The previous two episodes "To All the Ghouls I've Loved Before" and "Scoobra Kadoobra", especially the latter, saw 'The 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo' starting off so well. Although the show is to me a lot better than given credit for and have always enjoyed it on the whole, it was not a consistent show and a few episodes were a lot weaker than others. 'The 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo' works though because of the premise being so good, Vincent Price and that it's entertaining and a welcome change of pace despite annoyances.
"Me and My Shadow Demon" is not as good as the previous two episodes and delivers less than it promises. It is not a bad episode at all, actually quite like it still as there are a lot of things that are good here. "Me and My Shadow Demon" though has always struck me as an episode of two halves, an episode that starts off absolutely brilliantly and with the potential to be one of the show's best episodes but then runs out of steam later. Which is quite frustrating.
Shall start off with what is good. The animation is fine, particularly the character designs of Morbidia and the Shadow Demon and the interiors of Befuddle Manor. Have no qualms with the music, which was a consistent strengths on the show and never got old despite some of the motifs being repeated, it never feels discordant with the action. It's particularly good in the mine sequence. The "Me and My Shadow" scene is a delight and classic Shaggy and Scooby. The voice acting is with few issues, though have always found that although Susan Blu always voiced Flim Flam with enthusiasm it was a little short when it came to the nuance. Vincent Price though was just made for Vincent, clearly based on him and has always been my favourite character.
As said before the first half is brilliant in my view, with the scene in the mine being both entertaining and freaky. The best supporting character is easily the Shadow Demon, especially the creepy look that was suitably villainous. Morbidia left me somewhat mixed as a character, but she certainly looks imposing and Linda Gary's voice acting is marvellous. The "Me and My Shadow" scene is a lot of fun and so is the climax, where the episode briefly regains lustre, and the clever wordplay. Vincent is always a pleasure.
It is unfortunate though that the huge promise shown in the first half doesn't carry over later, as "Me and My Shadow Demon" goes downhill after the "Me and My Shadow" musical number. Structurally, the story was already quite thin, but that wasn't obvious in the first half whereas the episode is near-plotless once Morbidia reveals herself. The truth about the Shadow Demon always has struck me as a real cheat after such a great build up, and when the episode did so well in making him more than he actually turns out. It would have been better if the episode actually kept him as the seeked ghost or made him complicit.
Have already said that Morbidia looks and sounds wonderful and she is memorable. Just wish that she had more to do, more screen time and had more than giving orders. Do agree with others elsewhere that she is one of the few ghosts of 'The 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo' who didn't feel like one (along with Rankor in "Coast to Ghost", though he was worse). Flim Flam's pleading is truly cringe-worthy, as usual.
Overall, starts off so well but the high quality isn't consistent all the way through. 7/10.
