Shadow and Bone season 2’s biggest change is Mal and Alina’s ending

Season 2 of Shadow and Bone is full of some… big surprises, to say the least.

Put simply, the second season of Netflix’s YA adaptation doesn’t SimplyThe next book of the series should be adapted. No, it pulls from the next two books — along with some tangential adventures created just for the show, in order to give every part of the massive cast some screen time. It’s a lot of characters and a lot of plot, but we’re homing in on the heart of the show: Sun Summoner Alina Starkov (Jessie Mei Li) and tracker Mal Oretsev (Archie Renaux).

Their romance was a cornerstone of the books, but not without criticism from fans, who would’ve rather seen Alina smooch the brooding Darkling or the charming Nikolai instead of dealing with Mal’s jealous ass. The first season of the show ironed out some of the more contentious parts of Mal and Alina’s relationship, turning it into a deep friendship we could actually root for. Where does the show go from there? What happens to Mal and Alina in season 2? Is it possible?

Three Polygon staffers sat down to talk about all the big changes to the Grishaverse’s most important — and somehow most controversial — couple.

[Ed. note: This post contains massive spoilers for the Grishaverse books and both seasons of Shadow and Bone.]

mal and alina sauntering through the streets

Photo: Dávid Luckás/Netflix

Nicole: Should we share which books we’ve read, or if we’ve read the books? I can go first: I’ve read the Six of Crows duology… twice. That series is my favorite. Then, I returned to the Grishaverse Trilogy and began with Shadow and BoneIt was, I believed. Fine. I haven’t read any of the King of Scars books.

Petrana: Similar to many, I began with Six of CrowsThe sequel and the main trilogy, which are both a success. And then I went back to the main trilogy, which as Nicole said, is incredibly and deeply fine — Leigh Bardugo’s writing only gets better from that first book, which suffers from stereotypical YA protagonist energy. The King of Scars novels were also a favorite of mine, as I love Nikolai and Zoya. Some people don’t like them, because they get in the weeds about the Grishaverse politics, but that was a feature, not a bug, to me.

Austen: I’ve definitely got the shortest answer here since I haven’t read any of the books at all. So I’ll be coming at this with the show’s two seasons as my only context.

Petrana: I want to kick things off by talking about the foundation of Mal and Alina that we got in season 1 — and how much better it was than the books. One of the big things about the books that always aggravated me (and many others out there) is that Mal and Alina just weren’t very good friends! Alina was so friendly when they first met. Wow, Mal is so handsome and cool and all the girls love him… Can’t believe he is friends with a brown-haired brown-eyed scrawny nobody like me!(Told that the protagonist in my first book has YA energy. Mal is so furious that Alina was taken away to the Little Palace and she decides to leave. The jealousy escalates throughout the entire relationship. It makes any tension they have superficial, and ruins the friends-to-lovers dynamic because they just aren’t good pals!

The first season completely removes all jealousy and petty tension. Mal isn’t an attractive, cool man, but rather a hardworking, savage lad. As a pair, they make more sense together. They have a devotion and dedication to each other that won’t be hindered by stupid jealousy. Any romantic feelings they have are built on years and years of friendship that actually feels like it’s there! Book Malina, not Show Malina!

mal and alina hanging out

Photo: David Appleby/Netflix

alina knee-deep in water in a narrow sea cave, behind her, Mal holds a gun, with tamar and tolya trailing

Photo: Dávid Lukács/Netflix

Nicole: Hello, it’s me, a “many others out there,” who also found Mal aggravating in the books — for all of the same reasons that Petrana mentions.

This foundation of loyalty, dedication and devotion made the show much easier for me. It really emphasized the story’s potential as romantic drama. In the books, I was more into the idea of the love triangle, and the notion that maybe one of Alina’s other suitors could be a better fit for her. The show had me fully invested in Malina, by divesting of the petty jealousy and “I’m unworthy” subplots and tropes from the OG book trilogy, and making it clear that the two had a foundation of deep friendship.

It’s also worth pointing out that Archie Renaux gives a really great performance of down-to-earth scrappiness that makes his character more of a Will Turner type. There is something enduring about the “man who will follow his love interest to the ends of the Earth” trope that just works for me. It’s always been a very romance-forward plot, but I think there’s something beautiful to the idea that you’d chase your best friend — your chosen family — to the ends of the Earth too.

(I won’t get ahead of myself, but this is also part of why the second season unraveled for me too.)

Austen: I actually do more or less like their relationship at the beginning of the show, but mostly the parts we don’t see. I’m on board with the orphanage storyline and the idea of these two scrappy troublemakers who have been friends as long as they can remember; it’s a great setup. There was so much flirting when we first met them, that I became confused for a time about their relationship. I mean, I get the whole “best friends” thing but in the brief time they’re together those air quotes are doing some heavy lifting. But even that’s good enough of a setup that it makes Alina’s infatuation with Aleksander and the business of the Little Palace a surprise that makes sense, and Mal’s turn toward total simp at the end of the season understandable and fun.

Season 2 is where I really have problems with their relationship. The show makes it seem genuinely uneasy about the possibility of them being together. In fact, it doesn’t take more than a few episodes before Alina’s excitedly (fake) betrothed to Nikolai. Let’s see how season 1 felt about moving forward with the relationship and keeping it going.

alina and mal gettin’ steamy

Image courtesy of Netflix

Petrana: MmmmmmmmmmmThis is a question that I have two opinions about. On one hand, I don’t like how fast-tracked it all felt. This season stuffed in two books and an extra plotline and just didn’t give any of those big plot points time to breathe. It’s a huge whiplash to go from Mal and Alina having a “Gasp! There was only one bed!” moment and then her getting ready for her engagement party in, like, three episodes.

For the most part I was happy that they had to address the issue of tension between Mal & Alina. It is possible to have some obstacles in the middle of the story. It was jealousy. Mal resented Nikolai and Alina’s fake engagement and was so mad about it that he joined a fight club to channel his rage. Because he’s so anxious, he gets the worst tattoo. He is a maniac and can blow up any conversation.

The tension changes to Alina, ready to do whatever Ravka asks, and Mal, wanting to be by her side, but understandably. NotWanting her to commit suicide. You are my inspiration. LoveThat dynamic can be found in fiction. Love a “I would follow you to hell and back, but I wish you’d stop going there.” That’s some good shit! If only… they… did it better…

mal and alina standing on a ship, close together

Photo: Attila Szvacsek/Netflix

Nicole: I think it’s hysterical that the show made time to give us an “only one bed” moment — you might say the show Did not overlook any chance — only to sea whip us across the face with a full two books of plot, plus new Six of Crows activity.

I don’t remember a whole lot of specifics from the second book, just the broad strokes. It is a step forward in that the show has removed the jealousy plot, but the episode still feels good. (I still can’t decide whether I’m happy or upset that it got rid of Mal’s incredible “I am become a blade” tattoo.)

But it’s a funny contrast against the plot points that the season DoesHow it transforms the Malina relationships into what they are trying to duplicate onscreen. The season moves so quickly that it makes me wonder what purpose some of these plot beats serve, beyond “this is how the original story went.” The fake Nikolai marriage plot is a blip. Vasily Lantsov’s participation is so brief, he kidnaps Mal — and then Mal simply shows up later once they’re hunkered underground, which contributes to a tiny bit of angst. That would have felt substantial, were that section of the story extended so that his loss was felt, or if the season emphasized the tenuousness of the insurgency and how it put Alina at a major disadvantage, but it didn’t!

It’s a pretty good distillation of the season’s repeated missteps: perfunctory inclusion of plot information, rushed through quickly. Romance plots are often more tightly wrapped up by quick plot beats. This makes it less like people interact with one another.

Austen:Because it sounds so exhausting, and it is also kind of terrible, I enjoy hearing about jealousy. It helps to explain why this triangle seemed so void. They seem to have taken the jealousy out. Great choice! but didn’t replace it with anything at all. It feels like, in an attempt to remove some of the unnecessary tension, they got rid of all the tension entirely, and now there’s just some casual flirting in all directions and everyone moves on with their day because they’ve got a shadow wizard to fight.

Nicole, your views on unnecessary plots or baffling decisions about what to keep and discard are spot on. Why not just skip the fake marriage entirely if it doesn’t lend anything else to the story? Or better yet, since it’s mostly used as a tease for the next season, why not just save the whole plotline for the interminable and meandering final episode?

Either way, we could probably spend a hundred of these responses on the little ways this relationship could have changed, but I want to see you two yell about the big ones: Let’s talk about the firebird.

mal in a cool coat

Photo: David Appleby/Netflix

Petrana:A real bird was taken from us! It was in the books! IsA real bird. The red herring isn’t really that important. Bird aside, the birds do discover Mal to be the third amplifier. They do however go through Mal’s song and dance. Babe, you gotta kill meAlina and? You must find another way Nauuur

However — and this is one of the few Malina interactions that the books did better — Alina does end up killing Mal, but NotWhen he’s already dead. This was an exaggeration!

Nicole:The ending changes were strange, it seemed they planned to add a third series. While I can understand the desire to keep main characters alive, I think the authors made interesting changes in the end. But I also really liked the third book’s ending, which allowed Mal and Alina to actually settle down — Mal’s dream! — while also subverting the Chosen One trope, by stripping Alina of her magical abilities and instead having those Sun Summoner powers distributed to others. This season, which is literally shattered by this romantic affair all around, feels lost. It’s a missed opportunity to speak about power and intimacy in a life that’s simple.

Given this turn, and the cop-out with Alina killing Mal you mentioned — it seems like they were trying to do something poetic there about how many times she tried to learn “the cut,” only to have it turn out tragically. It’s hard to miss Alina who did terrible things, but she had no choice. She was more intriguing and less boring. It’s sort of funny how this season really laid out a Star Wars-esque black-and-white sense of morality for its main characters. It’s this lack of emotional depth or complexity that I feel most deprived of.

Petrana: What I keep coming back to is the fact that the ending where Mal and Alina part ways in order to keep ’em around for season 3 Could make sense — IfIt was something they could have even remotely imagined. Everything just happened so fast, which I guess is what happens when you’re stuffing in two books’ worth of plot and trying to set up the fan-favorite book in the next season.

Unlike the books, where Alina fakes her own death and she and Mal take over their orphanage, the show ends with Mal losing his weird psychic tracker bond with Alina and deciding that means he doesn’t??? Do you love her in the same way as Mal? He takes the Sturmhond Privateer Identity and sails away into the night. Alina, however, continues to be engaged to Nikolai, and becomes a figurehead in Ravka’s life.

Here is the thing: I think I would’ve liked the changed ending, IfThe decision felt more like two people trying to discover who they are apart. They’ve been through hell together and maybe they just both need a moment to reflect on who they are and what they want out of life, without the pressures of war and whatnot. That is the type of thing that will need a lot more time. Mal used to literally be willing to kill for Alina right up until last episode. And you’re telling me that was only because of some magical bond?!

alina and mal making intense eye contact

Netflix Photo

Austen: This is exactly the point that bothers me most about the second season’s finale. Undermining the show’s entire central love story in service of either a third season that should just be about the Crows anyway, or a misplaced sense of romantic tragedy. Which is a catastrophic choice that makes the whole thing feel pointless — especially when the romance was a little lacking already.

Petrana’s exactly right that there’s a real chance at something interesting with the setup to separate them. By giving them each time apart to develop as people, the show could have found something interesting to say about the way love and couples function in YA literature and how often they’re nothing but an extension of Chosen One plotlines. Instead of revealing that Mal came from an unusual family and is secretly bird, instead the show does the reverse. A quick glance at his chest revealed that Alina had never been important to him.

This is like ending the season on an “it was all a dream” twist, except worse. Rather than the whole thing being a dream, we’re told that their whole relationship really did happen, it just didn’t matter at all.

Petrana: It is the only thing I know that CanThis ending can be described as keeping Alina and Mal alive for the possibility of a third season. The showrunners have already pulled the Crows back for this storyline, so why not put Mal and Alina in the Crows’ story somehow? I don’t know. They gotta keep ’em around, but also tossing them in a cottage in the countryside of Ravka and having most of the world think they are dead wouldn’t really let them be main players at all.

You can find the characters here Shadow and Bone make a lot of sacrifices for their causes… and I guess also for a third season, should that manifest.

Shadow and Bone Netflix has season 2 available.

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