WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Shadows House Episode 4, "Watchers in the Night," now streaming on Funimation.
Episode 4 of Shadows House deals with the fall-out of the scorch phantom attack from Episode 3. Star Bearer Barbie, a violent Living Doll in charge of the cleaning crews, is out for blood and looking for someone to blame. When she scapegoats a timid girl named Rum, Emilico and Shaun both leap to her defense so Barbie decides to punish them too, killing three birds with one stone. After they finish their day cleaning duties, they must find the source of the phantoms at night -- in less than one week.
The first few nights pass without event, though Emilico quickly shows her leadership spirit -- her relentless optimism keeps Rum's and Shaun's minds clear. However, by the fourth night even Emilico's sunny disposition starts to dim. The children are just too tired. The grueling cleaning duties, combined with the scary night shifts, begins eating at their bodies and minds. On the fifth night, Shaun shows up to their search with an armful of blankets, inviting the girls to make their own beds in the great hall and sleep for a few hours. Naturally, that's the moment when something finally happens.
A Veiled Doll -- tall, dark feminine figures completely covered in fabric -- enters the Hall where the three children are trying to sleep. Their attire is reminiscent of full mourning dress, but in Shadows House they are not malicious. They simply carry out care duties for the younger Living Dolls as silently and efficiently as possible -- in this case, taking objects from one wing of the mansion to another. Still, the sudden appearance of a Veiled Doll scares Rum so much that she runs away from the others.
Emilico and Shaun eventually find Rum in an attic-like room, hidden behind the crawlspace of a secondary hallway. The terrified girl quickly calms down enough for Emilico and Shaun to take a look around the room, which turns out to be a hub of all the pipes that carry soot from all over the House. Soot is a substance that Shadows shed when they are feeling negative emotions. If it gathers for a long time it can create scorches that then form aggressive, deadly phantoms. Emilico quickly notices that one of the pipes is not as sealed as it should be, and soot has been filtering down for a long time -- but it's an easy fix. The best part? It's nobody's fault, just a simple maintenance issue.
Emilico tries to celebrate the end of their mission by sharing her yummy white rolls with the others. They love the bread, but point out that their Shadow masters don't share their food with them. In Rum's case, her mistress doesn't even speak to her. Both children note that Barbie's "mission" robbed them of precious time to prepare for their master's Debut -- the moment when a Shadow and their Living Doll are formally introduced to the rest of the family, and their suitability is assessed through a series of mysterious trials.
Emilico hadn't thought about that as Barbie's actual punishment: depriving them of time with their masters, driving a wedge between Living Doll and Shadow and decreasing their chance of success. However, it had the desired effect on Kate, Emilico's mistress and the show's co-protagonist. Worried about Emilico's intent to fulfill her part of the deal -- sharing information about what's going on in the House to increase their chances of passing the Debut -- she started to fume soot on the second night, potentially harming both of them in the near future.
Shadows House, based on the manga by Somato, is created by CloverWorks, directed by Kazuki Ōhashi, and written by Toshiya Ōno, with character design by Chizuko Kusakabe and music by Kenichiro Suehiro. It is currently streaming on Funimation.
