New day, new editorial! As you know, every day, we will analyze an aspect of each episode. Thus, we will fully delve into what is behind the story that we see. Shadow and Bone 2×04 “Every Monstrous Thing” is the episode of the confrontation between Kaz and Pekka… and where we learn that the barrel doesn’t belong to kings, but to bastards. Ready?
Here we go!
Revenge is a Dish Served Cold in Shadow and Bone 2×04 “Every Monstrous Thing”
In Shadow and Bone 2×04 “Every Monstrous Thing” the confrontation that we had been waiting for all season takes place. For Pekka, taking down Kaz and the other Crows is just a matter of business. He can’t let them get away with challenging him. It became more personal when Kaz declared war. But it’s still business.
For Kaz, it was never business. Pekka scammed his brother when they were just kids. Jordie was a boy who dreamed big and Pekka took advantage of that by leaving him and Kaz on the street. And that was the beginning of the end. Living on the streets, Jordie didn’t stand a chance. He got sick and died of the plague… and Kaz ended up in a mass of corpses, including his brother’s, alive, but almost dead.
So, for Kaz, it was always personal. He wanted to make Pekka pay. He wanted to avenge his brother. And in Shadow and Bone 2×04 “Every Monstrous Thing,” he did.
Pekka felt exhilarated. He won, as he knew he would. Kaz was at his mercy…but everything changed in a second. Kaz was one step ahead. Pekka earns the loyalty of his men through fear, but Kaz earns it through respect. That’s why Nina told him what was happening and they put together a plan. The Crows are loyal, they are family and Pekka doesn’t know what that means.
He doesn’t know what loyalty means. So she didn’t expect that his scare tactic wouldn’t work with Nina. That makes it so that, in Shadow and Bone 2×04 “Every Monstrous Thing,” Kaz is one step ahead of Pekka all the time. Despite that, Pekka still looked like a winner. He just had to kill Kaz.
But then, Pekka underestimated the loyalty of the Crows and Kaz himself. To Pekka, it was all about pride and business, so he thought it was the same for Kaz. And once again he was wrong. Kaz is driven by revenge, not pride. So he finds Pekka’s weak spot and blows him to his knees.
Brick by Brick…
There is only one person Pekka would give everything for, only one he would go down on his knees for, his little prince. So Kaz has the upper hand because he knows that Pekka will choose his son over his pride. And he is not wrong. But Kaz wants more.
What Kaz is doing in Shadow and Bone 2×04 “Every Monstrous Thing” is for Jordie. So he wants Pekka to remember, to say his name, to beg his forgiveness. But Pekka fooled unsuspecting children so many times that he doesn’t remember Jordie. To him, Jordie doesn’t matter. But to Kaz, he is the only thing that matters. Jordie is the reason for everything.
But he’s not the only one Kaz plans to get justice for.
Now that Kaz has Pekka just the way he wants it, at his feet, begging for his son’s life, having taken away everything he cares about (his pride, his business, and his family) he’s going to get what he promised to Inej: her freedom.
And in Shadow and Bone 2×04 “Every Monstrous Thing” he gets it. He gets it all. Even though Pekka didn’t say his brother’s name, Kaz made Pekka remember him, And he got freedom for Inej. And the icing on the cake is that Kaz made Pekka’s son witness him getting arrested, removing the image of a loving and good father that the little boy had. Pekka lost his business and his threats no longer mean anything to his men after seeing him on his knees and begging.
In Shadow and Bone 2×04 “Every Monstrous Thing,” Kaz took everything from Pekka and managed to avenge his brother. Although the flame of anger and revenge was not completely extinguished, it did die down. However, he has a weak point… and he plans to get rid of it.
Kanej Gives Us the Anguish We Want in Shadow and Bone 2×04 “Every Monstrous Thing”
While there’s only one person Pekka would beg for on his knees, there’s only one person Kaz would beg for, Inej. And he can’t afford that, not with someone like Pekka plotting revenge on him for everything that happened. Kaz can’t risk Pekka using her and hurting her to get to him.
In Shadow and Bone 2×04 “Every Monstrous Thing” Kaz nearly lost his heart when Inej wasn’t where she was supposed to be. He didn’t know what was happening, he didn’t know if she was okay or dead. And that paralyzing anguish that he felt… he can’t allow himself to feel something like that again.
Kaz can’t let it be so easy to bring him to his knees. And what he feels for Inej is too intense, he would drop to his knees without hesitation… and Inej could get hurt. So Kaz gives Inej the freedom he promised her and dismisses her unceremoniously. And Kaz does it like any other business transaction. As if he wasn’t banishing Inej from her family.
To be clear, Kaz is acting foolish in Shadow and Bone 2×04 “Every Monstrous Thing” and he put on his armor to be able to do what he thinks he has to do in such a cool way that Inej will have no choice but to obey him. He needed to make sure that she was going to leave. That Inej was so angry, so disappointed, and so hurt, that she would never look back.
Of course, Inej will end up coming back and Kaz will take her back because they can’t be apart. But if he wasn’t so dramatic and armored so impenetrable, he wouldn’t be the Kaz Brekker we love, right?
Shadow and Bone season 2 is streaming now on Netflix.
