S02.E05: Yuyeh Sesh (Despise Your Heart)

[AnimeMania]

Alina's connection to Kirigan grows increasingly unstable after his latest strike. The Crows head to Shu Han on a mission to retrieve a legendary sword.

Premiere Date: March 16, 2023       Netflix

[Hanahope]

Kirigin never should have let his mother alone.  Good for her.  

[peridot]

It seems like Alina wants Mal to be her constant lapdog, even after she keeps major things from him and while she's engaged to another man.  I think it's so odd that she's confiding her relationship troubles to her fiance.

I liked the introduction of a new country and seeing the different cultural aspects of it.  I'm not sure how much time has passed though, everyone seems to travel at the speed of light.

I rolled my eyes at the Crows talking about their fight during a heist.

[absnow54]

On 3/19/2023 at 12:16 AM, peridot said:

It seems like Alina wants Mal to be her constant lapdog, even after she keeps major things from him and while she's engaged to another man.  I think it's so odd that she's confiding her relationship troubles to her fiance.

My problem is that Mal feels like an "endgame" love interest. He suits Alina and is a good man, and I'm not sure what their status was at this point in the books, but it feels like they slapped them together at the end of season 1, in case the show wasn't renewed. Otherwise, the pairing is kind of boring, and it pushes credibility that her feelings for him are genuine, when she's juggling a third love interest. Sure, her engagement to the Pirate Prince-now-King is an alliance of convenience, but turn your flirt down, girl! 

[angora]

I don't really think Nikolai is part of any sort of triangle. He definitely knows how wrapped up in each other Alina and Mal and has no illusions there. In proposing the engagement, he was thinking strategically, protect Alina (and by extension, the Grisha) for the good of Ravka, and he even intimated that they could just have a long engagement and then break it off once the threat had passed. He and Alina are becoming friends, so they're opening up to each other. If Alina had any feelings for him, I feel like there would've been more to their hug at the end, i.e. one or both leaning in for a kiss before awkwardly course-correcting to a hug, or one or both holding on a little too long or too tightly.

I really appreciated the conversation between Alina and Baghra, about the connection between Alina-Kirigan and the way she can't use her powers without thinking about how he stole them. It was a strong scene between them, and it was good for Alina to have someone to confide in about this.

Aww, David's metal speech! So lovely. It's high time Genya was able to have something good. I also liked Alina immediately defending her to Nikolai, who in turn protected her from his mother.

So many good interactions on the Crows/Tolya/Zoya side. I love that Jesper went straight to Inej about the sword job, even though Kaz told him not to--their friendship delights me. Tolya and Nina bonding over the Shu language/their shared love of food was cute, as was Tolya and Jesper discussing the latter's screw-up with Wylan. And Nina pretending to be Kaz's wife was spectacular.

I have to say, I think the show dropped the ball a little on the depiction of Shu Han. I get that, last season, we really only saw Ravkan soldiers fighting Fjerdans, because all the fighting scenes we saw were taking place further north. But the show made a big deal about Ravka being at war with Shu Han too, to the point that they had war propaganda posters with gross caricatures on them and Alina faced prejudice due to her mixed heritage. But the crew isn't facing *any* issues about bringing two Ravkans and a mixed Shu/Ravkan to Shu Han? No one's clocking Tolya as part Ravkan, no one's hostile toward Nina or Zoya? And even if they're not, that feels noteworthy enough that it should have been remarked on--when the Disciple noted Nina's Ravkan accents, she could have commented that the war has little to do with her, or Nina and Zoya could've expressed surprise at how easily they were able to move through "enemy territory."

[ursula]

14 hours ago, angora said:

I get that, last season, we really only saw Ravkan soldiers fighting Fjerdans, because all the fighting scenes we saw were taking place further north. But the show made a big deal about Ravka being at war with Shu Han too, to the point that they had war propaganda posters with gross caricatures on them and Alina faced prejudice due to her mixed heritage.

Yeah season 1 leaned in hard - too hard imo - into imitating real-world racial tensions. It actually irritated me, to be honest. It always made more sense that there would be far more tension between Ravka and Fjerdan than with Shu Han and I'm glad that the show seems to have progressed beyond that performativeness.