SHADOW AND BONE: Steampunk Fantasy Meets Tsarist Russia

After the first season of The Witcher and The Umbrella Academy, Netflix did not relent, as if in defiance of the general trend according to which the popularity of fantasy in cinema is declining and the genre is being replaced by science fiction in various configurations, even in drama form. Feature-length productions under the sign of magic and sword are few compared to science fiction. So maybe the chance for the genre’s revival lies in properly refined series such as Shadow and Bone?

Since childhood I had heard from literature enthusiasts that science fiction and fantasy were inferior forms of it. I never understood where this aversion came from. I read all books, regardless of genre, the great ones and the small ones. I never noticed that one genre was particularly worse in language and content quality. Well, perhaps I have the least experience with romances, so I am not so sure about that. I think, however, that these negative opinions were caused more by prejudice against the subject than by an objective assessment of literary value.

It seems that the last 15 years in both science fiction literature and film have brought changes. This happened thanks, among others, to technological development, to the efforts of the younger generation of writers to make their genre books less classical, and to cinema boldly exploiting the subject and combining it with various other genres of film expression. Today, science fiction is starting to be more appreciated, one could say – it is considered smarter than it used to be. And fantasy?

Certainly, one model of sword-and-sorcery storytelling has worn out, become overused, and has no chance to survive in its previous form. It needs to be given new frameworks, to modify its convention. In a sense, The Witcher series did that, but still too timidly. It survived in this fantasy-averse world not thanks to its quality (which is undoubtedly its merit), but thanks to the legend created by video games. To save the genre for future generations of viewers and readers, it is necessary to go further, as Leigh Bardugo did, and Netflix, together with a group of independent creators, skillfully translated into a series.

What exactly does this going further mean? Above all, abandoning the sword, pushing magic into the background, which does not mean giving it a marginal role, making space for the general development of the world, introducing elements of technology, etc. We thus got a mixture of science fantasy, steampunk with urban and war low fantasy. Thanks to this, the fantasy world depicted in Shadow and Bone became quite a vast place to present the characters’ personalities, and there are really many of them.

Among other things, this is what critics accuse genre literature of – that its psychology limps, is too simple, devoted to the enigmatic nature of spells, myths, irrational explanations, etc. The series Shadow and Bone is different. From the beginning it almost overwhelms the viewer with the abundance of names. Crows, volcra, Grisha, drüskelle, dime lions, west Ravka, east Ravka, squallers, tidemakers and inferni, and at the same time a multicultural world with numerous references to our East and West.

In the first episode one can get lost. In the second it is already better, as, for example, the threads of Kaz Brekker and Alina Starkov begin to connect. For some, especially those unfamiliar with the literary original, this may be quite a difficulty. I would encourage at least a bit of effort. The world of Shadow and Bone draws one in, both the urban one, full of merchant mafia, and the courtly one, alluding to Tsarist Russia, both tinged with magic supported by nineteenth-century technology.

This overly complicated content without any explanations is a small crack on the whole production. It should not be that the viewer is left to fend for themselves, so that thrown into the deep end of the presented world they either stay afloat or sink like a stone. In addition, this multitude of names, relationships and cultural references has been combined with a drama thread, which on the one hand is precisely this attempt in the fantasy genre to reach viewers not previously interested in this atmosphere, and on the other may discourage the so-called hardcore fans.

Indeed, sometimes it is a bit too melodramatic, and the initiation of the main heroine proceeds rather sluggishly, so that at a certain stage the promising Sun Summoner turns into a spineless teenager who does not know what she wants. The wait until the end of the fourth episode before something concrete happens is prolonged, which causes Alina (Jessie Mei Li) to lose quite a bit of charisma. In general, the presentation of the initiation of a newly discovered Grisha smacks of naivety, but it was probably supposed to be that way, since the production has its characteristic youthful streak, despite the many scenes of violence present.

It often happens that when the emotional dilemmas of the characters are translated into image, especially those related to love, due to the necessary simplification used by the film medium, they become pretentious. In addition, the solemn music, the characters’ wistful glances – and kitsch is ready. Fortunately, there are not so many of these moments as to feel embarrassment. One can just as well skip them, focusing on the intrigue, the rising tension and the beautiful visual setting.

Special effects are used sparingly, discreetly. They co-create a world artfully designed in terms of set design, costumes, cinematography, music, editing. I admit that the visual reading of Shadow and Bone is pleasurable. At times I even envied that The Witcher did not have such visual design. You can feel that Netflix is drawing conclusions from criticism, meeting expectations, developing towards true serial super-productions like those created, for example, by HBO.

The score of 8 is given by me a bit generously. The second season can still ruin everything. It reflects, however, the freshness of Shadow and Bone. Apart from the still relatively rare approach to fantasy, the series is an extremely rich gallery of personalities. It reflects how different people are, starting with multireligiosity and ending with multisexality. It is gratifying that in contemporary cinematography, for example, homosexual relationships are treated as an ordinary part of reality, which does not serve any forced indoctrination. With this reflection I would like to encourage you to watch.

Read about the second season here.