(Good) The Apothecary Diaries

Series in one sentence:
No one cares a girl got kidnapped, including the girl.

Series in more sentences:
Maomao, born from a shamed prostitute, is the learned apprentice of a talented apothecary, one day kidnapped by thugs and sold to the royal family as a supposed no-name servant.

While taking the situation for what it is, she grabs everyone's attention by just being herself, primarily an eunuch of supposed high ranking. Her knowledge for medicine and detective level of intelligence makes her a valued employee and Maomao is often summoned to solve mysteries no one else seems able to figure out.

What a surprise, the sexually charged eunuch still has his balls. Called it he was a prince the moment the existence of one was brought up.

Oh. Spoilers, lol.

Liked it, mostly. Just about to deem it a "Good". I've said it before that I don't enjoy these "emperor with 50 wives and castrated servants" settings much, especially when you have all these employees having a silly good time with each other. Sir, you've been snipped, and madam, you will never get the chance to start a family either, you'll forever be the grovelling slave in this fancy whore house called a palace, why are you smiling? And why are you smiling, wife #12? You're literally just here to be a sex toy and baby maker.
It's a strange setting from the past to romanticize, but nothing from the past really makes for a decent setting to insert a romance or comedy in, honestly.

At the halfway mark, I didn't feel as invested anymore. I'm not sure if I can explain it, but it felt like nothing of note was happening. Maomao is fired for an episode, but pretty much brought back immediately. The way everyone responded after she finally returned from what was abduction and forced servitude was nothing short of heartless. Her surrogate father especially is a very emotionless man and uninteresting as a character, though the series gave him a much needed backstory. Not that it did anything for him, though.
The series picked itself back up fairly nicely after that, but I still didn't feel as invested as I did at the start of it all.

The ending was open, with nothing having been established for Maomao, but the announcement more episodes are coming was its saving grace. The internet claims season 2 is planned for 2025, and I think that's a good thing, if it remembers to take care of loose ends and kicks this one-sided romance between her and Jinshi a bit harder.

Speaking of.. I totally missed why he has to pretend to be a eunuch, did the show even tell..?