It’s still spooky time, but this week we’re taking a look at something a little less conventional: a gothic tale not about any familiar ghosts or ghouls yet still, on at least one side, still familiar to its genre.
Shadows House takes place within the confines and grounds of an ambiguously Victorian mansion. The lords and ladies of the House are the Shadows family, who are notable for being absolutely black, such that no features can be discerned upon their surface. Because of this, the Shadows have “living dolls”, attendants with what the viewer would regard as normal human features who, among other things, act as the faces of the Shadows, giving expressions to the otherwise unreadable entities.
Our main character is one such Living Doll. She serves the young Shadow girl named Kate, and Kate grants her Living Doll the name Emilico. Together, they must learn the ways of the Shadows House if they hope to survive and thrive within it.
And beyond that pitch, it becomes devilishly difficult to talk about Shadows House without jumping the gun on certain reveals. You see, this show is set up largely as an ontological mystery: we start with little idea how we got here or what ‘here’ even is and aren’t made aware of the rules (either the mundane rules the characters live under or the Rules of the setting and its supernatural elements as the audience would see it) at the start – rather, we learn these things gradually as the show progresses and the characters learn what’s going on. At the start of the first episode there’s no motivations, no goals, and no understanding of anything other than, rather shortly, “this normal looking girl is said to be a living doll and works as a maid for the girl whose face we can’t see.”
Because of that, I’m going to address the truths of this world when they’re relevant, not when they’re introduced for the most part, rather than making this review an eternity long by trying to preserve some imitation of the pace of reveals. Many of these could be guessed well before they’re formally made known. For instance, the fact that the “living dolls” are, in fact, humans and the Shadows inhuman creatures that mimic form can be partially inferred from the first scene (where a new crop of Living Dolls are indoctrinated, suggesting they came from elsewhere rather than being produced as they believe themselves to be), but even most of the shadows we meet are ignorant of their own true nature.
One thing that’s established with relative rapidity is the idea of the “Debut”, an event where young Shadows like Kate will be tested along with their Living Dolls, and only the pairs that pass will be allowed to leave their isolated rooms and join the society of the other children. There’s some other filter later for children to become true Adults (who live in an entirely different wing of the manor), but that doesn’t really come into play until the second season.
Before Kate and Emilico can take their Debut, though, Emilico has to finish her tutorial on the rest of Living Doll life. When she’s not directly attending her mistress, she (like the other Living Dolls) is expected to do the cleaning of common spaces. Cleaning is done in teams, causing Emilico to meet and befriend some of the other dolls, and is particularly important because of a property of Shadows. Shadows, passively and more when agitated, emit soot. We see from Kate that this can build up very quickly into some serious hard-to-clean grime, and Emilico’s time with her team reveals that if Shadow soot is left unattended for too long, it can even animate into dopey but threatening little monsters called Scorches, which themselves can be capable of forming up into much bigger and scarier versions called phantoms. So, best to deal with it while it’s still just soot.
As the Debut draws near, Emilico actually gets pulled into some Phantom-based mayhem when she stands up against the current lead of the Living Dolls, Barbie, in order to protect a meek and shy girl, Rum, from being blamed for the appearance of the monster. Staking out the manor, Emilico and her friends manage to track the source of the Phantom and scorches down to some poorly-maintained soot pipes rather than any failure in cleaning, exonerating Emilico and Rum alike, but that means that she’s done precious little preparation for the big event.
The Debut proper introduces the character who will serve as our main antagonist, Edgar. Edgar is initially introduced as a “Special doll” who manages the Debut, but is eventually revealed to the audience to be an adult Shadow, who has the ability (kept absolutely secret from the children) to project a human face and appearance.
So, let’s meet our pairs. We know Kate and Emilico, but what peers are being tested alongside her? Well, Rum is there, along with her master Shirley, who never seems to say anything. The other pairs are Patrick and his partner Ricky (who tend to be somewhat vain or conceited, at least on the outside), John and his partner Shaun (John being excitable and kind of an idiot, Shaun one of Emilico’s more resolute friends), and Louise and her partner Lou (Louise comes off as a superficial debutante, Lou as kind of weird and emotionless). Edgar puts them through their paces, and then begins a special test.
The fancy test takes up a huge chunk of the first season. In it, the Shadow masters are brought out to a hedge maze and hidden away by Edgar. The living dolls, emerging later, are introduced to this trial: each Living Doll must find his or her master and return (with the Shadow’s clothes not dirtied and the doll’s face undamaged) before a timer expires in order to pass, and before they set out they may take a single item from a selection of tools.
As the living dolls make their way through the hedge maze, encountering various traps and trials, the imprisoned shadows consider their situations, including (in the case of John and Kate) the fact that they have abilities they can perform by manipulating their soot. The entire show sort of changes tracks form mystery (conventional or ontological) to a sort of adventure theme as the kids explore, discover, and overcome more physical challenges.
All the while, the other adult Shadows seem to be watching Edgar’s debut test for sport, and even give him assorted instructions about what they want to see (delivered via soot power), leading to Edward’s increasing frustration as the kids overcome the hurdles set in front of them. Kate, in particular, he seems viciously eager to fail, as though he has some manner of vendetta against her.
Louise and Lou are able to finish quickly and cleanly thanks to Lou’s choice of hedge clippers, which she’s willing to pass to Ricky when she’s done with them (after a fake out where the audience is allowed to think he sabotaged them to steal the clippers). Ricky also meets success, though Emilico finds Patrick first and tries to help him cheer up about his whole trapped in a box predicament, or arguably about his existence.
As Emilico carries on, with the push-cart that was her item choice, she runs into both Rum and Shaun as well, and they help each other along the way. Rum finds Shirley and does her best to get back, while Shaun and Emilico carry on to the corner of the maze where their masters are hidden. John, meanwhile, breaks out on his own and introduces himself to Kate, which means proposing to her (an interest he will continue with for the rest of the show). Eventually he and the Living Dolls manage to rendezvous, and they can leave for the return trip, albeit needing a detour to get John cleaned up.
Kate’s situation, however, is harder than the rest as befits Edward’s spite, as she’s suspended in a crow cage over a huge patch of thorns, and the cage is slowly losing supports as the agitated Kate emits soot. Edward’s intent was that this would mean Emilico failed at the tool selection, as the key on offer was theoretically necessary to open Kate’s cage. But, with all the help handed off to her from the friends she met along the way, Emilico is able to clear a spot in the thorns and push the cart, with a bed of soft flowers in it, to catch Kate when she falls. Thus, while very much pressed for time, the two of them are able to make it back and pass the rigged Debut.
Not all is entirely well, though, as Shirley proves unable to make it. She slows down and finally breaks down on the way back with Rum and ultimately dies, crumbling into soot. It’s at around this time when we get the truth of what Shadows are: they start life as fairy mimics called Morphs, grow and learn by interacting with the authentic humans they imitate until they become the immature shadows we know (with no memory of their prior existence), and ultimately merge with their “faces” into the hybrid life-form that is an adult Shadow. Rum, however, was much too shy and never interacted much with Shirley, causing her to fail to develop into a proper doppleganger.
In the wake of the Debut, the passing members of the group are welcomed into society in the Children’s Wing, in a celebration at which they are served “coffee” that seems to brainwash Emilico and the other living dolls when they drink it. Kate takes note of the changes in Emilico’s behavior and, remembering both that Lou demonstrated a mind-altering soot power and that Living Dolls made sick by having too much soot in their bodies (due to scorch attacks, perhaps) could be treated by being made to drink excessive amounts of water, treats Emilico so that she recovers herself. She then begins contacting her peers, such as John, to share her misgivings about how the House is run. But since the first season is almost out of time, that’s not addressed just yet.
Instead, Edward kidnaps Emilico, attempting to find evidence that Kate is a dissident leader, a fact of which he’s convinced and which is why he tried to rig the debut against her. This rather backfires when, because Emilico was really good at making friends, Kate is able to get the help of Louise, Lou, Patrick, Ricky, John, and Shaun in order to get Emilico back before things get too bad. They end up successfully sneaking into the Adults’ wing (where Emilico is being held), but Kate ends up having to face down Edward in order to escape with Emilico. Unfortunately for him, Kate’s powers are far more developed than he gave her credit for, and she’s able to escape. This leaves Edward with no evidence of any wrongdoing from the children and the children with evidence that Edward, against House rules, entered the Children’s wing.
This debacle gets back to the leader of the Shadows, known as the Lord Grandfather. His attendants, the highest ranked Adult shadows who Edward rather wants to either join or surpass, are livid, but Lord Grandfather seems to see some merit in Edward’s continued work and keeps him on the case.
For season two, we now properly have our new scenario: Kate and the others are part of life in the Children’s Wing, and now have to deal with cases around that, and the greater mysteries of the house, regarding Shadows, their soot powers, and so on.
The first hazard of the new season is the Rejoicing Party, a weekly event that involves living dolls belonging to debuted Shadows being dosed with that brainwashing coffee. The event is run by the bosses of the Children’s Wing, a group of children known as Star Bearers. Kate decides she’ll have to become a Star Bearer herself to have the leverage for any kind of change, and particularly to tamper with the brainwashing, but on that latter count someone beats her to the punch: a Rejoicing Party is attacked by a swarm of Scorches and a Phantom, a mysterious robed figure who becomes known as “Master Robe” (Robe-sama, respectful just in case it’s a Shadow) is seen and suspected to be behind it, and a pair of brown-nosing bully Living Dolls are evidently (well, evidently to the audience) forcibly controlled to smash the bottles of coffee in the chaos.
Some suspicion is cast on Kate, since Edward hates her and would almost certainly accept if the Star Bearers offered her up as a scapegoat for the fiasco, and so Kate undertakes to investigate the occurrences and find the true culprit behind the Phantom mayhem.
The raw investigation of this mystery takes up most of the season, and it’s pretty well done, with layers upon layers of clues and, beyond that, a lot of character time for our cast to do their things. The culprit is ultimately pinned down, somewhat surprisingly, to be not Edward this time.
Instead, the identity of Master Robe is that of Maryrose, a rather genial senior of Kate whose Living Doll, Rosemary (also in on it), had been part of the team Emilico was assigned to and a very kind mentor. Why did she do it? It turns out that Maryrose was a “special” Morph, and retained her memories from when she was a little soot fairy even as she gained human awareness. This resulted in her being aware of what happens when Shadows and their Faces undergo fusion, particularly how it essentially kills the human of the pair.
Unwilling to harm Rosemary yet recently invited to join the Adults (not an invitation one can refuse), Maryrose hatched her current plan, hoping to cause enough chaos with what little time she had left to escape that doom. Her power, which allows her to animate soot and control Scorches, turns out to be quite formidable, and Kate and her friends have a hell of a time attempting to apprehend Maryrose, in what plays out as an extended action sequence avoiding her onslaught and working out how to corner her.
Maryrose and Kate, however, recognize each other as sharing their ultimate goals, and thus there are some sly preparations in place for when Maryrose and Rosemary are handed over to Edward: bags of prepared soot beneath the bridge that connects the Children’s and Adult wings, with which she’s able to create a giant phantom and badly damage the bridge. Edward, far more potent than he might seem, manages to put the phantom down and seemingly subdue Maryrose and Rosemary, but he’s ultimately forced to retreat empty handed when they jump from the ruined bridge. And, since all that mayhem happened after the prisoner handoff, it’s officially Edward’s fault as well.
This is where the show ends. Emilico believes (or at least hopes) that Maryrose had something planned for the landing, and that the two of them will be able to enjoy a life far away from the House. Further promotions to adulthood are on hold as Edward scrambles to cover up just how bad the damage there was. And Kate, now in something of the good graces of the Star Bearers and with the support of her friends, looks to have a chance to succeed where Maryrose failed. Thus ends the second and currently final season of Shadows House.
So, if there were another show that I would compare Shadows House to most, it would be specifically the first season of The Promised Neverland. When considering that marker, Shadows House is the lesser of the two… but it does get some credit for actually sustaining as it turns from gloomy mystery to more of adventurous kids in a hostile environment. It has strong character, a solid take on investigating and resolving the mysteries, some good active bits with the Debut and the struggle to take in Maryrose in particular, and a very appealing and consistent visual theme. The show even manages good moments of humor despite its overall atmosphere, made possible by what’s usually a fairly relaxed pace. Seeing characters in moments that aren’t life and death does a lot to get you to like them and empathize with their plights.
In the end, while I think it’s a pretty darn good show, and thus I end up rating it at an A. Unlike The Promised Neverland, I don’t think it has quite the spark. It’s bigger and more comfortable in its space, bit in exchange it is kind of a story and presentation that I think you’ve seen before, the story of principled youths trapped in an environment at the mercy of an oppressive power. There’s nothing – absolutely nothing – wrong with that. In fact, it’s a very good and versatile formula, but the fact that you can feel the recipe costs it the +. All the same, Shadows House is one I can recommend wholeheartedly.