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Shadows House
Episode 8

by Rebecca Silverman,

How would you rate episode 8 of
Shadows House ?
Community score: 4.5

Light and shadow are inextricably entwined forces. But why do the members of the Shadows family have those two elements of their beings manifest as two separate entities? I've toyed with plenty of theories over the past eight episodes, and I'm still not entirely sure that one has more merit than another. I am, however, now leaning more towards a Peter Pan-style situation, where the shadows and their bodies have somehow become separated, leading to there being Shadow Masters and Faces, the threads that sew them together having been snipped. The symbolism is certainly there in this episode: Shirley is sewn to her prison until Rum can come and free her, and Emilico sews herself an apron, creating a physical manifestation of the bond she shares with Kate. That makes Louise's obsession with Lou feel like vanity run amok, a case of narcissism, whereas John running while holding the visually impaired Shaun by the hand speaks of care without obsession. But more than the surprising reveal that Rum actually named herself because Shirley doesn't talk to her, it's Edward who gives us the most shocking detail of the week: as he plays the piano, he slowly turns into a Shadow.

That's what's got me thinking about the Peter Pan-esque idea of a shadow detached from its body, because if Edward is both Shadow Master and Face, then he's technically a complete being (i. e. a person with a shadow), which suggests that that's likely true for everyone else as well. The question then becomes what triggered his transformation. Was it the joy he takes in masterminding a plan for the debut? Irritation that it doesn't seem to be going exactly as he wanted it to? Or just him relaxing his guard with only Jer and Allie around (and the veiled ones)? If nothing else, it feels like a confirmation that the “dolls” aren't dolls at all, but real people, especially since the assumption within the show's world is that the Shadows are the “real people” to the Faces' doll status.

Even more interesting is the fact that Edward introduced himself as a “special doll,” one without a Shadow Master. Now we know that's because he's both at once, but is that the end goal for all pairs? Last week John thought aloud that Emilico might represent a side of Kate that she doesn't typically share with others, which now begs the question of whether or not all of the dolls are manifestations of their masters' hidden elements. Could it be that Shirley doesn't talk to Rum because she can't? If Emilico is Kate's lighter, more joyous side, then maybe Rum is Shirley's voice or intelligence – remember, she's the one who basically solved a word problem last week and drove home the point this week that she memorized the map of the garden labyrinth, while we've seen pretty much nothing that indicates that Shirley has any intellectual life. And if that's all true, then who are the real star pairs – the ones who seem more symbiotic, like Louise and Lou, or the ones with a greater separation between master and doll, like Kate and Emilico?

Edward's transformation does a lot to broaden the potential scope of the world's mystery, forcing us to ask questions about the situation that we may not have previously considered. (One is that I may have to rethink my sister's theory, that this is all some kind of afterlife. Don't tell her, though.) But in terms of the situation at hand, the debut, things are starting to look much more perilous for some of the pairs. John, Shaun, Lou, and Louise are likely going to be fine; they've met up and are headed for the exit. Emilico has almost reached Kate, and worst-case scenario, she can push the cage in her handcart. But Ricky hasn't even found Patrick yet, while Rum seems at least a little leery of Shirley, even though she does want to pass the debut. And with Edward revealed to be both doll and shadow, he may have much more power than we've been assuming.

He seems determined to keep everyone from passing. Does that mean that for Ricky, Patrick, Rum, and Shirley, time's already run out?

Rating:

Shadows House is currently streaming on Funimation.


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