The Eminence in Shadow, episode 27

Rating: A-

Confirmation bias is a psychological characteristic whereby people tend to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in ways that align with their pre-existing beliefs or values. It lies at the heart of many of the ironies in this series, and it is very much on display in this episode, where the Shadow Garden leadership must comes to terms with their founder’s seemingly-inexplicable actions. All it takes is an encoded note and a few bits of information for them to leap to the conclusion that Shadow hasn’t actually abandoned them; he was just running a bigger con than any of them could appreciate. Of course, as usual the jest here is that what both they (and later Yukime) assume is happening is quite far from the actual truth.

In other words, Cid is getting away with treating his organization like crap because of a string of coincidences and misinterpretations that work in his favor. At least this time he seems to realize that he may have ticked them all off, since he decides at the end to dodge the girls for a few months until he imagines things have cooled down. (Even though, in actuality, they probably aren’t now upset with him at all, since Shadow Garden did come out ahead in the whole affair.) He also did hedge his bets at least a bit with that coded note, though I’m presuming he didn’t intend them to decipher it fast enough to pull the legs out from underneath his ultimate goal: stockpiling money strictly for himself. That only further reinforces the persistent theme of him underestimating what Shadow Garden is capable of, both to his benefit and his detriment.

Shadow Garden leaders aren’t the only ones drawn into misinterpreting him this time, though. Yukime also thinks that John Smith is treating her as the precious thing the dying Gettan is referring to, when to John Smith it’s actually his missing gold, which he mistakenly thinks Gettan was responsible for. In other words, Gettan is getting a deserved thrashing, just not for the reasons he should have been getting it. The even more remarkable thing here is that this scene still brings the Yukime-Gettan connection to the sad but satisfying conclusion that it warranted; despite all of the series’ normal shenanigans, Yukime and Gettan still come off as a tragic couple in the end.

But we’re not done with Yukime, because she’s getting recruited into Shadow Garden, too. Alpha seems to recognize that anyone capable of pulling off the counterfeiting scheme certainly has the talent to be of value to the organization, and that her former love was ruined by associating with the Cult of Diablos would give her the right motivation. (Alpha may not be aware that Yukime also seems to be falling for John Smith, too, so that makes her an even better-suited recruit than Alpha realizes.) I could see her being invaluable to the business side of Mitsugoshi, and just as they’re going to be expanding after the Cult-connected Merchant Association gets ruined, too.

So yeah, everything’s somehow working out neatly. Delta even finds something where Shadow was digging for the gold he though Gettan had indicated that he had buried. Will that just be an idle detail, or a hook for the next storyline? Either way, this episode was as fun as usual.