Shadows House S1E7: "An Incomplete Map"

This episode starts to highlight some new aspects of the Shadows' nature. In a way that recontextualizes some of the earlier things we've seen in the series, and that simultaneously increases their threat level and - surprisingly - humanizes them a bit more.

The titular Shadows House, on the other hand, is starting to seem even more bizarre and unearthly than it did before. To the point where I'd almost suspect that it, rather than the shadows, is the primary antagonist of the story. Well, granted, the Lord Grandfather is still mysterious enough that he could turn out to be on a whole different level, but him aside, the location is starting to overshadow its occupants. Which, again, might be why the story is named the way it is.


From the outset, we start getting more of a sense of who and what the adult Shadows are. A group of them have been sitting around in an ostentatious lounge room, remotely observing the debut through a system of spyglasses and telepathically, controlled game pieces moving around a to-scale map.

We learn the names of a few of them. There's one Shadow named Gerald who either is the one responsible for telling Edward to set Kate-Emilico up to fail, or is simply aware of the plot's existence and isn't against it. Another, unnamed, Shadow is taking umbrage with Edward's conduct as judge, and sends him a strongly worded letter via messenger pigeon. A pigeon that she has an underling create out of her body's own soot, and that fulfills its function before disintegrating back into ashes.

So. It's not just the Lord Grandfather who's supposed to have these sorts of powers. I'm not sure where Kate got the idea that he was. The pigeon-creation wasn't exactly a subtle or hidden thing, and they didn't seem to take any pains to avoid being seen.

This also recontextualizes the ongoing battle that the slaves are having with the scorches and scorch-amalgamation monsters. If the adult Shadows are capable of creating and commanding soot-creatures, and maintaining them at a considerable distance from their own bodies, then it's entirely possible that every single one of these "monsters" is being purposefully created and remote-controlled. What reason the Shadows would have for doing this, other than giving the slaves a boogeyman to scare them into compliance, I'm not sure, but it's now very much a possibility.

...

Granted, there could still be a difference between soot that's wilfully ejected for the purposes of monster-making and soot that's released unintentionally due to emotional strain. If so, then yeah, it's possible that they can't remote-control the accidentally released stuff, and that it's capable of forming uncontrolled pseudo-creatures on its own if it builds up enough.

But I don't think so.

...

Throughout the episode, this peanut gallery of observing adult Shadows occasionally cut in to chortle at the debutant humans when they stumble into a particularly amusing hazard or trap, comment on their perceived failings and (much more occasionally) virtues, and complement or playfully scold each other on how devious this debut's design ended up being. Generally just being a caricature of awful pseudo-Victorian aristocrats. That said, their awfulness is of a mostly mundane, banally human sort, soot-powers notwithstanding. On the other side of the same coin, this episode also gives us a lot more of Shaun's master, John, and his behaviour both contrasts and complements the adult shadows' in some very telling ways.

John is...well, I can't quite say that he's a pleasant guy to be around. He still exists on the spectrum of what you'd expect from "slave-owning aristocracy boarding school student." But, within that spectrum, he's pretty much the best and nicest person possible. Moreso than Kate. Heck, *much* moreso than Kate. Unlike her, he doesn't ever seem to have angry outbursts where he pulls rank on his slave and/or gets emotionally abusive. He actually defers to Shaun's decisions in most cases, and seems to consider the comfort and happiness of the "living dolls" to be as important as his own.

That doesn't mean he's not a product of the culture that he came from. He doesn't question their status is slaves or his as a master. He gives few indications of thinking that it's *wrong* for him to ultimately have all the power in his and Shaun's relationship, even if he never chooses to use that power. There's one scene where he casually comments on how a "face" reflects the shadow it belongs to, and infers that Kate must have a cheery optimism and silliness to her beneath the reserved demeanor because he can see it reflected in Emilico.

He's completely oblivious to why they're giving him those looks after he says it. Or, seemingly, even that they *are* giving him those looks. He's nothing but nice and deferential outside of moments like that. But those moments are a reminder of who he is, who they are, and why things can never be normal for as long as those roles persist.

In any case though, there really doesn't seem to be anything psychologically different between a human and a shadow. These particular shadows just happen to be aristocratic slavers, and act no different from humans of a similar background. Complete with the potential for exceptional individuals to be better than the society that produced them, even if they still need to fight an uphill battle against their indoctrination and ingrained biases. And, for that matter, for children to potentially deviate much further from the unjust social norms before eventually getting hammered into line (which might just be the purpose of the debut and following rituals).

...

For that matter - much like "The Promised Neverland" - this story is making me think a lot about the uncomfortable overlap in the treatment of subjects, livestock, and children. The way the Shadows are treating their own children (well, "their children." Reproduction might not work the same way for them that it does for humans. But still, there are child shadows that act like children, and adult shadows that act like adults who are ostensibly responsible for them) might be more comfortable and secure than the treatment of the living dolls, but there are more similarities than differences. They're both prisoners. They're both, ultimately, disposable if they fail to live up to the senior Shadows' expectations.

Most importantly, they're both seen as something that needs to be beaten into shape before they're given personhood. Raw materials to be processed. Recognition of them as a "who" rather than a "what" comes after, conditionally on the process being successful.

...

There's also a scene early in this episode that reminds us even further of the context to assess John within. Before meeting him or Shaun, Emilico and Rum happened to find Ricky's master, Patrick, imprisoned in a crate similar to John's. Unlike the anxious Kate or the heedlessly defiant John, Patrick is outraged that he, a shadow, is being treated even worse than the slaves in this exam. He especially hates Edward for daring to humiliate him like this, and plots to revenge himself on him as soon as he has the authority to do so. When the girls find him, he refuses to be rescued by them, seeing it as beneath his dignity for anyone's "face" besides his own to do so. He doesn't accept charity.

We haven't seen Patrick treat Ricky badly, but I think we can infer that there's a lot of abuse we haven't been shown just going by their personalities. Ricky constantly lashing out, always on the brink of either laughing maniacally or crying hysterically. I get the impression that while both of them are desperate to survive and willing to throw others under the bus to do so, Patrick is the one pushing Ricky to really go all in on that strategy despite his own reservations.

Patrick is probably a more typical shadow. Or rather, closer to the desired template that the adults are pushing them toward.

Anyway. As far as progress through the topiary maze goes, things overall start to look up for the debutants over the course of the episode. Not too long after grouping up and being brushed off by Patrick, Emilico and Rum happen into Shaun as he puzzles over his map. Working together, using the magnifying glass and lamp in conjunction to navigate through a dark forested section of the maze, they find their way to the remains of John's exploded crate, and then are eventually found by John himself.

Apparently, nobody told John that he needed to keep his clothes clean.

Or, well, according to him no one told him. John notably also has none of Kate's caution involving the use of his soot powers. And is blithe to the social expectations of how master and slave are meant to interact in favor of following his own, more good-natured, impulses. I get the impression that John is just kind of oblivious in general, and might have missed a memo here that all the other shadow debutants got.

Poor Edward, trying to sabotage Kate and Emilico into last place but having to contend with this guy lol.

...although. Hmm. Actually, John comments on how unfair it is to expect a shadow to keep their clothes clean while also sealing them in a crate. Which is a good point. And, from that angle, Kate in her open cage hanging over the treetops might actually be in a more advantageous situation. Harder to reach, sure, but also much safer from getting covered in her own soot. Hmm. Wonder what Edward was thinking there.

Well, meanwhile, on the other side of the labyrinth, Ricky and Lou continue trudging on as a somewhat reluctant duo, unaware that the other three have all already teamed up and also found one of their own targets without being able to communicate it to them. Also, they discover that the maps don't tell the whole story when it comes to things like "altitude."

The adult Shadows watching from the mansion find this moment in particular hilarious. But it's also one of the moments in this episode that made me think the house itself might be more eldritch than any of its inhabitants. Like, how freaking big is this topiary maze? I'm starting to suspect that the Shadows House and its grounds might be, like, their own plane of existence or something.

Lou nearly falling off the edge does trigger a minor breakthrough for Ricky, though. While he does have an initial moment where he thinks she *has* fallen, before she caught herself on a vine, and he starts to nervously take her dropped garden shears, he turns around when she turns out to be alive. Very clearly glad to not be alone, despite himself. There's establishing character moments for both of them after this. Lou when she makes it seem like she's about to randomly kiss him, but it turns out she just wants him to inspect her face to make sure it isn't scratched.

For his own part, Ricky's thorny armor cracks when he notices a scratch on Lou's leg that she's visibly trying to avoid limping on despite insisting she's fine. He insists on cleaning and dressing the wound before she'll let the two of them continue their search.

It's the first nice thing we've seen Ricky do for anyone, and it seems to come as a relief for him more than it does for Lou. Even if he has to unconvincingly pretend that he's motivated by a desire to not have to see something as uncouth as blood rather than empathy for Lou.

I really wonder how different he'd be if he wasn't stuck with Patrick. I imagine he'd be manipulative and prickly either way, as the means of the sabotage seem to have been mostly done on his own initiative, but the selfishness and callousness definitely seem like something he's forcing himself to adopt at his master's orders.

Anyway. The other main throughline for this episode is Emilico's surprising degree of ingenuity and cunning. For all that she lacks the inability to focus on anything for more than a few minutes at a time, she has incredible attention to detail with regards to her current object. Spotting the key-like outline of the combined cake charms and realizing they can unlock the door their masters were taken through last episode was just the beginning. Multiple puzzles that block their paths are solves in short order when Emilico turns her attention on them, even if she needs the other characters' prompting and suggestions to set her up for the final brainblast.

For instance, there's one point about halfway through when they're trying to access an indoor portion of the maze through a locked gate. There are a bunch of little statue-decorated handles near the gate, but they seem to have booby traps built into them that are designed to target either clothes or faces. They try sitting on a nearby bench to see if it is the real weight-activated hidden switch, but then - after someone else mentions that these garden benches are generally positioned to face the scenery - Emilico realizes that from the perspective of someone sitting on the bench, some of the bushes are shaped like a rabbit. And one of the switches before the gate has a rabbit statue. Success!

Likewise, when they're struggling to figure out how to get more information out of their woefully insufficient maps a bit later, someone gets their map too close to the lamp and nearly burns it. Emilico is the one who notices that some patches of the paper darken in proximity to heat much faster than others, and it turns out that these maps actually DO show altitude...if you hold them up to a flame. She also, with the help of the magnifying glass, realizes that the dots showing where the masters are imprisoned actually ARE labeled, it's just that rather than the shadows' names each of the dots is labelled with a sequence of dashes that corresponds to their point score after the "banquet" section of the debut. Etc.

The episode ends with Kate and Rum (the latter of whom turned out to have an eidetic memory, turning her from most useless party member to one of the most useful once you get through to her) convincing John and Shaun that they should go ahead and seek the exit. They have everything they need now, and they're happy leaving Shaun's magnifying glass with the girls who still have navigation to do. No betrayal needed when your rivals are willing to engage in fair play even in the face of possible execution for failure. Refusal to compromise on their principles, no matter what they're threatened with.

In other words, Emilico (and also Rum, to a lesser extent) is the most dangerous kind of person for any oppressive regime. Clever, unpredictable, and cares more about doing what's right than keeping herself alive.


A bit of an unfocused review, but this episode has a lot going on in it and jumps around a lot, and I decided to tackle it by theme rather than by plot thread. Still mostly setup, even if there's also been some important exposition (both overt and implicit) as well, and I'm expecting episode 8 to be the big payoff for all of this.