"The Heart Is An Arrow"
Fans of the books will recognise this episode title from Six of Crows as a piece of advice Inej remembers her father giving her - "The heart is an arrow. It demands aim to land true." It's a fan favourite and it's well suited to the moments the book paired characters share in this episode. A Grisha and Grisha hunter become less hostile, childhood friends are reunited, and a couple of crew members realise a little bit more what they mean to each other.
The episode begins with Arken captured and Kirigan ready to interrogate him with Zoya back at his side as his former favourite, acting like the innocent man who was tricked into the Crows plans and only came to the Palace as an entertainer. Here, you get the display of just how easily a Heartrender can read a person with the focus on their heartbeat alone, Ivan revealing every lie as Arken speaks them. When they find out he's the Conductor they've been hunting, we find that Nina had apparently been on a mission to root him out before she was captured by the druskelle. Arken proves to be someone who doesn't care what the aim is as long as the ends serve itself - first agreeing to kill Alina instead of kidnapping her and now offering himself as an assassin if it would save his own skin but still asking for payment. Though this, I think, is the first time we truly see how cold Kirigan is and how he can let go of any humanity he may have in him by how easily he decides to let the shadows kill Arken instead.
We then return to Alina, tucked away in the trunk on the Crows' carriage trying to break her way out with the few tools she has in her bag and sun summoning. Though what she comes out to is a stiff jawed Kaz, a wary but friendly Jesper and the ever faithful Inej who you can see is in awe of being in the vicinity of a living Saint. Jesper and Kaz are blinded by sunlight but Inej keeps her hands up with that look in her eye of someone who has that little bit of fear of what their Saint is capable of but their belief in them and love of them is so much stronger that she would rather save Alina than keep her captive. Amita Suman plays Inej's belief so well I could believe in the Grisha Saints just watching her.
Zoya is at this point still blinded by her desperation to be Kirigan's favourite again, trying to convince him that Alina did not want to be at the Little Palace and maybe ran away herself. She's right but for the wrong reasons. She is still desperate for a return to her former position, trying to make herself fit in where Kirigan used to need her. And at the moment when she thinks she may have it all back, her hopes are dashed again by his desperation to find Alina, who we see is still trying to lose her potential captors but stands out to people she runs into because of their prejudice against the Shu. Though her luck turns at last when Mal finds her as she runs away from guards that would have otherwise killed her.
Fortunately, their reunion and some of their recent frustrations with one another come out much sooner than how long it took in the books, it's something that takes too long in a lot of fiction sometimes and it gets a little bit annoying for the viewers. From the start, they ask each other why they never responded to each other's letters, that Mal had been trying to find his way back to her from the start and that Alina was still hurt by finding out about his entanglements with Zoya. They even approach the topic of Mal still wondering if Alina kept it a secret that she was Grisha, asking if she tricked the test when the Examiners came because she knew. When she says she didn't know but tricked the test so they wouldn't be split up, you can see that Mal is taken aback by how much that meant to her and also makes him happy, confirming that she does and always has cared about him as much as he has cared about her, something that they had both been doubting recently. And Alina finally finds out that Mal had been tracking the Stag on Kirigan's orders, with drawings from her journal. It's satisfying to see them forgive and move on quickly.
The next thing I really liked seeing as a change from the book was when they settled down for the night but couldn't risk as fire is that Mal was not uncomfortable with Alina using her power to keep them warm. At this point in the book, it's the one thing he still can't accept but here he is amazed by it and welcomes it as part of Alina. Their conversations that follow are much less tense, as open and honest as they were at the start before her power showed itself. It's these conversations where Alina expects Mal to be uncomfortable hearing about the changes she has gone through as Grisha but is amazed that he wants to hear about it. Though there is a lull in the conversation when she reveals how close she got to Kirigan now calling him Aleksander. And though she begins to apologise about decisions she made at the Little Palace, Mal doesn't care about anything she might have done there. It's this that makes readers prefer the screen version of Mal over the book version, that's me included. He acts more like the friend we are expecting him to be, as loyal to Alina as she is to him. Their relationship feels a lot more equal on screen and less one sided as it did on the page. Especially when it's followed by Kirigan finding out that Mal and Alina have been reunited, you can see the rage building under the surface realising that she is going after the Stag.
After searching the town they all ended up in and lost Alina, Inej goes back to Kaz to share what she has learned but once again their individual beliefs - Inej's worship of the Saints and Kaz's cynicism - put them at conflict with one another. However, their conversation doesn't continue when Kaz lets slip that without Alina, they would lose the Crow Club to Tante Heleen and Pekka Rollins - something he kept a secret from the others but shows Inej how far he went to make sure she was with them in Ravka. However, their time begins to run out as they prepare to leave Ravka but Kirigan and the Grisha arrive having followed their trail, Jesper's alarm trigger alerting them to their presence. The chaos that follows is brilliant to watch displaying the skills and abilities of each of the Crows against a Grisha.
Inej is chased by an Inferni that turns out to be the sister of the Grisha she killed; Jesper is hunted by Ivan; and Kaz gets the worst of them all. Jesper's skill is beautiful to watch, the way he angles and bounces the bullets off his gun with each shot, aiming precisely at the same spot on Ivan's bulletproof kefta. Though Ivan follows his heartbeat, Jesper also still manages to trick him into chasing him in other corners of what looks like a laundry room, leading him to a hiding child instead. But when Jesper finally subdues Ivan, it is the presence of that child that stops him from shooting in that same spot on the kefta again to kill Ivan - a big softie, in the sharpshooter's own words. Inej's method of fighting a Grisha is not so distant as she goes for hand-to-hand combat instead, not allowing the Inferni to use fire as much as possible. Though she has had her first kill, Inej still offers mercy to the Grisha, telling her not to pull out the knife she has just been stabbed with until a Healer is nearby. But Polina, the Inferni, shows just how prejudiced Ravkans can be by responding with a racist slur then threatening to kill all those that Inej loves - right now, that could only account for Kaz and Jesper having lost all her family so far. With these few words, killing has become easier for Inej.
Meanwhile, Zoya follows Kaz or someone he'd paid to walk and dress like him as a decoy. Yet when we see him again, he comes face to face with the Black General himself - the two darkest and most complex characters from the books they each come from. It's something readers never would have expected to see but have always wanted to. But it also demonstrates that despite all the power Kirigan has, Kaz still has enough tricks up his sleeve to evade one of the most powerful Grisha who ever lived, even after taunting him about Alina's choice to run away. It might be worth recalling that in the second episode, Kirigan told Alina the Cut should only be used in life or death situations yet is seen to be more than willing to use it on Kaz, someone who was not a threat to the former's life at all. Kirigan is finally showing his true colours. Though each individual fight and chase was invigorating to watch, the transition style wasn't well suited. Those quick camera slide transitions are suited to scenes focused on the Crows' side of the story but it felt ill-suited with how the Ravkan Grisha side of the story was intertwined here. It's good for a heist, not so great for Crow vs Grisha fights.
When they do finally reunite, Inej is the only one that is injured with a wound to her abdomen. Reading into the scene, you can see that Kaz is worried but steps back when she takes Jesper's offered arm for support. Freddy Carter does really well with subtle facial expressions and choices in body language that hint towards Kaz's touch aversion. Their comandeering Kirigan's carriage is amusing with the gentle David sitting in their quietly and choosing to run immediately only to be knocked out. That copy of Shadow and Bone in Ravkan is something to admire and a prop any collector would want on their shelves. At this point, David is still quite innocent to the true intentions and nature of the Darkling, still serving him by talking about the ring Alina is still wearing being something he can help track her down with.
With the news of Nina's wearabouts being confirmed to Kirigan, Nina and Matthias' fate is finally revealed in the ruin of the storm, the only survivors of the shipwreck. What I love about this scene is it shows their need for each other and begins to soften their dislike of one another. Nina knows that she cannot swim and keep herself and Matthias warm and though he refuses to say it, he understands that he needs to swim if she is to keep them both alive. It is the beginning of these two characters beginning to understand each other. They soon wash up on the shore of a beach unsure of where exactly they are though they know it is most likely Fjerda, seeing a hut close by to recover in, which involves some of their most comical interactions as, though they have accepted that they need each other's help, their tense back and forth insults still continue.
Though when they wake up, we get the very familiar flirtatious Nina teasing Matthias about their sleeping next to each other naked. At this point of getting to know each other, you get to know what their separate cultures are like - Fjerdan men and women play the traditional roles of caretaker and protector respectively whereas Ravkan boys and girls train equally, fighting side by side. Despite their disagreements, they begin to soften towards each other by making one another laugh and it becomes a more light-hearted moment between the two. Their time together has proven to change their thoughts and feelings about each other when they travel through the ice, speaking honestly to one another about what they've started to feel. It proves effective at the moment when Nina could have fallen through the ice to her death and Matthias could have let it happen. In fact, as he holds her on the edge, there is a cold look on his face where you could believe that he was willing to let her go but he doesn't. As they look at the hole when she is up, you can see that they both realise that split second has changed everything for the two of them. I didn't even realise that until this moment, neither of them knew the other's name.
Reasons to Recommend:
- Positive changes from the books to Mal and Alina's relationship
- The character growth from Nina and Matthias' growing bond
- Grisha vs Crow fights were spectacular
- More scenes bringing together characters from Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows
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