Best of 2023: Performances

We’re going to be thinking about the Best of 2023 performances for a long, long time.

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Shadow and Bone 1×08 “No Mourners” Review

“No Mourners” concludes Shadow and Bone’s first season almost as we’d expect it, a little rushed in its climax, but it gives us incredible moments of character development, so you’ll hear no complaints from me. Choice is a predominant, ongoing theme throughout the course of this season, and the finale reiterates its importance with reflection and moments full of loud whispers. It sets up the oncoming arcs for our favorite characters with

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Shadow and Bone 1×07 “The Unsea” Review

As far as season penultimate episodes go, “The Unsea” is easily on my list of favorites. It isn’t flawless by any means, but it’s a magical showcase of vulnerability while focusing on the importance of freedom. It’s the episode that sets almost every dynamic up remarkably while still leaving a lot of room to dissect the grey areas that play into the complexities of these characters.  There’s never inherently good

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Shadow and Bone 1×06 “The Heart is an Arrow” Review

“The Heart is an Arrow” and humanity is so often complex in the same way that it is striking. Shadow and Bone’s sixth episode gives us reunions and answers—it leaves us with questions and a lot of moments of exceptional character development. The show is great in the beginning, but really, the last four episodes are where it sets sail and does so gorgeously even in the wreckage. While the previous episode

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Shadow and Bone 1×05 “Show Me Who You Are” Review

“Show Me Who You Are” is one explosive, nuanced title for the amount of stuff that erupts in this episode and just how much we start to see through these characters along with their relationships. And it showed viewers exactly who these people are without telling us too much. (Which is a first for this show that previously featured a lot more telling with some characters.) The Winter Fete is

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This Week’s Most Noteworthy Performance: Amita Suman

April 23-May 1Season One | Shadow and Bone Amita Suman Shadow and Bone is full of incredible performers left and right who’ve each done a compelling job of bringing their characters to life with range and nuances that have made them even better than they were on paper. This is a series that demanded its characters show more and the performances do. When we say they all understood the assignment,

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Shadow and Bone 1×03 “The Making at the Heart of the World” Review

What is the heart of the world in this universe? What “making” are we talking about? The Fold? Heartrenders? The chemistry between everyone on this show? I don’t know, I never actually figured it out but regardless, I’m here for it. “The Making at the Heart of the World” kicks off with Alina dreaming of a stag (the stag) and when she’s awakened, she’s bombarded with the Little Palace staff,

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Scene Breakdown: Knives, Trust, and Loyalty in Shadow and Bone’s “Otkazat’sya”

When Inej gives Kaz her knives in Shadow and Bone‘s “Otkazat’sya,” it serves as a rather obvious showcase of trust. Trust is a convoluted spectacle at times, a labyrinth of endless security that relies heavily on excavation—searching, cherishing and cementing. It seldom requires words in this form, it’s either buried deep or boldly on display, and when there are words, they are a parallel to what’s been established before. Trust

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Shadow and Bone 1×02 “We’re All Someone’s Monster” Review

“We’re All Someone’s Monster” opens up with a flashback to Mal and Alina’s Grisha test indicating that they ran and hid because Alina didn’t want to be separated from him in case she was Grisha, and that’s just precious. We’ll keep saying this, but this friendship is a beautiful thing and so damn pure, it’s a solid way to start the episode and paralleling it with General Kirigan’s (Ben Barnes)

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Scene Breakdown: A Moment of Vulnerability in Shadow and Bone’s “The Unsea” Between Inej Ghafa and Kaz Brekker

“Crows don’t just remember the faces of people who wronged them. They also remember those who were kind. They tell each other who to look after and who to watch out for.” Kaz Brekker and Inej Ghafa‘s moment of vulnerability in Shadow and Bone‘s “The Unsea” might just be the most intimate scene in the first season. Brick by brick. Word for word. Glance after glance. There is so much

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Shadow and Bone 1×01 “A Searing Burst of Light” Review

Welcome to the Shadow Fold, Grishaverse. The time is now, the day is here, and we’ve got a lot to breakdown with Shadow and Bone’s first episode,”A Searing Burst of Light.”  First things first about these reviews, I have not read the Shadow and Bone trilogy, my expertise in both book and TV verse lies with the Six of Crows duology. And for the sake of these reviews, I’ve done a bit of research

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