SHADOW AND BONE Season 2 has a BIG Problem | BookTok vs Netflix
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- Опубліковано 3 сер 2024
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Shadow and Bone season 2 covered a LOT of grounds and stull found a way to maneuver in the Crows... but at what cost
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Shadow and Bone season 2
Kaz Brekker
Inej Ghafa
Jesper Fahey
Wylan Van Eck
The Sun Summoner
the darkling
Grishaverse
Siege and Storm
Ruin and Rising
Kirigan
Morozova
Amplifiers
sea whip
Ben Barnes
Booktok
#netflix - Розваги
2 Shadow 2 Bone
S&B 2: Shadowlectric Bone-aloo. Seeing myself out.
2 many puns
2b2t 2s2b
do you know what else has a problem? your audio quality if you would be so kind to make it better
@@daidai8760 can you describe the audio issues?
Give Freddy Carter an Oscar for the scene where he's threatening Pekka. His acting was really a highlight of this season.
Heck yeah!!! Emmy for Freddy this next award season!!
This scene is so intense it raised my heartbeat. The man understood the assignment.
why do you guys care about an Oscar? Especially I dont understand why a reputable actor would care. It is just a shiny golden image. We shouldnt be giving these things any value. People will value our hardwork in person, and in private. It will always reap something.
@aidan2849 it's a fun night sometimes (depending on who hosts) and it's nice to see someone whose worked hard get recognition! It has value to the person who gets a chance to be up there. I love All the award shows especially the Tony's. Some people don't but I see how much it means to the people who work hard.
without a doubt. he's such an incredible actor, he deserves to be in more stuff
The problem is that they are trying to squeeze three books into one season, plus adding their own content. Everything moves too fast and feels too easy, stuff that normally took a while book to do, like finding the sea whip or taking down Pekka Rollins, now take only an episode to do. And I’m very confused at them doing half of the Crooked Kingdom plot before Six of Crows even happens. It doesn’t really make sense. And they really misrepresented Nina’s loyalty to Ravka and her connection to the other Grisha. Nina and Zoya’s dynamic just does not work when they’re the same age, Zoya is supposed to be a lot older than Nina, basically her older sister.
I’m so upset with them adapting some of Crooked Kingdom already. It’s really done a disservice to the Crows character arches. Cramming it into season 2 has also led to the Shadow and Bone characters having poor development as well. Nikolai was done SUCH a disservice, it makes me so sad.
I wish they had left the Crows out of this season and spun them off to their own show to cover the first book. Gives both stories and characters room to breath.
@@AragornHottie Needing to watch another show to understand the show you're watching gives everything way too much room to breathe. This isn't the show's fault; it's just plain Netflix screwing up even their best shows by making everyone terrified to get canceled. No matter how awesome you are or how accomplished, your projects can still get canceled just because not enough people noticed they were out in the first month.
They could've taken it all slower if not for well-justified worries about having to pack it all in so that they can finish their series before the axe falls.
@@WynneL Definitely agree with your point about Netflix cancelling shows just as the fan base is ramping up. I swear to Jeebus if Lockwood & Co. does not get renewed for Season 2 or more there will be Rioting! Watch Lockwood & Co. I just finished my 6th rewatch and I've read all 5 books in the past month twice. It's so good!
This it's like they know they will get no more than three season (if that) and are trying to ddo everything at once. It's really not very satisfying and sad for the new characters cause honestly I couldn't care less about them even after 8 episodes. Except for Nikolai who was lucky enough to get an actual character arc.
@@AragornHottie you say this, but the Crows were the only reason my partner made it through the series. Alina and Mal were complete wet noodles who I was not interested in either.
For me was painful to see how they portrayed Inej and Kaz’s relationship in the end. The whole point in the books was that both of them are so deeply traumatized and repulsed of human touch that they find comfort in each other emotionally, without need for a physical connection. In the series we got explanation on Kaz’s ptsd, but Inej also cannot stand being touched as she has deep trauma from being kidnapped and sold to a brothel in young age. They accept each other the way they are.
Yeay, just like any ace rep gets destroyed, a ship that does not madly desire eachother physically just cant be.. Hate it.
I also loved that it was very clear, that kaz qns inej had fwelings for eachother early on but he is not really emotionaly available and she is like, I love you but I will let you get away with everything, uf you cant I will not destroy myself for you, i have to much selfrespect for that, I deserve better...
Like love is not an excuse for everything and no love is not all you need, sonetimes it does not work out!
And then it does work out but without compromising who they are
I have to say that the two major things carrying the season for me were the acting and the effects, particularly the gore. The actors for the Crows clearly understand their characters and particularly Freddy Carter was killing it. And it was a good choice to raise the body horror levels, and it just added a nice level of brutality.
Right! Mei Li's acting was so bad compared to Daisy Head & Freddy Carter
The effects were pretty good, except in the second to last episode.
I couldn't believe how bad they were compared to everything else. It looked like a disney channel movie.
The cast is the main reason I’m sticking around for the show. Especially the Crows. Even in interviews, you can see that they understand and love their characters.
They could not have hired a better actor in my opinion. He really brings the character to live 😄🙃
Most of the actors were okay (especially loved the crows, Nikolai was good, Nina, Genya etc), however, all the new side characters were so bad and so bland.... especially that grisha which followed Kirigan, the actress, the character, everything was just so annoying and not in a good way. It felt like one of the typical soap opera rich mothers that hates the main girl just because.
The brother and sister grisha also felt like they needed a much bigger presence but were just thrown in with the rest.
By far my biggest issue with this show is the near complete erasure of Inej's trauma. She's so inspiring to me because of her struggle and the way she overcomes it, bur that struggle barely appears in the show.
I never read the books, but I agree. It seemed to me like so much was missing. When they inhaled the poison, and we saw Jesper's reunion with his mother and Kaz's traumatic childhood, I was interested to see what threads of trauma Inej added to the mix and how that helps her to connect and relate with them.
Nothing. Just a girl simping over a boy. Blah. Felt a little sus, honestly.
@@MoreLikeMerMadinej is so amazing!... The lack of fokus on her does her dirty cause she is not a simp she loves him but she takes no shit
I felt like they spent so much time making the shippers happy that they forgot the plot. The last couple of episodes were like 'BTW Mal is the Horcrux and also there's this thing called parem that's so much worse than anything else.' Bit underwhelming.
well yea that’s what happened in the books as well, the mal thing is actual canon 💀
@@kavya71954 that's not the point...
@@kavya71954 you missed the entire point of the comment. The point they’re making is that they focused so much on making the fan base happy with ships that they had to rush the actually important plot points, making them feel less significant than it was in the books
Also the ships outside of maybe Matthias/Nina and Kaz/Inej felt super rushed this season
@@mggardiner4066 *cries in Wesper*
I get why they rushed Wesper, it's one of the most popular ships and the showeunners weren't sure whether they'd get to fully adapt that story (thanks Netflix...)
But still, their development in the Books is so different. They straight up despise each other at the start and constantly bicker. And then there's also the _first kiss_ in Crooked Kingdom...
A lot of ppl also interpreted alina and zoya's dynamic in the books to have possible romantic undertones, so its nice that the unintentional confusion translated to the show so that new fans can have the full experience.
If there's one thing this show delivers, it's the ships
I love that Zoya and Nikolai both have interesting romantic tension with Alina only for her to be with Mal and them to get together
@@AmandaTheJedi "Shadow and Bone 2: now the ships are also literal."
Meanwhile Nikolai and Mal had a couple of interactions that could easily be interpreted as flirting. In conclusion, Alina, Zoya, Nikolai and Mal need to be a polycule.
@polite menace omg yes! and Mal and Zoya even sleep together in the books. You're totally right, they should just let them be a polycule in the show, bc literally everyone is attracted to everyone
A little correction: Baghra did not drown her sister. She used the cut when she was overcome with anger because her sister had broken something precious to her.
Inej and Jesper’s arc being compressed made them not justice, and Nina was just painful after the crows arc ended
I'm a simple person. I watch this show for the Crows. Apart from the Nikolai bits, I often forget that Alina's story is also in the show 😂
I'm starting to think this is the prevailing approach lol
Ben Barnes is always fun
I could not convince myself to give a shit about Alina in the books either. I kept waiting for the crows to show up. I just don’t find her to be an interesting character and so much of it is “I’m so different and special and I can’t choose between these two men who give me attention” that I just found her perspective exhausting
@@bdink2605 same XD
@@Artifying yeah that's unfortunate about the first 3 books. The leap in quality though once you get to Six of Crows shows how much Bardugo improved and grew as a writer. I often ask people not to judge her or the Grishaverse as a whole based on her first writing.
Correction: The Heartrender attacking the coronation at the end wasn't one of Kirigan's, she was a Fjerdan asset. She yelled something in Fjerdan just before attacking and this was also foreshadowed by it being a major Fjerdan holyday.
Which honestly makes no sense because Fjerdans hate Grisha. Like ??? How in hell would the same culture that invented Druskelle have a Heartrender as an asset and give them Jurda Parem? Like nah, girlie would be dead long before any coronation by her own people's hands.
@@kraziiXIII It does make sense. While they want to see all grisha dead due to believing them to be an abomination agains their god Djell, Fjerdans still use them as weapons. This theme is shown well in Six of Crows and King of Scars, where Fjerdans secretly control grisha with Jurda Parem.
The hypocrisity isn't a plot hole, it's the point.
@@Ellisepha you are right. It has been a couple years since I read the books so forgive me for not remembering. It is still weird in the show because that reveal comes after the Ice Court Heist (right?) And having it before that set up feels not great.
@@kraziiXIII I think it can work, it already establishes the power a grisha on Parem can hold, and how Fjerda plans to use the drug. Use grisha to kill grisha.
The only thing I'll say in favour of Kirigan is: he looks like Ben Barnes.
What I found an interesting twist is that in The Fold, Alina uses the Lightcut but in the end, she uses the Shadowcut. I figured it was another consequence of her using merzost, but we'll see.
It was weird how the writers were so pro-Russian monarchy. Especially after both old king AND Vasily once again like past Ravkan kings ordered the persecution of Grisha. Just like in the books they had the cages ready and sham witch trials waiting for the moment any Grisha at all messes up.
And the huge plothole of how when Nik and Alina meet the 1st army, Nik tells them where Grisha are hiding….when they are still under orders to kill grishas …
Inej turning Kaz down makes so much more sense in the book, where we see how she has to endure his closed off attitude for a long time. It's a very valid refusal to keep doing all the emotional work by herself. What I'm trying to say is, we need SoC spin-off. This forced plotline just doesn't do them justice. I'm so glad you reviewed this season, too, hope there will be more.
i thought
i thought that the reason she did that was pretty clear in the series, it´s not that well developed in the show but it can be understood right away
Even though I've never read the books, I also understood why she did it.
@@billygajilly6366 thanks, I wasn't sure if it was made clear for the show audience because show Kaz is a bit softer than book Kaz. And I can't, as a fully functioning adult, bear the thought of those partulicular fictional YA characters being misunderstood by anyone😅
@@sara-8587 I feel the same, when Inej turned Kaz down I felt she'd be settling if she didn't. Kaz needs to work on himself before he can love her the way she deserves to be loved
I think the real blame for this is on Netflix. At this point they are infamous for canceling shows too early and not giving them time to properly finish. I think at least some of the messiness comes from them trying to speed run plots because they weren't sure that they will get a S3 or a SOC spin off. It's frustrating to have so much of Crooked Kingdom in this season, but if we get nothing else then I'm glad to have seen the Pekka story line with Freddy Carter. I'm glad to have gotten the Wesper that we did since the casting was so perfect. And if they had gone the slow burn route, it could have resulted in a lack of payoff for fans. I feel like the writers were just trying to get the most out of the amazing cast while they could. Netflix loves to buy up IP and then refuse to sell it when they inevitably cancel shows. So I understand why they are trying to squeeze 3 books into one season. I imagine if they get a 3rd season they'll do all of the KOS duology plus wrapping up Alina's story. And they will try to fit the Ice Court Heist and the rest of CK into 8 episode limited series for the Crows Spin Off. It's not ideal, but I understand why the production team has to hedge their bets under Netflix.
And of course, like they were afraid of, Netflix cancelled it 😡
Leigh Bardugo herself said the show was meant as a kind of fan fiction of the original series. Ever since I’ve come to terms with that I can enjoy the show so much more. It’s filled with fun moments and explores some different plot. Which does make people who’ve read the books kind of the target audience and I can imagine the whole show would be pretty confusing without background knowledge but for me this is enough and I’m excited to see how they handle the new plot points.
It definitely helped to think it as an au or fanfiction. I have read all of the books, but to me, most of the time show and movie adaptations don't need to be perfectly book accurate, as long as they capture the essence of the books. And to the most part I felt that the show managed that. So I'm not salty about the changes that the show made, and I actually prefer some over book versions. For example I liked that Alina got to keep her powers. But even though I don't mind the changes, to me there still seems to be possibilities that the show will adapt book plot lines. Meaning, if we get more seasons, we might get book accurate plot lines, the characters will just take detours to get there. For example, Alina could still lose her powers, and Malina could happen. So, I hope that we get more seasons and/ or spinoff, no matter if they make more changes or follow the books more.
Completely agree with this, definitely happy to be a book fan so I can enjoy the parts of the show that were done well while still knowing that the actual canon plot is preferable to me. The show as a fanfiction makes complete sense.
I honestly enjoyed the books a lot and I've enjoyed the show as well. The differences didn't bother me too much, although I kept waiting for the Apparat and Sun Summoner cult story line to show up and it never did. But definitely far and away the best thing they've done is make the Six of Crows crew part of the main Shadow and Bone story line. Aside from Mal and Alina I've LOVED the casting, it's PERFECTION (and Mal and Alina aren't badly cast necessarily, they're just the most boring characters and are completely outshone by the rest of the characters). But my god, I thought they couldn't do better after they cast Jesper, Kaz, and Inej, and they blew me away with Wylan. So freaking good.
I'll take all the side quests and extraneous stuff that wasn't in the books if I get to watch that perfect cast being perfect more.
@@vintagearisen yes, the whole religious aspect was a big part for me in the books. I thought the whole dynamic was so interesting but is think it would be hard to translate to a show so I’m not mad that they left it out but I completely understand. It definitely adds a lot to the mal and alina arc.
I watched it without reading the books first (I've since read six of crows and I'm about to start Shadow and Bone as soon as I can get my hands on a copy). I didn't find it particularly confusing, but I also was familiar with quite a few of the tropes used. It's not a difficult show to just slide into watching.
I think the part that's most fucked about the Crow's plot is that now they essentially have everything and the stakes for stealing Jurda Parem is *significantly* lowered. They got reward money from Nikolai, and Ravka is in their Pre- French Revolution era of being deeply fucked in both currency, support and conditions from their people, but the royal family is still rich. They would've been given enough money to not even have to care about Parem. Of course Kaz would still care to be the one to have the money and power from the Parem, but the thrill of the heist was the fact that they were underdogs who were severely disadvantaged compared to other criminals going on the heist (LIKE PEKKA WHICH IS WHAT FURTHER ELEVATED KAZ'S DRIVE TO STEAL THE PAREM) and only succeeded through Kaz's insane cunning and smarts. It would make more sense plot wise if Nikolai sends them to steal it in the show, which just undermines the fun the book had with it
Honestly, I think they rushed the ending because there's a real possibility that Netflix is going to cancel the show, it's very expensive and didn't gather as much of an audience as they were hoping for
I was thinking the same :( most likely they wanted to put us much into 2. season as possible because we might not get a 3. one
That's why ended up creating hot garbage 🗑 There are a lot of shows who got canceled and people are still remembering how good they were, S&B is not one of them. They should've created a good story with great dialogues and pray for the best, instead of not even trying to create something good, just mix everything so the story will be concluded when it's canceled 😅
I absolutely loved this TV show, but I did feel that season 2 was somehow weaker than season 1, even if I couldnt put my finger on it. I was SO surprised about how quickly Alina got the amplifiers and destroyed the fold, I didnt expect the fold, or at the very least Kirigan, to go down until season 3. It made me really curious if theyre going to have some sort of Evil Alina story arc in season 3. But now that I know it has been super condensed from the books, it kind of makes sense why Alina felt like such an empty character in season 2. I was also super disappointed that they did get rid of Kirigan, because I thought he was one of the most fun and interesting characters to watch outside of the crows. Like lowkey I do want him to come back in season 3 but I'm not super hopeful for it xD
Darkling Spoilers
The Darkling DOES come back later on in the book series... And they even hinted at the character that resurrectes him within the show itself ...so he will probably be coming back within the show as well. It probably wont be in season 3 but if they get enough seasons he WILL be coming back eventually. 🤷♀️
@@AnxietyRat well, considering the ending of season 2, spoilers...
Nikolai was shown to be infected with that other entity as he was in the two books where the Darkling was resurrected. I'd wager they're gonna fold those two into season 3, which is imo just a bit disappointing because it feels like we're rushing through everything.
@@AnxietyRat no point in doing that. They ruined Darklina. Doubt Ben will want to come back, he and Jessie was so happy and hopeful to explore the Kirigan and Alina relationship in multiple interviews but the writers literally scrapped all of it.
@@ullamorozova I'm positive he will be back if they get the seasons. He seems to be VERY happy in this job...so if they offer he come back he will most likely jump at doing it. The man very clearly loves fantasy roles and specifically has loved playing the Darkling, from what he has said in interviews. There's literally been no indication that he is unhappy and would not return if asked... Literally EVERYTHING he has said points to the opposite.
@@ullamorozova but if he comes back, they can still explore the darklina relationship ship. Above all: alina get's a darkling side, so they are now closer than ever
Daisy Head acted her heart out this season as Genya. Honestly, the most touching moments this season, for me, were between Genya and David, and I never would have guessed that I'd be such a fan of them. David's speech where he told Genya that she was steel was some of the best dialog in the show. I had to grab a tissue.
I really wanted this to be a "1 season - 1 book" type of show. And honestly, after season 2, after wasting the best crows-storylines for literally NOTHING (Kaz's revenge?! such a waste it is almost character-murder) I dunno how they can go further.
I agree that the lore is more interesting then actually following the characters. I know a lot more people who like six of crows more than the original trilogy. I still enjoyed watching season 2. The costuming was STUNNING. But it was so messy compared to season 1. I felt like I was staying just for the crows or Ben Barns. I really hope they do the crows spin off because they all were so good.
I have rewatched the show just for the costumes I love them so much
as someone who hasn't read the books and liked - but wasn't blown away - by the first season, do you think it's worth watching? IIRC I was a bit eye-rolley when they made Alina (was that her name?) the chosen-one, the super duper special Mary Sue everyone is searching for, the alpha and omega, so I hope they toned this down in the new season. but I really did like the crow crew, they were much more interesting and human.
@@benzaiten933 I have also not read the books but I had a great time with season 2, even with it being a clearly very condensed storyline. (I had a hunch they were fast-tracking Alina's storyline before I knew for sure, which I figured was a case of "let's give people some sort of conclusion in case we get cancelled after 2 seasons" bc Netflix is the way it is.) The Crows are more interesting than they were in season 1, and Alina's storyline is better imo because she interacts with more interesting characters - and I guess the speed they're telling the story means you don't feel 'stuck' with her like you did sometimes in season 1. I don't think it's a fantastic season of television from an objective standpoint, but it was defintiely a fun time.
@@Rhavia in that case, next time it rains and I have nothing better to do, I'll probably check this season out, then.
@@benzaiten933 not really
I realized when there was a problem when my wife turned to me and went “this season is literally just about people walking and talking in hushed, urgent tones about people and places we haven’t met, and I’m bored”
And I was like “huh. Well shit. Me too.”
I did love Sturmamds reveal as a prince and Alina is "are you kidding me?!" And then punches him.
Have you seen the bloopers? Jessie actually accidentally punched him 😅
I also was a bit upset about how they handled Jesper and Wylan relationships. It wasn`t terrible, but in the books it`s gradually build up, they go through so much together first, and it`s a big part of their arks, when they help each other accept who they are (like Jasper being a grisha). In the show they basically speedrun this in the one episode. Generally a lot of plot lines and characters felt really rushed, and also there were quite a few new characters that weren`t developed at all, and the ones that were interesting got so little attention. I was interested to learn more about Tolya and Tamar (like why was Tolya having that specific hallucination while poisoned?), but got almost nothing. And Tamar got a love interest at the end that felt completely out of nowhere and just confusing. Literally all of Darkling`s grisha were boring. I haven`t read second and third "Shadow and Bone" books, so I don`t know, what happens in them, but I was surprised when Fedyor wasn't in this season at all, he was at least a familiar character from the first one and I personally would care more about him, than a bunch of new random Darkling allies.
i read that ivan and fedyor's actors couldn't make it bc of covid or schedule problems but it sounds a bit fishy... anyways i wish they had been there instead of those new characters who are boring as hell
While I still like the Wylan and Jesper relationship because they have so much chemistry, I agree it felt very rushed. I'm hoping it was more of a time issue - as in the writers weren't sure they'd get a 3rd season/crows spin off, so they wanted to include as much as possible which meant wesper happened quicker - but it would have been nice to get a slowburn. instead we got aged up crows, and Wylan and Jesper's relationship being built from a one night stand
Tamar's lovz interest was in the book too 😊😉
@@iri02802 I'll probably finish the books one day, I`m sure it will make more sense for me then :)
@@ladansemakabre yeah, it would be much more interesting. I don`t know if it would be possible for Ivan to survive season one ending, but I would be fine with seeing him return too.
Hey Amanda, I worked on S&B Season 2 in pre-production. It is fascinating to see your opinion; though we had little to do with the story, it still impacts my day!
Out of curiosity, what all do you guys do in pre-production? I loved season one so much. Season two's story makes me kinda bummed. I'm not a Crow stan myself, and it felt like so much of Alina's story was sacrificed for extra Crow stuff.
That's so fun!! Did you get to know the cast? They seem nice!
I just wanted to thank you, I feel we usually forget those who are involved in the production but in reality the show can't shine without those behind
This show has the crazy ability to make me love it even as it gets messier and messier… probably something about how charming these actors are as their characters
Yeah, the show was messy and rushed, but I still loved it😅😄 To me, it managed to capture the heart of the books, and it was enough for me. And the actors were amazing, and I love watching them doing interviews together, you can clearly see how they are good friends and that makes me happy. I hope that we'll get more seasons and/ or that soc spinoff. This season ending was messy, but I can't help myself for wanting more!
If you haven’t already highly recommend watching some of the cast press junkets/interviews. They all seem to get along so well
I agree. As messy as this season was, it was still relatively understandable, and I thought the overall story made sense (though Matthias might as well have not been in this season except for maybe a scene or two with Nina). But overall, the show was able to handle adapting the rest of the Shadow and Bone series pretty well!
I loved the portrayal of kaz’s story and the actor did an amazing job but it was done way too soon and it takes away so much of his motivation in six of crows bc he already got his revenge
Yeah, there's rumours that the writers asked Netflix for 20 episodes for this season so that they could fully tell the story that they wanted to tell without needing to rush things.... They were denied and only got the same amount of episodes as season one so make sense that it's SUPER rushed and the storylines don't really work great.
20 episodes???? An unlikely ask for one season of a western show...
@@MonnyArcade Just the rumour I've heard. I've not seen it confirmed by the writers with my own eyes but that's just the rumour that's been floating around. It could be that they asked for less than 20 but still more than the eight they got. But yeah, it would be really strange for pretty much any show that's made in modern-day. They just don't make live action seasons that long anymore, unfortunately, and it decrease the amount of filler episodes, sure. but it also has affected writers ability to storytell, IMO. And so we get shit like this that is extremely rushed and doesn't make a huge amount of sense compared to the source materials story telling.
@@AnxietyRat oh I agree about the rushedness etc for sure! Maybe them asking for 10 eps is more likely.
No that’s a lie. Eric himself spoke to collider in an interview for season 1 and admitted that Netflix offered him more episodes (only 10 though) and ERIC TURNED IT DOWN and decided on 8 episodes!
This 20 episodes article is just a PR damage control to grame fans turn their pitch forks to Netflix instead of Eric (the guy responsible for the f-ed up season)
The problem with Mal is he is like underdone toast with no butter. He's not interesting and there is no chemistry. I do not want Alina with the Darkling but at least they had chemistry and he was INTERESTING. If he hadn't ended up using her and not letting her have her own agency, he would have been a great love interest.
They were trying too hard to make Mal different from his book-self, who is an arrogant, hypocritical cunt.
He’s too interesting to be stuck with Alina. Boy deserves someone with a personality.
@manicpixiefangirl4189 He is too mature to be with show Alina (like Book Alina wasn't any better but this version is worse )
By trying to make Mal's character "unproblematic" they failed to actually understand him and tell his story. He is a gentle kid, forced to be a nameless soldier for a country he doesn't believe in. He abandons it for Alina. But while Alina is scared of who she's becoming, he thinks she's outgrown him (the way alina believed Mal was outgrowing her in book 1). He is supposed to go through the pain of letting Alina go while she is at the little palace. That's when the pressure pulls them apart for a while. He's still devoted to her cause, but sees himself as worthless and their love as impossible. It makes it so much harder then when he is committed to sacrificing himself for Alina and when he calls her his nation and flag. Book malina hits so much harder.
Agreed. Like I find book Mal insufferable 90% of the time but this season killed his character except for bringing in the idea that he should go off on his own and find himself before coming back to Alina.
However that completely derails the cult plot and the Triumvirate plotlines since Mal is .... not ideal then but it is important for him as a character. And that was the only interesting thing about his character for the longest time as well cause he brought the drama and it wasn't just political machinations. Alina was dealing with their failing relationship and all of the other stuff.
The problem is this should have been the Six of Crows show :)
Maybe minor thing, when Alina did the cut at the end it was a shadow not a sunbeam, so it looks like the cost for bringing Mal back was more than just that he isn't drawn to her anymore, but that her sun-summoner powers have flipped.
That scene with Alby where Jesper was like "Did you cut the wire?" and he just went "yeah! I did that!" with the biggest smile was adorable and genuinely made me laugh out loud
Nina and Matthias’s storyline is the only one that hasn’t been messed with lmfao
because there's barely a storyline to begin with
I'm honestly really disappointed that they squeezed so many of the important plot points and plot twists from Six of Crows into the show, because it completely takes away all the narrative weight that those reveals had in the book. Kaz revealing the existence of Pekka's son in the Church of Barter was INCREDIBLE, Jesper and Wylan having a slow burn romance felt so much more organic than in the show, and the fact that they killed off Tante Heleen is such a waste!! And sending Inej away at the end of the season? Why would she even want to do the jurda parem heist then? Idk, I know a lot of people liked it, but I feel like they made a lot of bizarre narrative choices if they really want to make a SoC spinoff in the future.
Honestly, the relationship between David and Genya was the only one I actually believed in at the end. To me, all the others felt too rushed or forced. So I'm really annoyed that David ended up "dying," although since Genya didn't find a body, I'm assuming he's still alive in some form.
Also God damn I knew Mal wouldn't die fully but I'm still mad that he didn't actually die, stop setting it up like its a big sad thing just to be like "oops nvm he's fine"
Honestly i did not care for mal and shipped her with Nikolai (where theres actual chemistry lol) so i was hooting when he died and praying she didn't revive him. When he came back i let out some tears of dispair
Boring boring mal/alina ship will continue.
Buttttt...with how the show ends, maybeeee they will ditch mal? I doubt it but it would be nice for them to realize that their connection was all bs now that she has the firebird.
One can dream. 😅
Zero chemistry with Mal. It was so forced. And if we get season 3, Eric wants to push that bland ship again
Except he's not fine and there will be consequences
Genuinely so disappointed Mal didn't die! I was hopeful and totally agree that Nikolai is a better fit for Alina.
I think you're right, I think this season was so compressed because they weren't sure if they were going to get a second season. I was really surprised when they jumped into the third book as fast as they did.
Would love to see a video of you going through the shadow and bone trilogy and the six of crows duology
I definitely agree that this season was super messy. They really painted themselves into a corner by mixing up the 2 series, bc now they have too many plot points and characters ti develop, and not enough time for them all, so it all feels rushed and confusing. If i hadn't read the books I probably wouldn't care about half the characters, because there's barely any time to connect to them, since there are so many....
yeah I haven't read the books and can definitely say after loving the first seasons but having watched season 2 as soon as it came out - I pretty much only care about Dark Alina, I thought that was really interesting but reading the comments makes me think it's not even canon? I haaaaate Nina + matthias together and the Darklings Grisha's were super underwhelming. Like she says in the video, it was just too messy. With season 2 I expected to care more, not less.
@@carrained Darklina unfortunately is not canon in the books. But the Darkling does have feelings for Alina in the books. It is often a romantization of the idea of her for the Darkling. The nuance is written in the books and it continues to go on and show how the Darkling is affected by Alina.
Look, this show has one thing going for it that's completely indisputable and you can never take it away: Ben Barnes.
The thirst is real and valid and you can't tell me otherwise.
That's the only reason Darklina exists. Maybe not the only one, okay - but the main one, given how unbelievably good the chemistry is. I couldn't fathom how we were supposed to root for Malina, especially with all the "I love the city / he loves the country" thingy in the first season - I genuinely thought the stark differences were shown to evidence it would never work.
Take the Darklina chemistry on the other hand... I didn't care what the books said, I was on board for a Dark Alina Evil Queen arc reigning with Kirigan.
Now look at that smirk at the end of season 2!
@@Gloupyli 1000%, like you give us this dark, enigmatic, GORGEOUS man, and we're supposed to believe a simp boy with an inferiority complex is the one for her? Nope, that's an error. Agreed, the Darklina relationship is just so much more complex and interesting--Dark Alina Evil Queen is BY FAR more exciting than "oops lost all my powers, let's go back to a quiet life". At least we have fanfics I guess, haha.
Amen
@@notASOCIALbeing yeah but he’s Ben a textbook narcissist and abuser in books and show since day 1. Honestly “no ship “ is probably the best ship. Or maybe Genya
Yes, and Ben clearly took his time to understand the layers of his character, even though he plays the villain. He took in to consideration the complexity of Darkling, and that's why Darkling is still interesting and compelling character. It's shame that the show didn't let Ben completely loose, but Ben did fantastic with the crumbs he got. And I'm not excusing Darkling's evil deeds, he is the villain, but I'm just saying that his character is interesting and that Ben plays him marvelously.
The thing that freaked me out about the final moment of season 2 was Alina's powers not being the light bringer's anymore. At least that's what it looked like to me when she did the cut at the end. They were smoky and light grey, like her light powers and Alexander's darkling powers had mixed. They were not like the bright light they'd been before.
I didn't even know she used the magufin to save her boyfriend I thought she just asked nicely and he came back in trope fashion (talk to a dead guy long enough they'll come back) and so when she used the shadow I was perplexed thinking maybe due to killing the dark lord yet also have a former connection with him meant her power type changed based on her mood so when she was angry, fearful, and dying she used shadow as preservation magic but her light would come when she was doing it for just causes like selfless acts rather then selfish acts and she'd then be self warring with which side would take root in season 3.
but now that it's explained all her friends in the dessert will have light powers and the new King & Alina will have shadow powers it sets up she'll not cure the King & everyone will assume she cursed him as she becomes the new dark lord.
SPOILERS FOR CROOKED KINGDOM
This is probably supposed to be a parallel to Nina's story. After surviving the Grisha drug, her powers change from being able to interact with living bodies to being able to interact with dead ones. So I think the cost of Alina reviving Mal is that her powers change forever, from light to dark or mishmash of both.
I really don't think people ship "canon" Darkalina, but they do see potential in the pairing and like to explore this idea through great fanart/fanfic. Its like how people ship Addie and Luc in The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. Luc is way more complex and flashed out than Henry even though he is literally the devil.
Exactly just some times you like the bad guy homelander in the boys
I think Darklina works as a ship if it is like “what if the Darkling made different choices a century ago or had real remorse and commitment to a long redemption?”
@@mggardiner4066 Exactly! Having read Rule of Wolves and Demon in the Wood, you get a lot of insight in to his character, and you can see that he started good. His intentions were noble, but over time he did unfortunately corrupt to power. But you can see that he had so much potential, if he didn't completely turn evil. He's a complex character and even Leigh Bardugo doesn't think he's completely bad. In the afterword of Demon in the Wood, Bardugo says, and I quote: "Is it a hero's origin story or a villain's? I've never been able to see Aleksander as purely one or the other. He is a survivor who dreams of safety for his people. He is a tyrant who brutalizes and exploits those who trust him most. If Ravka were a different country, if he'd been raised by a different mother, if his mother had been raised by a different mother... well, who knows what might have been?"
So my point is that Darkling is compelling and interesting character, even though he does very bad things, and that's why I like him. Not trying to excuse his actions though, so don't come at me, he did unforgivable things and that makes he a villain, but to me that's not all what he is.
And fyi, the only thing I ship Darkling with is massive amounts of therapy, even though is debatable if that would be any help or is he just too far gone.
nah there's definitely too many ppl who ship darklina in a serious way and they are extra toxic, unfortunately
darklina in the books = ABSOLUTELY NOT , darklina in the show = now this... this i can work with
Ben and Jessie jsut have so much chemistry 😭 and the writing in season 1 made him seem somewhat remorseful and that he actually did have feelings for alina, but season 2 just flushed that down the drain
I also felt the show's breakneck speed, and honestly, I wouldn't blame the writers for it at all, I'd blame Netflix. Netflix cancelling shows left and right, greenlighting shows with no promise or plancof letting them completely tell their story, has made them extremely unreliable. I don't think the writers were wrong in trying to cram in as many plot points as possible.
Exactaly! It is a pity netflix refuses to allow for the writers to plan long term
Yes that's why I dislike Netflix now, what's the point to do so many shows for cancelling them ?
No I 100% blame Eric the showrunner. Netflix offered him more episodes in season 1 and Eric shortened it to 8. Eric then had s&s and R&R compressed so he could focus more on the crows (which he originally pitched to Netflix but Netflix wanted a whole franchise)
@@ullamorozova source ?
@@Noumm Collider is the source. They did an interview with Eric around season 1 release time.
I loved season 1 of Shadow and Bone, I thought it was a good adaptation. But I’ve noticed that Netflix adaptations seem to start really strong and then quickly go downhill. So I’m disappointed, but not surprised.
I did not like how they handled Nikolai’s character. He is one of my favourite characters and because they are essentially stuffing three books into an 8 episode season, I feel like his character suffered. It made me sad.
The biggest gripe I came away with was actually Inej’s character and her relationship with Kaz. I love their relationship in the books. It is very complex and I don’t feel like that complexity comes across in the show. I also feel like so much of Inej’s character in the show is just wrapped up in her feelings for Kaz. There’s nothing about her feelings of being ripped away from her family and made to work in a brothel, it’s all just her relationship with Kaz. I was so mad when they were all being poisoned and everyone’s having these hallucinations with family members and their feelings towards themselves and hers is almost kissing Kaz. Inej is so much more then her relationship with Kaz. And they didn’t even adapt it properly in my opinion.
I did like the new ending for Mal and Alina. I didn’t interpret her smirk as her liking the power though. (Spoilers for King of Scars if you haven’t read it!)
The way she did the cut looked more like the Darkling’s powers. I’m wondering if they are going to use Alina as the way the Darkling returns in King of Scars. Which I’m not sure how I feel about 🤷♀️
honestly Inej is such a good character with her own traumas to explore, idk why they made her entire character revolve around Kaz... like i love kanej but come on, it's so unfair
I had mixed feelings about season 2 but I loved the scene where Baghra tries to kill Aleksander. And despite that, he desperately tries to stop his Nichivoya from killing her. Then seeing how upset he is when she dies despite her cutting off his hand and trying to kill him. That was such a great ‘human’ moment for him despite everything. Huge credit to Ben Barnes for once again managing to create a character that is despicable on the page, but showing the humanity in him.
My biggest complaint about season 2 is that there was so little of Nina and Matthias’s storyline
they got done dirty... especially Matthias :(
they rushed so many character's storylines, like wylan and jesper, but then by the end of the season matthias was STILL in hellgate?? like c'mon 😭
Nina and Matthias never being together was my biggest gripe of season 2 ...
I am waiting to see if they keep their TV relationship canon before I watch >
My sister and I both watched this. As a book reader, she was so pissed. I haven't read the books, but it was a mess. Characters just seemed to change personalities on a whim, the power scaling made no sense, the pacing of the show was so fast I could barely keep up, characters had plot armor for no reason. I was hysterical by the ending. I couldn't stop laughing after the final scene.
as a book reader myself your sister is strong for watching the entire thing, I couldn't stomach it after 2 eps
the wesper thing, THANK YOU! everywhere on Tumblr and soctwt people were praising how they were written in the show, it made me feel like I was the only one who hated how fast everything was, plus the fact that they wrote them as having had a one night stand in the past... just none of the tension from the books, them warming up to each other gradually... ugh.
this!
It's like they wanted us crows fans to boost the show and forgot that we love the duology so much because of the slow burn romances T__T
As much as I love the crows I just kinda wish they weren’t in this season because they rushed and compressed their arcs so much. Like there was so much stuff from Crooked Kingdom?? Which makes no sense whatsoever. Like all the Pekka stuff and Jesper accepting his grisha magic is straight up from Crooked Kingdom. It also annoyed me how Nina was seemingly strolling in and out of Hellgate like it was no big deal when Kaz has to come up with a plan to break in and has to pay off so many guards… like huh??? 😭 And Wylan and Jesper were sooo rushed same with Inej and Kaz
Once upon a Time in days of yore, a brave UA-camr named Amanda the Jedi set off on a quest to review Shadow and Bone. Herein lies her report.
I fell in love with the first season but in S2 the only thing kept me included was crows’ parts, Kaz and Inej especially. I don’t know what happened to Alina’s facial reactions, something feels odd in her acting despite my deep admiration for her :’(
And I really felt bad for Darkling poor Ben Barnes x
but is it worth watching the second season? I liked the first one, but wasn't blown away by it, and frankly I didn't like Alina all that much as a character (she was way too fast to abandon 'the love of her life' for a random good looking dude), but I did like the crows crew. in short; I don't know if I should invest the time to actually watch the new season.
@@benzaiten933 yes it is worth it, the crows scenes are really good, and if you haven’t read the books the story does not appear that messy. Kaz broke my heart and though Jesper and wylan were rushed they are really sweet and the actors do a damn good job 😉
The problem is that Jessie Mei Li isn't a very good actress. Her acting is shallow. In every scene with Mal, Nikolai and the Darkling, and even with Baghra, she is completely outclassed by the other actors. This season demanded a lot more depth from her (especially with the cringey lacklustre script, which required the actors to fill in the blanks with their on-screen presence), and she wasn't able to deliver. Such a shame, because she was likeable in Season 1 and became boring/annoying in Season 2.
Yes, I think it is worth watching! Even how they handled the books’ Grishaverse seems a little odd it still has that captivating effect with resonating conversations, lovely costumes and some nicely revealed arcs.
@@chizzieshark omg i feel the same! I feel bad cause everyone is always saying how good of an actress she is, but I kept noticing how in some parts her facial expressions and movements reminded me so much of how actors are in telenovelas
I had just assumed that they were burning thru all the best storylines because they figured that Netflix was going to do what Netflix does and cancel the show after 2 seasons.
this season felt like last minute craming before an exam...you go through important parts as quickly as possible, add your own stuff to make the answers longer and move stuff around to make it make sense
Freddy Carter's performance was the HIGHLIGHT of the season and the only reason i was there lmao
Alina uses Kirogan's cut. She cuts with darkness, not light. And her eyes change color after that (when she is smiling). My theory is that (in the TV series, at least) they are hinting that a piece of the Darkling's soul managed to attach to hers and survive, perhaps their connection was never completely broken. That tiny sliver of the Darkling managed to take control over Alina when Ravka's future was at stake and perform the cut.
One of my theories too, we will learn that they are still, in fact, connected. And I thnik that is the most logical thing I can imagine, because I really do not understand how could she use mezerost I'm so confused.
I have another theory that when she used the sword she was in contact with mezerost or the nichevoya's things touched her like Nikolai it kinda infected her.
@@Noumm the merzost thing comes out of nowhere, you are right. The Darkling studied his gradfather's journals, but she hardly opened them. I think you are on to something.
@@asyabellia6791 Thanks, I also think your theory is the most plausible.
Lol, you're so right Alina, David no one never opened this book which for me was the key element and the ultimate solution to know, how to defeat him.
The problem with Shadow and Bone (the tv series) has ALWAYS been that they added the Crows. Adding them messed up the continuity of both series of books. Even in season 1, they shoved Shadow and Bone to the back burner so they could have the “fan favorite” Crows be present.
Or maybe I should say the big problem is that the average length of tv shows on Netflix is 2 seasons (because Netflix is a horrible corporation who wants to avoid paying their more people money if they can while also tricking people into paying for subscriptions), so I’m sure they’re shoving everything into these two seasons because they just… won’t have have another season for it.
Loved the video but at 30:09 - the Grisha on Jurda Parem isn't a Darkling supporter. She hails to the enemy courty Fjerda who currently have the scientist who made the drug.
Though super interesting to hear the analysis of someone who watched the show more first - I know as an avid SoC book fan I had a lot of issues with it but still thought the show had merit as a show
And they mentioned in the show that the fjerdans would be SUPER pissed about him becoming King on that specific day because it's a holiday for them. So I guess that's why that grisha was talking in fjerdan and was upset... Maybe because even though her culture would kill her she still holds close to their customs and holidays, potentially. I don't know it didn't really make a lot of sense to me a non-book reader why a Grisha who is fjerdan would be pissed enough to kill everyone in the room... But maybe it was a very significant holiday in their culture... I don't know. 🤷♀️ Or maybe that Grisha was an assassin or plant to create tension between the ravkans and fjerdans. We do know that they teach the heartrenders multiple languages at the little palace because Nina was taught all of her skills (combat and language skills) there, from what book readers have told me. So it could have just been an assassin who was told to speak fjerdan before killing everyone to make the ravkans pissed off at the fjerdans. Idk I hope we get more explanation as to exactly what happened in that last scene. Bc... Yeah, it didn't make a lot of sense with the context we have been given so far.
@@AnxietyRat She's probably grisha abducted from Ravka or native Fjerdan grisha. (SPOILERS from Six of Crows forward!!!) Fjerda hates grisha, but they keep some of them prisoners and try to make them useful to them as weapons against Ravka's grisha. But the drug jurda parem is so addictive, that grisha who consumes it, becomes more or less a slave to it. Their whole world becomes jurda, the only thing they think of is when they will get more, and they would do anything, and I mean anything, to get more. And that continues until they sadly die, usually pretty soon after their first taste of jurda. Some could survive it, but most don't without antidote.
@@AnxietyRat she was a wedding 'guest' sent by Fjerda...basically a declaration of war
@@piya6929 Why would Fjerda send a Grisha as a guest? They wouldn't trust ANY Grisha ever, from what we have been told.
@@AnxietyRat Fjerda has enslaved grishas for years...they claim to hate them but they sure like to take advantage of Grisha powers...and any Grisha addicted to Parem would do anything to get more parem doses..theur loyalty and life can be bought with Parem...the Six of Crows books go into more detail into this
the entire Shadow and Bone show is a HUGE disappointment for me. integrating the Six of Crows into the same timeline as Shadow and Bone is a terrible mistake. When i first read the books i imagine the show to have a season based on 1 book.
I'm really looking forward to seeing season 3 now, though I've never read any of the books. Seems like it might be a good idea not to if they're going to change stuff a lot, cause it'll only give me expectations that won't be met... There are a few errors in this review I wanted to point out though. First, Alina never thought she had destroyed the Fold, she left to gain enough strength to do so.
She's only viewed as enemy number one in Ravka, and the scene being referred to with people having faith in her takes place in Novyi Zem, a completely different country (actually where Jesper is from) so it's not just that she's a saint. They don't even necessarily know that. They do know she's a Grisha being chased around by the Ravkan army, who's causing a huge mess, and acting like they own the place.
Genya didn't murder the king. She just poisoned him, making him sick while Kirigan attempted his coup. He gets murdered during the party by the Nichivoya.
Bagra didn't drown her sister. She killed her with The Cut.
I don't know if this is actually an error or just unclear phrasing, but given the way Grisha are treated it makes sense someone might interpret it, so I just wanted to clarify that Jesper's mom was killed by using her powers, not killed by someone else because she used them. Zemeni treat Grisha as people with special gifts rather than dangerous monsters or potential science experiments or whatever.
The drugged up heartrender at the ending is heavily implied to be a Fjerdan agent by the fact that she shouts in Fjerdan before attacking. Yes, apparently Fjerda is actually willing to use Grisha as assassins despite thinking they're abominations. It kinda makes sense though. The government is not nearly as devout as the general populace and since they're basically using them as suicide bombers it's kinda like "Sacrifice yourself to absolve yourself of the sin of being a witch." or something.
I am absolutely, dumbfounded by the decision to smash the last two books in the trilogy into one season. The pacing is awful, the story is so packed it’s confusing, and honestly I forgot I finished watching this season. I’m so upset because I think they could’ve made the original truly story even better than the books, but they made it worse.
Don't like what they did with darkling in this season he just like I'm evil for no reason no story no motivation no good reason just evil and they don't give him good dialogue the only good scene when he was with his mother when she died he really showed emotion I like him so much in season one his character was amazing his motivation his dialogue his speech like I don't know why in season 2 just dumb get s*** so sad he was the most interesting thing in the show
Totally agree.
It's because the writers were upset by the characters reception in S1. Several of the people involved are ardent Mal×Alina shippers and were super upset anyone thought the DarklingxAlina was in anyway appealing. So they boiled him down to an evil nonenitiy and killed him off as quickly as possible. Now Ben won't be there if they get another season to contrast Archie anymore. Really, this starts at the beginning with casting. They really should have cast someone who has more than friend zone territory chemistry with Jessie to start once they saw her chemisty with Ben. Mal is a boring "nice guy" character with an inferiority complex, he was always going to be hard sell. I like Archie, but MAN do they scream brother and sister/BFF not love interest together in their scenes.
I really wish they'd just stuck with the events of siege and storm instead of meshing two books together. The second book was about Alina's religious and political status, as well as her struggle with morality. I would have just left the crows out of s&b in the first place tbh, the time dedicated to the crows in s1 could have been used to flesh out Alina, Mal and the world more so that they didn't have to rush it in s2. Not to mention, the crows deserve their own plot without being shoved into Alina's story first.
I HATEEE that they tried to make us feel bad for the darkling when the book UNAPOLOGETICALLY made him who he was.
ALSO!!!! I got jumpscared by Kaz’s backstory LIKE!!! NO!! I wanted it to be a full few episodes!!
It's because it's YA, and YA generally can't have morally gray or even evil characters. I.e., in Grimm, several times the evil characters turn good.
Also, I liked Kirigan. I think it's okay to like the dark characters as long as you understand that it is just fiction. I read a lot of dark romances and I know what red flags are. It doesn't stop me from enjoying fiction.
@sakurablossoms94 the Crows are morally gray in their books and they're amazing!
So you wanted a mustache twirling Saturday morning villain? Some 1 dimensional characters are fine, they are what they are, but what is not to like about a complex figure…
idk i think the books also gave him a symphatetic backstory so idk what you mean by that. we just didn't see his povs because the trilogy was written in first person but making tv is different
@@filmfangirls9163 I haven't read Six of Crows, but the heists aspects does sound interesting. The YA books I read, the characters are either really stupid or really good. Which not all YA is. My favorite is Avatar: the Last Airbender.
I don’t understand why they crammed in the literal climax of Crooked Kingdom into the middle of this season. It was so squished and underplayed for what shouldd’ve been a huge climactic thing, and it completely messed up the Crows’ storylines for later seasons. I loved the show up until they did that. Also I agree about messing up the Jes/Wyandotte dynamic. All their shy, witty banter just gone 😥
The heartrender at the end of season 2 is a drug-enhanced Fjerdan (though they hate Grisha they sure AF do some questionable things to them along the way), a message from that northern country that I had caught the insult of the marriage being during one of their sacred holidays…. I thought.
yeah...she also says something along the lines of 'Glory to Fjerda'...before doing her massacre
(Haven't watched the video yet) Is the problem that Kaz and friends keeping stealing the spotlight from the show's main protagonist by just being generally more interesting? Or that the timeline the show set out is vague enough that it almost makes it look like Nina knew Matthias for two weeks before he was arrested?
Yes. And also kinda yes
its both
Whenever the Crows are not on Screen i wanted them back
It's the second one for me. Alina's story is interesting enough, but nina's motivation is a bit nonsensical
Yeah, the Shadow and Bone trilogy is lackluster in a lot of ways because of the love angles (Mal, Darkling, Nikolai, Zoya?) And the interesting parts of Alina's storyline got cut in favour of the Crows' storylines.
They really should have just made the Shadow and Bone series into a movie trilogy and then did a Six of Crows Duology a TV series since it is a much more complex and dense storyline that needs time to breathe.
The problem is the the Nina and Matthias storyline takes place over a year and some months. They don't fall in love or anything like that until after Matthias is out of the Hellgate Prison and he is in prison for an entire year.
Nina is mainly trying to right her wrong in SoC towards Matthias and get him out of prison and safe. The cost of that is the Ice Court heist and Matthias participating in the heist as a Fjerdan Druskelle.
They fall in love and forgive each other during the course of the Duology. So yeah the sex scenes and stuff aren't book canon and in the Netflix show it is like a couple of months of knowing one another before Nina is like "he's the love of my life!"
The crows were in my opinion the best part of the show. Wylan finally made an appearance! I love him and Jesper so much. I also like the fact that they met before the show. It makes their chemistry less rushed.
What's funny is the fact that things that you know in the first 50 pages of the first book are still secret and one of the surprises at the end of the last book is already known in the third episode. 😂
The problem is indeed that they have to split the time between Alina and the Crows. They rushed through a lot of the second book. They even kinda skipped the climax at the end of it. Maybe that will still be there in hopelfully season 3.
One of the things I love is the favt they expanded the world a lot more than we saw in the books.
We finally get to see Novi Zem and it's culture, the fact that there are other saints who are still alive ...
And I also love that they matured Zoya. She was way more petty and jealous. It was a nice change.
A pitty that the actord playing Ivan and Fedyor could not be in the show because of sheduling problem and covid. I truly missed them.
Also I NEEDED MORE NINA AND MATHIAS
Same!! So sad they were apart the whole season
rooted way more about the Darkling and Alina in the show and didn’t like him a bit in the book says a lot. Her so called love interest in the show is boring af.
I was like ehhhhhhhhhh Ben Barnes needed more.
I sorta agree. But I don't think it's a crows problem. I think it's a Netflix problem. Compared to say, GoT on HBO, in the beginning they took time to establish a villain who makes his first appearance in sn4. And I'm sure HBO's philosophy of prioritising story over number of viewers may have helped. Netflix's latest model of cancel if no perform may have forced the writers to hamfist a lot of content to keep casual viewers clamouring for more because book viewers will watch anyway. I think the need to get renewed is the problem. Because beforehand they'd have been given at least a three-season order initially. But Netflix's renew per season model is killing good storytelling
I felt everything was wayyyyy too rushed. Not only did they smush 2 books (Siege and Storm / Ruin and Rising) into this one season, they also put so much of the Crooked Kingdom plot into this season and I'm scared for how this is going to effect the story going forward. It was all just too much. I know the Crows are the standouts and the fandoms favorite characters, but I think adding them into this show and tying them so closely into Alina's storyline did a disservice to all the build up, tension and backstory they deserve. It feels like they wanted to cram as much as they could into this season because they didn't know if they would get a third season or not.
Maybe they wanted to finish this story before getting cancelled by Netflix.... It felt so rushed for no reason and I've never read the books
I also think that in case of cancellation they wanted to give a sort of an ending, which is sad nowadays with Netflix.
who’s gonna tell Amanda about Nikolai and Zoya….. my beloveds
Great video! I would love to hear your thoughts on the new Interview with the Vampire show on AMC, maybe compare to the book? Just a thought!
OHHH i didn't realize that when the bee landed on zoya it was foreshadowing KOS lol
The problem is that the side characters ( Crows) and the Main villain is far more interesting than the main characters and Alina man’s Mel have no chemistry
Wrapping up and rushing everything prematurely and yet leaving some things open is exactly what this season did. Though still good and I hope they carry on, the makers fell into the trap of ‘cancellation fear.’
i feel like the way they depicted the mental bond between darkling and alina is very rey and kylo vibes maybe thats just cause ive rewatched the sequels recently but the whole fact like they can feel each other and not just see and hear each other
It was suppose to be even more like Rey/Kylo’s bond. The writers and showrunners intentionally said to remove all romance and tenderness they had with the bond in the books
How are they going to do Crooked Kingdom before Six of Crows?!😂
Didn't notice Alina and Zoya's flirty vibes but for sure noticed them between nikolai and mal?? and then the same with nikolai's fffriend... i fully thought they were making him bi tbh. And referring to Mal not having a personality, I agree, but it completely makes sense when the firebird reveal to me, his destiny is to be with alina and die for her, so I guess it's kind of excused (but the chemestry between them should have still worked tbh)
My daughter AND my sister-in-law are all Yay, Darkling, after reading the books, not just seeing the actor that played him. I was like yeah, he's cute, but you didn't see him in the book so what's the attraction. My sister-in-law tried the whole, "Sometimes the villain is hot," but I'm like "Killed people - lots of them" but No. I can't figure it out either.
It, seriously, can't be that hard to know that most people enjoy taboo topics and problematic characters in fiction because it's safe to shamelessly nagivate through these topics knowing that these characters are not real. Most people do watch shows for enjoyment and not for some fake activism on SM.
I love the Crows with all my heart, my gosh. I get all of your critisizm, deffo I agree, but Crows were casted so perfectly, and being perfect in general that I'm just turning blind eye on all the stuff
"Bearly an inconvenience" I see what you did there
I really liked the first season. I feel like they made serious improvements to the source material (which I may revisit after hearing you talk so positively about the later books) but I 100% agree that season 2 just felt too jam packed.
I was so furious at the rules of the amplifiers. Like, are they all made by Morozova? Isn’t only one person able to claim the power of it? How many people can take a tiny bit of bone from a normal amplifier animal and be amplified? Maybe Bahgra was different because of her bloodline. It’s just all over the place. I also hated the way they softened Bahgra’s suffering. In the books the Darkling gouges out her eyes for helping Alina. Bahgra didn’t die to the nichevoya, but can actually control them. She throws herself off a mountain to draw the nichevoya away and distract the darkling.
Thank you for reviewing this! I rewatched season 1 then started this season and just got so confused. When Kaz learns Jasper is d-something I could tell from context it was important but they didn’t tell us why
Why are all streaming services doing 8 episodes now? They could have done 12 they really rushes through the sea whip advdnfure
Yes! Please do a deep dive of the books! ❤
It is incredibly exhausting to see any and all discussions of the Darkling being filtered through shipping lenses. No, I am not interested in seeing him with Alina. I am interested in talking about the trope of "revolutionary leader of an oppressed peoples is the real evil actually! because he is uniquely, innately you might even say, evil and when people die it will be his fault because he's fighting back but in the wrong way! and so the increased violence towards his people will be his fault! Afterall reacting by persecuting ALL of his people for his actions is perfectly reasonable and justifiable reaction! so blame him for what is coming your way! and have you considered that he doesn't even really care about his cause actually? what he wants is domination! to be as bad to his oppressor as they have been to him! he wants to rise up and be the oppressor that is all his cause is! anyways let's just kill him and reinstate the previous regime but with a good king now! isn't that great! yes, because the issue is individual you see and having a good king plus a few others from the oppressed people "one of the good ones" you might say, at the top of the same power structure will solve our problems and will definitely never make the existence of another darkling possible" ...
Let's talk about how much of that sounds real. freakin'. familiar. and maybe why that is a problem.
P.S. this is not targeted at Amanda, I love her to death, I'm just extremely tired of the Discourse(TM) around the Darkling that insists on being as shallow as humanly possible.
Though I think they had/potentially could be a great pairing I do agree that my first thought reading the books was - “so the leader of a persecuted peoples who realizes their impending doom and begins a revolution is the evil character you want me to hate in favour of maintaining a useless at best, dangerous at worse monarchy under a new king who couldn’t possibly hold his crown?”.
@@DJ-ub7gl RIGHT?! My dumbass, despite the signs of how things were going to go after the second half of the first book, still thought that "make me your villain" was a clever setup to explore in the sequels the divide between what he has been to Alina and what he is to the Grisha/Ravka i.e. politically. I thought we were going in a "He HAS been villainous to her, but that doesn't mean he is the villain of the story because ... *gestures wildly at how the Grisha are systemically oppressed, marginalized, enslaved, and straight-up genocided* ... direction. Because that is also a real thing. So many real life revolutionary fighters were complex flawed human beings who often had some glaring shortcoming too often manifesting around how they treated the women in their lives/movement. WE COULD'VE EXPLORED THAT! Like??? They did have an interesting dynamic (even though for me it's not in a ship-y way. Romance is really not my thing. I can see why you'd enjoy them in that way though!) but the story refuses to engage with it in a nuanced way. Boo boo the fool me genuinely thought that we were going to *deconstruct* the trope while holding him accountable to how his immortal lifespan of trauma has made him utterly shit at depthful interpersonal relationships that don't afford him full control. Instead we got a doubling down on the trope by veering dramatically into mustache twirly cartoon villain territory in the rest of the trilogy. It's sincerely so freakin' aggravating ESPECIALLY because this narrative is so common in real life. T_T
I actually liked season 2, but I'm mainly an enjoyer of the crows. Also, Nikolai and the twins also hold my attention. I love all the actors, but the rest is just not my cup of tea. I'm ready for the Crows to get their spin-off show. I think it'll be really good. I'm open to change as long as the characters are respected and I feel like they have been so far. It's an adaptation, things are going to change.
I really wish they had taken a bit more time with the Crows and with Alina. There's some great things in the book about the stress of being a saint and the expectations people place on her, particularly in the iconography and relics and things. I wish they'd included it.
Loved season 1. Very disappointed by season 2. You're right about the stakes feeling non-existent. Like, there's supposed to be a civil war going on by the end, right? But it came across more as this one gang of people that didn't much care for this other gang and kind of slugging it out for a bit in a castle. The Darkling also lost all of his intimidation factor, which was depressing considering how good of a job Ben Barnes did elevating the character in the first season. Seriously, that guy spent most of season 2 being back-talked by his cronies and not getting very much done.
I also suspect it might have suffered from pandemic filming?? Might be wrong, but the sets just looked and felt... really empty, like they weren't allowed to assemble large groups of extras. Everything had a much cheaper, less polished feel this time around too, from the sets to the CGI to the plastic-looking weapons.
Overall, a big step down from a surprisingly strong first season and I can't say I'd recommend it.
Agree
Hi! Just to clarify; the fold was never (believed to be) gone. Alina never actually killed the Fold. They just left the fold after the battle, but it was still very much intact.
What are you talking about? She destroys it in the books by creating more sun summoners???
@@RumoHasIt lol i was like uhhhm did I misunderstand something? I re-read the series just a couple months ago too😅
This season felt too stacked. Like they were trying to shove too much story into one season. I hated that General Kirigan/ The Darkling was killed at the end of this season. A Villian that important should not have been defeated so quickly.
He's probably not dead apparently the bee on Zoya's kefta, when they burned him, has something to do with a resurrection. Now as a non reader of the books, I don't want to know more about it. Sorry in advance if it was too much of informations for you 😅. It was just for telling you that there is a possibility.
And also I observed in season 1 the end of episode is called 'no mourners' : everyone thought he was dead, when he was not, and, in s2 the end of episode is called 'no funerals'.
I know it's a "catchphrase" of the Crows but to me it could also referenced, again that he survived.
Also even if he's dead the fact that Alina had kinda his powers now probably there could be flashbacks, dreams/apparitions of him something like that.
Crooked Kingdom plot stuff being put in this season when they haven't even done SoC is unforgivable for me. Putting in scenes from the books for fan service when they aren't even earned is infuriating and it just left me feeling dissapointed. This season was just pretty underwhelming and did not do the source material justice at ALL. Also Wesper was so rushed and that made me sad🥲
After watching a series I always come here to check out your reviews and see things I've missed. Thanks for your content!!
The more of the show I watch the more frustrated I get. Why can't people just stick to the source material 😭
~SPOILER~ I completely agree with you about the Darkling very much being one note this season, however the part where Baghra died really stood out to me in terms of both the Darkling's characterization and Ben Barnes's acting. I really felt it was one of the best scenes in the show