Shadow And Bone – Season 2 Episode 5 Recap & Review

Yuyeh Sesh

Episode 5 of Shadow and Bone season 2 starts with Kirigan returning to his workshop and finding the place completely trashed to bits. Vladim is there too and he tries in vain to talk to Kirigan about his continued mission to push the amplifier he’s working on. Kirigan is not interested right now and he marches purposefully out the room, shutting the door in his face. Both Genya and Baghra escaped last episode and this incentivizes Kirigan on to push his agenda further, desperate to get the Sun Summoner back.

Alina regroups in the caves where a number of injured are being tended to. Among them happen to be one of the Grisha, who was hurt by the shadow creature last episode. Watching as he’s treated to causes Alina to spiral out of control and she struggles to control her power, especially as she keeps seeing Kirigan everywhere. She does find some comfort in the arrival of Baghra and Genya, who both show up to see Alina, who embraces the latter warmly.

However, when Nikolai learns that Genya is the Grisha that poisoned the King, he’s livid and almost loses control. However, Alina talks him around and points out that the Darkling manipulated Genya into doing his bidding. As a result of this, Nikolai’s attention turns to Kirigan too and he vows to gain revenge against the man. In the midst of this, there’s a really beautiful moment between David and Genya too, with the former managing to sweettalk his way back into Genya’s good books, pointing out that she’s beautiful.

Meanwhile, Tolya and Zoya arrive in Ketterdam and proposition Kaz and the group about retrieving the lost blade. Inej is out the group so she won’t be coming along, but it’s clear that she has every intention of joining them regardless of what Kaz says.

Kaz does some digging and learns that the Neshyenyer at Ahmrat Jen is definitely a fake. The sword has actually been stolen by a thief known as The Disciple, a man who has a knack for stealing Saint-related relics. Ohval Saran is their first port of call, a woman who runs a tea shop who could have crucial intel about where this sword is located.

The group show up in Bhez Zu, a bustling Shu town, and speak to Ohval over some tea. The meeting goes awry as Ohval snubs their proposition, claiming she doesn’t work with thieves and refuses to talk.

The gang regroup, after some awkward back and forth rapport between Wylan and Jesper. The latter learns that Wylan can’t read, while Wylan has figured out that Jesper is a Grisha and is hiding it from everyone.

Kaz deduces that Ohval, their tea lady, is The Disciple they’re after. She can control her emotions and heartrate so she must be the one with the sword. Kaz believes she tipped off the waitress to spill the tea on Kaz, which resulted in him breaking his concentration and ending up with a bit of a panic attack. As a result, Kaz decides they’ll need to steal the sword for themselves while Ohval is out, setting up another heist.

Meanwhile, Alina realizes she needs to break this bond she has with the Darkling if they have any hope of stopping him. The only way to do that is for Alina to confront Kirigan himself. Whilst there, Alina uses her projected stag amplified power and almost takes down the whole roof in her hypnotized state.

Mal returns after that little inconvenience of being taken and pulls Alina back from the brink. Unfortunately he does so just as she was about to sever the bond between her and Kirigan, lulling him into a false sense of security and getting close enough to break off the bond from his hand.

Alina is not happy and as the others make a quick getaway to avoid the awkwardness, Alina and Mal end up hashing out their issues, ending with Mal conceding and telling her he’ll get the Firebird but leaving things on a rather sour note. Baghra has more details about this Firebird that could be of some use, pointing out that Morozova’s workshop would be a good place to start looking.

Alina makes her choice and hands back Nikolai’s ring. She’s not going to get married right now but instead embrace her true calling and what she was destined to do. Before he leaves, Nikolai hands over his Lucky Compass for her; an excuse to find him again.

Pekka Rollins is thrown into Hellgate where a prisoner inevitably tries to make a name for himself. Unfortunately the crime boss is way too savvy to be killed by a nobody and he takes advantage of the situation, beating the guy senseless and riling the other prisoners up to work for him from now on. Matthias watches all this from afar and vows to get his revenge.

Kaz’s plan goes ahead and (as per the norm this series) it goes awry. Nina is blindsided by Ohval in the street while Zoya loses the pair in the hustle and bustle of the marketplace.

Unaware of all this, Kaz and the others break into Ohval’s house but the place is rigged with traps. The room starts filling with poisonous gas and an egg timer starts counting down, as all our characters pass out.

As the episode closes out, Nina awakens to find Zoya there, having found her in the street. Nina was clever enough to pretend that she was dead, slowing down her heartrate and playing dead. With Ohval gone, the pair are left with no answers and a race against time to save the Crows.

The Episode Review

It seems to be a recurring trend this season that Kaz and the gang make a plan for an heist and then watch as it spectacularly backfires and goes wrong. It’s a trope that’s been overused this season and it’s a shame because some of the story and plot elements have actually been pretty good.

Mal just suddenly showing up and claiming he escaped off-screen is not one such example though. That entire plotline is handled so poorly, as if the writers decided to bring Mal back as quickly as possible without giving the plotline time to evolve and grow. I’d be interested to know if there’s a deleted scene lost in the editing room of Mal escaping custody and rushing back to the palace!

This is the first episode this season that has felt like the writing has taken a nosedive but hopefully its just a blip and the rest of the season picks back up.