Shadow and Bone Season 2 Review: New Lands New Life New Adventures | Filmyhype
Cast: Ben Barnes, Jessie Mei Li, Archie Renaux, Freddy Carter
Creator: Eric Heisserer
Streaming Platform: Netflix
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 3.5/5 (three and a half stars) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
The first season of Shadow and Bone had us excited, so it’s just the perfect time to re-read our Shadow and Bone review. It could not be otherwise. The creator Eric Heisserer had been able to condense the fantasy soul of the novels of the writer Leigh Bardugo, bringing back the atmospheres and the rules of those imaginative worlds. Restoring truthfulness in those fictional universes, however able to convince us to bend to their rules, as happened to their citizens in the face of the immensity of the Fault. The same reappears in the second season, like all those characters who had been able to make us passionate about the series, which returns in Netflix’s March 2023 catalog. But which, unfortunately, leaves us with a slight bitterness in the mouth given the development of the second season, where the increase in the complexity of the plots is understandable, also by the narrative load of the story, at the same time losing some of the solidity that Shadow and Bone had managed to establish with her arrival on the platform, so it is more complicated to follow the story.
As we will see in this review of Shadow and Bone Season 2, the same trick is used also for this second tranche of episodes: on the one hand, we see the facts that on paper take place in the second and third novels of the literary saga ( Siege and Storm and Ruin and Ascent), on the other the Crows once again take part in the story, becoming an integral part of the story. While including the narrative arc of the second and third and last novel, the story is not closed but remains open to a third season, which from what we can deduce will adapt both the contents of the Sei di Corvi duology (in the finale, reference is made precisely to one of the main elements of the two novels) than those of the sequel to the Grisha Trilogy, i.e. The King of Scars. It is, as we had also noted for the previous series, a winning choice for a serial production of this type, because it allows you to create an even richer and more varied universe, on the other hand, however, the narration seemed rushed to us on several occasions, as if you didn’t have too much to tell and little time to do it.
Shadow and Bone Season 2 Review: The Story Plot
The story picks up where it left off, Alina and Mal (Jessie Mei Li and Archie Renaux) are on their way to Novy Zem, while the Crows have returned to Ketterdam. There they will have to contend with Pekka Rollins, who has taken over the club and is willing to do anything to eliminate them from circulation. Meanwhile, Sankta Alina discovers how the Grisha are treated differently in Novy Zem, where their powers are considered a real blessing; to bring them abruptly back to reality the arrival of the soldiers of the First Army, who are in the foreign country together with many refugees from Ravka, who fled after the expansion of the Fault. The threat of the expanding sea of darkness is becoming more and more concrete. The Dark One (Ben Barnes) has also returned from there, endowed with even more terrifying powers and willing to do anything to carry out his diabolical plan. To defeat him Alina will have to find other amplifiers, to become even more powerful.
A charming corsair, Sturmhond (Patrick Gibson), comes to her aid, but he hides numerous secrets… Going back and forth between storylines, plots, and characters that are well understood already from the initial episode has the merit of restarting the series by giving it a moment of breath before the frantic race that will await it during the eight episodes. A repetition of what had happened previously, that is what we had seen happen in 2021, and on which, Shadow and Bone try to make a recap so that we can then embark on his new adventure. The one that, after all, is always the same with which the narrative centered on Alina, the Evocaluce, began and which continues in her clash/encounter with the dark counterpart of Ben Barnes in the role of Aleksander Kirigan.
Shadow and Bone Season 2 Review and Analysis
As we mentioned at the beginning, Shadow and Bone Season 2 leaves the viewer with the feeling of having too much to tell but little time to do it. The choice of the creative team behind the series was in fact to combine the second and third novels by Leigh Bardugo, already concluding the narrative arc linked to the Dark in these episodes. A choice dictated by production needs and by a development plan for the series which also includes other works by Bardugo, but which makes the development of this season too hasty and at times superficial. The complex plot woven by Bardugo in Siege and Storm and Ruin and Ascentit is inevitably simplified, causing the story to lose some of its charms. Just to give an example, the religious implications of the figure of Sankta Alina are only occasionally reported in the series, eliminating the role of the Apparat (instead rather present in the first season).
A consequence of the “simplification” of the plot is that some characters are not explored as much as they deserve: in particular Alina, Mal, and Aleksander, they do not seem to progress compared to the first season, which makes the portions of the story dedicated to them decidedly less engaging. Although having already noticed for the first tranche of episodes how the secondary characters (Kaz Brekker & co. in primis) were more interesting than the main ones, here the difference – perhaps due to the entrance of Prince Nikolai on the scene – becomes even more obvious. That the creative team of the series has decided to expand the parterre of characters to those of Sei di Corvi is therefore extremely fundamental:
If the series will continue with further seasons, in our opinion it would be necessary to “slow down” the times, trying to bring the world of Bardugo back to the splendor that we managed to touch in the first season. Such a varied and complex universe needs time to be outlined both in print and on the screen: as the story progresses, from what we can deduce will adapt both The King of Scars and Six of Crows (reserving Alina’s character one different development than that of the novels), we hope that a greater in-depth study of the characters, places and socio-cultural dynamics that characterize and differentiate them will be sought.
If with the first season, the series had to build a container in which to insert its characters, but even more the spectators, the second thinks it can exploit the more complex task that had fallen to the previous one, now being able to simply expand the boundaries, giving many more things for granted. Superbia led Shadow and Bone on the path of chaoticity, the one undoubtedly presents the substance of Bardugo’s texts and which the showrunner Heisserer had to calibrate meticulously. Attention to the millimeter which has somewhat failed when the source material has expanded in the Netflix production, putting everything in the same container, showing more fatigue in assembling the various fantastic aspects of the series. Not letting the reins of the story slip completely, but not exalting the way he had been able to do Shadow and Bone from the beginning.
In any case, the show continues to effectively set its genre-related atmospheres and even more to explore the various types of relationships that the characters are establishing between them. So here is its strong point. Being able to get the many protagonists followed by an audience that with this second season will have to keep their attention higher so as not to lose the compass with which the supporting actors will be directed, who however promise to be studied in depth even more than what had been done – in any case in a satisfactory way – with the first season. A return to face each other of Alina with Aleksander will mark the center of gravity of the narrative but will also expand with the rest of the wars and alliances around the Fault. An epic world that is still intriguing, to be followed with a nearby notebook to jot down all the various connections but receiving a good and certified dose of fantasy in return.
Instead, let’s move on to the fate of General Kirigan, played once again by Ben Barnes. Every nuance of the character present in the novels is here dormant, folded to mere needs of presence. The nemesis of the protagonist, her first love interest and architect of the events of the saga becomes here a stereotyped postcard villain. We are faced with a certain inability of television to represent a centenary being. Kirigan thus becomes a character like any other, as if he were of the same age. Barnes’ repertoire stops at a few bars, bringing him closer to Star Wars Kylo Ren than to the man described in the books. Not only that, but his appearance also isn’t dissimilar to that of the zombie Strange in The Multiverse of Madness.
We have also mentioned a certain directorial flatness, which here seems to stop at filming instead of narrating. Editing and shots are the basis of the film story and sometimes they tell us more than words. The management of Shadow and Bone does not seem to use any of the stylistic features that distinguish the seventh art, making use only of the interpretations of the performers, in turn, held back by a lazy script. Preponderant aspect especially in pivotal moments of the second season of Shadow and Bone. Revelations of a certain depth are accepted by the characters too easily, without pathos and enthusiasm, while the direction does nothing to accentuate their scope.
One event, in particular, involving Mal stands out among all and the actor’s reaction reminds us of a well-known Loki meme: “Yes, very sad. Anyway”. All the elements mentioned undermine the credibility of the entire story, which is no longer such when we stop at the simple representation. The final battle for Ravka’s survival and freedom here becomes a schoolyard brawl; as Boris’s Ariadne would say ” this is not a crowd, it looks like a dinner “.The amount of content and productivity will diminish the ultimate meaning of the show. Too much sucks, and never as in this case was the phrase more apt. There are too many events for a single cycle of episodes, some of which we would have gladly done without, as in the case of Matthias’ storyline.
Shadow and Bone Season 2 Review: The Last Words
With its return, Shadow and Bone proves that it has much more meat on the fire and greater responsibility in having to manage it. This is why the series seems more confusing at the beginning, taking some storytelling rules for granted, but still managing to captivate the viewer, above all thanks to the in-depth analysis of the characters and their relationships. Shadow and Bone Season 2 fails to tell the world created by Leigh Bardugo with the right care and insight. The development of the plot is a bit rushed and therefore less engaging than that of the first season.
