Netflix’s Shadow and Bone is extremely enjoyable in general. The story is fast-paced, the acting ranges from satisfactory to brilliant, and the sets and costumes are simply gorgeous.
They might want to tone down the shades of the Grisha robes, though.
So, as with all shows, there are good things and bad, and below is my take.
SPOILERS AHEAD
WHAT’S GOOD
The female lead has a good amount of agency. While she is dragged everywhere by the plot and is as gullible as she is in the book, Alina in this show is a fairly active character who makes plenty of decisions on her own.
The Darkling’s character and Ben Barnes’ acting — There’s no Shadow and Bone without the Darkling; and as a ruthless and manipulative villain, he shines like a beacon.
Ben Barnes successfully delivers both sides of this dark and couple-outfits-loving man who never takes his eyes off the goal, but is constantly tortured by his own desire for the humanity he has lost.
The only issue there is regarding the Darkling is probably his backstory with Luda. It is overly sentimental and humanizes him too much. Yes, I know the man cares, Ben Barnes’ tear-filled eyes every time in the present already tell me enough.
A redemption arc for the Darkling is a popular wish among viewers of this show and who knows what Netflix decides to do with future seasons. Though, I believe he has too much potential as a villain to be redeemed.
I want my Darkling producing shadow monsters and destroying the world, is that too much to ask?
The interactions between the Darkling and Alina — If there’s anything more capable of damage than the Shadow Fold and Jesper’s bullets, it’s these two’s chemistry. It literally burns through the roof of a tent, after all.
On a more serious note, despite some inconsistencies here and there, the show is fairly successful in establishing the complicated relationship between Alina and the Darkling — same goal, disagreement on the method — and presenting them as each other’s balance.
The casting of the Crows is near perfect. Whatever you imagine from the books, these actors have it.
Acting wise, out of all the Crows so far, perhaps Kaz is the one with the weakest performance, but that – I believe – is partly due to his character not having a solid role in the story yet and because he is not the Kaz that we know in Six of Crows yet.
All the relationships are well played out, even Matthias and Nina, who barely have anything to do with the main plot.
Archie Renaux’s acting as Mal truly makes the character impossible to hate. His best scene would be where his two best friends die.
Alina’s amplifier – What is supposed to look like a necklace in the book is now an antler bangle embedded in Alina’s collarbone. Not a design that will get the Darkling a date, but an effectively bold choice to emphasize his ruthlessness.
The combat sequences — Especially the fights between Grisha and non-Grisha.
WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER/OMITTED/DIFFERENT
Not enough exploration of the Grisha world. Due to Alina being sulky about Mal most of the time during her stay at the Little palace, we don’t get to discover this universe as much. We also don’t get to see her training with Botkin – who is a hilarious character in the book; and her scenes with Baghra are equally rushed.
Alina’s character – Alina Starkov is extremely likable due to Jessie Mei Li’s performance. Sadly, as a character, she is still a heroine without flaws whose mistakes are never acknowledged.
Alina burns important military documents in order to get assigned on the same trip as Mal. This action causes her whole unit to be put on the same trip, and some (all?) of her colleagues die as a result. While it isn’t directly her fault, she certainly contributes to it as much as the guy who lights the lantern.
Yet we do not see this issue addressed. This is a tremendous pity because had Alina reflected on her own mistakes more – which were made out of desperation – we would have had much more meaningful interactions between her and the Darkling, who also had to make choices out of desperation.
Next, Alina spends most of her time in the Little Palace wondering why she gets no letters from Mal, and in the end concluding that he just doesn’t care anymore, despite how they both literally held hands and wanted to die together during the volcra attack.
Alina giving up her obsession with the past to embrace her power is a good thing, but it shouldn’t warrant her assumptions about Mal, given how he is IN THE ARMY and could have died in the front and the army just hasn’t documented it yet.
In the book, yes, Alina has every right to assume that Mal has gone off with some pretty Grisha woman and forgotten about her; but in the show, it’s been clearly established that Mal and Alina can’t stand being away from each other.
Making mistakes is not a problem, but these consequence-free mistakes make Alina’s character inconsistent.
In episode 7, Alina says to the Darkling: “You don’t care who suffers, as long as you win.”
Hasn’t she done the same thing by burning precious maps and assuming that it’s all worth it as long as she’s with Mal?
More on inconsistency?
In the same conversation, Alina is upset about how the Darkling contributed to the deaths of her parents and friends by creating the fold.
Erm… you hesitated to explore your power — which could HELP DESTROYING THE FOLD — because you couldn’t let go of your daydreaming about Mal, Alina! Where was all of this passion about “my parents and my friends” when you were training?
Then, comes the biggest problem in Alina’s whole story arc: the way her time in the Little Palace is handled.
Alina discovers her new Grisha identity, is bitter at first, but then slowly adjusts to her new life. Not just because she decides to give up on Mal, but because she realizes all the good she can do with her power.
Yet her enjoying herself, her discovery of her potentials, the friends she’s starting to love — all of this is reduced to a simple tragic act of manipulation and a betrayal of Mal.
Alina quickly takes Baghra’s word for it about “Aleksander” and flees the palace. To be fair, Baghra uses her aura of power very effectively when she needs to make her words matter, I’m pretty sure people would jump off their broomsticks while still in the air if Baghra told them it was good for their education; so it’s no surprised that Alina believes she should run for her life after that disclosure.
But once Alina is out, we don’t see her reflect on Baghra’s words, we don’t see her think about her friends, and as soon as she reunites with Mal, it’s “the two of us against the world” again, rendering her development in the palace pointless.
It would have made more sense for Alina’s journey if Mal were the first love she would grow out of as she discovered herself. But no, Alina constantly thinks that being with Mal is the solution to everything, and this mindset turning out to be right is the strangest narrative choice ever.
And while we’re on the subject…
Who is Mal? – it has been a long time since the first Grishaverse book was published, yet Mal still manages to be unnecessary. Different from the books, Show-Mal is very likable: he cares about Alina, he puts her needs above himself, and he wins a fistfight against the most powerful Grisha in Ravka. But the problem with his character in the book remains exactly the same. No, it isn’t his mistakes, or mood-swings, or jealousy, it is the fact that he
has no identity.
Due to how unfavorable Book-Mal is, the show’s creators have clearly put in an effort to “fix” him, removing all of his frustrating moments and giving the viewers no valid reason to hate Mal. And they’ve succeeded, no one hates Mal.
Because we don’t know who Mal is.
Mal is barely unique in his own story, and when you put him next to Kaz, Inej, and Jesper (not theoretically, they are literally put together on the Darkling’s skiff at one point), he fades into the background even more. But you still have to care about Mal because… well, Alina tells you to care, which leads to the next issue…
Mal and Alina’s relationship – They are sweet, they are innocent, they are wholesome.
They should be brother and sister.
And if they were, this relationship would have been perfect. But of course, there is very little chance that we will be getting that. So we will have to discuss them as a romantic pairing.
Mal and Alina being together is the “correct” choice in most senses. A girl who wants to do good and a love interest who is ready to support her 24/7, what could be more perfect than this?
The problem with this relationship, however, is that there’s very little development. Mal and Alina are devoted to each other from day one and the only thing that keeps them apart is that one guy who steals and reads their letters (very classy, General). Mal is said to be uncomfortable around Grisha, but this is also not well explored and seems to be immediately resolved when Alina summons a cute little light to warm them up.
Their conversations are monotone: remember when we were at the orphanage and you did this and I did that and we both felt this? Etc. At one point, even Archie and Jessie’s chemistry cannot make up for their one-note dynamic.
Given Alina and Mal’s history, they could have easily expanded their little chats to the future, their goals, their beliefs. Maybe… one of them would like to build a better place for the children orphaned by the Shadow Fold?
“So who do you want Alina to be with now, viewers?” asks Netflix after erasing everything fans hate about Mal.
Well, given that it’s either Mal or frolicking with a city destroyer who gave you an ugly necklace, who could say no to Mal?
The Crows’ subplot – as much as I appreciate the Six of Crows’ characters in the show, their plot doesn’t do well to introduce their skills and is, in general, too similar to the main plot of the Six of Crows books.
Kaz is likable too soon – The Kaz Brekker we all love goes through tremendous development in the books. All of his flaws are first exposed, then the readers gradually get to know his history and sympathize with him as he changes.
The show rushes to display Kaz’ soft side, which might be a safe choice (since they weren’t sure if there would be a season 2 or not so they really needed viewers to like every single character), but it will present a challenge when the time comes for evolvement for Kaz.
Jesper’s fling with the stablehand – One of the things that make the Crows’ dynamic interesting is the subtlety of the romances. Even any flirting that doesn’t develop into a romance is subtle. Jesper and the stablehand? Not very subtle. While there is nothing wrong with having a romantic fling right away, it isn’t necessary and somewhat takes away the element of mystery in Jesper.
But if you have not read the books, you’ll probably have no problem with this.
Why the fistfight between the Darkling and Mal? It is understandable that the show needs to give Mal a hero moment (cause what would he do with all those abs otherwise?), I can also tell that this symbolizes a personal fight between two men who compete for Alina’s interest. But not only is this fistfight unrealistic – it’s highly unbelievable that a powerful Grisha with centuries of training in combat could not put down a weakened and injured 20-something-year-old in two seconds – it also takes away Alina’s chance at an ultimate confrontation with the villain that most other heroes/heroines have.
And if we have to give a significant part of the hero’s job to someone else, it should have at least been someone with a personality. Like Samwise Gamgee or Neville Longbottom.
This is the end of my rant.
Now give us season 2 already.