Shadow and Bone season 1 recap: 6 things to know before season 2

As with so many Netflix series, Shadow and Bone had a long, healthy break between seasons — it’s been nearly two years since season 1, so… make that a It is reallyLong, healthy breaks. This means that you may need to refresh your memory on what happened in the Grishaverse’s first season.

The story of Alina Starkov, played by Jessie Mei Li), was the main focus in Season 1. She is the eagerly awaited Sun Summoner that General Kirigan (Ben Barnes) recruited to take down the Shadow Fold. But that’s not the sole storyline. Battling their way to Alina is Mal (Archie Renaux), Alina’s childhood best friend who’s a little bit in love with her, along with the Crows (Freddy Carter, Amita Suman, and Kit Young), a gang hired to kidnap her. There’s also Nina (Danielle Galligan) and Matthias (Calahan Skogman), a Heartrender and her captor who find themselves thrown together in the most unlikely of circumstances.

[Ed. note: This post discusses the end of season 1 of Shadow and Bone. Only read past here if you came here to be spoiled and/or remember what happened.]

Alina realized who she had trusted and why

Photo: Attila Szvacsek/Netflix

Alina, who had been working alongside Kirigan all season trying to bring down The Fold, finally understood that Kirigan wasn’t using her for destruction but expansion. The Darkling was actually hundreds of centuries old. He is the Shadow Summoner that created the Fold thousands of years ago. He wanted to make the Fold a weapon. Genya (Daisy Head), was unable to assist him.

Ultimately Alina wins against the Darkling in the season finale — she regains control over the sun powers Kirigan sought to control in the final battle, and rescues everyone on the ship from the Fold and its monsters.

Also, they were still kissing before she realized what he was doing, creating a romantic dynamic that will complicate matters for Season 2.

However, he got a stagbone in his neck.

Before Kirigan lost, he managed to get another Grisha to embed the bone of a stag into Alina’s neck (a way of amplifying magical powers) and bond himself to the amplifier. The hope was that he’d be able to control her power himself — since whoever kills the stag is supposedly the one who gets to control its massive amplifying abilities — but Alina finds that the stag is actually the one who chooses who to bestow its powers on. It chose Alina, or tried to save its life.

Alina has the power and the bone that used to stick out her collarbone for the finale of season 1, but they are no longer there.

Mal and Alina got together

Mal is saved once more by Alina, and they end their first season together doing the same thing that they had tried all along: disappearing into this world.

Of course, this time they’re doing it with the intent for Alina to someday return and tear down the Fold. For now, though, the safer thing for them to do is fake their deaths (or at least hers; as the Sun Summoner she’s higher profile than he is as “the Tracker”) and hide out while she builds her power up even further.

Was the Darkling ever killed?

Image courtesy of Netflix

Alina uses her sun-recovered powers against Kirigan to stop him. Kirigan and Mal then start to fight next to the ship. Ultimately Kirigan gets swept up by a Volcra in the midst of all that… or at least Mal and Alina Think that’s the last of him. As we can see, Kirigan actually lives and, by Fold standards, is doing well. He walks out of the Fold looking worse than he was before, with at most a few eyebrow slashes. Unfortunately he’s also backed up by some creatures from the Shadow, who he commands to follow him out of the Fold.

The Crows must settle all their debts

The Crows attempt to rob the Sun Summoner and then kidnap him to pay off their debts. However, the Crows come out pretty empty handed (although it is still the best episode). As they head back to Ketterdam, they’re facing a few antagonists who will be expecting them to pony up: Dreesen (Sean Gilder), the wealthy merchant who hired them, and gang leader Pekka Rollins (Dean Lennox Kelly).

Luckily Kaz has a plan: They need to get a Heartrender, and “it has to be someone neither of them know,” a plan Nina overhears.

Nina locked Matthias up as a slaver

Though Nina and Matthias dreamt of taking their enemies-to-lovers act to a place where they — a Grisha and a Drüskelle — could live together in peace, things went south pretty quick. While holed up in Os Kervo, they get spotted by one of Nina’s former Grisha pals, who threatens to have Matthias arrested. In a panic, Nina claims Matthias is a slaver (knowing he’ll only be arrested for that, and not for being Drüskelle, which would get him killed).

It almost backfired immediately: She claims that she will retract the statement she made when he appears in court. However, his cellmate points to the possibility of a delay of a few years. In the meantime, they’re headed to Hellgate, the terrifying Kerch prison.

Shadow and BoneSeason 2 of Netflix’s season premieres March 16th