Alina is free, The Crows are returning to Ketterdam, defeated. Kirigan is desperate and Mal is, once again, a prisoner.

The episode starts with some well crafted set ups which promise a thundering ride to the conclusion.

Except what we get is a flashback, an extended scene in which we learn about Alexander Kirrigan and a little of how the fold came to be. The characters in the show have called the kind of magic the Grisha do the little science and there have been hints that there is something more powerful they can do but which nobody actually does. It’s not clear from the show why this is except to say certain of the Saints mentioned, not least the creator of the stag, are thought to have engaged in the Big Science.

Although this flashback attempts to explain why Alexander is who he is we don’t get to see what it was he did which so frightened the non-Grisha population, even if it’s made clear he had done something to frighten them.

The creation of the fold appears to have been an accident and in other circumstances we might sympathise with him for what has happened and the casualties he has caused in trying to protect those he loved. But Alexander doesn’t care about the casualties only that he failed to achieve what he was actually trying to do. In some ways he is very similar to Magneto from the X-Men; someone who has come to believe that those not like him are part of a lesser species whose objections are not simply unimportant but have a fundamentally lesser worth than those of people like him. The show doesn’t particularly explore this greyness because Alexander is quite clearly a sociopath and ultimately whatever justifications he uses his path is one of those trodden by the people who do not see others as properly real.

His sin is not the creation of the fold and the deaths that resulted but the fact he did not care and would do it all again if it would help him achieve his aims. We see evidence of his manipulation and using people like tools across the episode and across different characters including but not limited to Alina.

What this does provide us with is the chance to see a conversation between Alina and Alexander in which both acknowledge their paths could have been different and perhaps they could have been together, but Alina has diagnosed his shortcomings quite accurately and wants nothing to do with him. I am glad they moved away from her simpering after him regardless of his bad boy status. I understand the books take a slightly different approach in which Mal and Alexander vie for Alina’s attention for much longer. The show quickly gives us a Mal who learns from his mistakes and understands his place in the world even if that means he has to let go of his feelings for Alina she inevitably outgrows him.

The Crows are facing challenges of their own. Without being able to take Alina back to Ketterdam, Kaz and the others face losing everything, but they are not in a position to fulfil that contract and even if they were they are not united about whether or not they should do this. If Alina as the Sun Summoner was just a figure to them before they arrived, she is now a real human being and they find themselves unable to treat her like an object.

What their situation does do is spark creativity and humour and deepens the bond between them. Although they promise each other no one is going to die as they board a skiff full of Grisha and hope it will take them home, it’s clear that dying is not quite the most important thing in the world but facing it together as family is. The Crows continue to provide much needed levity to the show as well as their own set of thrills. If Alina and Mal have a tendency to be overly sombre their story hits its stride in episode 7, but the Crows continue to lift the show beyond what the Grisha can provide.

Episode 7 ends with all the main characters entering the Fold on a skiff, about to face their darkness and all of them knowing, in one way or another, they’re not getting through without a fight.

Episode 8 picks up seamlessly from the end of episode 7 and most of the show takes place within the Fold as all the different characters confront one another in their own ways. Some of them simply want to survive, others want to do what is right, and others want to win. They’re coming together of all these different agendas and criteria for success creates a set of exciting interactions across the crows the Grisha and between Alexander, Mal, and Alina.

In putting the final conflict within the confines of the Fold where the characters cannot roam or runaway, the show creates a very small piste on which the fight unfolds. Kirigan continues to display his disregard for those around him and it is this which leads to someone his own side trying to oppose him.

Part of the characterization of Kerrigan is as an abuser, a charming one, but an abuser nonetheless and we see it here most clearly in how he takes what belongs to Alina and uses it for himself, trying to justify to both her and himself that his actions are good and with calls even if they appear on the surface to be reprehensible. Elsewhere in a fit of anger he stated he would be the villain Alina thought he was, but right through this episode he continues to try to convince those around him he is on the side of good.

It is an interesting portrayal of moral wrongdoing. When so much evil is perpetrated by those within systems who continue to do wrong to others because that’s the way things are done, Alexander’s evil is done entirely through his own agency. You can see the pressures he feels he is facing – a hostile world, mistakes which cannot be undone, isolation and the power no one else understands – at least in his mind.

His fixation on Alina is partly because he considers her his equal even if he treats her like a slave. Really his argument towards her boils down to ‘we are alike so you should understand’, and perhaps even that she would do the same if she had been through what he had experienced.

In a thrilling final showdown between the Crows, Mal, Alina and Alexander, he faces the world alone, but one can’t help but think it is of his own making and entirely deserved.

The commitment the Crows bring is both to their own survival but also, if partly reluctantly, to Alina. If they are not all true believers they are at least grudgingly acknowledging of who she is. They understand her position perhaps better than anyone else – having to deal with a hostile world who would use her and then discard her without a second thought. if anyone was to be sympathetic to her place it is the crows and This is why I am so glad they brought them into the series. The Crows don’t just offer their own story and insight into the world but they offer insight into Alina and her position and challenges. The show has dealt deftly with challenges of class and hierarchy without punching them home with heavy hands. The Crows and Alina have far more in common than Alina does with any of the other Grisha and the commentary here on class, privilege and power is one the younger people in the house understood immediately.

The show is not overly concerned with social issues, but the world is built in such a way that they’re gently baked into what the story is about. What that means is the show isn’t asking questions about these injustices, but they are still there. It’s not a bad thing – the story is focussed on its characters not the world they live in and if it’s not focussed on the why of their situations that’s OK because it does deliver a strong, diverse cast with great stories.

If I’m honest I think the story could have done with another couple of episodes because there are several elements which feel like they’re given to us too quickly – not least Inej’s religious journey. I’d like to have seen more of Alina in the royal court if only to allow the rest of the cast to be fleshed out and the world to be explored a little more. I’d also like to have seen and understood more about Kaz, who in the books is a proper bad ass but here serves to drag everyone else along without ever really shining on his own terms.

The final element here is Nina and Matthias who wind up at odds after their gentle romance as she tries to save his life and it goes wrong. There is no resolution to this story and it’s clearly now set up for future seasons.

Verdict: Overall this series has impressed and it has done a good job of finishing up with decent resolutions while providing ample space for future seasons to take us further into the Grishaverse.

Rating? 9 emo sand skiffs of 10.

Stewart Hotston