S02.E04: Every Monstrous Thing

[AnimeMania]

Alina considers a proposed partnership that could help unite Ravka. With vengeance nearly his, Kaz moves the final pieces of his plan into place.

Premiere Date: March 16, 2023       Netflix

[Hanahope]

Nice con Kaz.

guess our favorite prince will be king now.

 

[peridot]

That was a really dark turn that Kaz threw out there - kneel or have your son suffocate to death.  I'm glad it was just for show, but it may not always be that way since he threw Inej out.

I'm glad that douchy Prince is gone, though I wasn't expecting for him to be torn in half! 

Alina doesn't seem to know what she wants, it looked like she was flirting with Nikolai while supposedly she's so in love with Mal.  It would be pretty shitty of her to expect for Mal to attend her engagement party.

[dubbel zout]

13 hours ago, peridot said:

Alina doesn't seem to know what she wants, it looked like she was flirting with Nikolai while supposedly she's so in love with Mal.

Last season she seemed pretty taken with Kirigin. It doesn't help that the actor has more chemistry with those two than with the guy who plays Mal.

I think it would have been more interesting if Nikolai were the first born but not the king's bio son—the sibling rivalry with Vasily would have made a bit more sense. But Vasily is gone, so I guess it doesn't matter in the end.

[absnow54]

I had to laugh when Kaz was tormenting Pekka Rollins over letting his son be his weakness, and then immediately sliding over Inej's contract and demand he free her... platonically. Inej is his weakness and I feel like he just played his hand. At least Inej has the skills and smarts to outrun Pekka's men.

[angora]

Well, Kaz just demonstrated why he's called the Bastard of the Barrel! The confrontation between him and Pekka was good, and I liked seeing Jesper and Nina's reactions to the whole thing in the background. Breaking with Inej is definitely going to come back to bite him.

Also, I really liked the exchange between Kaz and Jesper as they were gearing up to execute the plan. Jesper's not some blind follower, but he's pretty loyal, and it makes sense that he cooled off after being upset over what Kaz got them into in previous episodes. I liked that he was ready to make up but basically fed Kaz the apology he wanted.

Lots of good interactions over on the Ravka side. I liked 1) Mal being weirded by Nikolai referring to Sturmhond in the third person, 2) David's awkward little shackled wave he saw Alina (I'm glad we're getting more of him this season,) 3) Nadia and Tamar helping Alina in the training room, 4) Mal and Tolya discussing the legend of the super-special Shu sword, and 5) Nikolai opening up to Alina about being a bastard. Oh, and, "I love it when you quote me." Never change, Nikolai!

Although, side note: why did it take so long for someone to ask Tamar if David was lying? All this debate over whether or not they could trust him, and I was like, "You have Grisha who can hear his heartbeat right there! Ask them!" That's a downside of the new de facto leadership being Alina, Nikolai, and Mal, two non-Grisha and a Summoner who was raised outside of that world--Kirigan would've had a Heartrender on that in an instant.

Ooh, Tolya's off to Ketterdam to give the Crows their plot for the rest of the season, that should be fun. Wonder if he'll join them or return to Ravka, where things are definitely falling apart.

Despite Kirigan's obvious eeeeeeeevil, I can understand why he'd rather use the Fold/his shadow monsters to seize Ravka than tear down the Fold for the good of everyone. Alina thinks getting rid of the Fold will finally make Grisha safe because the rest of the country will be so grateful, but all those centuries ago, Kirigan won a war for the king, and the royal soldiers still attacked and persecuted Grisha. Alina isn't wrong that Kirigan's villainy is making people fear Grisha and want to hurt them, but Kirigan is way past wanting to pacify/get along with the non-Grisha. In his mind, power is the only thing that can protect them, and he's willing to go full scorched earth to get it.

Of course, that doesn't extend to fully dealing with the consequences of his actions. Turning his back while he had Genya removed from her cage was such a punk move. Dude, your monsters were the ones that did that to her--the absolute least you can do is look unflinchingly at what you've done.

[P2C2E]

I think I'm in love with Jesper.

That's all.

[tennisgurl]

Even though I'm relived that it was a bluff, Kaz making Pekka think that he burried his son alive was brutal. Pekka might be hauled off to jail now but I suspect that he'll come back more pissed off than ever now.

Awww get it Jesper!

Edited April 11, 2023 by tennisgurl