"We could've had this. All of it. You could've made me your equal. Instead, you made me this. You don't care who suffers, as long as you win."
— Alina
Mal and Alina find Morozova's stag, but their plan is undermined when Kirigan recaptures them. The Crows make plans to return to Ketterdam.
Tropes in this episode:
- Admiring the Abomination: In the past, after Kirigan accidentally creates the Shadow Fold, Baghra is utterly horrified while her son looks on in wonder and satisfaction at what he's made.
- Annoying Arrows:
- In a flashback sequence, Kirigan is shot with multiple arrows but manages to keep standing and talking. Justified — his lover Luda was a Healer who was healing him from a distance; he's a lot squishier once she is disposed of.
- When Mal is shot by a through-and-through arrow, Alina breaks off the arrowhead before drawing the shaft out of his body, which is the correct way to do so, but even then he requires a Healer to cure him.
- Big "NO!": Kirigan yells this when Luda is killed in front of him.
- Black Magic: Kirigan's mother condemns merzost as a Dangerous Forbidden Technique, inherently destructive and uncontrollable compared to the "small science" magic they use.
- Body Horror: The amplifier made of the stag's antlers is obviously sticking out of Alina's collarbones.
- Call-Forward: In the flashback, Baghra advises her son to drop out of sight, then return years later under a fake identity when the King has died and some future ruler has desperate need of Grisha.
- Campfire Character Exploration: Inej and Kaz bond by a fire. She's ready to leave the group, but Kaz convinces her to stay by telling her he believes in her and Jesper.
- Contrived Coincidence: Milo the Goat happens to be grazing near the tent that Mal is currently imprisoned in — complete with Jesper's bullet still hanging around his neck, which Mal uses to escape his handcuffs.
- Disposable Woman: A flashback sequence shows General Kirigan was in a relationship with a Healer called Luda who is promptly murdered to stoke his rage and motivate him in the creation of the Shadow Fold.
- Exact Words:
- Lampshaded. Kirigan tells Alina that if she gives up the stag, he'll take care of Mal. When Alina learns he is still in captivity, she tells Kirigan You Said You Would Let Them Go; Kirigan says he only promised to heal Mal.
- Kirigan also says he and Alina would "conquer" the Fold, not "destroy". This is because he does not plan on destroying it, he means to use it as a weapon.
- False Friend: Alina discovers Genya is an agent of Kirigan, handing the General her letters to Mal and poisoning the King on his behalf.
- Half-Truth: Kirigan claims this isn't lying, which Alina naturally doesn't accept.
- I Gave My Word: Kirigan does have Mal healed as promised, but that's so he can keep him as a hostage. When Mal escapes he tells his men to let him go if he's fled, but kill Mal if he tries going near Alina. Which he does, smuggling himself onto the skiff.
- Mayfly–December Romance: Kirigan taunts his romantic rival Mal with this possibility: as the Sun Summoner, Alina will almost surely outlive Mal by a long time, and Kirigan has the patience to wait years until she's forgotten Mal and her anger towards Kirigan has faded.
- Mood Whiplash: The scene where Alina bonds with Morozova's stag, a heartwarming moment filled with light, is cut short when Kirigan's lackeys shoot the deer.
- Mugged for Disguise: The Crows mug an ambassador and his lackeys to get (perfectly fitting) clothes so they can journey across the fold with Kirigan's entourage.
- Non-Answer: During Kirigan's We Can Rule Together offer, Alina asks if they're destroying the Fold. Kirigan dodges her question.Kirigan: Do you know the only thing more powerful than you or me? The two of us. Together. Together, we can end all wars. We can protect our own. Is that not what you want?
Alina: Are we destroying the Fold?
The Darkling: We can do anything. Together. - Older Than They Look: Invoked. When faking travel papers, the age Kaz puts for Jesper's Zemeni ambassador cover is enough to make Jesper scoff that no one will believe he's that old. At the terminal, he tells the clerk that he looks great for his age. The clerk simply responds that he thought Jesper looked older than his on-paper age.
- Self Stitching: Inej patches herself up rather than get Jesper (who's squicked out at the sight) to help. Apparently, she's handled such wounds before during her time at the Menagerie and is fully experienced with patching herself back up. Jesper is rather horrified at this.
- Shoot Out the Lock: A variation where Mal puts a bullet in the handcuff lock and hits the primer to set it off. All while the guard is asleep.
- Start of Darkness: Quite literally; Kirigan, back when he was simply Alexander, decided to fight back against the oppression of the Grisha after being betrayed by the king he'd previously helped, and seeing his lover killed in front of him. His efforts to create his own army wound up making the Shadow Fold.
- Supernormal Bindings: The opening flashback shows that even centuries ago, people knew to do this with Grisha, since they typically must make fairly broad hand gestures to use their powers. But the soldiers try to restrain Kirigan with manacles that have a connecting bar made of wood, which he manages to break, regaining access to his abilities.
- Tainted Veins: Flashback-Kirigan creating the Fold; it's implied that's because the destructive magic drains the user, unlike the creative 'small science' normally practiced by Grisha.
- Tempting Fate: While getting ready to seize the Conductor's vehicle from the soldiers who've found it, Kaz says he can pilot it as he and Arken aren't so different. The vehicle then explodes from the same type of Booby Trap that Kaz had rigged up in their own carriage.
- Then Let Me Be Evil: After Alina rejects his justifications, Kirigan says he'll play the villain then and storms off.
- We Can Rule Together: Once she is in his clutches, Kirigan offers Alina a chance to rule by his side: the light to his darkness. Alina says they could have ruled together, as equals, but Kirigan just wants to use her as his weapon. She rejects him and he just decides to do his thing by force.
- You Said You Would Let Them Go: Alina is shocked to discover Mal is still trapped by Kirigan's forces after she handed over the stag. Kirigan says he only promised to heal Mal, not release him.
