apothecary, also a job not traditionally meant for women

Mao Mao is not a "noT lIkE oThER gIrLs" protagonist, she is FOR THE GIRLIES. She only wants to help the women around her, and women are whom she has the closest relationships to. She sees a woman being harassed and can't let it stand. She sees a frail, traumatized woman dying from the recklessness of those who should be caring for her and spends day and night nursing her back to health, while also punishing the people who were so careless with her needs.

My girl has STUDIED UP on THE BODY to TEACH these upper class ladies on how to really HEAT things up in the BEDROOM

Sex depicted in Apothecary Diaries is both something women are not shamed to be enjoying, while at the same time being acknowledged as an unfortunately huge economic necessity to market themselves.

Like shit is just so real in this series???

Listen, I can go on and on about how GOATED the series and especially Mao Mao is but you get the picture

Fiona Apple by Joshua Kessler, 1997

Jinshi @ Maomao every episode like

ANDOR | 2.01 - 2.03 + TEXT POSTS

My Pokémon ❤️💙

I think it's important that people play card and board games with each other

mecore

on knowing [loving]

Walk Me Home, Searows / On a Sunbeam, Tillie Walden / We're In Love, Boygenius / The Sound Of Collision: Boygenius Discuss Creating 'The Rest', Boygenius - The Grammys / Unknown artist, Pinterest / True Blue, Boygenius / I Will Find a New Recipe For Custard Rolls, Liberty Beck / Hold You, Searows / On a Sunbeam, TIllie Walden / Leonard Cohen, Boygenius / On Pushing the Boundaries of Friendship, Hanif Abdurraqib / Pass The Aux, Boygenius - Pitchfork interview / On Pushing the Boundaries of Friendship, Hanif Abdurraqib / Leonard Cohen, Boygenius / On a Sunbeam, Tillie Walden / End Of The World, Searows / I Will Find a New Recipe For Custard Rolls, Liberty Beck / True Blue, Boygenius / Unknown artist, Pinterest / boygenius: “This is the time we finally get to be around each other – we’re gonna enjoy it”, Boygenius - Loud and Quiet / King's Crossing, Elliott Smith / On a Sunbeam, Tillie Walden / Sleeping With The Lights On, Searows

Fiona Apple photographed by David Corio, 1997