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 sit here 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 1×04 “Otkazat’sya”.
The Job
Don’t you love when our Crows work together? These three form a bulletproof… and hoaxes team. I like that Shadow And Bone 1×04 “Otkazat’sya” shows the strengths of each character. Kaz is the one who concocts the plan while Inej works in the shadows to carry out the impossible and Jesper makes everything possible … and he is always there when they need him.
This scene may seem inconsequential but it is just as I imagined Team Crows when I was reading Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom and seeing it on my screen, coming to life directly from my imagination … it moved me and I don’t hide from you that I screamed. Very loud. Plus, the scene is really cool and keeps you tense, right on the edge, all the time. Team Crows forever and ever!
“You and me are going to change the world”
Darklina are growing together more and more. The connection that was there from the beginning reaches a new level when they actually speak for the first time. In this scene they are not the Sun Summoner and The Darkling, they are only Alina and Alexander, getting to know each other better, showing their vulnerabilities in front of the other, trusting each other.
Alina knows the history of Shadow Fold. It is the story that all children are told to scare them and so that they know their origins. But Alexander gives her a new perspective. With her, he shows his regrets, his fear, his hope, he shows himself vulnerable, lost, hurt… he shows himself human.
Alina feels like she’s starting to get to know him. She always sees him so controlled, so … in command of the situation, it’s as if he was invulnerable, invincible, unattainable. But in that moment, with her, when he shares with her his story, his point of view, she feels it at her fingertips, she feels as if that facade that he wears all the time is beginning to collapse slowly. With her. Only with her.
For her.
And that, in a way, calls her, strikes a chord in Alina because she feels that they are not so different. They are both lost, even broken in some way that no one else understands. And that brings them together… in unexpected and beautiful ways. It unites them in the dark so that they can row together towards the light.
“You are not alone”
Yeah! Darklina nation, you were really smart here, most of you caught my clue. Congrats, you guys are really amazing! This dialogue. THIS DIALOGUE. It has made us scream in 1000 languages and rising. So it’s in our list of 5 scenes you can’t miss.
It is just the consequence of the scene that we have just commented. Alina feels a very strong connection with Alexander. They are not that different. It seems that both of them have lived their lives in some kind of darkness, as if they are half of themselves, as if a part of them is missing and there is only emptiness in its place. Alina thought that part of her was Mal but now… she’s not so sure.
And Alexander… he was waiting for her for so long. He sees her as his equal, the only one who can compete with him in power, the only one who can rule the world. With the only one who wants to rule the fucking world. He has borne a heavy load for so long but, as Alina tells him, he is not alone. Not anymore.
She sees him so vulnerable, she feels the need to touch him, to comfort him, to let him know that she feels it too, and that she is there, right next to him, that he can trust her and share that burden with her. Forever. Alexander now has her and together… together they can rule the world… or make it burn.
Longing … is a weakness
Baghra is not an easy teacher. She pushes Alina to exhaustion to do her best, force her to the limit and never gives her a word of encouragement, just … more criticism and more blows. And she does everything with a very specific objective … but the important thing in Shadow And Bone 1×04 “Otkazat’sya” is that she knows that something is holding Alina from accepting her power, from accepting who she is and starting to use her gift. And it is that she still clings to Mal.
Despite the fact that she receives no response to her abundant letters, Mal is still present in her life and her heart and she cannot let him go. He has been her home, her anchor for too long. The only one with whom she felt safe to be herself. And now, Alina is faced with the decision of having to evolve and leave him behind, to have to embrace who she really is.
This, this decision to leave Mal behind has always been unthinkable for Alina because she did everything to stay by his side, including protecting herself from Grisha’s inspection. For her, Mal and she always went together, like an inseparable pack and it would always be like that. But here she is. Having to choose between holding on to her past or embracing her future.
Because it is increasingly clear in Alina’s mind and heart that Mal is her past, even though she doesn’t want to accept it. He’s making it clear that he doesn’t want to know anything more about her, that he actually decide to put the past behind him and move on. And she must make the same decision… even if Alina feels that a part of her will also be lost if she leaves Mal behind.
“You are my home” / “Remove it”
This moment is in my top 5 scenes. The two sides of the same coin. Alina thinks Mal left her behind, but he never did. Since they were separated he has been trying to get back with her, taking any opportunity, no matter how dangerous it was. He has decided to embark on a search for a mythological creature, the deer of Morozova, tracking him through an inhospitable land, to an enemy land, only to return to her.
And it is then, in those moments, when Mal is able to tell Alina, through missives that she will never read, how he feels about her. Just like Alina, now fear seems so stupid, so… petty. Because of the fear of rejection and of losing the special relationship they had, neither of them dared to take that leap of faith. But you don’t know what you have until you loses it and now, when they are missing… Mal regrets not having told her everything before. And he swears that he will never miss that opportunity again.
He is going back to her… and they will be together.
But Alina… she made the hardest decision of her life. She decided to leave Mal behind and, with him, her past and a part of herself that she will never be able to regain, the part of her that Mal means home to, means half of her soul and her heart. At first, she asked Genya not to heal her scar on her hand because that scar reminded her about Mal, about her past and of everything she was capable of giving to never abandon him.
That scar reminded Alina that even if they weren’t together, they would always be a part of each other. But now, Alina made a decision and asks Genya to remove that scar because she no longer needs that reminder. Only when she leaves him behind, is she able to really begin to use her power. This request from Alina is the symbol of decision to leave Mal and all that he means behind, to leave her past behind and embrace her future… which is her gift…and Alexander.
“No Saint ever watched over me. Not like you have”
In my list of 5 scenes that you can’t miss there will always be a Kanej scene, at least one. It is a fact. And this scene. This dialogue. SCREAMING IN KANEJ, IN VOLCRA AND IN SPANISH. ALL TOGETHER. Kaz Brekker doesn’t believe in Saints. But he believes in Inej, as he has never believed in anyone, not even himself. And this moment was the moment of my death, ladies and gentlemen. Period.
And these are the 5 scenes that you can’t miss from Shadow And Bone 1×04 “Otkazat’sya”. Stay tuned for the 5 scenes you can’t miss from episode 5 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.
