I Love The Way S2 Showed The Difference Between How Jesper Approaches A High-stakes Situation In Comparison

I love the way S2 showed the difference between how Jesper approaches a high-stakes situation in comparison to Wylan, specifically in the scene where they sneak into Pekka's estate by entering through an open window. Jesper practically jumps from the windowsill and then twirls his gun, whereas Wylan gently lowers himself from the windowsill before lightly dropping himself down when he's crouched close enough to the ground.

We know that Jesper thrives off chaos and spontaneity, hence why he leaps from the windowsill and immediately twirls his gun: he's diving head-first into the action. He actively seeks fights because of the thrill they bring him, because he "always felt better when people were shooting at him". You can practically see the adrenaline coursing through him.

Wylan slowly lowering himself until he's close enough to drop down is more careful and deliberate than Jesper's leap, and it shows the complete opposite: Wylan is more cautious and wary than Jesper because he doesn't thrive off the chaos of a fight. He doesn't find anything thrilling about being in a dangerous situation, especially when you consider his sheltered upbringing. (I say sheltered because, though abusive, his household never exposed him to the dangers of Barrel life. This is made clear in Crooked Kingdom when Wylan is reliving his first months in the Barrel, thinking about how "he might not have been happy at his father’s house, but he’d never had to work for anything. He’d had servants, hot meals, clean clothes. Whatever it took to survive the Barrel, Wylan knew he didn’t have it.") He doesn't want to get in trouble or get wrapped up in these sorts of situations because that's not who he wants to be - he doesn't want to be a criminal.

However, he inevitably leaps from the windowsill too (just when he's crouched low enough to do so) rather than slowly sliding off it and onto the ground, exemplifying how, despite how he doesn't want to be a criminal, he still contributes to the task at hand and gets involved in these types of situations. His hesitancy doesn’t paralyse him regardless of the fact that he doesn’t want to partake in criminal activity. Whether or not he wants to do it, this is the path he's decided to pursue and he needs to do his part.

This difference is also exemplified in the scene in S2E5 where Zoya and Tolya are recruiting the Crows for the heist to steal the Neshyenyer blade. When they offer payment for the Crows’ contributions, Jesper responds with “I like the sound of that” before taking a shot of something. In a way, it echoes the “time for a heist!” scene in season one, emphasising Jesper’s willingness to go on a heist due to the thrill it brings (as well as the prospect of a monetary reward). On the other hand, while Jesper is enthusiastically agreeing to Zoya and Tolya’s request, Wylan is giving him the bombastic side-eye due to Jesper's willingness to accept the mission without hesitation.

Again, Wylan can't fathom how someone could be so willing to go on such a mission, so he's side-eyeing Jesper in disbelief and almost disapproval but he's also not at all surprised because this is Jesper Llewellyn Fahey. Remember, Wylan doesn't thrive off adrenaline rushes the way Jesper does - he's only doing all of this because 1) his entire motivation is to "make his money, get out of town, and never speak the name Van Eck again" and 2) he pretty much has no other choice because he makes it very clear that "he would sell himself in the pleasure houses of West Stave before he’d ask for his father’s mercy".

Jack Wolfe as Wylan Hendriks in Shadow and Bone s2 (x9)

Going back to this, I want to address the way the show handled it: Matthias choosing not to fight the wolves in the finale shows is symbolic of how, due to the point he's at in his story, his arc hasn't begun yet. He's still holding onto those values imposed on him, still drinking the poison. He hasn't started "killing" that part of him, thus it's still too early to start foreshadowing his arc.

I think that having him fight alongside them now will just create more angst regarding killing them in the spin-off (for the sake of this post, I'm acting as if it's been greenlit). Redoing this scene with Matthias killing the wolves instead of fighting alongside them again would actually make it more painful for him because he’d probably be thinking about how he was able to stop fighting them once, why not again?

Do you ever think about just how powerfully symbolic Matthias killing the wolf in Hellgate at the beginning of SOC is? How him killing the animal sacred to Djel is a representation of him "killing off" the values imposed on him? Of him "killing" his old self, the drüskelle who'd sworn an oath to his country and to its cause, the boy who'd been manipulated and had his grief and pain exploited to fuel hatred, forced to drink the poison Brum had forced down his throat his entire life? Of how he recognises that "the life you live, the hate you feel – it’s poison. I can drink it no longer", but then there's the bitter irony of how that poison still kills him in the end as he's shot by another drüskelle, as he's "killed" by his past and the boy he'd been? Because I think about that a lot.

i don’t think anything could stop me from being a kit young fan that man has my whole heart

do you ever think about how Kaz resonates with crows, because both of them remember who's wronged them, and look out for those who are kind

and do you ever think about how crows remove the eyes from their food, just like how Kaz cut out Oomen's eye

“Isn’t that how things are done around here?” asked Wylan. “We all tell Kaz we’re fine and then do something stupid?”

“Are we that predictable?” said Inej.

Wylan and Matthias said in unison, “Yes.”

CROOKED KINGDOM | 11 | INEJ