Shadow and Bone
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Inside every Hollywood fantasy adaptation, there are two wolves.
The other is the seriesspotentialfanbase; this wolf really just wants to know what the hell is going on.
(Its also how you get a four-hour grimdark superhero film recut, but I digress.)
This is why the first wolf gets so nervous every time a new adaptation is announced.
Lets feed it here.
In this universe, most of the world fears Grisha.
The Fold has politically devastated Ravka.
Thats where Alina Starkov, our orphaned heroine, comes in.
Its a classic chosen-one YA epic with a Slavic twist.
The Crows are some of the most charismatic, complex, and heartbreaking protagonists in modern YA.
Their motto is no mourners, no funerals; her whole country has canonized her in advance.
Now its because shes a half-Shu refugee and people are racist.
(Its also era-appropriate: Those anti-Shu banners Alina side-eyes echosimilar Russian propagandadistributed during WWI.)
By contrast, it is absolutely impossible to dislike Archie Renauxs updated Mal.
(Hes also half-Shu, which is presumably how they became friends.)
As even the second wolf might imagine, the Fold voyage does not go well.
Not so ordinary after all!
We meet Jesper Fahey first, which is great news.
(Spoiler: The wealthy merchant is going to beveryrelevant in later seasons.)
Unbeknownst to him, it hangs in Kazs own offices upstairs.
(Theyre not your average thieves, see?)
Thats where Inej a.k.a.
He is also in need of a Heartrenders services, which becomes the key to winning the job.
On one hand, its great to see non-Ravkans react to the prospect of the Folds destruction.
It even deepens Inejs character as a true believer in the saints.
But its kind of a raw deal for the Barrel rats, right?
To send them all over Ketterdam, collecting Ravkan lore about the Fold and the Black Heretic?
Everyones short-shrifting the underdogs whether it will be worth the risk is yet to be seen.
Literally the only one.
I want to believe the writers know what theyre doing here.
When the soldier lights the lantern in the Fold?
BigPut it out, you fools, put it out!moment.
Again, I want to believe this was intentional.
Feels like there was a huge missed opportunity with the Fold to really underscorehowdark it is up in there.
The sequence in the show is lit as though theyre traveling by moonlight!
We get to see everything!
goes out and the Volcra attack,thenyou can light everything up with Inferni flames.
Effective, terrifying,andaccurate!
This is my headcanon.
