Shadow And Bone – Season 2 Episode 3 Recap & Review

Like Calls to Like

Episode 3 of Shadow and Bone season 2 starts with Alisa brimming with confidence, ready to take on the world. Sturmhond joins them for what comes next, as they prepare to make land with their secondary vessel. This boat produces a smaller steam-powered ship, which takes off and begins flying. The group draw nearer the Fold.

Elsewhere, Kaz and his group hold up in a secret hideout to avoid detection. Wylan mentions the Firepox plague in the past, an event tat saw many people die. In fact, there were so many deaths that the crematoriums were backed up, resulting in bodies floating in the sea. This brings back horrid memories for Kaz, who’s clearly deeply affected by this. The image we see is of him as a child, crying while floating on what looks to be a raft propped up by dead bodies.

“Enough!” Kaz booms before handing over the next assignment. Pekka has a glass factory in Appelbroek so he tasks Wylan and Jesper to go and investigate what this may be hiding.

Still trapped in a cage, Kirigan confronts his mother about their war, and it’s definitely war given he intends to conquer beyond the Palace. In order to do that, he needs men and part of his recruitment drive includes David, who shows up to work with him. On the way, he passes Genya and the pair exchange a knowing glance.

Alina and the group sail into the middle of the Fold, where the Sun Summoner uses her powers to try and control the shadowy realm within. She blasts out waves of power and it seems to work… until it doesn’t. Memories of Kirigan splinter through and throw her concentration, eventually leading to Alina passing out unconscious. That’s bad news, especially as the Kingfisher (the name of their flying ship) happens to be right in the middle of the Fold.

Although the group manage to stave off the shadowy creatures that attack, the sail is ripped and broken. Thankfully Alina manages to regain consciousness long enough to get them out but the damage is done. The ship crash-lands and Alina bemoans her naivety, realizing that she’s not strong enough yet.

The group happen to be on Ravkan soil and soldiers show up to confront them, who immediately bow to Sturmhond who’s actually a guy called Nikolai Lantsov. He’s Major of the 22nd Regiment and the Second Son of King Pyotr. When Alina finds out she’s been lied to all this time, she’s angry and smacks Nikolai. He shrugs it off and claims that he lied to protect his image and name, much like Alina did. He needed to find her and Sturmhond was the only persona he could think of to help bring her in.

Together, they travel where Alina is reunited with Nadia who rushes out to see her from his workshop This is a Grisha Sanctuary and with more being killed by the day, they need to band together. And part of those alliances begin with Zoya. She points out that Ravka is on the verge of collapsing and decides they should work to fight back together.

Jesper and Wylan show up at Appelboek and break in past the unsuspecting guards. Now, this estate happens to be the same one from the past, specifically that which we’ve seen with Kaz’s flashbacks. The pair are caught and feign being part of a repair company, pointing out a broken piano wire as what needs fixing. As it happens, Wylan is actually a very proficient piano player, catching Jesper off-guard after the latter fixes the key using his powers.

Kaz speaks to Inej, who demands to know what they’re gambling their lives for. Eventually Kaz opens up and admits that Pekka killed his brother. That’s why he’s working so hard to take the guy down. Inej immediately understands and the pair find solace in one another. As they share a moment, Kaz also warns that Mogens is not going to stop hunting her and she needs to be wary of any potential weaknesses to his game.

Inej shows up to see the taxidermist, and the pair end up fighting. Inej comes out on top and kills him, thwarting the threat.

Speaking of threat, Kirigan becomes aware that Alina is in East Ravka and speaks to his mother, pointing out he needs to know the location of the Firebird. If Alina finds it first she could be a massive threat to the Darkling and he cab’t have that. She doesn’t know where it is, so instead Kirigan cuts off her finger and decides to use her bones. This is enough for David to make his mind up and he speaks to Genya, telling her they need to leave and warn Alina of what’s happening.

As for Alina, she starts to suspect Kirigan is still alive and deduces that the only way to protect herself is to take on Nikolai’s offer of bringing her under the wing of the Royal Family. His name and banner would become a shield… but that would also mean marriage.

When Jesper and Wylan return, they find Kaz beaten and sporting a busted lip. This happened as a result of Kaz visiting the Dregs earlier in the episode, where he beat them down and managed to gain their allegiance. As for Kaz, he learns that the kid at the estate is called Alby Rollins, which is the real reason he sent the pair off for their reconnaissance mission. He wants to kill the kid as revenge.

Nina shows up to see Matthias, her beloved that she wants to see go free from Hellgate. After watching his brutal cage fight, she tries to get his attention. Unfortunately, she also attracts Pekka Rollins who offers her a deal. She’s to bring him Kaz otherwise the next fight Matthias gets involved in will be to the death.

As the episode closes out, we cut back to Alina who has made her decision. She heads over to Nikolai to tell him.

The Episode Review

The third episode of Shadow and Bone slows things down slightly as we see the groups, well, regroup and prepare for the next step in their journey. It was obvious that this trip to the Fold was going to be too easy to be done already and it seems that Alina’s now going to be caught in a love triangle with Nikolai and Mal going forward.

The Kaz storyline continues to intrigue and the wildcard of Nina, forced in the middle of this and with a big choice to make regarding Pekka, adds an extra layer of depth to her character which is good.

Kirigan is still the big antagonist here of course and it remains to be seen exactly how far he’ll go to get what he wants. Either way though, everything here is left wide open for the rest of the series.