The Eminence in Shadow

Episode 4

On the surface, the plot of this episode mirrors that of episode 2: a girl is kidnapped by the Diablos cult for use in their experiments and Shadow Garden mobilizes to fight the cult and save her. While the repetition of plot could be a negative—especially with only a single episode separating them—that's not the case here. Rather, it is because we already know how the general story is going to unfold that we are able to focus on the character work the plot allows—i.e., that for Cid, Alpha, Beta, and Alexia—rather than plot itself.

When it comes to Cid, we've seen one side of the lengths he would go to for his dream. From killing people to experimenting on a dying elf girl, he's not afraid to do horrible things as practice for becoming Eminence in Shadow. However, for the most part, what we've seen up until this point are the things he's willing to do to others. This episode shows what he is willing to have done to himself. Not only does he allow himself to be beaten, stabbed, and otherwise tortured for five days, he revels in it. After all, it's something that would happen to a background character like himself (i.e., like the secret identity of Eminence in Shadow). But more than that, he doesn't cure his own wounds or even resent the torturers after the fact. (After all, they performed their background character roles perfectly.) His dedication to the bit is just that extreme—which adds a whole extra layer to his insanity.

As for Alpha, from the moment she was turned from monster back to elf girl, she has seemed ultra-serious to a fault. However, in this episode, we see there is much more to her than that. From her playful flirting poses to the almost reverent way she takes off his shoes, its clear how much she cares for Cid. But beyond her (not necessarily romantic) love for him is a fanatical level of trust. She knew Cid was being tortured—to the point that she knows the identities of the men who did it. But instead of rescuing Cid, she assumed he had his reasons for letting it go on and just waited. However, this trust is also the center of her insecurities. She wants him to show the same amount of trust in both her and Shadow Garden. From her point of view, even after all these years, he still plays his cards close to the chest. He doesn't interfere with her control of Shadow Garden but doesn't use them in his plans either. She has built him an organization of hundreds of superpowered individuals but that doesn't seem to matter to him. It's no wonder that she would worry about her usefulness to him and beg for his trust.

As for Beta, we don't get too much of her but what we do get is important. She is the perfect audience for Cid. She sees him exactly as he wants to be seen—even writing down embellished versions of his actions. While she seems to be comedic relief more than anything else, this episode does a good job of showing us she's still dangerous. When Cid gets ready for his big reveal as Shadow to the guards who tortured him, she kills and then throws the bodies of their companions into the alley at the perfect dramatic moment—likely for no other reason than to make the story she is writing about Cid even more epic. Because of this, she is likely the closest to Cid in his insanity as she is writing a story like those that inspired him and his dream.

Finally, this episode gives us a deeper look into Alexia. Waking up kidnapped and imprisoned with a mad man cackling as he drains her blood, she seems perfectly calm. Seeing a monster in the next cell does little to phase her. In fact, even when that monster grows in size and saves her instead of killing her, this does little more than make her eyes go wide in surprise. And while days of bloodletting and forced feedings weren't enough to break her, we do get to see what makes her lose emotional control: the discovery that her fiancé was behind the kidnapping—and that she wasn't wrong about him being too perfect to be true. This plus being compared to her sister (her far more obvious berserk button) is enough to drive her into a rage. We also see that, beneath the non-caring exterior, is a good person when she distracts the mad scientist from beating her monstrous neighbor by getting him to focus on her instead. It'll be interesting to see how she reacts to Cid after this—especially after seeing his face as Shadow.

All in all, this was a great episode on the character-building front and should be more than enough to tide us over as we kick into action climax mode next episode.

Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• I like how the plot of this episode has been tweaked slightly to act as a stealth introduction to a character that will become important later on.

• Claire might just kill a few of her dormmates before this night is over.

• They really talk Delta up only to give her like 3 seconds of screen time. And sure, showing a ton of bodies and having her cut a building in half makes her look strong but I would have preferred to see her in action a bit more.

• Cid literally spends all his money on wine, furniture, and paintings just to set the stage for Beta to see him brooding in a classic edgelord situation.

• It's nice to learn that, while the girls have gone out into the world, they do make sure to come by and spend time with Cid as often as they can. He's not as alone as he feared he would be.

• If this episode makes one thing clear, it's that Cid's sex drive is completely non-existent.

• I love that the emersion-breaking moment for Cid is when Beta says she has over 100 people gathered for his LARPing.

• Welp. If nothing else, Shadow Garden won't be a secret after this night is done.

• Man, Cid just can't stop getting lost in underground passages, can he?

The Eminence in Shadow is currently streaming on HIDIVE.

Richard is an anime and video game journalist with over a decade of experience living and working in Japan. For more of his writings, check out his Twitter and blog.