No Shelter But Me

"Shadow and Bone" Season 2, Episode 1, kicks off with a mesmerizing 10/10, crafting a symphony of shadows, deceptions, and the birth of unlikely alliances in the wake of West Ravka's upheaval.

Blamed for the Shadow Fold's expansion, Kirigan and Alina become targets of a relentless bounty, setting the stage for a narrative rich in tension and complexity. Alina's haunting visions of Kirigan and her steadfast rejection of his overtures add emotional depth to their entwined destinies.

Taking refuge in a port city, Alina and Mal's escape from the First Army is masterfully portrayed, fueled by the aid of Novyi Zem merchants and shipworkers Tamar Kir-Bataar and Tolya Yul-Bataar. The interplay of alliances and the delicate dance of survival heighten the stakes.

Ketterdam unfolds as a hotbed of deception, with Kaz and Jesper framed for murder by the cunning Pekka Rollins. The introduction of the privateer Sturmhond injects a new layer of intrigue, setting the stage for a gripping escape and reunion with Inej, Nina, and Wylan.

In a quest for retribution, Inej's explosive act at the Kaelish Prince gambling hall adds a thrilling twist, while Alina and Mal's revelation about their captain being Sturmhond hints at unforeseen challenges. Meanwhile, Kirigan's salvaging of Grishna from the First Army showcases a darker side to his evolving agenda.

Episode 1 is a brilliant tapestry of plot intricacies, character dynamics, and the promise of an epic journey in the Grishaverse.

Compared to the first season...surprisingly so...it was funny reading one of the other reviews where the reviewers spoke of rewatching previous seasons to refresh our memories...i began watching season two and realized that i hardly remembered ANYthing from season one. So, over the last two days, i rewatched season one. Seriously good. EVERYthing about it...story/editing/direction/acting/ cinematography/sets...EVERYthing... but a number of times during this second season's pilot, it struck me how it seemed a bit 'dumbed down'...and as if they didn't have the budget that they did for the first season. Which seemed odd because i would imagine that the first season did well, considering the ratings, and so there would be, at LEAST, a comparable budget...the story, itself, though seemed weaker...just not as compelling...movement, but little progress. I'm hoping it improves as the season progresses. I was really looking forward to it...

This was a decent start to the season after waiting for 2 years, and you will definitely need to watch a recap before starting this season, especially if you watched the first season back when it came out. This is why I think it's better to wait for at least 2 or 3 seasons of Netflix shows to come out and then watch them so you won't have to rewatch the previous seasons every time before the new season. (Which was the case with Dark with me and I don't regret it)

I am glad that this show is 1 hour and not like Disney Plus shows that release a new season after 2 years and it's just 30 minutes and barely anything happens or the story doesn't move an inch. They give time to every major character that was introduced in the first season and the pacing is good enough to keep you interested and not get bored from watching it for an hour.

The world of this show and the book is really cool and I think they did a great job with the costumes and set design and all the background actors and extras to make this world feel real. But nonetheless, I think they could've done way more for the world-building especially when the runtime of the episodes is long enough. I also like the color grading of this show and am glad they didn't go with the same boring flat grey color grading we've been getting these past couple of years in every movie and show, and also how they shoot in pitch black lighting where you can't see anything.

The writing could be way better since I think this was just on par with the quality of the first season, which I thought was ultimately mediocre and underwhelming. Like I said in my review of the previous season's finale, I think the villain is just meh and nothing we haven't seen before and there's not much depth to him even though they gave him a backstory with flashbacks and all that. The Fold itself could be way more interesting and scary and threatening than it is too.

The CGI for the most part is decent, though some powers like Alina's light powers or whatever look very goofy, but most of the green screens with real actors are obvious and look cheap.

I don't if it was the director's choice or not, but I didn't care for the quick slow-motion to fast-motion editing of one particular action scene in this episode. Not that this technique is bad or anything, but I don't think it belonged in here, especially when the "action" wasn't even that good and I've already forgotten what happened in that scene other than the goofy editing. I just think it made it look like the show was made by amateurs.

Nevertheless, this episode did a decent job of continuing where we left off and introducing new characters and plotlines, but does nothing really out of the ordinary and is on par with the first season.

Some dialogue and scenes are cliché and could be better too. Characterization could be better too. Though I'm not really invested in these characters and the story to make me want to immediately watch the next one to see what happens next, especially since I don't remember much from the first season, but this world they live in and some of the characters are interesting enough for me to want to finish the show.

The show is decent enough overall and is worth a watch, but has yet to do something that makes you get fully invested in its characters and storytelling.

Big budgets are a bit like expensive sports cars... You can invest as much as you like in a project but if somebody doesn't know how to effectively steer the damn thing forward, your money's being wasted - either way.

I say this because comparing the debut of "Shadow & Bone" S1 (arguably one of the strongest pilot episodes of any series I've seen in years, directed by Lee Toland Krieger) with S2 (led by Bola Ogun) is ironically like witnessing the difference between night & day; one shines brightly with some of the most confident & deft filmmaking Netflix has started a show with whilst the other does not.

That's not to say it's bad... But the return could've been so much better, immediately upon its arrival - & this sadly feels like a lacklustre re-emergence, in contrast to what came before.