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Shadows House 2 episode 2 – Christopher

Irina

I wonder if I can get a different gif of Maryrose dancing every week this season. I doubt it. AniList doesn’t even have her s a supporting character so I figure she’s probably not going to show up all that much. It’s a fun theme for now. I’ll keep it going for as long as I can.

Maybe I’ll cheat and grab unused dances from these early episodes. I wonder if the Shadows family throws big balls. That would be a very useful scene for me!

Last week I wondered if the ED we got was in fact going to be the OP for the rest of the season. It isn’t. We got our first look at the actual OP this week. I like it! A lot in fact. I love Shadows House’s choice of music. It’s always unusual with classical elements and very thetrical. I like the ED quite a bit as well. I think I liked both just a bit more in the first season but I’m not complaining at all. These are great!

It seems that Shadows House has moved from a moody atmospheric mystery to a tense more action-driven still mystery. I can’t say which I enjoy more. I do appreciate the change of pace though, it keeps things fresh. Another thing I am appreciating this season is the nice clear and simple goal the narrative has set up for us.

Shadows House is mostly made up of riddles and unanswered questions. It’s a very odd world that’s not obvious to properly get your mind around. So balancing that with a simple call to action helps the narrative not get to bogged down or full of itself. Shadows House is drugging the humans in order to control them. So Kate and Emilico need to figure out a way to save their friends from that situation without getting caught themselves. Easy to understand, clear and relatable motivations and high stakes. Great setup!

But there’s more going on of course. There’s always more going on in Shadows House. You know one thing I just realized. I don’t know why they are collecting soot. I understand that the shadows can use it up to a certain point but they can only use their own, right? I think I dimly remember that the mind control coffee also uses it. But in general, I’m not sure why soot is important. I think that’s a big piece of the puzzle.

There were a few great moments this week. I loved the scene with Benjamin (the big guy who is often with Barbie) lashes out in anger and pins Maryrose to the wall. Their living dolls have to reenact the scene perfectly but you can see that they don’t have any of the passion that drives the actions so it looks completely off. I thought it was a great illustration of just how odd the premise is.

I also thought Kate’s secret letter to John was quite clever. But not as clever as Emilico putting on a little impromptu show to hide Shaun from the room allowing him to spit out his coffee. Who’s head is full of sunshine now? That was a brilliant move and one she came up with on the spot. She might not be brainwashed anymore but are we sure she hasn’t been switched?

I enjoyed the older kids being introduced. Oliver seems like a lot of fun but I also have a feeling he’s going to be a lot of trouble. And finally the mysterious Christopher. We don’t talk about Christopher! We know that dolls break and shadows dissipate. They are not eternal and it’s not that unusual for a member of the Shadows family to disappear. So why is everyone so on edge about this Christopher fellow?

As always, Shadows House does a great job balancing baffling questions with just enough clear-cut answers and action to avoid becoming frustrating and keep me on the hook. I wish I watched this one with a friend or two so that we could throw crazy speculations about what’s going on around!

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