WiC Watches: Shadow and Bone season 1
Episode 3: “The Making at the Heart of the World”
Following Alina’s arrival at the Little Palace, “The Making at the Heart of the World” sees our homesick Sun Summoner learning the ins and outs of the Second Army and Ravkan royalty. As if to underscore how out of place Alina feels, she narrates what’s happening to her in a letter to Mal, something that continues throughout the episode.
We open with her dreaming about the glowing stag seen in so many of the teasers for Shadow and Bone, but quickly transition to her preparing to meet the king and queen. Genya Safin (Daisy Head), a Grisha who can both heal and modify someone’s appearance, helps Alina get ready to impress Ravka’s leaders with her power, becoming a fast friend.
Unfortunately for Alina, not everyone at the Little Palace is quite so welcoming. From Genya’s assistants to the queen herself, everyone judges Alina for her Shu roots. By highlighting the racism of these moments, the show attempts to tackle yet another serious subject. However, it never digs too deeply into the remarks made toward Alina, leaving the attempt feeling halfway done.
On top of that, Zoya Nazyalensky (Sujaya Dasgupta), a Squaller who flirted with Mal back in episode 1, gives Alina a hard time, even going so far as to attack her during combat training. Although Zoya is harshly reprimanded for her actions, it’s a poor start to Alina’s time among the Grisha. And she doesn’t fare much better with the rest of the people she meets during “The Making at the Heart of the World.”
As though being uprooted and bullied isn’t enough to contend with, everyone in Alina’s new world has placed nearly impossible expectations on her. From being approached in the library by the king’s unsettling spiritual advisor the Apparat (Kevin Eldon), to the Grisha who demand to know why she hasn’t torn down the Fold during dinner, the pressure on Alina to save Ravka is extreme — especially since her lessons with Baghra (Zoë Wanamaker) prove she’s barely capable of summoning even the smallest bit of light.
Alina’s interaction with the Apparat, however, does offer a bit of interesting exposition. As the two discuss the legend of the Bonemaker, the Apparat fills Alina in on amplifiers, objects created from powerful creatures that can be used to strengthen a Grisha’s abilities. The scene is clearly foreshadowing, leaving fans to wonder what role these objects will play in Alina’s journey. When she asks Baghra about them, however, the older woman scoffs and waves her off.
As Alina struggles to find her place at the Little Palace, the Dregs and the Conductor devise a plan to cross the Fold and break into the Second Army’s home. The Conductor initially suggests working with a Heartrender named Nina Zenik (Danielle Galligan) to find a way in. However, that plan quickly falls apart when Nina is kidnapped by Drüskelle, a group of pious soldiers from Fjerda whose mission is to hunt down Grisha.
Despite the setback, Kaz insists that the group go forward with the plan anyway, arguing they’ll figure out the rest once they’re through the Fold. But with Pekka’s men attacking them, the foursome are fortunate to even reach the Fold. Add to that the fact that Jesper gambled away their money and didn’t bring the Conductor enough alabaster coal to get his train across the Fold, and it almost seems like the Dregs won’t ever get the chance to break into the Little Palace.
And although the group does miraculously make it across, their ride is every bit as bumpy as you’d expect. It does give viewers the opportunity to see their skills in action, though, especially Jesper’s sharp-shooting. Once again, the Dregs have the most interesting and suspenseful storyline of the episode, and their chemistry seems to increase with every scene they share. (The goat makes a fun addition to the team, too, even if we’ll never know what the Conductor wanted it for.)
Shadow and Bone doesn’t forget about Nina either, giving her the episode’s third — albeit much smaller — storyline. We see her chained on a ship, where one of the Drüskelle informs her that she’ll be taken to Fjerda to go on trial. When she questions how many Grisha are deemed innocent at these trials, her situation begins to look much bleaker.
Nina’s storyline feels a bit out of place with everything else happening in Episode 3, but her run-in with the Drüskelle does serve one significant purpose: It highlights how right the Darkling and the other Grisha were about the amount of danger they’re all in. Although Alina’s plot showcases the hierarchy and infighting within the ranks of the Second Army, Nina’s experience underscores what they’re up against outside of Ravka, and it’s not pretty.
Unlike the previous episodes, which had a lot of setup to contend with, “The Making at the Heart of the World” gives viewers far more time to empathize with Alina, all while using her situation to work in new details about the Grisha and the world they inhabit. It strikes an impressive balance while pushing the story in an increasingly fascinating direction.