User Reviews

Well the episode - considering the whole season - isn't bad in itself but it was still underwhelming, the whole show is kinda underwhelming and this episode doesn't do crazy things to top other episodes.

The Fold had so much potential and they could've added some good horror and fantasy elements to the show but they just rather to show us dialogues after dialogues. I know the Volcra are the people that lived in that area, but still, they could've added more monsters and creatures into it and didn't have to be just like the book, and not even considering that, there are still animals and birds in that area right?

They could've showed lots of more creatures but it's just flying monster man from the start to finish. Makes The Fold just uninteresting when you see everything it has to offer just by watching the first episode.

Like is that why people are afraid to go through The Fold? Just some flying creatures? It's not like they shoot fire out of their mouth or anything. Grisha have impenetrable bulletproof Kefta for fck sake, and you're telling me they don't have the material or the metal to make a safe transport vehicle that the Volca can't penetrate?

Or even more, couldn't they send an army just shooting those things and destroy them?

Cause from the look of it, The Fold isn't even that big on map so there couldn't be a lot of people in there to have turned into Volcra.

And if you're saying "read the book dumbass, you'll see why they can't do all those things you said", well I'm not reading the book right? I'm watching the show and it doesn't tell me in 8 episodes why they can't do that. If Jesper can kill five or six Volcra in 10 seconds, what could an army with mini guns do to them?

If they at least showed us more threat and danger inside The Fold than just flying creature dudes, I would've been more worried when our characters went into it.

And so far I would say that one the few things that worked for me was the relationship of Matthias and Nina. It's not a crazy character development or anything, but it's enough to make you like them and care about them. I'm interested to see what they're gonna do with these two in the future. And obviously the gang of the three is also likable and it works.

The main villain tho, it's just your generic "black" bad guy that they at least could've given him more depth in the last episode but they didn't, so the train of clichés just keeps coming. And it was funny seeing Mal fighting and almost winning against this centuries old magic guy. It's like seeing Harley Quinn fighting Vandal Savage and almost winning!

Although it would be interesting to see what he's gonna do next now that he's bringing the Volcra with him outside of The Fold. Maybe they do better in season 2, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Overall, the season was pretty mediocre and had nothing new to show in this young adult fantasy genre and they didn't even explore their own lore and characters that much. So it's not a show that I would suggest to anyone and say watch this before you die it's amazing! Rather watch it if you have the time it's not that bad, and I'd give a 7.5 or 8 cause it's not horrible, just nothing new to see and a lot of lost potential.

There were many times throughout the season I wanted them to be more retaliated about the darkling. Whilst he did create the fold. It clearly wasn't because he's evil. It's because he was distraught from the death of his wife/Partner And felt the same could be coming from his entire family. I wish they had gone deeper into seeing his people slaughtered and taken advantage of over a millennia. It might just be Ben barns being a fantastic actor. But I feel like the character genuinely just wanted what's best for his people. The west ravkins had been selling out grisha to the fyrdens to be slaughtered. They were by no means good people. They even tried to have Alina assassinated because she could reunited the empire. I just feel they could have made it harder for the viewers to decide who is right or wrong not tell us who is right or wrong.

The ending to Shadow and Bone was better in the books in my opinion because it was slightly darker where Mal actually didn't escape from his imprisonment and the Darkling was going to feed him to the volcra. To save Mal, Alina actually makes the decision of letting everyone on the skiff die after they failed to side with her and listen to her warnings about the Darkling. She does this by learning to use the Cut for the first time which destroys the skiff and then her and Mal escape by only having the light surround them. This perfectly foreshadows the internal struggle and character development Alina will go through in the next book because she's afraid that she's becoming the Darkling and he's truly the only one who understands her. This is even leaves room for the Darkling's manipulations towards Alina as well as having the reader question the Darkling's character because if him and Alina are not so different does that truly make him a monster?

Compared to the season 1 ending, I can't complain about the Crows involvement too much because they needed to fit into the story somehow. Also, I liked how the writers actually gave an explanation to why the Darkling killed the citizens of NovoKribirsk because it's not explained until King of Scars that they want independence from Ravka since they've grown comfortable with not being ruled over, thanks to the Fold. They were even planning on aligning with Fjerda to do it even though they hunt and kill Grisha. As a result, the Darkling killed them as a lesson to his enemies; if he's willing to slaughter his own people, then imagine what he'll do to his enemies?

Now, the negatives: I didn't like some of the camera shots because it made the scenes look awkward and cheesy at times. Also, I didn't like how the Darkling got into a fist fight with Mal because he's supposed to be this all powerful being and that scene diminished that. The other complaint was how Zoya was friendly towards Alina at the end of the season because there wasn't any build up to a friendship forming between them. They were enemies, then they magically make up because the Darkling betrayed them even though in the books there was so much more than that being the reason why Zoya didn't like her.

Overall, this is Netflix's best fantasy adaptations or at least one of the best and I look forward to season 2!!

At times it didn't feel like a finale episode but it was still a lot of fun, just didn't feel as epic as I wanted it to be.

Not enough action, and the fight scenes that were shown weren't very impressive. It was just a bit of fist fighting and an underwhelming use of magical powers. The two best fight scenes were, 1. The one in the forest in the second episode, when the darkling uses the cut to chop the man in half and 2. In episode 4 when Mal fights in the snowy forest. Oh and I did enjoy a few scenes in episode 7 with Alina and the darkling using their powers, both in the flashbacks and the killing of the stag. Other than those few I find the action lacking something. Probably the gore and violence, but I understand it is a YA show.

Sometimes I felt that the crows got in and out of places a little too easily without much trouble, wouldn't other guards recognise their own in a palace straight away? It was a bit unbelievable at times. Kaz didn't really do anything this whole episode except stab a volcra so that was disappointing, and Jesper literally only made like 3 shots.

I really liked the last shot in this episode though and Ben Barnes as the Darkling is perfection. Honestly, he is the one who carries this show.

Other actors I will commemorate are: Archie Renaux as Mal and Kit Young as Jesper.

The others were just ok.