(Warning Shadow And Bone Season 2 SPOILERS!)

(Warning Shadow and Bone Season 2 SPOILERS!) 

Theory time. So I have been thinking alot about how Alina’s corruption arc may go in season 2 and I with all the parallels between her and Aleks this season and all the talk about her not following his path, I am expecting that her story is going to match that of Aleks’. 

Aleks had a position beside Anastas, the king, until the king began to fear how powerful Aleks was and became afraid of a coup, but I have always wondered whether someone was whispering in Anastas’ ear and to the country as a whole that Aleks was something to be feared, either out of fear or out of jealousy that Aleks was so trusted by the king. I mean the two Leading officer’s who confronted younger Aleks did seem particularly hostile towards him, Aleks was a military adviser so maybe they resented the position Aleks had with the king and wanted him gone? 

What’s all this got to do with Alina’s corruption arc though, you may ask? Well Alina ends the season in a position next to the king, much like younger Aleks. Just like Aleks had at the time Anastas and the country turned on him, Alina has just won a war for the country, tearing down the fold and so at the moment she is being celebrated. But the ending shows Alina using the cut at Nikolai’s coronation, which means she uses shadow powers in front of an entire room of people. But the nature of the event, a coronation, means that these people are ones that have power, station and influence. Some would even have been foreign dignitaries, all who could spread the word far and wide about the Sun summoner using shadow powers.

 We also know that Nikolai is hiding the secret that he is infected with merzost from the nichevo’ya. The apparat also makes a reappearance, the apparat had schemed with Aleks to gain power and was acting on behalf of the royal family whilst the king was incapacitated and the royal family were hiding at the spinning wheel. I imagine the Apparat is not happy about his loss in station now that Nikolai is on the throne. Also I suspect Nikolai is more likely to listen to advice from Alina than from the apparat, so the apparat has also lost his position as the king’s most trusted advisor. I could see the apparat trying to regain his position and the best way to do that would be to cause the nation to distrust Alina and Nikolai. Sooner or later the Merzost effecting Nikolai is going to make itself known and I think the apparat will begin to spread around that Alina is the one responsible for Nikolai’s condition. After all they all saw her use shadow magic, I think he will tell the nation that Alina is poisoning their king just as the darkling poisoned his king before her. The apparat could be going for the angle that if he gets Alina out of the way then he can make the claim that Nikolai is incapacitated and make a move to once again rule in the place of a ‘sick’ king. 

I also think that Alina will begin to act more and more ruthless in her attempt at keeping ravka and the grisha safe and that will be a slippery slope for her. This might cause the people to turn on her and for her to lose her popularity and that results in her being hunting, if Nikolai ends up incapacitated by the merzost, which is possible considering they added the whole Aleks being poisoned by merzost plotline, then it could be he isn’t able to protect her and the apparat is there leading the charge. Alina would, as was foreshadow in the fountain scene in 1x04, become the brand new heretic. 

I do think that the worse things get for Alina the more she is going to understand how right Aleks was and may begin to long for him. I could see this leading to Aleks’ resurrection. Ok so King of Scars Duology Spoilers incoming. I know that he does get resurrected in the duology and that its nikolai and zoya who are tricked by a saint into doing a ritual to bring him back believing it is a cleansing ritual for Nikolai’s demon and that Aleks’ spirit ends up in the body of a character named Yuri. However I don’t think that they are going to go the same route as the books when it comes to his resurrection, not entirely anyway. For one thing I do think that they will want to keep ben barnes, so I reckon they will bring him back in his own body reformed from his hand by merzost. Obviously I think the gang is going to start looking for a way to solve Nikolai’s problem. With it being merzost related I think they are going to start with Ilya Morozova and his journal. I also think instead of appearing to Nikolai and Zoya the saint will appear to Alina. I could see this going one of two ways either the saint tricks all of them into believing its a cleansing ritual or the saint tells Alina right off the bat that she wants to resurrect Aleks and Alina works with her to trick Nikolai and the others into doing the ritual. Alina could tell herself that she is doing it for Nikolai, she knows from Baghra that Morozova continued his writings after his supposed ‘death’ including those which Aleks uses to create the fold, so maybe she believes that Aleks may either know more about Nikolai’s demon or knows where they might be able to find more of Ilya’s writings on Merzost, and she’ll use this to justify bringing him back. But I think another part of her just wants Aleks back, is already feeling that loneliness and it likely feeling off balance without him there to act as her counter, she may come to realise that he is the only one who can understand her and so that is also playing a part in her helping the saint bring Aleks back.     

Nostalgic evening ✨❄️✨

Which one is worst Clarice 2021 or Hannibal Rising ? How would you rank the movies and TV shows (including Clarice 2021 TV show) ?

I mean, they were both blatant cash grabs, let's get that straight. Hannibal Rising did not need to exist. I don't know who the fuck told Thomas Harris "audiences really want to see a tragic past for Hannibal Lecter" (yes, I know it was talked about in the Hannibal book) but that's crap. We love him as a character because nothing happened to him, HE happened. But I do find Hannibal Rising a lot less frustrating as a story because... it can so easily be viewed as a bullshit story that Hannibal told someone like Chilton who was like "so why are you the way you are?" Kind of like those bullshit sob-stories Joker told Harleen. So, Hannibal Rising is good revenge flick... but not a good Hannibal Lecter origin story. Personally, I don't think he needs one. At least not like that.

Clarice, on the other hand, was done by a bunch of high-horse wankers who kept on banging on about how much they respected the source material and how "we didn't want to do what Jonathan Demme did so well" while blatantly copying what he did so damn well (not to mention being a half-assed Hannibal knockoff...) because they were too cowardly and creatively bankrupt to do their own thing. Also I'm sorry, I can't recognise those characters as being the same from the Silence book and film. Especially not one year on from the events of Silence. It was way too complicated, the new "twists" were just insulting, and I basically call "bullshit" that THIS is what happened to Clarice Starling after the events of Silence. Which sucks because this could have been an awesome sequel... instead we got that. So.. yep, Clarice is worse than Hannibal Rising.

Okay, so the rankings, imo.

1. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) - I mean... how could I not put this first?

2. Manhunter (1986) - Brian Cox is soooo underrated as Hannibal, ditto with William Petersen as Will Graham

3. NBC's Hannibal (2013-2015) - when it comes to modern horror shows, Hannibal is the one to beat, in my mind.

4. Red Dragon (2002) - I mean no disrespect but I didn't buy Edward Norton as Will Graham. But with that being said, this is a really strong film with a wonderful ensemble cast. And that last line gives me chills.

5. Hannibal (2001) - I get why people don't like this... I also wish we had gotten the book ending... but I still really enjoy this film.

6. Hannibal Rising (2007) - look, no one asked for this. This was so pointless. However, I thought Gaspard Ulliel was pretty good. Also I do love a villainous Rhys Ifans. But... jfc, no one asked for this!

7. Clarice (2021) - yep, this is the worst entry. But Rebecca Breeds was a great casting choice. I'd love to see her as Clarice in a better story.

Thanks for the question, nonnie :)

What are your favorite Darklina scenes?

I love this question. It is a hard one to answer though because I loved all of their scenes but if I have to narrow it down to a top 5 then I am going to say:

5) The fountain scene in ep 4 when they talk about the black heretic and Aleks promises he won't let the world turn on her. It just had such first date vibes about it and that moment where he starts stress cleaning the fountain was kind of hilarious.

4) Their first meeting in the tent in ep 2, there was just so much chemistry between them and damn that eye contact. It was obvious they had a connection between them right away and I love that she challenged him even from the beginning.

3) I love angst so I actually liked the scene between them in ep 7 in the tent where Alina tells Aleks they could have had it all and he says fine make me your villain. For me it was less what they were saying out loud and more about the emotions you could see on their faces and in their eyes. It was heartbreaking and seeing as I like scenes that bring out emotions in me this had to make the list, even if that emotion involved me bawling my eyes out.

2) So going to the other end of the spectrum and going for a happy scenario, I am cheating a little here because they are two different scenes but as they contain similar things I have put them together. But both their kiss scenes in ep 5. I loved them both for different reasons. The first kiss I loved that it was Alina that made the first move and I love that it was sweet and tentative. The second kiss I love how passionate it was and how they just kind of lost themselves in each other. But what I love the most about both these kisses is the smiles and the laughter that came along with them. It is one of the few times we really see these two characters happy and smiling so it was just great to see them so carefree and content and just giggling like a couple of teenagers sneaking around at prom.

1) So my favourite scene has to be the scene in the war room in ep 4 when Aleks shows his vulnerable side and Alina protects him with the dome of light. There was something just so pure about this scene and they were being so open and vulnerable with each other, I also liked the role reversal in this scene because we often saw Aleks supporting and comforting Alina and here we saw her doing the same for him. Plus there was that symbolism of them both wearing their nightclothes that made it even more intimate and so domestic. Then there was that yin yang imagery where they are standing with the door between them. I liked the imagery of her using her light to literally chase away his darkness to and form a protective bubble around him letting him know he is not alone, its such a poignant moment between them. Also the moment where he cups her cheek and says he has been waiting a long time for her, had so much chemistry and tension. This scene kind of had everything, vulnerability, intimacy, compassion, domesticity, passion and comfort. All my favourite things wrapped up in one scene.

How would you ranked all episodes in Season 1 ?

(Shadow and Bone Show Spoilers)

Ok this is such a fun question but also a hard one to answer because I honestly enjoyed all of the episodes and I don't think there was necessarily any bad ones. However I have put some thought into it and come up with a ranking. So I have based these rankings on how well the episode kept my attention, how much of an emotional response the episode got out of me, whether there was good character development and also how much I've gone back to rewatch the episode. I am going to start from my least favourite and work to my absolute favourite and I am also going to give each episode a mark out of 10.

8th Place: Episode 1, A Searing Burst Of Light.

So I liked the pilot but it was all about setting up the characters and the world and the plot. It did what pilots do, set the scene, and it does it well but it isn't one I go back to watch often and when I do I will skip over alot of it. That being said I would give this episode a solid 7/10.

7th Place: Episode 6, The Heart Is An Arrow

Similar to the pilot I feel like this one was an episode that was kind of just setting up and moving the characters to where they needed to be for ep 7. It felt a little like a filler with Alina and M*l being on the run and Aleksander looking for them. That being said there were some really great moments in this episode especially with the crows against the grisha. I liked the tension of Aleks vs Kaz and the scene of Jesper vs Ivan and Inej vs Polina. I kind deny it was pretty cool to have Kaz and Aleks in the same scene. Seeing Aleks learn that Alina left by herself and seeing how hurt he was also really pulled at my heartstrings. This episode I would give a 7.5/10

6th Place: Episode 3, The Making At The Heart Of The World.

So there were some parts of this episode that I really liked. I loved the introduction of Genya and seeing Alina at the LP and having her training. I also liked the presentation to the King scene. The stuff with the crows crossing the fold and Jesper with Milo the goat was also peak humour to me and so I loved that. But again like the other two episodes it did feel like one of those episodes that was getting things set up and about giving you information that we were going to need in later episodes like the stuff about the amplifiers. So considering all that this one gets a 8/10.

5th Place: Episode 8, No Mourners

So this is where it gets harder to decide where each episode goes because I loved all of the remaining episodes but after much deliberation and mind changing I decided to put the finale in 5th. The finale was great I loved seeing all the characters finally coming together in the same place and there was alot of drama with the whole Novokribirsk incident and the fight on the skiff and all the kind of conflicting and complex ideologies behind it. I also liked the whole full circle with us being in the fold in the pilot and then returning there for the finale. The moment where Alina overcomes the collar and really shows her powers was also pretty epic. However I wasn't a huge fan of how she was then side-lined by Ivan until the battle was over. I also think the cliffhanger of Aleks coming out of the fold followed by his new shadow soldiers was a really good way of getting the audience excited and curious for the next season. This one I am giving a 8.5/10.

4th Place: Episode 2, We're All Someone's Monster

This is one of my favourite episodes. There are so many great scenes in it and its defo one I go back to watch again alot. I love the tent scene where Alina first meets Aleks because there is so much tension and chemistry between them, it was definitely the moment that sold me on darklina and I remember the first time I watched it my breath was kind of taken away at just how intense the scene was and the light shooting out of her arm just looked so spectacular that whole scene was just amazing. I also thought the darklina scene in the field showed that chemistry off again and I liked the conversation they had and how they challenged each other. Another scene that I liked was the ambush. I think it provided that action but it also did a good job of showing just how dangerous it was for the grisha and what life was like for them but it also showed how powerful Aleks was and how feared he was. My heart also went out to Alina in that last scene where you see her break down in her room at the LP after everything hits her, its a very real and genuine moment. I am also going to give this one a 8.5/10

3rd Place: Episode 4, Otkazat'sya

Ok so into the top three now. Episode 4 was another one that I often go back to and has one of my top 5 favourite darklina moments in it. I loved the scene in the war room where Alina comforts Aleks and creates that dome, I just think it was a genuine moment between the two of them that was about comfort and care and not being alone in the world and I love scenes like that. I also liked the visual of like the yin yang doorway shot, where she's in the light and he's in the shadows and there this door between them, it was a very cool shot. The fountain scene and learning more about the Black heretic was also interesting. But I also liked that we went back to Mal and saw his hunt for the stag with his friends. Some of my favourite Mal scenes were between him, Mikhael and Dubrov I adored their friendship. So this episode was heartbreaking for me seeing their deaths and it got a genuine emotional reaction out of me. This one once again gets an 8.5/10.

2nd Place: Episode 7, The Unsea

So I am a big fan of angst and of watching scenes that tear my heart out. This episode had that in bucket loads. I loved seeing the creation of the fold and seeing Aleks backstory as I think it told us a lot about how he has got to the place he's at now. It was a story that I think was very sympathetic even if it is a bit of an overdone cliché to go the fridged girlfriend route, but it helps you understand where his motives come from and the visuals of the fold being created were very cool. I think the collar scene was very uncomfortable to watch as it should be and again heartbreaking. I also thought the tent scene between darklina was very angst filled and it really did get an emotional response out of me and I cried at that scene. I also thought Ben's delivery of the 'Fine. Make me your villain' line was just genius and was one where I caught my breath and it had one hell of an impact. I also think the scene between Alina and Genya was so sad, having to watch what was such a beautiful friendship break down was heartbreaking. This was definitely an emotional episode. But I also liked the scene between Mal and Aleks, I thought it was an interesting one to watch and again there were some great lines in there, like the 'time will do that for me' one. It had such great tension in that scene. Then there was that amazing scene between Kaz and Inej where you really see Kaz open up and be vulnerable with Inej. I loved that line he says about how no saint has ever watched over him not like she has. That one captured my heart. So this one gets a 9/10.

1st Place: Episode 5, Show Me Who You Are.

Of course as a darklina shipper this one had to be at number one. There were so many great Darklina moments in this episode from the way he looks at her when she comes into the ballroom, or during her presentation, to the 'you looked like you needed saving' line, all of their kisses including that very steamy one on the war room table. It was the ultimate darklina episode. But to be honest this episode for me was so special not just because of all the great darklina content but because of Alina and seeing how she had grown. In this episode she is so full of confidence and she looks so happy. In the words of Genya I liked seeing her that way. I liked seeing her having fun and joking around with Nadia and Marie, I liked seeing her excitement about the fete, I liked seeing her confidence in her powers and showing that she didn't need the gloves to control them. I liked seeing her knowing what she wanted and going after it with Aleks. I love that she initiated that first kiss. I loved that she seemed to have so much hope for the future. Of course that did make it all the more painful when it all came crashing down with Baghra's reveal. There was also the excitement of having the Crows in the LP trying to pull off their heist and the tension of Mal showing up to. There was that very intense scene with Inej and Kaz where she kills for the first time to protect him. I also loved the moment when Inej sees Alina use her powers and just has this look of complete reverence on her face, it just meant so much to her and you could see that. There was also that very comical moment of Alina climbing into the Crows coach herself. I just feel like this episode had everything, it had the action, the drama, the tension, the excitement, the comedy and the sizzle. So obviously because this was the episode of all episodes it gets a 10/10.

I am curious to know how everyone else who rank the episodes though.