Shadow And Bone – Season 2 Episode 8 Recap, Review & Ending Explained

No Funerals

Episode 8 of Shadow and Bone season 2 starts with the Crows (and Nikolai) regrouping and heading inside the Fold to reunite with Alina and Mal. Whilst inside the darkness, they find the place abandoned and the Volcra on the assault. The group scramble into the Chapel, where Jesper uses his skills to keep the locks in place.

Does Alina embrace the Firebird?

As for Alina, she calls out for Nina in the darkness, wanting help to try and save Mal, who’s fading away. He doesn’t have much time and as he breathes heavily, Mal grabs a blade and tells Alina that she needs to do this. Red lines crackle between them as Alina tells Mal that she loves him. “You know where to find me,” He says, before starting to fade.

Alina pierces his heart wit the blade and the shockwave that protrudes out completely destroys the Fold, which in turn eliminates the entire Fold therein. However, it doesn’t stop the shadow monsters, who continue to attack. Thankfully, Inej is here and she uses the sacred blade to slice down the creatures while Nadia lends her Grisha skills to swing things in their favour.

Is Kirigan killed?

With Mal gone, Kirigan speaks to Alina and points out that what she’s done changes nothing. He warns that he balances her light like a ying yang symbol but right now, Kirgan is losing control of these shadows so he’s not really keeping anything in balance. He does admit that the only time he’s ever felt true peace was when they were in love and he imagines them kissing together.

Well, Alina has heard enough and she stabs him deep with her blade. As Kirigan oozes blood out his mouth, he tells her to make sure there’s nothing left of him as he collapses on the ground.

Does Mal return to life?

Back inside the Chapel, Nikolai is saved at the last second by Kirigan passing out, as a Shadow monster that had managed to break in, hitting him in the shoulder with its shadowy grip, lets go and dissipates.

Back outside, Nina attempts to try and restart Mal’s heart, holding his hand. Alina contemplates using Merzost to try and bring him back but shakes that off, instead using her faith and belief (not to mention the power of plot armour) to bring him back. In fact, when Mal regains consciousness, even Alina is shocked that this has happened.

In the aftermath of the battle, Alina thanks Inej for her part to play in all this. She also speaks to Mal too, who admits that he’s a different man since he’s come back but believes that Alina is meant for greater things and wonders what his part to play in life is. From his position, and with the Firebird situation behind them, he’s holding her back from the greatness she’s destined for.

Is Genya reunited with David?

In the ensuing carnage, Genya loses David. She can’t sense his heartbeat and it would seem that he’s now lost forever. To make things even more heartbreaking, he’s left behind plans for an engagement ring, noted by a sketch in his bag. Genya’s heart breaks and she begins to weep, believing her beloved has gone.

Speaking of gone, all our characters gather together and watch as Kirigan’s body is burned. “Goodbye, Aleksander.” Alina says, before dropping the torch on the pyre and watching him burn. Nikolai steps up and gives a rousing speech about the unified Ravka and how they’re on the verge of a new beginning, a beginning that will see the pieces of their life put together with new purpose and a better world for all.

Do Mal and Alina get their happily ever after?

Alina speaks to Mal in private and discusses the possibility of him starting a new life for himself. A life as a Privateer. This seems to be partly Nikolai’s doing, especially off the back of their chat last episode, but Mal accepts the challenge and decides to leave. It’s still heartbreaking for Alina though, who struggles to hold back tears when her beloved leaves her.

Mal gets ready to embrace his new adventure, with Nikolai even handing over his compass and allowing him onboard the Hummingbird, with Inej joining Tolya and Tamar (who are the real ones in charge here) and preparing for a new adventure.

Kaz finally speaks to Inej, in the chapel of all places, and reveals that Lantsov has paid up and everyone will be given their share. As for Nina, she’ll receive a pardon for deserting and another for Matthias’ release from prison. As long as he stays out of trouble then the charges will be dropped. Of course, that’s easier said than done when Matthias, behind bars, decides to confront Pekka Rollins, ready to use his anger as a weapon.

Does Kaz reveal his love for Inej?

Kaz hands over a note to Inej, as it becomes clear that he’s been secretly trying to help Inej all this time look for her family. She gives him a heartfelt thanks and admits that she’s going to be praying for Jordie. “I don’t want your prayers,” He says. “So what do you want then?” Inej retorts back.

Kaz looks set to reveal his true desires but instead hides that behind lies about being buried with plenty of gold. When Inej looks set to leave, Kaz finally opens up and offers her to stay with him in Ketterdam. Just like in her vision, the pair hold hands but this time it’s no illusion brought on from the poison. “I will have you without your armour or without you at all,” Inej says matter-of-factly and unfortunately the leader of the Crows is forced to watch as she walks away, unwilling to reconcile with his own insecurities.

Matthias shows up in the cage ready to fight to the death. Nina is there with the pardon for his life but the promoter shrugs it off, claiming that there’s no stopping what’s to come. Out of the cage though come two wolves that look set to strike… until Matthias drops to his knees and manages to bring them onto his side.

What happens to Matthias?

Guards show up and immediately start attacking, while the wolves fight on Matthias’ side. Unfortunately, Nina drops her pardon on the floor in the ensuing carnage as she’s pulled back from the bars and thrown out. Pekka directs traffic here and has Matthias taken back into his cell too. As for Kaz, he returns to the Crow Club and takes up his old duties.

Unfortunately this fight is far from over. We saw earlier on that Nikolai was attacked by that shadow monster and somehow, he seems to be infected. In fact a shadow monster suddenly shows up while he’s getting dressed for his wedding with Alina for the sake of preserving the Kingdom, the root cause of which coming from a nasty knot on his back. Nikolai shrugs it off all the same and prepares for his big day.

How does Shadow and Bone season 2 end?

Unfortunately, no one has accounted for a new drug on the market called Jurda Parem. It’s highly addictive and if Grisha take it, their power is amplified a thousand times over. The chemist who made it fled to Kerch once he realized what he’d done but the Fjerdans actually caught him and he now awaits trial.  If the Fjerdans were to weaponize this drug, the consequences would be unimaginable.

After this crucial bit of exposition, we cut back to the wedding, which basically turns into Shadow and Bone’s own red wedding. The woman stands up, causing all the guests in attendance to begin spewing out blood and facing certain death. Alina manages to stop her, slicing the woman in half, but it seems there’s more to this fight than we thought.

The Episode Review

That evil-looking sneer by Alina at the end there speaks volumes about exactly what direction this story is going to take going forward. In many ways, this long finale actually feels like a prologue for season 3, with the new threat coming from this Fjerdan weapon that looks like it could cause havoc.

However, it comes at the expense of delivering a fake-out death for Mal. The title for the episode is “No Funerals” which I guess is telling regarding the main characters and their plot armour, but it’s still rather frustrating given we’ve been prepping for Mal’s death for a while. He said all of his goodbyes and it would have been a good send-off for his character… instead he’s off as a privateer. And that’s before mentioning the weak explanation for how Mal has even bypassed this – given that was definitely longer than 2 minutes”

Having said that though, there’s enough enjoyment to be had in this season, despite some wonky writing at times and the overuse of deux ex machina that I’ve mentioned before. In many ways, this season is both better and worse than season 1, with the writing taking a nosedive at times. On the flipside, there’s been some good action and the production design looks fantastic. The soundtrack is also absolutely fantastic and Joseph Trapanese’s score is a definite highlight here.

Shadow and Bone has always been one of the better Netflix fantasy series but whether it gets a third season renewal remains to be seen. What’s here is certainly promising enough to warrant a follow-up though!