A lot less happens in the second episode, which is a pretty good thing. Alina, having displayed her power aboard the skiff crossing the Fold, is whisked away by General Kirigan, a darkness summoner. She ends up at the Little Palace. She misses Mal, feeling connected to him. Mal misses her, makes plans to go after her, and then decides rushing headlong danger isn’t the way keep your head on your shoulders.
That’s not a problem for the Crows, whose world keeps getting more complex. The new job (kidnapped Alina) requires crossing the Fold – difficult for a number of reasons. The first being that the Fold regularly kills people. Second, Inej is still indebted to the Menagerie, the brothel that Kaz bought her out from under. She can’t leave Ketterdam without paying off the debt and the only solution that Madam Tante Heleen offers is to hire Inej for assassination. But Inej doesn’t kill*. Who is she sent after? Someone called The Conductor who is apparently the only person who has figured out a way to cross the Fold safely. My guess is with some form of this newfangled electricity.
We also get hints of backstory between Kaz and Pekka Rollins (Kaz asks if they’ve ever made a deal before. Pekka says no.) and more explicitly from Inej. She’s looking for her brother who was also kidnapped. Maybe this new younger brother is in the Little Palace?
As I keep speculating on how the different stories are going to intersect, they maddeningly still run on parallel tracks. The Malina storyline takes on the tropes of a standard action fantasy movie. There’s a stunning and brutal fight sequence showing off all the kinds of Grisha powers. Alina doesn’t want this new life and yearns for Mal. Her chemistry with General Kirigan sustains us through what otherwise might be a bit of a slog.
General Kirigan’s presence brings a special and unique flavor to every scene he’s in. He’s quiet, demanding attention, sure and calm while seemingly entirely reasonable. Not only is he entirely used to his power and control over other people, he expects it. The way he looks at Alina after she says ‘no’ to him says everything. Kirigan doesn’t understand anybody who doesn’t seek power.
The Crows storyline spends its time establishing what the stakes for the heist are. We know what the target and reward are, now what’s it going to cost? For Kaz, it’s the deed to the Crow Club handed over to Tante Heleen. We don’t know anything about the Crow Club yet, but I guess that’s a big deal. For Inej, it’s potentially finding her family on the other side of the Fold. For Jesper its…well it’s something to do. Hopefully something involving one of his specialties. His specialties are what he calls his guns.
Throughout all this we get little glimmers and twists of running themes: Inej’s survival vs. her morality, the fear of Grisha magic, Grisha magic losing power to the age of technology, trauma and grief – having to bury those things to focus on protecting yourself.
NOTES w/BOOK SPOILERS
- Inej doesn’t kill (yet!) That’s going to be an interesting character arc.
- The look on Jesper’s face with Inej takes a shot. The look on Jesper’s face when Kaz takes a shot. None of these babies are okay.
- It’s just two sets of “closest friends” willing to sacrifice everything for each other. No romance to see here.
- I love Kaz’s pocketwatch. I want Kaz’s pocketwatch.
- I loved the visual mirroring of the Darkling’s cut with the line of blood on Alina’s face
- At one point, when Mal was thinking about breaking into the Little Palace, I considered if he would join up with the Six of Crows at some point during their heist. Now I’m DESPERATE for this.
- Do we think Inej’s parents are alive in this version? I haven’t read Crooked Kingdom yet, so does Inej’s baby bro show up there
- While the quote is a good one, I’m not sure how “We’re All Someone’s Monster” ties into the ep here. Do you? Leave a comment.