Shadow and Bone: Once more into the Fold, dear friends:
March 20, 2023 5:32 AM - Season 2 (Full Season) - Subscribe
Shadow and Bone is an American fantasy streaming television series. It is based on the Grisha novel trilogy and the Six of Crows novel duology, both by Leigh Bardugo. This is season 2 (season 1 is discussed here)
This second season is also set in the war-torn world plagued by the Shadow Fold, a swath of permanent darkness separating East from West Ravka, inhabited by carnivorous winged creatures known as Volcra. The Sun Summoner (and orphan) Alina Starkov, who discovered she was magical in the first season, is now on the run from the Ravkan authorities with her best friend and maybe lover Mal. They encounter Stormhund, a privateer with a secret, and wind up right back where they started.
Meanwhile, the Crows - a charismatic group of criminals - must deal with the fallout of the events of season 1 before finally saving the day and being well paid for it. The showrunners, who seem to have some sort of grudge against Mathias and Genya, continue to beat the crap out of both of them. A viewer should also be prepared for an incredibly bleak season ending.
On Netflix in Canada and (I assume) the US. I am still unbooked, so I am still doing a Show Only thread.
This second season is also set in the war-torn world plagued by the Shadow Fold, a swath of permanent darkness separating East from West Ravka, inhabited by carnivorous winged creatures known as Volcra. The Sun Summoner (and orphan) Alina Starkov, who discovered she was magical in the first season, is now on the run from the Ravkan authorities with her best friend and maybe lover Mal. They encounter Stormhund, a privateer with a secret, and wind up right back where they started.
Meanwhile, the Crows - a charismatic group of criminals - must deal with the fallout of the events of season 1 before finally saving the day and being well paid for it. The showrunners, who seem to have some sort of grudge against Mathias and Genya, continue to beat the crap out of both of them. A viewer should also be prepared for an incredibly bleak season ending.
On Netflix in Canada and (I assume) the US. I am still unbooked, so I am still doing a Show Only thread.
Also, the actors who play Jesper and Wylan are the same age??? I thought Jesper was robbing the cradle!
posted by Mogur at 6:39 AM on March 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Mogur at 6:39 AM on March 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
Alina and her problems are still not my cup of tea, but I enjoyed just about everything else about this second season.
The show looks great, moves pretty fast, has interesting characters, some extremely good looking people, and moves the characters around so you get to see them interact with different groups.
I really liked the actors chosen for Tolya, Tamar and Wylan. Jesper and Wylan were very cute, even despite my allergy to TV show romance.
posted by See you tomorrow, saguaro at 8:56 AM on March 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
The show looks great, moves pretty fast, has interesting characters, some extremely good looking people, and moves the characters around so you get to see them interact with different groups.
I really liked the actors chosen for Tolya, Tamar and Wylan. Jesper and Wylan were very cute, even despite my allergy to TV show romance.
posted by See you tomorrow, saguaro at 8:56 AM on March 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
I felt like the split narratives this season just didn't work as well for me.
Last season nobody knew each other yet, so it made sense for everyone to be off on their own storylines. This season I felt like I was waiting around for everyone to meet up and kick butt/get to the point already.
That said, there's a lot I enjoyed. Alina backing up Genya and refusing to see her as a traitor. Baghra sacrificing herself. Inej deciding to go her own way and becoming a pirate (oops, privateer).
posted by champers at 4:24 AM on March 21, 2023 [2 favorites]
Last season nobody knew each other yet, so it made sense for everyone to be off on their own storylines. This season I felt like I was waiting around for everyone to meet up and kick butt/get to the point already.
That said, there's a lot I enjoyed. Alina backing up Genya and refusing to see her as a traitor. Baghra sacrificing herself. Inej deciding to go her own way and becoming a pirate (oops, privateer).
posted by champers at 4:24 AM on March 21, 2023 [2 favorites]
I was quite disappointed in the start of the season. The delightful cast and lovable characters deserved better scripts IMO/. But am glad I persevered, the production clearly spent all their budget and care on the back half! I hope the show is renewed for a third season and that Tolya will get a job moonlighting as an advice columnist. (An Agony Uncle?) Also he and Kaz should spend a whole episode discussing their love of poetry.
posted by Coaticass at 11:59 PM on March 22, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by Coaticass at 11:59 PM on March 22, 2023 [3 favorites]
Still, it was tons of fun? I'll happily watch a third season if Netflix renews it, but it feels like it nicely wrapped up the major plot points of the first season's story, so that's a nice rarity in the modern streaming landscape and all...
I agree that it's a good thing it moves along at the clip that it does, or some of the faults start to become apparent. Like in the second to last episode alone, maybe you should have realized what the major failing of the magic-powered airship was after the _first_ time the sail got ripped to shreds, hey? And in a world where magicians and non-magicians fight a lot, you'd think they'd have better plans for dealing with large crowds of magicians? I mean, even if it was only ever the one nation with a large enough of a contingent of magicians, c'mon, internal revolt is also a thing. And "big goddamn logs with spiky nails on chains swinging down from bridges" is pretty effective against non-magical troops too. And it seemed maybe a bit pat that after centuries of being effectively cut off from one another the two parts of Ravka would just be like "oh hey whassup" when the fold comes down? But I recognize the source material isn't aimed at that sort of crowd, sure, sure.
posted by Kyol at 8:46 PM on March 24, 2023 [3 favorites]
I agree that it's a good thing it moves along at the clip that it does, or some of the faults start to become apparent. Like in the second to last episode alone, maybe you should have realized what the major failing of the magic-powered airship was after the _first_ time the sail got ripped to shreds, hey? And in a world where magicians and non-magicians fight a lot, you'd think they'd have better plans for dealing with large crowds of magicians? I mean, even if it was only ever the one nation with a large enough of a contingent of magicians, c'mon, internal revolt is also a thing. And "big goddamn logs with spiky nails on chains swinging down from bridges" is pretty effective against non-magical troops too. And it seemed maybe a bit pat that after centuries of being effectively cut off from one another the two parts of Ravka would just be like "oh hey whassup" when the fold comes down? But I recognize the source material isn't aimed at that sort of crowd, sure, sure.
posted by Kyol at 8:46 PM on March 24, 2023 [3 favorites]
You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments
posted by Mogur at 6:37 AM on March 20, 2023