I feel like the reason Alina gets discriminated against is because she is specifically Shu and not because she isn’t white. I think it’s because she looks like “the enemy” like she said in the beginning. The Ravkans also seem to say terrible things about the Fjerdans, and vise versa, but like they’re not racist towards people from like Novyi Zem even though they’re not white, because they’re allies. Like the Suli people are still Ravkans. Idk that’s just what I was thinking because otherwise the racism doesn’t really make sense lol.
@@withcindy I totally agree. I feel like I only think that because I’ve read the books and if I’d only seen the show I would’ve been even more confused about it than I am now lol.
@@withcindy Agreed. We know why because we've read the books. But to a viewer who hasn't read the book and who just has a one-sentence explanation at the beginning of the series from Ana Kunya, it must be pretty hard to follow.
@@withcindy The Shu specifically are the enemy because they've been at war with the countries north and south of them for hundreds of years trying to get a way around the Fold. Also, in the books at least, Shu Han and Fjerda seemed to be the two countries with the greatest anti-grisha sentiments, in the current era at least, so it would make sense for such a Grisha-heavy country to be enemies with them, specifically.
hmm i thought it was obvious that she was discriminated cuz the Shu are Ravka's enemies because of the scenes at the beginning at the military camp? we also see the propaganda posters that are clearly about war but maybe it could have been shown better
“see if Inej is gonna flip her hair even more so i can watch intensely in a very straight way” 👀👀 Cindy calling us all out, huh? Amita Suman’s hair should be credited separately and have it’s own trailer for season two
As a biracial girl myself the way the queen made a comment about her not being Asian enough hit different, people tend to expect biracial people to be more culturally in tune with their minority side
i’m not biracial myself but i see a tendency to call half black half white people for example, just black. i feel like it’s related to some form of racism but i don’t fully understand how
@@mentallyunstable1926 it's generally just a way to categorize all mixed people because its "easier to understand" for them, even though it erases our actual identity. An easier way to think of it would be someone who's half Asian but doesn't look it gets categorized as "white"
@@mentallyunstable1926 the one drop rule is definitely helpful. There is also the binary logic of race that applies more heavily for black and white folk
Nina demands the attention AND WE GIVE IT TO HER WILLINGLY BECAUSE WHO DOESN'T!? even matthias "grisha hunter" helvar can't keep his eyes from waffle queen
I didn't like how Zoya was boxed as a jealous stereotypical girl and we are the one who have to interpret her character when she has so many depth on her. I wish the would have changed her character because they easily had the opportunity to
I would argue that jealousy was really her motive in that fight, since in the books, Zoya blasted Alina because Nadia(?) had said that she was the one whom the darkling fooled around with before finding the sun summoner. I love her character though, especially in king of scars!
I'd really like if she has a good learning curve in the next seasons. Honestly so many things (like kaz being more ruthless from now on, jes's gambling, Malina etc) are like if they are progressed well it would make S1 even better❤️
I recently read the shadow and bone trilogy again (not the Nikolai duolgy yet, still getting there) but I didn't really see much depth to Zoya's character on book 1? The racism was unnecessary, but other than that she was pretty much portrayed as the stereotypical jealous girl like in the books, she kicks Alina's ass and then vanishes for the rest of it as punishment. The series could have given something more taking some depth from the Nikolai duology? Maybe, idk, I didn't read it yet so I don't know how her character goes. So I guess they will stick to a development similar to what happened in the books. Maybe a bit more intense to mae her more likeable. I sure hope so, I love her sassiness in the little time I saw her on the books.
@@juliacorreal to really delve into zoya's character, I suggest King of Scars and Rule of Wolves. A lot of things, including her racist comment, would make sense especially after you read Rule of Wolves ;)
Cindy, I have a confession. I'm usually logged out of RUclips, so when I want to watch your videos, I search for "with Cindy" and the top auto complete is "with cindy acotar." For the past several weeks, I was convinced your name was Cindy Acotar. It wasn't until I saw people using the acronym in the comments of another video that I realized my terrible mistake. Please forgive me.
I really do admire the self-control. I wasn’t even into the Grishaverse before this series was put on Netflix and look at me now, on my third rewatch of the show and practically clawing my way through the book series all in the span of six weeks 🥰
@@citriz I don’t know if we’ll see him yet though. Honestly I’d be really skeptical if they already introduced the actual SOC plot while the SAB trilogy is going on just cause... well a big part of SOC duology is that the civil war of Ravka is OVER and they’re rebuilding etc so... yeah I don’t know I’m a little wary🤷♀️
"I don't know why she wastes her time pining over him, when she could be with me." I knew from this moment, this exact line, that Cindy wrote the script. We see you, Cindy.
I haven't read the books but knew Nina was a main character from Cindy's videos, so just assumed it would come to line up eventually. I didnt recall a Matthias though so didn't know he was gonna stick around
Some people were saying that the series felt rushed at some points and could have benefited from having more episodes and I agree. I feel that they should have gone more in depth with the race relations/identity between the characters and how they come to terms with it because the way it was written for the script was only scratching the surface and could come off as performative activism to viewers. They also could have added an episode where they went more in depth with Alina at the little palace.Then she could have have had more opportunities to interact with Botkin and learn more of her Shu heritage.
I totally agree, however, I saw on some interviews where the showrunner said Netflix gave them the option to have 10 episodes BUT the same budget they would have had with eight, so they decided to go for eight episodes with better quality than 10 with questionable quality (questionable more in the visual sense I suppose, CGI and etcetera).
@@juliacorreal Yeah I figured that’s what happened considering how impressive the quality of the production was. Let’s hope that they get a bigger budget for next season since the series was just renewed and is very popular.
I wished we could’ve seen her at the Little Palace more because her time in the Little Palace was so well described in the books. I would’ve loved to see her training with Botkin and struggling to summon. I wish they could’ve explored the dynamics of the Little Palace more like how the grisha treated Genya and the hatred between the Grisha groups (like the etherealki now wanting to sit with the corporalki and stuff). It would’ve been really interesting.
I think that Zoya said that because Alina looks Shu (and they're the ones blocking the way through the mountains or whatever), meanwhile Zoya looks Suli and therefore she isn't related to the Shu conflict.
That's what I thought as well. The Shu and the Fjerdans are the national(?) enemies of Ravka so I assumed the hatred towards Alina was more intense than the other Asian characters because she's Shu. I'm not a book reader though so that's the vibe I got from just watching the show.
@@withcindy wasn't that in episode 1? When little Alina asks why they can't go around the fold? They said that the Fjerdans don''t allow them to cross bc of Grisha and that the Shu don't allow them to cross through the mountains for some reason. And they also had like two zoom ins on the anti-Shu poster that has a caricature on it. They also bring it back a few episodes later to I think reinforce this point. I might be wrong, but I thought this was the reason :)
@@withcindy im actually quite sure that they do haha in the first episode when Alina asks the principal(? I don't remember her name) of the orphanage why Ravkan don't just travel around the fold and she answers that Ravka is at war with both Fjerda and the Shu Han.
Okayyy your narration of Alina's letters to Mal after she gets tried by bitches in the little palace is hillarious and genuinely what I thought she'd write when I was seeing the show
When he said "bring the light" i couldn't help thinking about when Will.i.am said "bring the action" through autotune in Scream and Shout ft Brittany Spears
Irrelevant fun fact: Two of my good friends knew Calahan Skogman (the guy playing Matthias) in college. They hung out together at a topless theater kid party but were the only people wearing shirts. This fact has ruined/enhanced my viewing experience and I can't wait for Cindy to accelerate that further.
Re: Zoya and other PoC being racist to Alina - Not justifying this on the meta level -- not least because I think you're right that whatever the writers were trying for, they didn't totally succeed -- but in-universe, I took the intro ("I look like my mom, and she looks like the enemy" + the army propaganda posters) to mean that Ravkans are racist against the Shu specifically because they have been at war for so long, so there's been a ton of propaganda against them, while other races are more accepted. Presumably they're just as prejudiced against the Fjerdans, it's just less obvious because they're not a distinct race.
@@withcindy Absolutely! Alina's race lift was definitely not the most deftly integrated thing in the show. Fingers crossed they take all the feedback they're getting and improve on it for the season 2 they just confirmed!
I do understand people's problems with how racism is portrayed in this show, but as a multi-racial person myself (Asian and Latine) I think there are things that happen to Alina that specifically touch on the struggle of being mixed that were extremely accurate. There's racism I experience as a mixed person that neither of my parents can relate to because there's a specific struggle that comes with straddling multiple cultures, regardless of which cultures those are. One of the things some mixed people are guilty of (especially mixed wh🌾te people) is trying to get as close to wh🌾te acceptance as possible by putting other mixed people below them to stand above them. So I understood exactly what they were trying to do with Zoya's line, but my mom (who is monoracial Puerto Rican) didn't. So that argument about how that reasoning is so overly complicated general audiences are going to miss the complexities is valid, but I do think there are more people out there that understood what was going on than we think. I do understand why people have a problem with that line, but I found it relatable.
16:54 I think it’s because Alina is half Shu and because (in the book) the Shu experiment on the Grisha. I remember Alina mentioned it when describing Ravka’s enemies in the beginning
I like that you're taking your time with this, it let's me reflect on every episode in a fun way after I binged it so quickly when it came out. Perfect preparation for season 2!
I think the ultimate enemies-to-lovers story should have been alina and zoya combinding their powers to wreck the darkling’s shit and then the two of them kiss as the rest of the grisha cheer
yup yup zoya internalised racism was confirmed in king of scars duology and it's so.... unnecessary and implying it the show is definitely too many hoops to go through
i'm sorry, and i don't mean to sound ignorant, but i have read king of skars and half of rule of wolves and, as i see it, after zoya realises who aleksander really is and joins alina, she kind of "leaves her prejudices behind" (i think). and i mean, she really was racist during the grisha trilogy and in the series, but i can't trully recall: when or how was she racist during the kos duology? sorry to bother but i would really like to know
@@delfinacordero3317 she's not racist in the books, I said she has INTERNALISED racism as a major character plot in RoW, where she's white passing so she rejects and hides her Suli half from everyone bc of past trauma, she refuses to talk to a Suli tribe bc she doesn't even want to be around them (idk if youve reached that part), it all works out in the end but as a brown woman I felt the whole thing was so tacked on just to remedy the fact that the original cast of S&B was so WHITE and as you said, Zoya deals with her darkling issues, her prejudices AND her new powers, it's so unnecessary to add a racial crisis too just for the sake of "diversity" and to explain why we didn't know Zoya was a POC in the original trilogy
One of the writers/producers, Christina Strain, is biracial! In an interview she talks about how she incorporated many of her personal experiences as a biracial asian woman on the show.
Cindy, Cindy, Cindy! Netflix was inspired by your “being on tinder as the darkling” video and made a video in which Kit was on tinder as Jesper. You’ve inspired Netflix!
XD i love how cindy might take her time watching the series, but when she does watch the episodes, she is so hyped and it's definitely worth the wait for her reactions
The way I had this on in the background while in cooking... and Cindy was basically screeching the entire time. My sister came in and was like WHAT IS THAT?! I’m like: my spirit animal
Cindy, you take all the time you need to watch and film your reactions. Also, Nina is great. As a plus sized women, I like seeing a plus sized woman not being played as the stereo type on screen.
Definitely. I watched the show without reading any of the books beforehand, and I was surprised with the character Nina, being full figured. Like, it was apparent to me immediately that she was plus sized, and I couldn’t believe it (in this case, plus size is normal, from my POV, being “plus-sized” myself). Loved the show enough to chew through the six of crows duology in the space of days, and now find myself slightly conflicted. Like, I get what others are saying, wanting a bigger actress, but at the same time, the actress they chose matches the description pretty well (but for the green eyes and curly hair). She’s got meat on her bones, ‘like a figurehead of a ship carved by a generous hand’ to paraphrase bardugo’s description, one which does not explicitly indicate ‘fat’ (in quotes because that line of fatness is arbitrary too). All of Bardugo’s descriptions of Nina center around her body’s ‘roundness, softness, lushness,’ and so I think Danielle Galligan fits the bill. Maybe her figure will figure more prominently next season when SPOILERS she teams up with the crows and dresses up in a too-tight sex-worker’s costume to infiltrate the ice court. My point is, I thought that the actress was marvellous, just as sparky as she needed to be, and that I would rather the casting was done on the basis of performance portrayal rather than physical. I believe that’s what happened here. Side note: I found the storyline between Nina and Matthias very abridged (seems like three weeks of trekking is contracted into 3 days). Hopefully next season there will be one or too flashbacks about their travelling together before Nina gets Matthias put in Helgate. I have hope because there’s precedent-Matthias dreams of chasing Nina across the ice, and of course, six of crows has both characters returning to fjerda-but unfortunately, the show isn’t just adapting the Crows, it’s gotta share space w/ the S&B trilogy. It will be interesting to see how far into the books they get next season, but I hope they give these two abut more screen time.
"we have this asian instructor. Why is no one discriminating against him?" YEAH EXACTLY. I saw another asian youtuber talk about how there was a missed opportunity to have the instructor and Alina bond over any missed Shu Han heritage she could get back in touch with, there's a lot to be mined there but noooo we gotta do the love triangle -_-
3 episodes in and Cindy is already tired of the meadow scene? Strap in lmaoo you're literally never gonna stop seeing it in the show. At one point it's even gonna haunt your dreams
cindy @ meadow scene: did they not have any extra clips to use? they had to reuse the same old clips we've seen for the past 2 episodes? me: dude u are in for a long ride ur only on episode 3
18:37 there’s a book like that, it’s called hurricane season by fernanda melchor and each chapter is like a HUGE paragraph, basically the book is 8 big paragraphs. It’s my favorite book of all time I really recommend it.
Zoya isn’t faced with racism because “asian” isn’t really a thing, remember? I was initially upset by this too but then I realized that Zoya isn’t Shu, and Alina is. That’s why Alina is treated so bad, I guess. I’m sure the fighting teacher is as well, but he’s a powerful fighter so is probably respected and doesn’t face as much racism because of it.
Jesper is honestly that one really chaotic friend everyone has that by all means you should hate because they cause nothing but problems for you but in sort of a good way so you love them anyways.
also that fighting instructor that was training them was only in like one scene but idk if it was the actor or whatever but I thought his character was interesting and wanted to see more of him
"How could anyone read that?". Fun fact, latin was actually written like that. There were not even spaces between words at first, it was just a solid stream of letters and you were supposed to recognize when the words ended or started.
yeah I really loved Nina’s fight scene with the fjerdans like it was so well done ! and I love that it shows that she’s definitely trained in combat since she was in the army
Cindy calling herself out for not uploading the S&B reaction video sooner. Me: whose been waiting for Cindy to upload the A Court Of Silver Flames Review 👀🙈
About that slur coming from Zoya - Zoya's ethnicity was never mentioned in the original trilogy. Since I haven't finished the King of Scars duology, I'm assuming it gets explained there, but for all we know, Leigh Bardugo could have just made her part Suli later on since she did say everyone was basically white by default back when she wrote Shadow and Bone.
*whispers* check out The Dragon Prince The only racism going on in TDP is between humans and other magical folk but the humans are very racially diverse and there’s no racism within the human societies, it’s really beautiful.
As someone who hasn't read the books, I find it interesting to see if the POC heroine will choose to use her power to save/help the very people who were racist towards her.
FINALLY!! But ACOSF review...Cindy, I've transferred schools, went through two surgeries, and Finals since your April wrapup and it's still...😔 It's okay, ik you're doing your best to give us the best 😌 Anyways, amazing review!
13:31 "Is that Matthias or not? I find it hard to tell this people a part, I'm sorry. Is that him? Or is that just another person that works at Abercrombie & Fitch?" I have no words for this... just wanted to leave here so that I can come back to it later.
"Where am I gonna see the PRINCE? That's the real fucking question! If you read the books, you know what I'm talking about" I do, I do, and I felt that in my SOUL
11:15 I always just thought that Zoya said what she thought would hurt the most. edit: also Alina is discriminated against for looking Shu Han, the enemy. While Zoya is Shuli, who they aren't at war with, so there doesn't seem to be much (or as much) anger towards them from Ravkans. Idk just what I noticed.
My sister saw Kit the guy that plays Jesper in London and took a photo with him and had a conversation. I can never watch shadow and bones the same again 😭😭😭🥺🥺✋🏼
I just love how the writers of this show blended both the worlds so smoothly. It's just so beautiful. If perfection had a form, it'll take the form of this show.
cindy: i cant tell any of the men apart
[woman appears on screen]
cindy: AWOOGA BOOGA WOOF WOOF
WOOF WOOF WOOF GRRRR GRRRRR AWOOOGA AWOOGA
GIRL IM DYING 💀💀💀
@@withcindy ok if no one thought she was a furry before this is confirmation 🤩
Lmao
🐶 🐶 🐶
“If Nina uses you for her own gain, you let her use you” TRUER WORDS HAVE NEVER BEEN SPOKEN
Exactly 👀
And i would say thank you
Nina is a goddess, whatever she does it's always right😂
A summary by Matthias Helvar
"No detour."
Jesper: I can hear you, but I won't 💅
Jesper you damn idiot
jesper: some look for trouble, and i do
Watching Shadow and Bone is 50% thirsting over the current cast and 50% daydreaming about who will play Nikolai.
Pretty much
This is so accurate
Or Wylan
Sure, only 50% thirsting 😉
@@luuuuux_ hi again
Kanej fighting in front of Jesper like they were the mom and dad from the group
Yesssss
OMG A FELLOW ORBIT 😭
We stan vivi the queen
@@Theophrime Yess!!!!!!
@@calista5811 ✨✨✨✨
No thoughts. Just Cindy admiring Inej engraved in my mind.
I am looking respectfully
UR PROFILE PICTURE ☠️
Your profile picture is the BEST THING I'VE SEEN OH MY GOD
Your pfp is the best thing I’ve seen my entire life
THE PFP NOOO
When you said u were taking your time in watching this show, you RLLY took ur time lmao
I am a woman of my word
@@withcindy omg i love u kween 😭
I feel like the reason Alina gets discriminated against is because she is specifically Shu and not because she isn’t white. I think it’s because she looks like “the enemy” like she said in the beginning. The Ravkans also seem to say terrible things about the Fjerdans, and vise versa, but like they’re not racist towards people from like Novyi Zem even though they’re not white, because they’re allies. Like the Suli people are still Ravkans. Idk that’s just what I was thinking because otherwise the racism doesn’t really make sense lol.
I think it would have helped if we had more context for why the shu specifically are the enemy
@@withcindy I totally agree. I feel like I only think that because I’ve read the books and if I’d only seen the show I would’ve been even more confused about it than I am now lol.
@@withcindy Agreed. We know why because we've read the books. But to a viewer who hasn't read the book and who just has a one-sentence explanation at the beginning of the series from Ana Kunya, it must be pretty hard to follow.
@@withcindy The Shu specifically are the enemy because they've been at war with the countries north and south of them for hundreds of years trying to get a way around the Fold.
Also, in the books at least, Shu Han and Fjerda seemed to be the two countries with the greatest anti-grisha sentiments, in the current era at least, so it would make sense for such a Grisha-heavy country to be enemies with them, specifically.
hmm i thought it was obvious that she was discriminated cuz the Shu are Ravka's enemies because of the scenes at the beginning at the military camp? we also see the propaganda posters that are clearly about war but maybe it could have been shown better
“see if Inej is gonna flip her hair even more so i can watch intensely in a very straight way” 👀👀 Cindy calling us all out, huh? Amita Suman’s hair should be credited separately and have it’s own trailer for season two
Literallyyyy
Her hair is just the best. I want hair like that.
ain’t no one gonna talk abt how alina’s hair must smell when she didn’t even wash it in the bath?
Omg ur right
THATS WHAT I WAS THINKING OMG
She didn't even clean her face. I mean yeah, Genya put makeup on it later on but Alina didn't know that beforehand
she spent a total of 3 seconds in that bath
"*goes in to whisper something racist* *gags at the smell and sheet of oil in her hair* DEAR GOD GIRL!"
As a biracial girl myself the way the queen made a comment about her not being Asian enough hit different, people tend to expect biracial people to be more culturally in tune with their minority side
I saw the writer talk more about that as well, that it was based on her own experience!
i’m not biracial myself but i see a tendency to call half black half white people for example, just black. i feel like it’s related to some form of racism but i don’t fully understand how
@@mentallyunstable1926 it's generally just a way to categorize all mixed people because its "easier to understand" for them, even though it erases our actual identity. An easier way to think of it would be someone who's half Asian but doesn't look it gets categorized as "white"
@@mentallyunstable1926 Look up the "one-drop rule." That may be helpful :D
@@mentallyunstable1926 the one drop rule is definitely helpful. There is also the binary logic of race that applies more heavily for black and white folk
Cindy calls Jesper the third wheel but we all know that Kaz is the third wheel in Cindy and Inej's relationship *nods*
Omg ur right
Kaz in season 2 when he sees Wesper kissing: everyone has lost their mind 🙄🙄🙄
Nina demands the attention AND WE GIVE IT TO HER WILLINGLY BECAUSE WHO DOESN'T!? even matthias "grisha hunter" helvar can't keep his eyes from waffle queen
As he should
Let's be honest here, the true horror of the Fjerdan's is their questionable style choices.
Omg seriously
Like killing Grisha is one thing but at least be fashionable while you do it
Also, was I the only one annoyed by the fact that his cloak is literally a dead wolf… weren’t wolves sacred to Druskelle???
Wait you make a great point
@@s4ski4 I thought it was a polar bear?
I didn't like how Zoya was boxed as a jealous stereotypical girl and we are the one who have to interpret her character when she has so many depth on her. I wish the would have changed her character because they easily had the opportunity to
Agreed!!
I would argue that jealousy was really her motive in that fight, since in the books, Zoya blasted Alina because Nadia(?) had said that she was the one whom the darkling fooled around with before finding the sun summoner. I love her character though, especially in king of scars!
I'd really like if she has a good learning curve in the next seasons. Honestly so many things (like kaz being more ruthless from now on, jes's gambling, Malina etc) are like if they are progressed well it would make S1 even better❤️
I recently read the shadow and bone trilogy again (not the Nikolai duolgy yet, still getting there) but I didn't really see much depth to Zoya's character on book 1? The racism was unnecessary, but other than that she was pretty much portrayed as the stereotypical jealous girl like in the books, she kicks Alina's ass and then vanishes for the rest of it as punishment.
The series could have given something more taking some depth from the Nikolai duology? Maybe, idk, I didn't read it yet so I don't know how her character goes. So I guess they will stick to a development similar to what happened in the books. Maybe a bit more intense to mae her more likeable. I sure hope so, I love her sassiness in the little time I saw her on the books.
@@juliacorreal to really delve into zoya's character, I suggest King of Scars and Rule of Wolves. A lot of things, including her racist comment, would make sense especially after you read Rule of Wolves ;)
Cindy: "why do you want Mal to be here when you're nude taking a bath Alina....Interesting "
Omg Cindy you're reactions make me laugh so hard 🤣🤣
Interesting.....
She's working hard for Malina. You gotta respect that, even though she's so wrong ;)
@@04nbod girl what. Malina is endgame wdym
@@senad9315 That does not mean its any good
“when am I gonna see the prince” my thoughts exactly.
Where is heeeeee
still waiting on sobatchka
I'll settle for the privateer
next season!! and wylan!!! its confirmed!!!! im so happy!!!!
we're all simping for inej it's a RULE
She is perfect
Nina:
Cindy: USE ME 💋🙌🏼 ABUSE ME ⛓🪓 LOSE ME 💃🙅
Ok ur right
cindy: head empty, only inej ✋
honestly? same 😩
My head can fit Nina too
@@withcindy let's add zoya in there 🖐
@@janvishikarpuria2492 what about Genya?
@@luuuuux_ HELL YEA
@@janvishikarpuria2492 Inej, Nina, Zoya, and Genya, our badass queens whom we’re all in love with
Cindy, I have a confession.
I'm usually logged out of RUclips, so when I want to watch your videos, I search for "with Cindy" and the top auto complete is "with cindy acotar."
For the past several weeks, I was convinced your name was Cindy Acotar. It wasn't until I saw people using the acronym in the comments of another video that I realized my terrible mistake.
Please forgive me.
NOT THAT
honestly the best thing I've read all year
This made my day thank you 😂😂😂😂😂
Lmao I just literally peed my pants
I’m laughing so hard my stomach is cramping. I hope you’re happy.
Cindy: there’s no punctuation at all, it’s a mess
The little stars clearly meant to resemble periods: 😔
oop
Nina hasn't even emerged yet and Cindy starts admiring her already 😤 yes that is literally me
.
Also all the Nikolai teasing... Cindy Pls😩
Hehehe
Obviously it wasn’t going to be his slime ball of a brother
I really do admire the self-control. I wasn’t even into the Grishaverse before this series was put on Netflix and look at me now, on my third rewatch of the show and practically clawing my way through the book series all in the span of six weeks 🥰
We love the slow burn
Cindy took me OUT when she was talking about Zoya and Alina during that fight scene. Keep it in your pants, Pham!
I'm not sorry
That spacing episodes out excuse makes A LOT of sense. 🤔
Exactly 👀
I still haven't finished the show because of this
"When are we gonna see the prince" IN SEASON 2 ALONG WITH TAMAR TOLYA AND WYLANNNNN
Yessssss
Yess, Tamar! And I'm pretty excited to see our little troll Kuwei too.
@@citriz I don’t know if we’ll see him yet though. Honestly I’d be really skeptical if they already introduced the actual SOC plot while the SAB trilogy is going on just cause... well a big part of SOC duology is that the civil war of Ravka is OVER and they’re rebuilding etc so... yeah I don’t know I’m a little wary🤷♀️
Just in time for the 2 season announcement!
Exactly!!
And the S2 announcement is just in time for Pride Month, cause we already know these writers are gonna put in the work to keep the bisexuals well fed.
"I don't know why she wastes her time pining over him, when she could be with me." I knew from this moment, this exact line, that Cindy wrote the script. We see you, Cindy.
hehehe
"Make out with her". Now that's what the fans really want.
give it to us!
“She looks way too put together for someone who lives in a cave.” I CACKLED 🤣
Seriously thooooo
if i didn’t read shadow and bone and six of crows i would be so confused about the whole nina and matthias arc and why it’s relevant to the plot 😳
Truuuu
Truee, i didn't read the book so i was confused at how nina and matthias' plot line didn't converge with the rest of the crows & alina
I haven't read the books but knew Nina was a main character from Cindy's videos, so just assumed it would come to line up eventually. I didnt recall a Matthias though so didn't know he was gonna stick around
My friends that didn't read it were it in for the enemies to lovers. They melted everytime they were on screen lmao.
inej my beloved, everybody’s beloved
Exactly 👀
We love Knife Wife
Some people were saying that the series felt rushed at some points and could have benefited from having more episodes and I agree. I feel that they should have gone more in depth with the race relations/identity between the characters and how they come to terms with it because the way it was written for the script was only scratching the surface and could come off as performative activism to viewers. They also could have added an episode where they went more in depth with Alina at the little palace.Then she could have have had more opportunities to interact with Botkin and learn more of her Shu heritage.
Agreed!
I totally agree, however, I saw on some interviews where the showrunner said Netflix gave them the option to have 10 episodes BUT the same budget they would have had with eight, so they decided to go for eight episodes with better quality than 10 with questionable quality (questionable more in the visual sense I suppose, CGI and etcetera).
@@juliacorreal Yeah I figured that’s what happened considering how impressive the quality of the production was. Let’s hope that they get a bigger budget for next season since the series was just renewed and is very popular.
I wished we could’ve seen her at the Little Palace more because her time in the Little Palace was so well described in the books. I would’ve loved to see her training with Botkin and struggling to summon. I wish they could’ve explored the dynamics of the Little Palace more like how the grisha treated Genya and the hatred between the Grisha groups (like the etherealki now wanting to sit with the corporalki and stuff). It would’ve been really interesting.
every time Cindy posts I have to figure out what I’m gonna comment so I can get my nearly weekly interaction with her😭
I'll always interact with u babe
we just wanna have whatever interaction we can get from our queen🥺👉👈
I think that Zoya said that because Alina looks Shu (and they're the ones blocking the way through the mountains or whatever), meanwhile Zoya looks Suli and therefore she isn't related to the Shu conflict.
That's what I thought as well. The Shu and the Fjerdans are the national(?) enemies of Ravka so I assumed the hatred towards Alina was more intense than the other Asian characters because she's Shu. I'm not a book reader though so that's the vibe I got from just watching the show.
it would have been nice if the show provided that context about why people hate the shu!
@@withcindy wasn't that in episode 1? When little Alina asks why they can't go around the fold? They said that the Fjerdans don''t allow them to cross bc of Grisha and that the Shu don't allow them to cross through the mountains for some reason. And they also had like two zoom ins on the anti-Shu poster that has a caricature on it. They also bring it back a few episodes later to I think reinforce this point. I might be wrong, but I thought this was the reason :)
@@withcindy im actually quite sure that they do haha in the first episode when Alina asks the principal(? I don't remember her name) of the orphanage why Ravkan don't just travel around the fold and she answers that Ravka is at war with both Fjerda and the Shu Han.
Honestly the goat was the one who saved them all, with his calming energy.
love him already
Okayyy your narration of Alina's letters to Mal after she gets tried by bitches in the little palace is hillarious and genuinely what I thought she'd write when I was seeing the show
Let’s GOOO! Season 2 announcement AND a new Cindy video?? Life is GOOD! 😌😌
Indeed!!
When he said "bring the light" i couldn't help thinking about when Will.i.am said "bring the action" through autotune in Scream and Shout ft Brittany Spears
Maybe that's what he was referring to
Summoning Britanny Spears would have been pretty powerful 👏
cindy: drools when she sleeps
annabeth chase:
👀
Cindy is Percy Jackson confirmed???
@@luuuuux_ she does like pretty girls like Percy did so
@@adeleaslan8182 and she *is* very sarcastic and hates authority
@@luuuuux_ unless it’s hers
lmaoooo i love the apparat's weird gremlin energy... he just appears out of the shadows and says faux-profound things then leaves, king shit
He's gross but out of all the characters I am most like him
Alternate title: Roasting the Shadow and Bone wardrobe department
yes
14:07 my friend was like "she looks like kate winslet in titanic" and i could not unsee it so now you have to see it too.
cindy: women adoring hours ACTIVATED
always
In the books Inej is from West Ravka, I found it weird how she’s in West Ravka and not looking for her parents.
"Apparat more like a$$-of-a-rat" -Cindy 2021
I DIED 💀💀🤣🤣
Sick burn
5:27
this was my me and friend’s exact reaction to them name dropping Nina except there was a lot more squealing 😌
YESSSSS
Irrelevant fun fact: Two of my good friends knew Calahan Skogman (the guy playing Matthias) in college. They hung out together at a topless theater kid party but were the only people wearing shirts. This fact has ruined/enhanced my viewing experience and I can't wait for Cindy to accelerate that further.
👀👀👀
Re: Zoya and other PoC being racist to Alina -
Not justifying this on the meta level -- not least because I think you're right that whatever the writers were trying for, they didn't totally succeed -- but in-universe, I took the intro ("I look like my mom, and she looks like the enemy" + the army propaganda posters) to mean that Ravkans are racist against the Shu specifically because they have been at war for so long, so there's been a ton of propaganda against them, while other races are more accepted. Presumably they're just as prejudiced against the Fjerdans, it's just less obvious because they're not a distinct race.
it would've been nice if we got more context on the show!
@@withcindy Absolutely! Alina's race lift was definitely not the most deftly integrated thing in the show. Fingers crossed they take all the feedback they're getting and improve on it for the season 2 they just confirmed!
I do understand people's problems with how racism is portrayed in this show, but as a multi-racial person myself (Asian and Latine) I think there are things that happen to Alina that specifically touch on the struggle of being mixed that were extremely accurate. There's racism I experience as a mixed person that neither of my parents can relate to because there's a specific struggle that comes with straddling multiple cultures, regardless of which cultures those are.
One of the things some mixed people are guilty of (especially mixed wh🌾te people) is trying to get as close to wh🌾te acceptance as possible by putting other mixed people below them to stand above them. So I understood exactly what they were trying to do with Zoya's line, but my mom (who is monoracial Puerto Rican) didn't. So that argument about how that reasoning is so overly complicated general audiences are going to miss the complexities is valid, but I do think there are more people out there that understood what was going on than we think. I do understand why people have a problem with that line, but I found it relatable.
bruh cindy "dubbing" over aline's letter-writing scenes has me dead 😭😭😭😭
u know thats what she really thinkin
Look, I ship Malina and I know that the Darkling is toxic but....Ben Barnes can get it iykyk XD
Fair enough
16:54 I think it’s because Alina is half Shu and because (in the book) the Shu experiment on the Grisha. I remember Alina mentioned it when describing Ravka’s enemies in the beginning
“Not a fool, but a tool.”
*Me not getting flashbacks of the fandom trolling Tamlin by calling him tool*
I like that you're taking your time with this, it let's me reflect on every episode in a fun way after I binged it so quickly when it came out. Perfect preparation for season 2!
Thank you!
I'm eating rice and just in time for the girlies fighting, coincidence??? I think not 🍚🥤
RICE EATER!
I think the ultimate enemies-to-lovers story should have been alina and zoya combinding their powers to wreck the darkling’s shit and then the two of them kiss as the rest of the grisha cheer
OOOOOOOOO
yup yup zoya internalised racism was confirmed in king of scars duology and it's so.... unnecessary and implying it the show is definitely too many hoops to go through
Truuuu
i'm sorry, and i don't mean to sound ignorant, but i have read king of skars and half of rule of wolves and, as i see it, after zoya realises who aleksander really is and joins alina, she kind of "leaves her prejudices behind" (i think). and i mean, she really was racist during the grisha trilogy and in the series, but i can't trully recall: when or how was she racist during the kos duology? sorry to bother but i would really like to know
@@delfinacordero3317 she's not racist in the books, I said she has INTERNALISED racism as a major character plot in RoW, where she's white passing so she rejects and hides her Suli half from everyone bc of past trauma, she refuses to talk to a Suli tribe bc she doesn't even want to be around them (idk if youve reached that part), it all works out in the end but as a brown woman I felt the whole thing was so tacked on just to remedy the fact that the original cast of S&B was so WHITE and as you said, Zoya deals with her darkling issues, her prejudices AND her new powers, it's so unnecessary to add a racial crisis too just for the sake of "diversity" and to explain why we didn't know Zoya was a POC in the original trilogy
Yesss it’s so much clearer when you read rule of wolves but that’s too many books away and unnecessary in the show
@@aimun5255 ohhhhh, i understand now, i agree with you. sorry for bothering and thank u for the explanation
One of the writers/producers, Christina Strain, is biracial! In an interview she talks about how she incorporated many of her personal experiences as a biracial asian woman on the show.
Yup I saw!
Inej being Cindy's true love is the real Romance we got from this show
YES
Cindy, Cindy, Cindy! Netflix was inspired by your “being on tinder as the darkling” video and made a video in which Kit was on tinder as Jesper. You’ve inspired Netflix!
Love that!
XD i love how cindy might take her time watching the series, but when she does watch the episodes, she is so hyped and it's definitely worth the wait for her reactions
I had to save my energy
The way I had this on in the background while in cooking... and Cindy was basically screeching the entire time. My sister came in and was like WHAT IS THAT?! I’m like: my spirit animal
Omg not your sister thinking I was some kind of screeching animal
Cindy, you take all the time you need to watch and film your reactions. Also, Nina is great. As a plus sized women, I like seeing a plus sized woman not being played as the stereo type on screen.
Love her ❤️
Definitely. I watched the show without reading any of the books beforehand, and I was surprised with the character Nina, being full figured. Like, it was apparent to me immediately that she was plus sized, and I couldn’t believe it (in this case, plus size is normal, from my POV, being “plus-sized” myself). Loved the show enough to chew through the six of crows duology in the space of days, and now find myself slightly conflicted. Like, I get what others are saying, wanting a bigger actress, but at the same time, the actress they chose matches the description pretty well (but for the green eyes and curly hair). She’s got meat on her bones, ‘like a figurehead of a ship carved by a generous hand’ to paraphrase bardugo’s description, one which does not explicitly indicate ‘fat’ (in quotes because that line of fatness is arbitrary too). All of Bardugo’s descriptions of Nina center around her body’s ‘roundness, softness, lushness,’ and so I think Danielle Galligan fits the bill. Maybe her figure will figure more prominently next season when SPOILERS she teams up with the crows and dresses up in a too-tight sex-worker’s costume to infiltrate the ice court. My point is, I thought that the actress was marvellous, just as sparky as she needed to be, and that I would rather the casting was done on the basis of performance portrayal rather than physical. I believe that’s what happened here.
Side note: I found the storyline between Nina and Matthias very abridged (seems like three weeks of trekking is contracted into 3 days). Hopefully next season there will be one or too flashbacks about their travelling together before Nina gets Matthias put in Helgate. I have hope because there’s precedent-Matthias dreams of chasing Nina across the ice, and of course, six of crows has both characters returning to fjerda-but unfortunately, the show isn’t just adapting the Crows, it’s gotta share space w/ the S&B trilogy. It will be interesting to see how far into the books they get next season, but I hope they give these two abut more screen time.
Your dubbing of Alina's letters to Mal was so funny. I was crying laughing
"we have this asian instructor. Why is no one discriminating against him?"
YEAH EXACTLY. I saw another asian youtuber talk about how there was a missed opportunity to have the instructor and Alina bond over any missed Shu Han heritage she could get back in touch with, there's a lot to be mined there but noooo we gotta do the love triangle -_-
Lmao I’m watching this back and watching Jesper eat Nina’s snacks when they’re looking at her empty room is hilarious.
Cindyyy I can’t even with your patience, I wish I had it. You’re one episode 3 while I’m watching the show for the 6th time. 😆
Haha I am so slowwww
3 episodes in and Cindy is already tired of the meadow scene? Strap in lmaoo you're literally never gonna stop seeing it in the show. At one point it's even gonna haunt your dreams
Uh oh
Also Shadow & Bone has just been renewed for a second season 🥳🥳
Yayyyyy
17:30 wait wait wait- has Cindy always been able to sing like that?????? 🥺😭🖤🔥
cindy @ meadow scene: did they not have any extra clips to use? they had to reuse the same old clips we've seen for the past 2 episodes?
me: dude u are in for a long ride ur only on episode 3
Oh god
18:37 there’s a book like that, it’s called hurricane season by fernanda melchor and each chapter is like a HUGE paragraph, basically the book is 8 big paragraphs. It’s my favorite book of all time I really recommend it.
Zoya isn’t faced with racism because “asian” isn’t really a thing, remember? I was initially upset by this too but then I realized that Zoya isn’t Shu, and Alina is. That’s why Alina is treated so bad, I guess. I’m sure the fighting teacher is as well, but he’s a powerful fighter so is probably respected and doesn’t face as much racism because of it.
Jesper is honestly that one really chaotic friend everyone has that by all means you should hate because they cause nothing but problems for you but in sort of a good way so you love them anyways.
also that fighting instructor that was training them was only in like one scene but idk if it was the actor or whatever but I thought his character was interesting and wanted to see more of him
Exactly! I thought the scen e was only there to show how much Zoya does not like Alina
Cindy: “I’m straight”
Cindy: 14:10
"How could anyone read that?". Fun fact, latin was actually written like that. There were not even spaces between words at first, it was just a solid stream of letters and you were supposed to recognize when the words ended or started.
omg stream of consciousness
yeah I really loved Nina’s fight scene with the fjerdans like it was so well done ! and I love that it shows that she’s definitely trained in combat since she was in the army
Cindy calling herself out for not uploading the S&B reaction video sooner.
Me: whose been waiting for Cindy to upload the A Court Of Silver Flames Review 👀🙈
Still gotta edit that
About that slur coming from Zoya - Zoya's ethnicity was never mentioned in the original trilogy. Since I haven't finished the King of Scars duology, I'm assuming it gets explained there, but for all we know, Leigh Bardugo could have just made her part Suli later on since she did say everyone was basically white by default back when she wrote Shadow and Bone.
I would love for poc to exist in fantasy fiction without being racially abused. Like please. Can't we just... be? Lol
That is a very fair request lol
Well actually, that's very common in fantasy.
*whispers* check out The Dragon Prince
The only racism going on in TDP is between humans and other magical folk but the humans are very racially diverse and there’s no racism within the human societies, it’s really beautiful.
Alternative tittle: Cindy simping over Nina, Alina and Inej for 23 minutes straight.
Girl, I feel you.
alina writing mal: are you tumbling other grishas yes or no
As someone who hasn't read the books, I find it interesting to see if the POC heroine will choose to use her power to save/help the very people who were racist towards her.
Good point
Alina is not shu han in the books. So its a new dynamic for the show. You make a good point tho
FINALLY!! But ACOSF review...Cindy, I've transferred schools, went through two surgeries, and Finals since your April wrapup and it's still...😔
It's okay, ik you're doing your best to give us the best 😌
Anyways, amazing review!
I've filmed it but have yet to edit...
I don’t even care that Cindy is taking time between episodes. I am literally living for these reactionssssss
I'm glad!
13:31 "Is that Matthias or not? I find it hard to tell this people a part, I'm sorry. Is that him? Or is that just another person that works at Abercrombie & Fitch?"
I have no words for this... just wanted to leave here so that I can come back to it later.
:P
5:23
All only show stans : * confused af *
Book readers + show stans : we know what you're talking about cindy and we're waiting for it too lol
"Where am I gonna see the PRINCE? That's the real fucking question! If you read the books, you know what I'm talking about"
I do, I do, and I felt that in my SOUL
mmhmmm
"caw caw bitch' literally me anytime i see any member of the crows
YUPPPP
“Omg, now get on top of each other... to fight of course.” CINDY PLEASE ASUDGSHFGASJKAS
the girlies gotta fight duhhh
11:15 I always just thought that Zoya said what she thought would hurt the most.
edit: also Alina is discriminated against for looking Shu Han, the enemy. While Zoya is Shuli, who they aren't at war with, so there doesn't seem to be much (or as much) anger towards them from Ravkans. Idk just what I noticed.
kaz to jesper: no detours
jesper: yall heard sumn?!?!
I binged the entire grisha trilogy and six of crows duology JUST so I can watch your reaction videos 💀💀💀
Omg I'm honored
Cindy boutta react to ep 4 in a month XDD
HAHAHHA well...
2:45 SAY THAT AGAIN FOR THE PEOPLE AT THE BACK
Mmhmmmmmmm
My sister saw Kit the guy that plays Jesper in London and took a photo with him and had a conversation. I can never watch shadow and bones the same again 😭😭😭🥺🥺✋🏼
I just love how the writers of this show blended both the worlds so smoothly. It's just so beautiful. If perfection had a form, it'll take the form of this show.