Shadow and Bone upped the ante for all characters and made for a brilliant episode halfway through the season.
Shadow and Bone Season 2 Episode 4 saw Kirigan directly attack Alina and the Lantsovs while Kaz took his shot against Pekka.
The question is, who succeeded?
David managed to escape Kirigan’s grasp and turn himself over to the Crown and Alina, with important information on Kirigan’s army and state of being.
Genya and Bahgra also moved to escape from Kirigan’s shackles, literally.
Kaz and the Crows took on Kaz’s number-one rival for the first half of the season, Pekka Rollins.
Kaz hit the man where he knew it would hurt. Kaz threatened the safety of Pekka’s son to gain leverage over the man.
He convinced Pekka to sign confessions to the murders that lost Kaz’s rights to the Crow club and to sign the freedom papers for Inej, but Inej wasn’t near the scene.
Inej found some women (and a baby) being trafficked and saved them instead of being nearby, which was Kaz’s plan.
Inej, thankfully, wasn’t needed, but the fact that she wasn’t there may have cost her her spot in the Crow club.
Kaz rattled on about how he needed to trust everyone in his crew and that they needed to stick to the plan no matter what, and Inej broke that trust.
Inej was baffled, and Kaz took it a step further. He handed over the papers he got signed for her freedom and all but kicked her out of the group.
We don’t know how Jesper, or the two newest members, Nina and Wylan, will feel about this, but we quickly became PISSED at Kaz. How could he do that to Inej?
If the confrontation with Pekka went awry, he would have needed Inej there to help bail Kaz and Nina out. But losing all trust in her over one mission?
We hope the two can make up quickly, as things are most likely starting to get back to normal for the Crows, and a new romance has even blossomed.
Jesper and Wylan, after constantly alluding to their past hookup, finally shared a kiss and opted to try out dating.
Fans of the book rejoice! Wesper, the couple teased at from the start of the series, is finally coming to fruition. We are excited to see their relationship grow on screen.
Something that doesn’t count as a romance also occurred on screen: Alina agreed to become engaged to Nikolai.
Much to the surprise and dismay of his family, Nikolai announced their engagement and rejoiced in the work that he and Alina would complete.
His older brother proved the most vindictive about it and took Mal to face a court-martial.
Alina continued to hone in on her heightened powers while getting visits from Kirigan due to the bond she refused to believe existed.
She was unaware of Mal’s disappearance, and as she started to get curious about his whereabouts, Visily, Nikolai’s brother, started a toast to his brother he never finished.
He never finished the toast because the shadow monsters, controlled by General Kirigan himself, attacked the party and killed Visily (which, we aren’t too mad about, he was an asshole).
Kirigan’s monsters attacked the whole party, and Alina, Nadia, and Tamar tried to escape, but Kirigan got inside the Sun Summoner’s head again, leading her astray.
They played a game of cat and mouse, which led to Kirigan showing himself to her and the Grisha she tried escaping with.
Kirigan tried to convince Alina to return to his side (because what else was new), but she held firm against his coercion.
Kirigan launched an attack against Alina and her accompanying Grisha, and she fought him off for as long as she could, letting the other escape.
Luckily, she managed to use her boosted powers to send a shot of magic through the shadow creatures (that are relatively unaffected anyway) and hit Kirigan.
Alina managed to get away relatively unscathed, but she’s now on the run again, but without Mal.
Whatever happens next for Alina, the power of the sea whip, plus Tamar and Nadia’s Heartrending ability, may help her survive.
Speaking of people escaping Kirigan’s grasp, Baghra finally saw an opportunity to make her move to escape. She broke her wrists to get out of the shackles.
Thankfully, she broke Genya out of her shackles, and Genya took the time to destroy all the medicinal products in the room before leaving to hinder Kirigan’s healing process.
We are delighted Genya got released from her chains, and hopefully, she can reunite with the already-escaped David.
David made his way to Alina, but Alina did not trust him entirely and sent him to a holding cell.
Hopefully, Genya can also reach Alina and prove David’s innocence.
Matthias is the final person who needs to escape their change, and Nina is still trying to help him.
KAz agreed to continuously pay off the guards to keep him from the fights in Hellgate, but he’s still stuck in Hellgate.
While we aren’t entirely sure what Nina will do, we hope she, and potentially the Crows, can save Matthias from Hellgate. Maybe that’s their next mission!
This episode brought out the best in all the performers and the plot. The story was gripping, tense, and yet still personal when relating to the leads.
We hope the season continues with this quality and this top-notch storytelling.
So Fanatics, what do you think is next for Alina, the Crows, and Kirigan?
Do you think Kaz and Inej will make up? How exciting is it finally see Wesper (Wylan + Jesper) on screen?
Let us know in the comments below! Shadow and Bone’s second season is now streaming on Netflix.
Michael Stack is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.