Shadow and Bone Episode 5
Nov. 30th, 2021 04:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iariaShow Me Who You Are
+ A+ on Alina/Kirigan. That post-demonstration make-out was - wow. So hot. I especially loved him coming back to kiss her again. Alina is being played but I still like that she was the one who kissed him first. I also liked her ignoring her planned entrance because 'he looked like he needed saving'. I love the way he looks at her.
Kirigan is absolutely manipulative as fuck and what Baghra said about him wasn't wrong but it also doesn't mean her mocking words aren't also true. He can be scheming but also genuinely lonely, he can be happy to have Alina there for both 'good' and 'bad' reasons. He is so mesmerized and enthralled by her very existence and this episode lingers on that - in his reaction when she first enters the ballroom and everything stops for a moment, and in his reaction when she uses her powers. It's great.
+ I like that Baghra has her own network of loyal Grisha and guards.
+ I found Mal overhearing the Kirigan/Baghra confrontation interesting because you'd think it would be the perfect point to make it clear to Mal that Kirigan is the bad guy and yet it did kind of the opposite? Baghra makes it very clear that she was the one who attempted to kill him not Kirigan. Everything Kirigan says is about how important Alina is and that he will protect her.
+ I loved the exhibition of Alina's powers. The lead up and Kirigan's introduction of her, the reactions during and after. I do wish we had a moment, perhaps at the end, where she was lit up from within. The effect for that wasn't the best but it is something that would have been very impressive.
+ I particularly liked the reactions after seeing her powers - the prayerful 'Sankta Alina', the bowing/kneeling in adulation/awe - and how it foreshadows where everything is going to go with her.
+ Jesper's incredulous and disbelievingly gleeful reaction to watching Alina's escape attempt was rather delightful. I was a little bit there with him. Him being the one to see her at the fete and also just happening to be where she escapes is a lot of luck to suddenly fall in his lap! It should have annoyed me but it didn't and I loved his smug delight with Kaz and Inej when they all escaped.
+ I really liked all the little bits of friendship we saw in this episode. Alina especially has felt so isolated that it was nice to see her forming connections. The passage of time is still terribly done but I'm glad that we got something. We're given a sense through her casual and happy interactions with Marie, Nadia, Genya and Fedyor that she is beginning to find her place at the Little Palace and she isn't alone anymore. Alina laughing and chatting with Marie and Nadia in her room, Fedyor finding Alina and Genya at the Winter Fete and laughingly escorting them back, Alina laughing with Nadia and Fedyor after her exhibition - they were all great little scenes/moments.
+ I wanted more of Alina/Genya's friendship and this episode delivered. I loved the scene in Alina's bedroom - from Genya actually slightly opening up about something very painful (and then immediately deflecting) to Alina laughingly teasing Genya about her crush you really get the sense that they're building a really good friendship. I like that Genya accompanied Alina to the Winter Fete instead of sticking to the rules.
+ Genya and David's interactions were great. I loved them sneaking looks in the ballroom. His smile at her after she'd looked away was sweet.
+ I liked that Alina didn't need David's gloves but I wish we'd seen a bit more of her training.
+ I liked that Alina chose to go her own way rather than relying on Baghra.
+ Inej's first kill being to save Kaj was perfect.
+ I liked the Jesper and Inej scene.
+ Jesper flirting his way out of discovery and then getting distracted by excellent sex amused me.
+ I liked Marie as a decoy. I didn't actually realise what was going on based on that short glimpse so I figured our Six of Crows gang would accidentally kidnap the wrong person so I really loved that Kaz immediately understood and planned around it. That he both got rid of the Conductor who he knew wasn't on his side and tied up palace security. That is exactly the calculating and clever person Kaz is supposed to be.
+ Poor Marie! She was inevitably going to die but I don't think it should have been here. She could have only been injured without changing anything and I'm honestly annoyed that she died instead of only being wounded.
+ It's a small character moment but I liked Zola's irritated 'she's Suli'.
+ A+ on Alina/Kirigan. That post-demonstration make-out was - wow. So hot. I especially loved him coming back to kiss her again. Alina is being played but I still like that she was the one who kissed him first. I also liked her ignoring her planned entrance because 'he looked like he needed saving'. I love the way he looks at her.
Kirigan is absolutely manipulative as fuck and what Baghra said about him wasn't wrong but it also doesn't mean her mocking words aren't also true. He can be scheming but also genuinely lonely, he can be happy to have Alina there for both 'good' and 'bad' reasons. He is so mesmerized and enthralled by her very existence and this episode lingers on that - in his reaction when she first enters the ballroom and everything stops for a moment, and in his reaction when she uses her powers. It's great.
+ I like that Baghra has her own network of loyal Grisha and guards.
+ I found Mal overhearing the Kirigan/Baghra confrontation interesting because you'd think it would be the perfect point to make it clear to Mal that Kirigan is the bad guy and yet it did kind of the opposite? Baghra makes it very clear that she was the one who attempted to kill him not Kirigan. Everything Kirigan says is about how important Alina is and that he will protect her.
+ I loved the exhibition of Alina's powers. The lead up and Kirigan's introduction of her, the reactions during and after. I do wish we had a moment, perhaps at the end, where she was lit up from within. The effect for that wasn't the best but it is something that would have been very impressive.
+ I particularly liked the reactions after seeing her powers - the prayerful 'Sankta Alina', the bowing/kneeling in adulation/awe - and how it foreshadows where everything is going to go with her.
+ Jesper's incredulous and disbelievingly gleeful reaction to watching Alina's escape attempt was rather delightful. I was a little bit there with him. Him being the one to see her at the fete and also just happening to be where she escapes is a lot of luck to suddenly fall in his lap! It should have annoyed me but it didn't and I loved his smug delight with Kaz and Inej when they all escaped.
+ I really liked all the little bits of friendship we saw in this episode. Alina especially has felt so isolated that it was nice to see her forming connections. The passage of time is still terribly done but I'm glad that we got something. We're given a sense through her casual and happy interactions with Marie, Nadia, Genya and Fedyor that she is beginning to find her place at the Little Palace and she isn't alone anymore. Alina laughing and chatting with Marie and Nadia in her room, Fedyor finding Alina and Genya at the Winter Fete and laughingly escorting them back, Alina laughing with Nadia and Fedyor after her exhibition - they were all great little scenes/moments.
+ I wanted more of Alina/Genya's friendship and this episode delivered. I loved the scene in Alina's bedroom - from Genya actually slightly opening up about something very painful (and then immediately deflecting) to Alina laughingly teasing Genya about her crush you really get the sense that they're building a really good friendship. I like that Genya accompanied Alina to the Winter Fete instead of sticking to the rules.
+ Genya and David's interactions were great. I loved them sneaking looks in the ballroom. His smile at her after she'd looked away was sweet.
+ I liked that Alina didn't need David's gloves but I wish we'd seen a bit more of her training.
+ I liked that Alina chose to go her own way rather than relying on Baghra.
+ Inej's first kill being to save Kaj was perfect.
+ I liked the Jesper and Inej scene.
+ Jesper flirting his way out of discovery and then getting distracted by excellent sex amused me.
+ I liked Marie as a decoy. I didn't actually realise what was going on based on that short glimpse so I figured our Six of Crows gang would accidentally kidnap the wrong person so I really loved that Kaz immediately understood and planned around it. That he both got rid of the Conductor who he knew wasn't on his side and tied up palace security. That is exactly the calculating and clever person Kaz is supposed to be.
+ Poor Marie! She was inevitably going to die but I don't think it should have been here. She could have only been injured without changing anything and I'm honestly annoyed that she died instead of only being wounded.
+ It's a small character moment but I liked Zola's irritated 'she's Suli'.
