2 years after the triumphant release of the first season of Shadow and Bone, Netflix released the long-awaited second season on March 16th, exciting many fans of the Grishaverse, who were looking forward to seeing the story continue to be transferred from page to screen.
This season starts off right where we ended, with our lead Alina, played by Jessie Mei Li, and her childhood friend turned lover Mal Oretsev (Archie Renaux) fleeing from Ravka after the Darklings (Ben Branes) and Alinas failed attempt to rid Ravka of the dreaded Shadow Fold resulted in its expansion, making both of them criminals. Alina and Mal flee to Novyi Zem, a peaceful nation known for its equality and peace between Grisha and the commoners. They plan to lie low, searching for the once mythical power amplifiers that will assist Alina in defeating the Darkling and taking down the Fold once and for all. But they run into a quick problem when they realize that Alina has a price on her head, and everyone is looking for her. Including three of our new characters, the famed pirate/privateer Sturmhond or as the people of Ravka call him, Prince Nikolai (Patrick Gibson), and his iconic twin sidekick duo, Tamar Kir-Bataar (Anna Leong Brophy) and Tolya Yul-Bataar (Lewis Tan). These three characters bring a new level of spunk and adventure to the show, as they team up with Alina and Mal in their quest to find these amplifiers and bring them down the fold. We also see many season one characters return, including Genya (Daisy Head) and David (Luke Pasqualino), the quiet lovers trapped under the Darklings control, Zoya (Sujaya Dasgupta), our feisty Squaller out for revenge after the expansion of the Fold at the end of season one lead to her family being killed, and Nadia (Joanna McGibbon), the Tidemaker who befriended Alina when she first came to the little palace, and Baghra(Zoë Wanamaker), the famous Grisha trainer and mother of the Darkling. And of course, the Darkling is making his terrifying return, after the dramatic reveal that he somehow survived being stranded in the Fold. And he’s now conjured the ability to create the shadow monsters called Nichevo’ya, which translates to “Nothing”, that now terrorize anyone the Darkling sets them on. The Shadow and Bone storyline is set for lots of intense battles and encounters, a surprising number of plot twists, and we even get some love stories, but will they end happily ever after? or will the battle to reunite Ravka result in the unthinkable?
Meanwhile, across the sea in beautiful Ketterdam, we are reunited with our Crows, a group of “thieves,” led by criminal mastermind Katz Brekker (Freddy Carter), who is joined by his silent and now deadly Wraith Inez Gafta (Amita Suman), and the witty sharpshooting flirt Jesper Fahey (Kit Young). But this trio is quickly expanding. After they return home to find out that Brekker’s rival Pekka Rollins (Dean Lennox Kelly) has taken control of the city, and set everyone on a mad hunt to find them as they have been wrongly accused of murder, Brekker and his crew (well mainly Brekker) decide that in order to clear their name and take down Pekka, they have to recruit some new faces.
One of these faces ends up being a character we were introduced to in season one, Nina Zenik (Danielle Galligan). Nina is a flirty, confident, and powerful Hearthrender, who abandoned her post as a member of the Ravkan Second Army to pursue her own life, becoming a spy for anyone who was willing to hire her. But on her mission in season one, she is captured by Fijerdan Grisha Hunters, loaded on a boat, and sent to Fijerda to her death. But, after a wicked storm destroys the boat, she and one Grisha hunter, Matthias Helvar (Calahan Skogman), are left to make an alliance and survive together as they search for home. But their alliance turns into a romance, as the two embark on an enemies-to-lovers arc. But, at the end of season one, Nina accuses Matthias of being a slaver, which is heavily punished in Kerch, in order to make sure that the Ravkan army wasn’t able to capture him. But this results in Matthias being locked away in Hellgate, one of the worst prisons in this fictional world, tearing the two apart, and heavily damaging their relationship. Now, Nina finds herself alone in this new country, set on getting the love of her life out of prison, and she’s willing to do anything to make that happen. So when she is recruited by Brekker, she makes him promise that he will give his best effort to free Matthias from Hellgate. So she joins the Crows, adding some more spunk to this group, and becoming a secret weapon.
We also get a brand new face, one long awaited by many fans (including myself), the shy, but extremely smart demolition man Wylan (last name to be revealed next season or if you read the book). Played by Jack Wolfe, Wylan is a long-awaited character as Wylan is much different from his fellow Crows. Shy and quiet, Wylan seems innocent to the average eye, but his dangerous creations can deal serious damage, as his explosives are highlighted multiple times throughout the season. But his concoctions are not the only chemistry present this season, as romance begins to grow between Wylan and Jesper, or to refer to them using their fan-elected couple name: Wesper. Brought onto the Crows by Brekker, Wylan proves himself to be vital the whole season, saving his Crows in many difficult situations. He also helps to provide some more light-hearted moments alongside Jesper, giving the watcher a break from the constant fighting and getting rid of that feeling of oncoming dooms for a few minutes.
Overall, I went into this season expecting to see the majority of the plot of Siege and Storm, the second book. So I was very surprised when only 3-4 episodes in, they brought the plot of the third book into the season. Many viewers and book fans haven’t loved that decision, saying this combined effort caused them to miss many crucial moments, and made the show seem too “rushed.” Along with this, we still have not begun to enter the plot of the Six of Crows books, meaning the Crows whole storyline is independent of the show. This also caused many new moments and lots of plot changes that could affect how they tackle this new plot brought in by the Crows duology. But the viewers know that the book storyline is coming, as the end of episode 8 sets up the storyline so that the show will perfectly enter its third season (once Netflix renews the show) focusing on the Crows. But this means that up in Ravka, we will be entering a new series as well, still one relevant to Grisha and everything, but with a much more heavy focus on Nikolai and (if they stick to the book) Zoya, who will become a main character as well.
But even with the new storyline and the loss of some fan-favorite scenes, I really really enjoyed this season. The acting was spectacular, especially from Freddy Carter and Daisy Head, who really gave spectacular performances. Both their characters had much darker and more emotional scenes, but they executed perfectly, as now they are both being heavily praised by the Shadow and Bone community. The show had me on my feet, my heart racing. It had me smiling from ear to ear. It had me crying, clutching my emotional support pillow to my chest. And it had me sitting there in shock, as I couldn’t believe that the world I had once imagined in my head was now playing on my TV screen. Shadow and Bone has quickly become a favorite show of mine, and now I’m here praying that soon I’ll be hearing about a season 3 renewal, as I’m not ready to see this story come to an end when it’s only just begun.
