The Apothecary Diaries Guide: Every Episode, Cast and Where to Stream

Season 1 · 24 episodes · 24 aired · Oct 22, 2023 to Mar 24, 2024

1. E1Oct 22
2. E2Oct 22
3. E3Oct 22
4. E4Oct 29
5. E5Nov 6
6. E6Nov 12
7. E7Nov 19
8. E8Nov 26
9. E9Dec 3
10. E10Dec 10
11. E11Dec 17
12. E12Dec 24
13. E13Jan 7
14. E14Jan 14
15. E15Jan 21
16. E16Jan 28
17. E17Feb 4
18. E18Feb 11
19. E19Feb 18
20. E20Feb 25
21. E21Mar 3
22. E22Mar 10
23. E23Mar 17
24. E24Mar 24

1. S1.E1 · Sun, Oct 22, 2023

   Maomao

   Kidnapped by bandits and sold into the emperor's rear palace as a laundry maid, apothecary's daughter Maomao hears that a curse is sickening the infants of two rival concubines.

   Directed by Akinori Fudesaka · Written by Yūko Kakihara

2. S1.E2 · Sun, Oct 22, 2023

   Chilly Apothecary

   Settling in as Gyokuyou's food taster, Maomao is handed two odd jobs by Jinshi: explain how a village's soldiers were poisoned at dinner, and brew him an aphrodisiac.

   Directed by Kentarō Fujita · Written by Misuzu Chiba

3. S1.E3 · Sun, Oct 22, 2023

   The Unsettling Matter of the Spirit

   A pale woman is said to dance along the eastern wall by moonlight, so Gaoshun and Maomao go looking for the concubine behind the palace's newest ghost story.

   Directed by Kyohei Yamamoto · Written by Hitomi Ogawa

4. S1.E4 · Sun, Oct 29, 2023

   The Threat

   The emperor asks Maomao to nurse Consort Lihua, whose illness has outlasted every treatment, but the consort's protective attendants keep throwing her out of the sickroom.

   Directed by China (director) · Written by Yūko Kakihara

5. S1.E5 · Mon, Nov 6, 2023

   Covert Operations

   A patient turns up at the clinic begging for a cure for a curse, just as Maomao is swept into preparations for a garden party where the emperor's highest consorts will all attend.

   Directed by Gaku Shiga · Written by Misuzu Chiba

6. S1.E6 · Sun, Nov 12, 2023

   The Garden Party

   Stuck among sniping ladies-in-waiting at the garden party, Maomao collects gossip about a rift between Ah-Duo and Lishu, then tastes something in Gyokuyou's soup that should not be there.

   Directed by Wataru Nakagawa · Written by Hitomi Ogawa

7. S1.E7 · Sun, Nov 19, 2023

   Homecoming

   Back on her feet after the party, Maomao borrows the silver soup bowl and a few brothel tricks to work out whose hands touched it, then bargains a hairpin into a trip home.

   Directed by Tadao Ōkubo · Written by Yūko Kakihara

8. S1.E8 · Sun, Nov 26, 2023

   Wheat Stalks

   A panicked servant girl hammers on the apothecary's door and drags Maomao to a brothel, where a courtesan and a well-dressed customer both lie slumped and poisoned.

   Directed by Kentarō Fujita · Written by Yuniko Ayana

9. S1.E9 · Sun, Dec 3, 2023

   Suicide or Murder?

   Kounen, a high-ranking official, dies after a night of hard drinking, and a servant woman is pulled from the moat, leaving Maomao two deaths and no clean explanation for either.

   Directed by Akira Koremoto · Written by Misuzu Chiba

10. S1.E10 · Sun, Dec 10, 2023

    Honey

    Gossip about the drowned servant spreads while Maomao sits through a tea party where Lishu flinches from honeyed tea, and Jinshi quietly sends her on to attend Consort Ah-Duo.

    Directed by Erkin Kawabata · Written by Hitomi Ogawa

11. S1.E11 · Sun, Dec 17, 2023

    Reducing Two to One

    Maomao puts to Fengming what she has pieced together about Ah-Duo's lost child, the doctor expelled from the palace, and the poison that was never meant for Gyokuyou.

    Directed by Yukihiko Asaki · Written by Yūko Kakihara

12. S1.E12 · Sun, Dec 24, 2023

    The Eunuch and the Courtesan

    A palace purge sweeps up Maomao over her ties to a trafficking ring, costing her her post and sending her back to the Verdigris brothel while Jinshi wrestles with letting her go.

    Directed by Mitsuyo Yokono · Written by Misuzu Chiba

13. S1.E13 · Sun, Jan 7, 2024

    Serving in the Outer Court

    Reinstated in the outer court rather than the rear palace, Maomao flunks the court lady exams, lands as Jinshi's personal assistant, and draws the glares of jealous court ladies.

    Directed by Wataru Nakagawa · Written by Yuniko Ayana

14. S1.E14 · Sun, Jan 14, 2024

    The New Pure Consort

    Handed the job of teaching new Pure Consort Loulan how to please the emperor, Maomao is pulled away by an explosion that tears through a palace storehouse overnight.

    Directed by Akira Shimizu & Jun Ōwada · Written by Hitomi Ogawa

15. S1.E15 · Sun, Jan 21, 2024

    Raw Fish

    A bureaucrat falls into a coma after a meal of raw fugu, echoing an identical case ten years earlier, and Gaoshun asks Maomao to find the one detail that does not fit.

    Directed by Kentarō Fujita · Written by Yūko Kakihara

16. S1.E16 · Sun, Jan 28, 2024

    Lead

    A metalworker's will leaves his three sons a workshop, a locked chest with one drawer that will not open, and a glass fishbowl, and Maomao is sent to make sense of it.

    Directed by So Toyama · Written by Misuzu Chiba

17. S1.E17 · Sun, Feb 4, 2024

    A Jaunt Around Town

    Jinshi wants to stroll through town unrecognized, which means asking Maomao to make the most beautiful man in the palace look thoroughly ordinary.

    Directed by Kurabu Kadomatsu · Written by Yuniko Ayana

18. S1.E18 · Sun, Feb 11, 2024

    Lakan

    A few days off take Maomao home to an errand at the Verdigris annex and an old nightmare, while back at the palace an official named Lakan takes a pointed interest in her.

    Directed by Mayu Tanimoto & Jun Ōwada · Written by Hitomi Ogawa

19. S1.E19 · Sun, Feb 18, 2024

    Chance or Something More

    Lihaku mentions tools stolen around the night of the warehouse fire, and the ivory pipe Maomao found there starts linking a poisoning, a drinker's death, and Jinshi's purification rites.

    Directed by Wataru Nakagawa · Written by Yūko Kakihara

20. S1.E20 · Sun, Feb 25, 2024

    Thornapple

    Waking in Jinshi's room, Maomao walks Basen, Gaoshun and Jinshi through the single ceremonial tool that ties a warehouse fire, two poisonings and a theft together.

    Directed by Akira Koremoto · Written by Misuzu Chiba

21. S1.E21 · Sun, Mar 3, 2024

    How to Buy Out a Contract

    Maomao takes over scrubbing out the rear-palace pharmacy just as Lihaku comes to her for advice on buying out Pairin, the courtesan who nursed her as a baby.

    Directed by Yūshi Ibe · Written by Yuniko Ayana

22. S1.E22 · Sun, Mar 10, 2024

    Blue Roses

    Lakan demands blue roses in time for next spring's party, so Jinshi passes the impossible order to Maomao, who commandeers Lihua's sauna and a hundred rosebushes.

    Directed by Erkin Kawabata · Written by Hitomi Ogawa

23. S1.E23 · Sun, Mar 17, 2024

    Balsam and Woodsorrel

    Maomao challenges Lakan to Chinese chess with her own freedom as the stake, and a cup of liquor laced so that the loser's third sip turns to poison.

    Directed by Jun Ōwada · Written by Misuzu Chiba

24. S1.E24 · Sun, Mar 24, 2024

    Jinshi and Maomao

    Summoned by the Verdigris madam to finally choose a courtesan for himself, Lakan hesitates over the pick, while Maomao tries on a gift dress atop the rear-palace wall.

    Directed by Wataru Nakagawa · Written by Yūko Kakihara

Season 2 · 24 episodes · 24 aired · Jan 10, 2025 to Jul 4, 2025

1. E1Jan 10
2. E2Jan 17
3. E3Jan 24
4. E4Jan 31
5. E5Feb 7
6. E6Feb 14
7. E7Feb 21
8. E8Feb 28
9. E9Mar 7
10. E10Mar 14
11. E11Mar 21
12. E12Mar 28
13. E13Apr 4
14. E14Apr 11
15. E15Apr 18
16. E16Apr 25
17. E17May 2
18. E18May 9
19. E19May 23
20. E20May 31
21. E21Jun 6
22. E22Jun 13
23. E23Jun 27
24. E24Jul 4

1. S2.E1 · Fri, Jan 10, 2025

   Maomao and Maomao

   Loulan's swollen retinue unsettles the other consorts, Maomao pushes reading lessons on the servants, and a stray kitten in the garden outruns everyone but one unfamiliar girl.

   Directed by Jun Ōwada · Written by Yūko Kakihara

2. S2.E2 · Fri, Jan 17, 2025

   Caravan

   With a trading caravan in town and scented oils becoming the court's new craze, Maomao starts checking which fashionable perfumes are safe to keep near a pregnant Gyokuyou.

   Directed by Mayu Tanimoto & Akira Koremoto · Written by Misuzu Chiba

3. S2.E3 · Fri, Jan 24, 2025

   Corpse Fungus

   Jinshi looks into the death of the palace woman Jin while Maomao, sent to clear poisonous mushrooms from the northern forest, catches the strange smell Shisui described.

   Directed by Wataru Nakagawa · Written by Hitomi Ogawa

4. S2.E4 · Fri, Jan 31, 2025

   Mirror

   Gaoshun brings Maomao a puzzle about two closely watched twin sisters, one of them somehow pregnant, while a foreign envoy hunts for a woman said to weep pearls.

   Directed by Tsuyoshi Nakano · Written by Yūko Kakihara

5. S2.E5 · Fri, Feb 7, 2025

   The Moon Fairy

   Shisui's caterpillars turn into moths that glow strangely by moonlight, and the envoys' banquet ends with a lone figure dancing in the dark ringed by drifting lights.

   Directed by Shintaro Itoga · Written by Misuzu Chiba

6. S2.E6 · Fri, Feb 14, 2025

   The Crystal Pavilion, For the Third Time

   Clinic supervisor Shenlü asks Maomao to track down a servant from Lihua's pavilion who has been missing two weeks and shows every sign of tuberculosis.

   Directed by Yukihiko Asaki · Written by Hitomi Ogawa

7. S2.E7 · Fri, Feb 21, 2025

   The Shrine of Choosing

   The emperor takes Jinshi and Maomao to the abandoned Shrine of Choosing, where a test once picked emperors and nobody left alive remembers how it was passed.

   Directed by Wazuka Komamiya · Written by Yūko Kakihara

8. S2.E8 · Fri, Feb 28, 2025

   The Empress Dowager

   Empress Dowager Anshi seeks Maomao out with an unnerving request: find out whether she cursed the late emperor, whose body is said not to have decayed in its tomb.

   Directed by Jun Ōwada · Written by Misuzu Chiba

9. S2.E9 · Fri, Mar 7, 2025

   The Late Emperor

   Maomao is let into the late emperor's sealed residence, where a poisonous pebble sits among Jinshi's old toys and the air carries an odd, persistent smell.

   Directed by Akira Koremoto · Written by Hitomi Ogawa

10. S2.E10 · Fri, Mar 14, 2025

    A Ghost Story

    Invited to a night of ghost stories, Maomao listens to a tale of a mother and son shunned after hunger drove them into a forbidden forest, and starts feeling dizzy.

    Directed by Oh Jin Koo · Written by Yūko Kakihara

11. S2.E11 · Fri, Mar 21, 2025

    The Hunt

    A hunting trip north gives Jinshi his chance to finally tell Maomao who he really is, until the heat of the banquet and a shot from the trees derail him.

    Directed by Shintaro Itoga · Written by Misuzu Chiba

12. S2.E12 · Fri, Mar 28, 2025

    Ka Zuigetsu

    A search party combs the forest for the missing Jinshi, and Maomao offers to work out who sent the assassins before the trail and the smell of gunpowder go cold.

    Directed by Masahiro Matsunaga · Written by Hitomi Ogawa

13. S2.E13 · Fri, Apr 4, 2025

    The Baths

    Xiaolan's term is ending with no job to follow it, so Maomao and Shisui take up work in the rear-palace baths, where gossip and useful connections both flow freely.

    Directed by Mayu Tanimoto · Written by Yūko Kakihara

14. S2.E14 · Fri, Apr 11, 2025

    The Dancing Ghost

    A laughing white face is said to appear in the steam of Lishu's bathhouse, and Maomao, Jinshi and Gaoshun go to see what her contemptuous attendants will not.

    Directed by Jun Ōwada & Kaho Asai · Written by Misuzu Chiba

15. S2.E15 · Fri, Apr 18, 2025

    Ice

    When Xiaolan knocks a eunuch's block of ice to the ground, the rare shipment meant for Consort Loulan is ruined, and Maomao promises to salvage it in a borrowed kitchen.

    Directed by Misu Yamaneko · Written by Hitomi Ogawa

16. S2.E16 · Fri, Apr 25, 2025

    Festering Resentment

    While drafting plain-language warnings about lead makeup and strong scents for the palace school, Maomao is cornered by Suirei, who dangles the resurrection formula at her.

    Directed by Tsuyoshi Nakano · Written by Yūko Kakihara

17. S2.E17 · Fri, May 2, 2025

    Fox Village

    Maomao has vanished, and the only lead is a hurried message she hid in the Jade Pavilion, with one character nobody can read.

    Directed by Shintaro Itoga · Written by Misuzu Chiba

18. S2.E18 · Fri, May 9, 2025

    Lantern Plant

    Gyokuyou's labor begins as Jinshi chases a eunuch who slipped out of the palace after repeated visits to a graveyard of girls used by the late emperor.

    Directed by Erkin Kawabata · Written by Hitomi Ogawa

19. S2.E19 · Fri, May 23, 2025

    Festival

    At the village harvest festival, fox masks painted red and green and a founding myth about western settlers start leading Maomao somewhere she did not expect.

    Directed by Mayu Tanimoto · Written by Yūko Kakihara

20. S2.E20 · Sat, May 31, 2025

    The Stronghold

    Kept at the Shi stronghold to develop an immortality drug, Maomao pieces together the family that runs it and notices how much the household is starting to resemble an army.

    Directed by Akira Koremoto & Yū Kinome · Written by Misuzu Chiba

21. S2.E21 · Fri, Jun 6, 2025

    Taibon

    Maomao learns what the resurrection drug was really a by-product of, then draws Shenmei's fury onto herself to spare Kyou-u the punishment for a failed escape attempt.

    Directed by Takanori Yano · Written by Hitomi Ogawa

22. S2.E22 · Fri, Jun 13, 2025

    Royal Guard

    As the royal guard closes on the stronghold and Lakan proposes burying its armory under an avalanche, Maomao is confronted with the plan Shisui has made for herself.

    Directed by Masahiro Matsunaga · Written by Yūko Kakihara

23. S2.E23 · Fri, Jun 27, 2025

    The Shi Clan

    Jinshi reaches Shishou inside the collapsing stronghold and claims the blame for the assassination attempt, while Loulan leads him on toward Shenmei and Suirei.

    Directed by Wataru Nakagawa & Akinori Fudesaka · Written by Misuzu Chiba

24. S2.E24 · Fri, Jul 4, 2025

    The Beginning

    With the fighting over, Maomao wakes beside Jinshi and turns straight to the poisoned Shi children and a promise to Shisui she has not yet paid.

    Directed by Jun Ōwada & Kaho Asai · Written by Hitomi Ogawa