SHADOW AND BONE (A CREATIVE BORE OR MAYBE NOT)

Shadow and Bone is another book adaption into a tv series. It’s falls into the fantasy genre. The plot is set in a world where people with power to control certain elements are called Grisha. Griahas are divided into categories. Some can summon wind or fire, metal or glass, and other that can manipulate the human bodies. The main story takes place in a country called Ravka but during a certain event in the timeline the country is divided into two by a dark fold. A dark barrier that is inhabited by dangerous creatures called volcras, they devour anyone that dares to cross to the other side of the country. Following this event of division, Ravka is divided into West Ravka, a place where grishas are not welcomed in public and East Ravka, where humans and grishas co-exist peacefully. East Ravka through its nature have an army that consist of both human and grisha. This army comprising of humans and grishas is called the second army and it is led by a general called Kirigan, a grisha that who can summon darkness; a very rare trait.

The main plot follows Alina Starkov, a cartographer and a new recruit in the second army. Through series of events Alina discovers she's not just a human as she has always believed. She a grisha and not just an grisha. She happens to be the sun summoner. A grisha that can summon light. She is also seen as a saint who had been prophesied to destroy the dark fold that splits Ravka into two. The rest of the story follows Alina on her journey to become a sun summoner; the plot feels familiar and straightforward.

I’m not here to tell you if this tv series is bad or not. I’m only here to tell you the reason why I find it unimpressive and why that is. If you know anything about these types of stories, you will one hundred percent know how things will go. It’s like a written formula that has gotten stale over the years. There will be an established turmoil, in this case it’s the hate and discrimination against the grishas and the Shadow fold; a shadow barrier that splits Ravka into two block and blocks them away from neighboring countries. There will be a prophecy of some savior that is going to put an end to the turmoil or unrest and that’s our heroine, Alina Starkov. The prophesied savior will first deny their power and responsibility and try to run away from it. Later they’ll come to accept it, then go on a journey of discovering their new life and responsibility and oh wait, there are also people that will try to kill the new savior and mean them no good.

It's just too predictable. Shadow and Bone contains all these tropes and follows them to the core. All these sounds like a creative bore to some of you guys already I know, but I actually found something interesting about this series and before we get into other reasons why some of us might find this series unimpressive. I’ll like to just point out what I liked the most of this series. 

If there is anything that interest me about this show. It is the second story arch. Shadow and Bone is divided into three story arches. The main one that tells the story our main heroine, Alina Starkov, General Kirigan and Alina's friendzoned best friend, Hal. Seriously I don't understand their friendship. The second one follows a group of hustlers, Jesper, Kaz and Inej on a mission to steal something precious from East Ravka. The third follow a grisha known as an heartrender and a grisha hunter. I enjoyed the story about the heist. First, there is a twist to what they are actually supposed to steal, that got me interested the moment it was revealed. Secondly, while the team might contain stereotypical characters like the clever and sneaky mastermind, Kaz, the assasin and stealth specialist, Inej, and their sharpshooter and firepower who also acts the comic-relief, Jesper. Like I said they might look like common stereotypes but the chemistry between these three just made me love their story arch so much and the actually pulled my interest to care about the main arch itself. 

Now to another reason why you might find this series to be a creative bore. If you grew up watching movies like Eragon, The Lord of the rings, Harry Porter, Merlin, The legend of the seeker and the likes. You will agree with me there was so shortage of these types of fantasy adventure movies like this in the mid-2000s into early 2010s. What these movies have all in common were always about a prophecy about a chosen one or a special thing. It’s 2021 and it’s really hard not to say we’ve seen what these types of movies have to offer but regardless of the number of times you’ve seen this genre. There is always a certain expectation that comes with delving into a new one. You want to experience a world you haven’t seen before. You want to meet the interesting characters whether they’re humans or mythic races. You want to experience a concept you’re familiar with but with a different lore. 

After three episodes into Shadow and Bone, I found myself overwhelming with the feeling of 'I have seen this before' and by the end of the last episode, I can't say I had a fun time all through. It had its fun moments and also meh moments. Thinking things over and giving extra thought as to why I felt this way about this series I came to a conclusion that the series might be directed towards a specific type of audience. I might be wrong about this, but I feel like the type of audience that will find Shadow and Bone very interesting, are audience early to mid teens. Now hear me out, I mentioned some popular fantasy movies and shows that I watched growing up and i guess you guys did. Those were the what we grew up with, today there aren't just many of those that are well-made. So for kids, in their early teens Shadow and Bone is one of the of shows they will have to talk about when they grow older. Some of you guys might still not agree with me on this and say why can't they just watch the old classics instead. That's a very good point which leads to the other thought I had after seeing this show.

I can't remember the topic of the video in particular, but I was going through a YouTube comment section some few days ago and I stumbled upon an interesting thought by a commentator. He/She made a very good point about how we put so much emphasis in comparing new movies in this decade to the ones that came before. They state the fact that we always want movies to measure up to our old favorite movies which often make us to ignore the individual brilliance and creative perspective of these movies. In some cases, these new movies might not measure up to our favorite classic but by focusing too much or riding on their hype train we miss completely what they do right. A very valid observation and this is the situation I found myself with Shadow and Bone, as much as another person might found it interesting, it entirely wasn't to me but I found brilliance in its subplot as I stated in an earlier paragraph.

If you are able to follow my article up to this point, I'm glad you did and thanks for your patience. Shadow and Bone is just another okay series in my opinion. If you're looking to watch an interesting lore than what Shadow and Bone have to offer, consider checking out Carnival Row or The Witcher. These two were my personal favourite from last year.

I'm still yet to watch His Dark Material another fantasy tv series out there, you might also want to check that out.