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The Eminence in Shadow Episode 12: Favorites

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The Eminence in Shadow Episode 12 – Quick Summary

In The Eminence in Shadow Episode 12, “The Truth Within the Memories,” the strange and enormous magic door that Alpha saw at the end of the previous episode manifested itself to Cid. Cid didn’t really feel like dealing with the door right then, so he tried to teleport away. The door followed him. Again, and again, it ended up right in front of him. What does the door want with Cid? Will he be reckless enough to enter it alone? What will Alpha and the others do?

Note: This post may include spoilers, so be cautious.

Favorite Quote from The Eminence in Shadow Episode 12

The Eminence in Shadow Episode 12: I'm not going to say Delta is a bad actor. Her acting said it for me.

Beta might be a great writer. But a great actor? Not so much! Capture from the HIDIVE stream.

I’m not saying that Alexia can be spiteful, but… Nah. I can’t even say that with a rhetorical straight face. Of course Alexia can be spiteful! It’s like her middle name or something.

As we learned in the previous episode, Alexia and Beta really don’t like each other. At all. Alexia might see Beta as a rival, but Beta thinks of Alexia as a pretender. The key here is that Alexia is willing to go to great lengths to get rid of “Natsume” (Beta).

When Shadow Garden arrived, they wanted to preserve Beta’s secret identity. So they pretended to take her hostage. As soon as a nameless member of Shadow Garden put her blade to Beta’s throat, Epsilon said Rose and Alexia should stay put – or who knows what would happen to the innocent writer Natsume?

““Miss Natsume!” Rose exclaimed with a shocked look (05:52).

Covering her mouth so no one except Rose could hear her, but speaking loudly enough so everyone could clearly hear her, Alexia said, “We could just let her die.” 

“No, we can’t!” Rose said as Beta did a terrible job of acting like a terrified hostage.

I really get this show’s sense of humor. That worries me. I’m beginning to wonder if I need help.

Favorite Moment from The Eminence in Shadow Episode 12

The Eminence in Shadow Episode 12: Alexia did not hesitate to stand up to Alpha. Whether that was smart or not...

I have to admire Alexia’s courage. She didn’t even blink when she stood up to Alpha – until Alpha walked away, that is. Capture from the HIDIVE stream.

Setup: A Lot Happened in This Episode

This episode gave me a lot to think about! Cid’s world appears to be Victorian-like era, but in this episode, we learned that it came after the collapse of an advanced civilization. A civilization, I might add, whose technological artifacts sometimes looked like the magic that Cid uses.

I wonder if that’s a stylistic coincidence? Or is that a hint?

This might be the most The Eminence in Shadow of all of the The Eminence in Shadow episodes. At least so far. There was a ton of humor mixed in with exposition that contained some horrifying revelations mixed in with Cid talking with a woman (Aurora) as if she were an actual human being (okay, that last bit was a one-off). There were too many cool little moments to choose from!

So I’m going to pick a small-scale moment that’s still completely in the spirit of the show. The moment involves Alexia (again!). It started when she dove through the closing door. The woman gets points for courage, that’s for sure. Rose, practically unwilling, forced herself to go right after her. They ended up in a tangled pile on the floor with Beta.

The Eminence in Shadow Episode 12: Alexia seemed furious that Delta was real

I love Alexia’s expression in this picture! Capture from the HIDIVE stream.

We’ve talked about the Beta-Alexia rivalry. Alexia didn’t flinch even a little when Beta asked (08:16), “Princess Alexia, may I ask you not to touch me in such questionable places?”

Delivery: Alexia’s Courage is Writing Checks

I would try to defend Alexia – she’d just tumbled through a magic door, after all! – but her expression clearly says, “Damn it! They’re real!” So I think Beta was within her rights to object. But that’s not my favorite moment.

Before they could disentangle themselves, Alpha approached. Even Beta seemed a little alarmed – like maybe she thought she’d taken her joke a little too far. Just standing there, Alpha exuded power. Not a disinterested strength – a present, and very clear, danger to anyone who crossed her.

Man, that was a good look on her!

Adopting a stern expression, Alexia stood, put her hands on her hips, and said that she had worked up some momentum, and there was this magic door right in front of her, and she couldn’t stop.

After silently considering Alexia for a moment, Alpha said (08:44), “Do as you wish. It may be that you should learn this as well.” Alpha turned and walked away.

The Eminence in Shadow Episode 12: Alpha exudes power just by standing there

Alpha embodies quiet, understated power. Capture from the HIDIVE stream.

After Alpha had gone a few steps, Alexia heaved an enormous sigh of relief. The effort to confront Alpha had taken a lot out of her, it seemed! Beta even looked a little impressed, though maybe Beta was more looking in Alpha’s direction. Still, the idea that Alexia would stand up to Alpha, the same Alpha that Iris had seen unleash ridiculous amounts of power back in episode 5, just seemed so much like Alexia.

What did you think of the reveals in this episode? What were your favorite moments? Feel free to let me know in the comments!

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