Shadow and Bone relationship breakdown: Chemistry or just the Small Science?

Breaking down the Shadow and Bone ships from Darklina to Kanej and more

In the Grishaverse, there’s a lot of talk about the Small Science. But watching Shadow and Bone on Netflix, there’s one real-world science we really need to talk about: Chemistry.

It doesn’t matter if you ship Darklina or Malina, Kanej or Helnik, or even some combination of the above. Pick any two characters you might have shipped when you were reading the books, and this streaming show’s adaptation is here to make you pine all the more.

There might even be a bit of swooning involved. No comment on that, though…Ok, here’s the comment: Yes, swooning happened when watching some of these characters thirst after each other on-screen.

So, why not pick apart exactly what it is about each relationship that makes it so interesting? Yes. Let’s.

Darklina: So wrong they’re just right

Ok. Let’s start with one of the most polarizing pairings in the Grishaverse: Darklina. You either love them or hate them—there is absolutely no in-between.

So, what is it about the Darkling and Alina Starkov that makes readers and viewers alike want to see them together? Maybe it’s the pure naughtiness of it all. Or, perhaps, it’s the fact that, even on the page, there are scenes that are just pure chemistry (there’s that word again).

If you throw in the constant charge between Ben Barnes and Jessie Mei Li whenever they share a scene, that just heightens the entire feeling. It’s almost impossible not to ship Barnes with literally anyone he interacts with.

Just look at him. Watch him work. You do the math.

But at the core of it all, there’s this idea of a character who started out good, then started messing with all the wrong elements and seeking power he had no right to own. It corrupted him in all the worst ways. But especially if you’ve read everything Leigh Bardugo has to offer, you get a sense that he did terrible things for all the right reasons.

There’s something appealing about the type of perfect balance the world could achieve when mixing Alina’s Sun Summoner powers with Aleksander’s ability to manipulate shadows. But then, well…There’s also the wrongness of it all.

Regardless of whether or not he’s doing the wrong things for the right reasons (he totally is), the Darkling still does very bad things—especially to Alina. The way he, essentially, enslaves her and her powers isn’t exactly the most romantic thing on the planet. Some might even call it abuse and a complete disregard for consent.

And yet, you can’t help but watch Darklina interact without feeling something when these two characters kiss, whether you’re for or against. Or, well. Yours truly couldn’t. It’s difficult not to ship them, no matter how wrong it may feel at times.

Maybe if wanting a little Darklina in your life is wrong, some of us just don’t care to be right.