Shadow and Bone Season 2 Episode 2 Review: Rusalye
The hunt for the Sea Whip ended just as fast as it began, and the Crows found themselves in extreme danger.
Shadow and Bone Season 2 Episode 2 featured the quick hunt for the Sea Whip, with Alina recruiting Sturmhond and his crew to help.
Meanwhile, Kirigan searched for a cure for what ailed him, and Kaz dealt with the repercussions of his actions.
Alina quickly became able to recruit Sturmhond to her mission. The two seemed to see eye-to-eye, but he was almost unnaturally quick to believe her.
Kaz may have caused more damage than he planned with his attacks on Pekka.
Kaz became an outcast from other clubs around Ketterdam (and even to his friends) after he blew up the old Crow Club.
None of the other club bosses would help him take down Pekka, and he only had his usual crew of Jesper and Inej, along with two new (potential) members Nina and Wylan.
While not an official member of his crew (yet), the two put themselves in as much danger as the rest.
Kaz's follow-up plan also saw many of the members of his club getting injured.
Kaz's crew stood by him through everything, but Inej and Jesper started to worry for their safety and Kaz's before the whole plan went awry.
Kaz didn't plan on Pekka being in the office he broke into, but alas, he was. The terrifying man almost ended Kaz's life, but Nina rescued him.
Meanwhile, Jesper and Inej had their dangerous people to fight off. Inej's attacker was explicitly sent to subdue her, while Jesper and Wylan got led into a trap, leaving them surrounded.
Luckily, Pekka didn't seem to know that Jesper was Grisha, and he managed to save Wylan and himself relatively unscathed.
Inej wasn't as lucky, but in a rare moment, the psychopathic man got distracted, and she slipped away without getting even more injured.
Just as Nina saved Kaz's life, she got shot in the arm, but luckily it wasn't a mortal wound.
Nina helped Kaz for reasons related to Matthias, but we still wondered why she and Wylan got involved with Kaz so quickly, especially after they heard his plan.
If Kaz's regular crew was nervous about his actions, wouldn't some random new people he's never worked with be more worried?
We also felt similarities between this sudden wave of trust with Sturmhond and Alina's situation.
Why was Sturmhond so quick to trust Alina after she told him she didn't work with Kirigan at all?
Alina quickly trusted him because it was her only option at the time. But Sturmhond had multiple options, including his original plan of somehow making money off her.
While we know he was right to believe her, no one else would know she told the truth.
The hunt for the Sea Whip was on, and Mal, a talented and skilled tracker, helped Sturmhond's navigation crew find the location.
Eventually, and maybe even a little conveniently, he found the right island and knew what cave to enter due to the high-pitched tone he heard when finding the stag in Season One.
The creature was there when they entered the cave, but it killed a few men on Sturmhond's crew before Alina could subdue it with her magic.
Alina wanted to take the creature alive and meld with it safely, as she tried with the stag, but this was no docile deer but an aggressive sea monster.
After it attacked Sturmhond's crew, the creature then set its eyes on Mal, and Alina had to kill the attacking creature using her magic to save Mal's life.
Alina and Mal then attended a small funeral for Sturmhond's fallen crew, immediately leading to Alina and the Zemeni Durast fusing the monster's scales on Alina.
She fused with the amplifier's power and also got to see what it saw as it attacked everyone, and what she saw included some weird images of Mal.
The visions heavily hinted at a majorly important part of the Shadow and Bone trilogy, and to avoid spoilers, we'll not discuss it here (yet), but if they stay close to the books, we won't be waiting too long to reveal what it means.
Kirigan got wind of Alina's new heightened power thanks to their bond, which enticed him greatly.
Kirigan continued searching for a cure for his ailment, and even Genya's powerful healing abilities couldn't help him.
He created the shadow monsters, but the consequences of those monsters being with him led to this constant pain.
We don't know if we are supposed to pity Kirigan for his pain, and Genya seemed overwhelmed when she tried to help him.
There were a lot of plot holes in this episode, and despite it being over an hour long, it felt pretty rushed.
Hopefully, this doesn't indicate how the rest of the season will run. Maybe combining the second and third books into one season wasn't the best idea? Only watching on will tell us!
Despite the pacing issues and plot holes, the episode still grabbed our attention and entertained us thoroughly.
What did you think of the episode? What do you think everyone's next move will be?
Let us know in the comments below! Shadow and Bone's second season is now streaming on Netflix.