I Was Rewatching LOK And Just Loving How Tophs Parents Did Everything They Could To Shove Her Into A

I was rewatching LOK and just loving how Toph’s parents did everything they could to shove her into a box and prevent her from doing what she loved--earthbending--but then Toph invented metalbending by literally escaping a box she was put in by the bounty hunters her parents sent after her, and then her kids and grandkids made the Beifong name basically synonymous with metalbending and innovation.

I was rewatching Shadow and Bone season 1 and I got to that part where Inej and Jesper are briefly stage performers and like...that would’ve actually been a viable career plan for them?

Like, Inej obviously grew up in a caravan and performing and loves walking tightropes. Jesper can do his sharpshooting them. Kazzle Dazzle would do magic tricks (Jesper trains him not to scare small children with his permanent scowl). Wylan would compose music for the acts and help with special effects and wherever else you can use chemistry and bombs in a performance troupe. Idk what Matthias and Nina would do, though. Maybe Matthias would be some kind of strongman or behind-the-scenes. Nina...idk. Put her all into dancing.

Shadow and bone season 2

Contains spoilers.

 Shadow and Bone was never going to be a perfect adaptation of the books; we knew that from the start, when they put together the S&B and SOC storylines/characters. LB herself has said that it’s basically high-budget fanfiction. Let’s stop expecting 100% book accuracy. Thank you.

Also, I haven’t actually read the S&B trilogy, only SOC and KOS. So I can’t speak for those characters.

Let’s start with the cons and end on a positive note.

Purely from a writing standpoint, shadow and bone season 2 was way too rushed. There’s very little time to sit with things as they are; you just have to kind of go with it. There’s no suspense, because you know you’re just going to be rushed on to the next thing. I know we were all expecting them to go with the Siege and Storm storyline, but I know they defeat Darkles at the end of RUIN AND RISING. So they just threw two books together and it’s...rushed.

As for the Crows...no.

Listen, the actors are all the literal embodiment of their characters. Freddy Carter this season? AWARD-WORTHY. BOOK!KAZ IN FULL FORCE. But these moments hit so hard in the books because of their build up! We had two books to learn about these characters, their backstories, their motivations, etc. To build up their relationships with each other, Ketterdam, the world around them, Grisha powers, their pasts, etc. We had two books of seeing why Kaz and Inej want each other, why Nina and Matthias want each other, why Jesper and Wylan want each other. Why Kaz wants revenge on Pekka Rollins. In the show, we don’t even really know who the hell Per Haskell is. Why should anybody cheer for Kaz taking the Dregs the way we did in the books? In the books, Kaz gave everything to the Dregs (for his own gain, but still), and they turned their backs on him until he showed up to take them back by force. “I recommend a cane” SLAPS partly because we’ve seen people sneer at Kaz for his disability--including members of the very gang that profits so greatly from his reputation, which includes his limp and cane. They should’ve either given them the season to build up to the Pekka Rollins stand-off, or waited for the crows’ spin-off.

Also, why is Tante Heleen dead? That revenge belongs to Inej. Wtf.

Matthias’ storyline is boring. Could’ve used less of it.

And another thing--when Nikolai is announcing his and Alina’s engagement and Alina announces that she’ll take command of the Second Army and Zoya’s like “wtf?” and everyone else’s like “SO YOU WON’T FOLLOW HER, THEN? >:( like...I wouldn’t! Alina was a MAPMAKER in the FIRST ARMY. Sure, she watched the Second Army from afar, being jealous of their grape bowls. She doesn’t know how to lead an army!

She definitely should’ve talked to Zoya after the feast and been like “hey, yo, want to help me out?” Zoya was the Darkling’s, what, second-in-command, for YEARS. She’s been in charge of at least parts of the Second Army for way longer than Alina’s even known she’s a Grisha for. She’s a commander and General in KOS. She has actual military experience and knowledge of the Second Army, not to mention having actually fought and lived alongside the people within it. It would have been a great way to further utilize Zoya’s character, and provide some bonding between her and Alina. And for the shippers, we could’ve gotten some zoyalai crumbs if they ever needed to discuss strategy and shit. The point is, I would’ve had Zoya’s reaction, too, if I’d been in her shoes.

Oh, and also, why is Kaz’s trauma always what’s being focused on? I know the fandom tends to hyperfixate on it, but Jesper’s ADHD? Wylan’s dyslexia? INEJ’S PAST IS SO IMPORTANT IN THE BOOKS AND HERE IT’S JUST LIKE, “Oh, that sucked for her, anyways” LIKE GIVE THEIR STRUGGLES THE RESPECT THEY DESERVE. MATTHIAS AND NINA TRYING TO UNLEARN THE NATIONALISM THEY’VE BEEN FORCE-FED THEIR WHOLE LIVES?

AS FOR THE GOOD STUFF:

As I said before, FREDDY CARTER AS BOOK! KAZ. RENT WAS DUE. HOLY SHIT.

“Please. I’m begging you.”

“Are you?”

I HAD TO TAKE A BREAK. HOLY F*CKING SHIT.

Also, the scene with Jesper and his mom? I don’t usually cry at movies and shows, but when she called him “little rabbit,” I BAWLED.

Personally, I thought the flashbacks to Kaz’s past could’ve been done less in-your-face, let’s-talk-about-his-trauma, but the transitions were top-notch and the casting was, as usual, amazing.

ALL the casting was amazing, actually. They ARE the characters. We couldn’t have gotten anyone else. We had our reservations about Patrick Gibson, but he NAILED Nikolai. Flawless performance on everyone’s parts.

I know Wesper wasn’t for everyone, but I thought it was a nice, fanfic-y take on a more adult relationship between them. Also, they were cuties, and still seemed to have some emotional depth. Good.

“I will have you without armor, Kaz Brekker. Or I will not have you at all.” Good

Nina sneaking into Hellgate to see Matthias. Good.

Also, the part where we’re led to believe that Nina handed Kaz in to Pekka Rollins, but then we get a flashback to them plotting it out because no way in hell was Kaz Brekker going to be fooled that easily, which is what I was screaming at my scene when I thought he’d just...gotten captured like that? The man who talked himself out of being shot with a loaded gun pressed to his chest?

Yeah, that was great. Really made him feel more like the mastermind he is in the books.

I also loved that they kept Pekka’s son, and Kaz’s bluff about burying him alive, and Wylan’s “you can’t kill him for who his father is.” I LOVED IT ALL.

I also loved Jesper casually referring to Alina by her first name, and Mal casually talking about the Crows like they’re all buddies. We love to see it!

Overall, while this season did have some flaws, it was overall a fun and enjoyable watch, and I hope we do get a season 3 and a Crows spin-off, and that the writers will listen to the fans’ criticism and improve the main problems (which are honestly mostly a result of trying to cram like, 2-3 books into an 8-episode season. If they let themselves slow down the plot just a bit, I really think the quality would go up by like, 90%).

Any other thoughts?

So I know I change obsessions every day, but like

I was watching season 4 of The Dragon Prince--personally, my favourite season so far and I can’t wait for season 5--and I was really looking forward to Janai’s duel with her brother Karim.

And she makes a speech about how history doesn’t demand anything of her. She will make history.

And then she’s like “and it will be beautiful” while looking at Amaya and feurahtreuorehasgreoicn I DIED THEY’RE SO CUTE AND IN LOVE AND--

Anyways, I love how TDP season 4 shows how people may not be willing to let go of tradition and the past, but it’s the only way to move forward. Karim didn’t want his sister to have a human wife. He didn’t want to teach the humans and learn from them in turn. He just wanted for things to be as they were, while Janai--who watched her sister die (idk if Karim was there but we all saw Janai’s reaction to Kessa’s death), lead the sunfire elves to the storm spire to fight Viren, fell in love with a human, and realized she may not have initially wanted to be queen, but that she could be happy with the role and do well in it. Not only does her speech give me chills, it emphasizes TDP’s message of needing to embrace change to move forward.

Anyways. Go watch season 4.

I keep seeing memes that show someone talk about the air nomads and aang’s loss and then katara being like “that’s nothing! My mom died!”

Which is weird because...that never actually happened?

In “The Southern Air Temple,” Katara brings up her mom more to provide an example of how ruthless the fire nation is and let Aang know she understands loss. Yeah, she says she understands what it’s like to lose people you care about at the end of the episode because SHE DOES. She never says, “I’ve lost as much as you!” she says she’s lost people she cares about, WHICH IS TRUE. Her mom’s dead and she probably doesn’t even know if her dad’s alive. Either way, he’s not around. She’s trying to empathize with him, not completely overlook his grief. And, you know, so he won’t destroy the temple in said grief.

In “the southern raiders,” I always interpreted Katara’s “I knew you wouldn’t understand” as being because...Aang doesn’t understand. He was raised on pacifist, all-life-is-sacred ideals his entire life. He didn’t spend his whole life in a war, among people who’d also spent their whole lives in war. He can’t directly fist fight Sozin, and if he could, he probably would, let’s bffr; but everyone directly responsible for the Air Nomad genocide is dead. Yes, what she says to Sokka is out of pocket, but she and aang have such different experiences and views that it’s true that he doesn’t understand and isn’t asking in an attempt to.

Whatever. Stop demonizing a fourteen-year-old for having PTSD.

Nikolai!

I reread king of scars recently and I decided something that establishes nikolai as among my top 5 grishaverse characters, beyond his general amazingness, is that he joined the first army.

Like, went into battle and hung out with the commoners and all that shit that most noble boys bought their way out of. Idk I just feel like it really helps establish that he’s a ruler who actually cares about his people and earning respect, not just expecting it.

Live laugh love nikolai lantsov. That is all.