Honestly I liked season 2. With shadow and bone I personally didn’t like the trilogy anyway so I like the changes they made but there are three things I wish they had done differently or not at all.
WHY DID THEY KILL OF DAVID SO SOON? (Still refuse to acknowledge that it happened at all in ROW)
zoyalai - we deserved crumbs but I love both of the actors and I did wish they gave zoya more screen time to give her more depth into her character. They deserve more depth.
I wish they had included the whole political/religion aspect of siege and storm. I personally enjoyed that and we learn more about alina and how much she didn’t want to become queen. Her being a religious symbol and the apparat were a big part of the second book along with the twins devotion to her. I feel like it would have helped with Alina’s character development but I digress.
Regardless I enjoyed the changes in S&B and think the ending with interesting for them. I know three books is a lot to cover in a show so I am not upset with their plots. i am excited that they set up KOS and hopefully we do get a season 3. BUT WHY JUST WHY DID THEY INCLUDE SO MUCH OF CK IN S2??? I have a bone to pick with the SOC plots. I still enjoyed it but so much was unnecessary and out of context???
The whole revenge against of Pekka was done greatly in the books but to me it felt anticlimactic in the show.
The intimate Kanej scenes. Don’t get me wrong, I loved them and wanted them BUT AT WHAT COST. Why did they give Inej in the show her CK ending? If we get the spin off, it just seems so unnecessary to have her leave and then come back. Truly wished we got the way Kaz actually was able to free Inej like in the books.
What’s the point of the Ice Court Heist if big pieces that happened in CK already happened? Sure we have Van Eck but mmm I don’t know.
ALSO we weren’t suppose to know about Jesper being a durast just yet!!! It should’ve been later.
I love Jack as Wylan though!!!!
Helnik is safe for me yall
I still liked it as it’s own and do hope for a season 3 cause we still have the books and it is never that serious lol
I have conflicting emotions about that ending and overall how the whole season was handled for both SOC/S&B respectivelly.
First, I knew that I was going to be disappointed because they would mix S&S and R&R but this was a lot messier than I gave them the credit for. It left little room to develop Alina’s story line beyond the superficial. It felt to me like they were just trying to develop Nikolai for the KOS spin off and this seems unfair for Alina. She deserved her own time and it felt like they were just rushing to get her plot done.
I get TGT is not the most interesting and that the other books have been superior but it’s the start of the grishaverse and it sustains a lot of important things they just skipped over. Alina and her crew (Mal, Genya, Zoya, David, etc) deserved the time to breathe and their own exploration. Alina’s need/greed for power, the political aspect and her religious influence was glossed over and not developed further. Season 2 should’ve ended with Alina’s failed attempt to fully take down Darkling and being taken by the Apparat and therefore forced to become a religious pawn because this was an interesting aspect to Alina but also Tolya and Tamar, who ultimately were just there to fill the space in Nikolai’s story line and didn't get to explore that side.
Another thing about this season is that everything happened in such an anticlimatic way. Mal's amplifier reveal, Genya's backstory about the royal family and just so much that was more impactful in the books. David was killed off too soon. He didn't even get to marry Genya. Zoya deserved so much more and i'll hate it if I don't ever see her get to rule Ravka. Tolya and Tamar weren't given the level of depth I was expecting with their devotion to Alina. It was just too messy for me. I do think the season managed to improve some stuff. I think she Shu Han aspect was an interesting thing to add.
Don't even get me started with SOC because I feel like they have included basically everything so when the spin off does end up happening (we need good numbers for season 2 first) so many plots are not even going to happen. They took so many CK moments but without the right context so that didn't make it feel as impactful as it should've been. The actors truly did everything with those scenes especially with the Kanej scenes but it would've been so much better to have the full implications of what it means for their development. I wasn't too happy with how Inej's plot was handled. Literally we had CK before we even got SOC. And can we speak about the ableism with Kaz and his cane? Please.
Now, with that ending. I get what they had to change it. If they were to go with the R&R ending then there won't be actual story line for Alina and Mal. I’m still trying to understand why they couldn’t just use 3 seasons for the 3 books and wait to do the spins off, but I get that business is a whole different thing. So, that ending, like the whole season, it was rushed. You couldn't even feel sad because everything was happening so fast. The fact that Tolya and Tamar weren't the ones trying to bring Mal back to life was a shame because the friendship between Mal and Tolya was everything in the books. Alina clearly took part of Darkling's merzost powers to bring Mal back to life and this will cause her power corruption. But, the whole poison thing was so weird? This is a way to link the SOC characters and the KOS plot together but it's just so weird. About Malina’s ending, they did this to extend their arc in the show (x). I don't dislike the idea of them parting for a while until they get back to each other I just hated the way it felt too strange for both of them. I would have taken Mal asking Alina for time to be on it's own but not that weird excuse about his powers. And then, Alina had a whole struggle on R&R because she did not want to be a queen, because she wanted to be married for love and not for alliance. That Alina felt like a fanfic, not the real one. I have my own thoughts on where her story line will go for Season 3 (if there's one) and it could be interesting if executed right but I'm not too sure about that.
The season was far from perfect. It was messy and rushed. From both sides they skipped vital moments and interactions that could've made so many of the scenes have more sense and feel impactful. But I still would want a Season 3 and for those spin offs to be green lighted because those actors are too talented to lose for this.
"take what you want. i'll hate you for it. but i'll love you forever. i can't help but love you" "ruin me, ruin us, and i'll let you" KSHDHDK MISS KUANG MAAM I DEMAND COMPENSATION FOR THE EMOTIONAL DAMAGE YOU JUST GAVE ME
rinkitay really did "i'll hate you for it, but i'll love you forever. i can't help but love you. ruin me, us and i'll let you." and "do you love him?" "yes," rin said immediately. "more than anything else in the world." and "we're bound. we're the same." and "i don't care what happens up there, you come back to me." and "there was no world where rin died and kitay remained alive." and "the other half of her soul." and "kitay was the only exception." and "she and kitay were a pair against the world." and i'm just supposed to be okay with that?
i'm not gonna lie i've always leaned into my headcanon that sally, and therefore percy, was of latin american descent. but after seeing walker scobell in the Adam Project i can really see him doing a great job in this role! his comedic timing is fantastic and he has an air of maturity for his age, plus i've seen that he's been a pjo fan for a while, which is always great!
bottom line is he's a kid who just got cast in probably one of the next iconic roles of the decade, it's a big opportunity with a lot of pressure. i hope that everyone supports him accordingly, and that his experience with the project is positive. so exciting!!
I stand by making Percy, Annabeth and Grover POC in the show!!! I personally want Black Grover and Annabeth and Puerto Rican Percy.
I don’t care as long as Percy has green eyes and dark hair and Annabeth has her blonde hair and grey eyes because these features are so prominent throughout the series.
