If you thought season one of Shadow and Bone was ambitious in combining two beloved book series, Netflix has one message for you about season two: “Hold my mead.” Not only does this season cover plot points from Leigh Bardugo’s Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows series, but it also adds in content from her King of Scars duology. The result is an intense, dramatic, weirdly fun, and sometimes too jam-packed season that could use a helluva lot more sapphic energy. Let’s get into it, shall we?

The Grishaverse is large, the lore is deep, and its political system can get a bit complex, so season one spent a lot of time introducing us to all of that, in addition to a diverse cast of characters. If you’re new to this universe, here’s a quick and very high-level summary. The story is set in Ravka, a fictional country that is split in two by a shadow barrier known as the Fold. As is common in many a high fantasy tale, there is a group of people who have special abilities and are looked down on by most of society; the Grisha. When we meet Alina Starkov, we (and she) believe she is simply a mapmaker but throughout the season we learn that she is actually the Sun Summoner, a fabled Super!Grisha (yes, I made that up) destined to destroy the Fold. Her path crosses with Aleksander Kirigan, commonly known as the Darkling, who can control darkness and trains Alina to use her new powers. Also Alina has a best friend named Mal who absolutely has feelings for her. Big “Mal is also there” energy.

“I’ve got the power!”

The other half of the season is spent with a group we’ll know as the Crows, a band of thieves led by Kaz Brekker, who are tasked with kidnapping the newly revealed Sun Summoner. The most interesting of the Crows (to me) are Jesper, a bisexual sharpshooter, and Inej, a spy on a mission to find her brother. Eventually both plot lines cross and season one ends with the revelation that the Darkling has been manipulating Alina the whole time as a means to his own evil ends, and he further expands the Fold before being attacked by creatures called volcra.

If that seems like A Lot(™), well, it is. Season two finds Alina and Mal continuing their mission to destroy the Fold by searching for two amplifiers to strengthen Alina’s power; a very much alive Kirigan training his own Grisha to prevent that from happening; and the Crows taking on a heist to wrest control of their club back from a mob boss called Pekka Rollins. And of course there is all of the action and romance you might come to expect from a high fantasy series.

Shadow and Bone is at its best when it focuses on its characters. Where season one found Alina learning her power, season two finds her standing in it. She spends much of this season wielding that power in an attempt to become the person so much of Ravka expects her to be. She balances her duty against her heart, all while Kirigan attempts to manipulate her into his control. And speaking of Kirigan, everyone’s favorite villain is back and as unsettling as ever. His abusive language and sometimes unhinged behavior makes it difficult to watch some of his scenes, but I’ll say this for Ben Barnes, he does an incredible job of getting me to hate Kirigan. Some of Alina’s best moments though, come when she gets to work in tandem with the other women. When each one of them stands in their respective and collective power, it makes for some of the most compelling and inspiring scenes of the season. (Give me my Alina, Zoya, Tamar, Nadia, Genya, Inej, and Nina spin-off PLEASE!)

TANK. TOP.

One of my favorite things about this season is the introduction of several potentially very interesting new faces: warrior twins Tolya and Tamar, Grisha Second Army member Nadia, crown prince of Ravka, Nikolai, and an explosives expert called Wylan. Readers of the books have been especially excited to meet Wylan, as he is one half of Wesper, the fan favorite ship of Wylan and Jesper. Now, admittedly, I didn’t have the same attachment to these bois going in, but suffice it to say, I will protect these queer babies with everything I have! Now here’s the thing, dear Reader, I don’t want to minimize the importance of seeing this couple being given the same level of attention as the het pairings on the show; there are multiple scenes where their relationship is clear with no ambiguity whatsoever, and that is massive. However, I would have loved to see that same energy given to what I can only guess is the wlw pairing of Nadia and Tamar.

“A lingering gaze is enough for the sapphics, yeah?” — Netflix, probably.

As soon as Tamar appears on screen, her swagger radiates off of her, and not only do I recognize it, but Nadia does too. We see several lingering glances and touches that can only be described as “overly familiar”, but unfortunately, that’s as far as the show goes in confirming their relationship or even their attraction. And the thing is, the chemistry between the actors is so palpable that I would believe you if you told me they were newly dating or if you said they’ve been married for years. So why, when Netflix has no problem showing Wesper’s romantic escapades, are the sapphics forced to settle for “maybes” and “good enoughs”? Personally, I’m tired of it.

Perhaps part of the reason Nadia and Tamar’s relationship doesn’t get explored is because of the sheer number of plot lines happening at once. I won’t spoil anything of course, but while writing this, I actually just remembered a plot line that completely escaped me until this moment. This season would be much better served by even an additional two episodes to give the story some room to breathe.

Overall, season two has all of the tenets of a high fantasy adventure including a beautiful world to play in and themes of love, fate, and choice to explore. It does a fantastic job at expanding that world and its varied cultures while highlighting the effects of real life issues like prejudice and war. At times though, its need to cover so many storylines comes at the expense of deep character development. Netflix has yet to confirm a season 3, but if it happens, you can bet you’ll find me captaining ye olde Nadia/Tamar ship into the sunset.

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