These episodes are generally uneventful for poor Alina. Unless you want to count the slumber party she and the Darkling have in the end.

EPISODE 3 & 4 RECAP

(*If you are looking for details, you will find these recaps neither very helpful nor profound, I strive to be as brief as possible and only comment on the most critical occurrences.)

Alina misses Mal terribly. This heavy sentiment prevents her from accessing her power. She writes to Mal daily but gets no replies. I appreciate the Crows’ subplot in these episodes because if we had to watch two hours of Alina sulking over her empty inbox, that would be a real problem.

So, after the whole “you turned me on” or whatever happened between Alina and the Darkling in the tent, Alina is sent to the Little Palace. She meets her new teacher, Baghra.

But things don’t go well because Alina is unknowingly suppressing her power. How? By having these profound thoughts all the time:

Meadow. I’m crappy unless I’m with Mal. Meadow. I’m crappy unless I’m with Mal. Meadow. 

On the other side of the Fold, Kaz, Jesper and Inej prepare to cross over, introducing us to the most iconic couple of the show: Jesper and Milo.

Back at the palace, the Darkling has an idea. He invites Alina to a purely… professional horse-riding session near the Little Palace. He sends a black coat to her room beforehand too as a gift, which I’m sure he also has a professional explanation for.

Yeah no, he doesn’t. He just likes matching outfits, it seems.

Alina picks her usual blue coat to wear that day, though. Upon seeing that his matchy-outfits plan has gone astray, the Darkling takes off his own black coat — which I don’t see the point of, because he’s still in all black even with his coat off — and they talk for a bit before taking off.

He asks her to call him by his name, which is Alexander.

They take off and stop by an ancient fountain, where they stare at one another for… a long time. Then the Darkling just kind of starts cleaning around the fountain (?). Understandable. Because the moments he has nothing to do, stuff like this comes out of his mouth:

“I shall be right by your side.”

A few days later, Alina visits the Darkling in his study for some more counselling, I assume. They talk about past wars, he gets emotional. Shadows rise around them. Alina holds his hand, and light explodes. OK, good counselling. Whatever works for you two.

Mal decides to go on this mission to find a legendary stag. It’s a task set by the Darkling to collect the stag’s horn and make an amplifier for Alina. And Mal figures that this may give him a chance to see Alina. In case anyone is still unclear, Mal wants to see Alina and Alina wants to see Mal.

Mal’s two best friends tag along. Unfortunately, they get ambushed by Druskelle on the way and the two friends are killed.

You see, this is why Mal and Alina should not be in the army in the first place. Because, like, Alina destroyed crucial military documents because that enabled her to be close to Mal. Mal signed up for a life-threatening mission because maybe he would get to see Alina as a result, and now he loses his two friends who came along because they didn’t want him to face danger alone.

So maybe, I don’t know, Mal and Alina should be together and then move really far away. For the sake of the people around them.

At the end of episode 4, Alina finally lets go of her obsession with Mal for the time being and, for the first time, makes some light with her power.

COMMENTS

Seriously about Mal and Alina here. It is clear at this point that their emotional dependence on one another is doing them more harm than good. Alina denies her power — which can help free her country — because to her, it is something that separates her from Mal. And Mal has no aspiration other than Alina. They don’t know who they are without each other. If this was a romance, it would be fine. But Shadow and Bone is a Chosen-One fantasy. Naturally, one expects more from its leading protagonists than what is shown in these episodes.

In both the book and the show, this phase in Alina’s journey is a wasted opportunity. The world-building of Shadow and Bone is interesting and original, so if Alina had just a little bit of Harry’s (Potter) energy, we would get to discover this fantastical universe along with her. But no, we get moody letter-writing sessions instead.

Also.

“Call me Alexander”. Are you kidding me?

I had to go through almost two and a half books, enduring pages and pages of Mal whining and sulking over his unused abs or whatever, to get to the reveal of the name “Alexander”, and even more to get to that last moment of humanity between Alina and the Darkling involving this name.

But the show just drops in on episode 4 of “Shadow and Bone”. Well, thanks a lot. Now everyone is going to think he’s Alexander Kirigan.