Shadow and Bone “The Making at the Heart of the World” Review
Shadow and Bone is finally out and we couldn’t wait to start our roundtable reviews. If you still haven’t started watched the highly anticipated show of the year, check out the books, read our article here and start now! This is Shadow and Bone “The Making at the Hart of the World” Review.
Introductions
Marti: I’m Marti and I’m a contributor here at FANdemonium Network. I’m also an interpreting and translation student with a passion for tv shows and traveling.
Dan: I’m Dan, and I write the occasional piece for FANdemonium Network. My main job is as an appearance agent for actors for DMJ Consultancy.
Jen: Hi, I’m Jen and I’m a senior support agent in an office. When I’m not busy working, I love to travel or indulge in fantasy series and books.
Rike: Hey, I’m Rike and I’m also a contributor here at FANdemonium Network. Right now I’m about to finish my apprenticeship in a library, so one could say I’m really into books.
Q: Since the beginning of the episode, we meet a lot of new characters: Genya, Nina, The Apparat and Baghra. What do you think of these introductions?
D – I think they were all pretty good. Baghra is amazing, so seeing her so early was a treat. Nina impressed me and I can’t wait to see more from Genya. The Apparat is a character that annoyed me in the books, so I was less thrilled to see him, but that’s because of the character itself.
M – I’ve absolutely loved Genya and Nina’s introductions. They both are some of my favourite characters and they didn’t disappoint at all. Regarding Baghra, she’s exactly how I imagined her. I’ve never liked The Apparat so the less I see him, the happier I am.
R – They did a pretty good job with all the introductions in general. You already get a feeling on what each character is like just by seeing them for a few seconds. I have to agree with Dan, I don’t like The Apparat a lot but nevertheless they already made him look and act creepy in the short time we saw him. As a person who read the books I’m happy with the result as of now.
J – I loved all the introductions, especially because I think they are all very interesting characters in their own way. Nina and Genya are personal favorites of mine that I have already been loving in the books and was very excited to see on screen. Daisy and Danielle are the perfect embodiment of Genya and Nina and I truly couldn’t have been happier. Like Dan and Rike have mentioned as well, I am also not a big fan of the Apparat character, however the actor did an outstanding job making him look and act just like in the books.
Q: Continuing with the Crows, we see them splitting up duties in preparation for the crossing. We also see Kaz noticing the Conductor talking to General Zlatan, and consequently his plan will be based on this encounter. Did you notice this moment immediately or were you surprised when the plan was revealed some episodes later?
D – Oh I absolutely noticed. I drew the exact same conclusion that Kaz did. Not sure what that says about me… But yes, I’m glad it came to fruition later.
M – I have to say I didn’t notice the moment it happened, because I was too overwhelmed by being able to watch the show itself. Still, I was surprised when Kaz explained the whole plan. When I watched it a second time, I noticed all the little details that made me like it even more.
R – I have to admit that I didn’t notice it at first. But when I was watching the show for the second time, I was able to focus on stuff like that. It’s all about the little details. Kaz is such a mastermind and you never know what he’s up to and what’s going on in his mind.
J – I have to agree with Rike. I also didn’t notice at first and only realized later, but that’s why I enjoy watching the show multiple times. Everytime you notice more and more little details. With Kaz being a mastermind you truly never can be too sure with him.
Q: Going back to Nina, we see her being captured by Drüskelle and her first very encounter with Matthias, an important part of her life. Their story will be briefly shown in the show and the best (and worst) is yet to come. What do you expect from their storylines?
D – Well it was nice to see this happening in real time. In the books we only got this as flashbacks, so to watch it play through was brilliant. Everything from now on will likely be following the already-known story, so I just want more of the same.
M – Nina being one of my favourite characters, I’ve absolutely loved seeing these scenes happening. It looked like they jumped out of the books. I felt like it was a little bit too rushed though and that we missed a part of their character development. What I’m hoping for is that they’ll receive a better ending than in the original story…
R – Their storyline wasn’t one of my top favorites to be honest, but it was still pretty cute in general (talking about the books). They only had a few scenes in Season 1 but those were pretty intense to watch. Made you want more, right? I can’t wait for their story to continue, even though book people know how it’s gonna end (if they won’t change anything).
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J – I personally am a huge lover of Nina, Matthias and their storyline, so I was thrilled to finally see them on screen. I absolutely loved how they fitted their backstory in with the season, however I would have prefered it, if we would have gotten just a little bit more. Their scenes seemed a little rushed at times, but I get that this is because they wanted to fit their whole story into a couple episodes only to not take away too much screen time from the whole plot. That being said, I can’t wait for their scenes and hopefully more screen time in future seasons and with Matthias Helvar being one of my favorite characters of all time, I’ll take any little Drüskelle crumb I can get!
Q: Now, some Amplifiers talk. During her encounter with The Apparat, Alina gets to know more about amplifiers. Later, after Zoya seated her during training, she sees the Stag in her visions. What’s new in the show is that amplifiers are implemented in their skin instead of being worn like jewelry. What do you think about this decision?
D – I kind of feel like it was unnecessary to do it this way. Wearing them like jewellry would have been MUCH easier than dealing with prosthetics, and makes eventual issues such as them being damaged or broken much easier to manage. I kind of understand where they’ve come from – to try to emphasise that a Grisha can’t remove their amplifier. But that could have been handled in the Apparat’s talk, or by Kirigan. I just feel like it was an odd decision.
M – I was surprised when I saw the amplifiers implemented in their skin, not only because they’re objectively horrible to look at, but also because of a future part of the book. However, I get that they wanted to avoid making them look like jewelry as something good, when in fact they aren’t. I think they made them like that to emphasise the Darkling’s villainess.
R – I’m quite happy with the fact that they changed it. Wearing it like jewellery makes it look good and not like a bad thing at all. But the fact that it’s being implanted now makes people think. They don’t see it as some sort of accessoire anymore. On the contrary actually. It’s kind of disgusting. Amplifiers aren’t something you can just wear and be more powerful as a result. You actually become one with the amplifier.
J – I’m a bit torn on this one. While I first didn’t like the change much and definitely pictured the amplifiers as more of a jewelry thing, I do have to agree with Rike in the end. It’s not supposed to be a pretty accessoire and the way they displayed it in the show, shows that even more.
Overall rating:
D – we’ll go with 8.
M – 8
R – Let’s give this one a 8.5 because of the amount of Crows content and some Malina feelings.
J – 8,5 (Helnik, do i need to say more?)
You can read our latest review here and our exclusive interview with Angus castle-Doughty and Andy Burse here. See you next week for a new one!
