Shadow and Bone is now a reality! As you already have two reviews, one from the point of view of a reader and another from that of a non-reader, I’m going to choose 5 scenes that you can’t miss from each episode, either because they are essential for the development of the episode or because they’re the ones I like the most because, after all, this is my list. It’s the turn of Shadow And Bone 1×01 “A Searing Burst of Light”.
Here we go!
“She is not like you, no one is”
This scene. THIS scene. Anyone else crying over Kanej? Just me? Ok, I’m fine. It’s all fine, promise. It’s a must-see scene from the first episode because … gooddness, it’s Kanej! But it’s more than that. Here, Inej is trying to get Kaz to buy the contract and free another girl. A girl just like her. A little girl who was abducted, enslaved, raped and abused. A girl who doesn’t deserve something like that. Just like she didn’t deserve it.
Inej knows that Kaz wouldn’t spend that sum of money on someone if she couldn’t provide him with something in return, something like what Inej does, blend in with the shadows, get secrets and information. Information is power. And more for someone like Kaz. So she’s just trying to free her, that girl provides her the information she needs in hopes of being as lucky as Inej, in hopes of getting out of Haleen’s control.
And Inej wants to help her, if it were up to her, she would take her far away from there …. but she can’t. It’s Kaz who must decide and he … says no. Nobody is like Inej. That girl is not her. And, here, Inej may believe that she refers only to her abilities but we know better.
Kaz met Inej, looked into her eyes and something came to life inside him, something that had been dead for many years, something that he believed was lost. No one could replace Inej, ever. No one could be her. No one can make that by looking at her, his heart would beat again and he sits alive. And his gaze … God, I have dreams of Kaz’s gaze to Inej right at this moment, when his gaze is full of words that his mouth cannot express.
Sun Summoner
It’s the first time that Alina invokes her power. Mal is dying on the ground and a Volcra has just caught her in its claws, life escapes her and this power, this … light, just comes out of her chest in waves, without looking for it, without waiting for it, but needing it … because she’s losing everything, even her life. It’s the first time we’ve seen Alina’s power in action and the timing is absolutely perfect.
Alina and Mal go to the Shadow Fold
Mal goes to the Shadow Fold and Alina must go with the other surveyors. It’s official, their paths diverge … and it seems like forever. Mal and Alina have always had each other and for them to be separated … it is not something that Alina is going to allow and less on a ride in which Mal may not return alive. So she forces things to go with him and burns the maps above the Shadow Fold and beyond it.
I decided to put this scene on the list because I think it’s a true reflection of Malina throughout the episode. They’re always there for the other and they are not willing to part, they’re capable of doing whatever it takes to stay together. Alina’s decision causes her not only to risk losing her life in the Shadow Fold, but she didn’t even think about it because going with Mal, not parting with him, protecting him as much as she can was more important than everything else. It’s always more important than everything else.
Inej and the tortured man
This scene may not be the biggest deal in Shadow And Bone episode 1 but I think it perfectly shows who Inej is. She gives water to the man they are torturing. His torturer is there, Kaz is there, Jesper too, but no one is fazed by the torture and screaming, no one … except her. She averts her eyes from him, she looks at that tormentor with contempt and approaches him, responding to his plea for water.
This moment shows Inej’s heart. She’s a compassionate, gentle, devoted and believing woman. But she not only devoted to her Saints. She believes in people. That is why she can be by Kaz’s side, work for him, with him and never look at him with the contempt she directed at that man. Because she sees Kaz, she really does.
She sees him without his cane, without his gloves, she sees him with bare hands and skin, she sees the wounded child, the lost man who has suffered too much for his age, she sees Jesper’s great heart, she doesn’t see the hardened gamer nor to the man who looks for problems, if not to the man who is capable of giving his life for his loved one. She sees people, she believes in them, in their goodness.
That’s one of the things we love about Inej, that despite all she has suffered, she still believes that there are good people in the world, she still believes that the world is bright and that it can be saved, that she can save herself no matter what she had to do to survive. She still has hope.
“I will see you in the meadow”
This Malina scene touched my heart. It’s … so revealing. Mal is dying, he believes that his luck reached its final point and that it is over, that it’s really over. And the last words are addressed to Alina, he wants to die looking at her and with her name on his lips, imagining the meadow, the place where they both always took refuge together from the world, their place, the place where they were free … the place where he will wait for her a lifetime until they can meet again. Yes, I’m crying in a corner.
And these are the 5 scenes that you can’t miss from Shadow And Bone 1×01 “A Searing Burst of Light”. Stay tuned for the 5 scenes you can’t miss from episode 2 that we will publish tomorrow.
Would you add any scenes? Do you like the ones we chosen? Feel free to share with us in the comments below!
Shadow And Bone is available to watch on Netflix.
