We enter the second half of the season! 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 2×05 “Yuyeh Sesh (Despise Your Heart)” perfectly shows the differences between Mal and Alina’s goals, and what that means for their relationship. Ready?
Here we go!
Malina’s Underlying Problems in Shadow and Bone 2×05 “Yuyeh Sesh (Despise Your Heart)”
In our editorials, we highlighted that Alina and Mal’s relationship has more problems than meets the eye, and Shadow and Bone 2×05 “Yuyeh Sesh (Despise Your Heart)” is living proof of that. The two are clear that they want to be together, it’s what they have always wanted. But in everything else, they are not on the same page.
The instinct to protect Alina takes over and Mal breaks Alina’s connection to Aleksander, thwarting her plan. And that is the beginning of the end for them. Mal doesn’t realize that Alina never needed him to protect her, because she can protect herself. She never needed a protector, but a partner. And Alina is tired of Mal not realizing that.
Alina is fed up with Mal going from one thing to another without stopping to analyze where their paths are going. She’s tired of him not making plans with her.
But the truth of the matter in Shadow and Bone 2×05 “Yuyeh Sesh (Despise Your Heart),” is that Mal doesn’t want to think because, if he does, he’ll have to accept that Alina’s path is very different from the one he wants. It’s something he’s known for a while, but he refused to accept.
Mal just wants to destroy the fold, end the Darkling’s threat, and live a quiet and ordinary life with Alina, away from everything. But Alina…she’s not on the same page. She wants to do all of that, but she also wants to lead the second army and rebuild Ravka to, alongside Nikolai, lead the country. It’s her destiny and it’s what she wants to do.
Mal tries to keep up with Alina without thinking about the fact that they both want different things in life, and in Shadow and Bone 2×05 “Yuyeh Sesh (Despise Your Heart),” he feels that he can never truly measure up to her.
Intrusive Thoughts
Mal cannot deceive himself anymore. He can’t lead a country with her…nor does he want to. He also can’t balance Alina’s power, he doesn’t even fully understand the magnitude of it. The Darkling tries to manipulate Alina at every turn, but he is right that Alina is meant for so much more. And Mal feels this, so he’s resigned to giving her the firebird …and nothing more.
In reality, it’s Alina who has to decide who she wants by her side, not Mal or his feeling of inferiority. However, both do seem to want different things. And we see it clearly in Shadow and Bone 2×05 “Yuyeh Sesh (Despise Your Heart).”
Alina and Mal love each other deeply, but they want different things in life. That is a really serious problem that will inevitably end up separating them. They’re clear that they love each other and that they want to be together, but sometimes love is not enough.
It’s something similar to what happens between Alina and Aleksander. While, as we see in Shadow and Bone 2×05 “Yuyeh Sesh (Despise Your Heart),” he understands Alina’s power and the feelings that come with it, Alexander has a completely different view of the world than Alina does.
Which, even with Alina’s feelings involved — which is not the case, because Aleksander took it upon himself to kill everything she felt for him — would make it impossible for them to be together.
Sometimes Love Is Not Enough in Shadow and Bone 2×05 “Yuyeh Sesh (Despise Your Heart)”
In the case of Mal and Alina, there is love but they are not on the same page. Alina is following her destiny and Mal doesn’t know exactly what he wants beyond being with her. His dreams for the future are very simple, they always have been. But Alina wants more, she needs more. So it’s like Alina is flying and Mal is watching her fly, trying to do the same but not quite succeeding.
And that will end up breaking them. Their separation may not have come in Shadow and Bone 2×05 “Yuyeh Sesh (Despise Your Heart),” but this episode is the beginning of the end. If the two of them are not on the same page, sooner or later, the end is inevitable.
They need time by themselves, Alina to explore her destiny, and Mal to figure out who he is and what he wants without her. Fate will decide whether to bring them back together… or not.
Shadow and Bone season 2 is streaming now on Netflix.
