Alina Starkov, a mapmaker with the First Army, enters the Shadow Fold to protect her old friend Mal. On the other side of the Fold, Kaz and his Crows hunt down a lucrative job.
Tropes in this episode:
- Brick Joke: During his introduction scene, Jesper shoots a hole in a coin in midair to prove it's fake. Later on Kaz uses a bag of coins to bribe a guard…only for said guard to shout after him that one of the coins has a hole in it.
- Cheated Death, Died Anyway: Alexei makes it through the entire width of the Shadow Fold, only to be shot dead a short time afterwards.
- Didn't Think This Through: In the heat of sabotaging the maps of West Ravka, Alina doesn't consider that the First Army isn't going to send just one cartographer to draw new ones — and she's dismayed when she realises that her whole squad will be sent too, putting them all in danger.
- Darkness Equals Death: Zigzagged with the Shadow Fold, as the only way to cross it is to avoid showing a light.
- Easy Amnesia: Alexei forgets much of what happened in the Shadow Fold due to fear and shock, requiring the talents of a Heartrender to successfully calm him and allow him to talk.
- Establishing Character Moment:
- Mal's older self is introduced Fight Clubbing at a military camp. He wins, then offers his hand up to his downed opponent, showing him to be a good and courteous fighter.
- Jesper identifies a cheater at a gambling table and cheekily shoots his currency in the air to prove that it's fake. He then moves to grab the money. This characterizes him as a playful and eagle-eyed gunslinger.
- Right after Jesper's moment, Kaz stops him from taking the loot with a cane — he's Jesper's more serious boss. One of his employees then comes up to him with word of a job — an expensive painting has been stolen — that Kaz declines because he's already gotten the painting in his chambers, which characterizes him as an intelligent thief with taste.
- Famed In-Story: "The Darkling," General Kirigan, is the most powerful and feared Grisha, with the unique ability to manipulate darkness. Unfortunately, you can't remove the Shadow Fold with darkness.Inej: You ever tried to put out a fire by adding more fire?
- Fantastic Racism:
- Alina is half-Shu, one of the nations that Ravka is fighting, so she is constantly looked down on by even her fellow soldiers.
- Grisha are looked down on by everyone else. In the army, it's mostly jealousy at their elite status, but elsewhere they are disparaged as witches.
- Gone Horribly Right: Alina burns the maps of West Ravka to have an excuse to get sent into the Fold. Instead her entire squad is sent, and she is the only survivor.
- A Minor Kidroduction: Although we see the grown Alina (played by Jessie Mei Li) first, it's less than two minutes into the first episode that we get a flashback to her younger self (played by Kaylan Teague), which establishes her history with Mal and her childhood at the orphanage.
- Myth Prologue: The show opens with Kirigan explaining the existence of Grisha, the formation of the Fold by the Black Heretic and how it weakened Ravka, and how a Sun Summoner is prophesied to destroy it.
- An Offer You Can't Refuse: Pekka threatens the owner of the Orchid by saying he’ll “carve [him] up and leave him in a barrel full of rats,” if he doesn’t hand over his Heartrender.
- Reunion Vow: On the night before their separation, Mal tells Alina: "I'll find my way back to you."
- Ship Out of Water: The skiff used to cross the fold is a landship.
- Smug Smiler: We get a rare smile (which is more of a smirk) from Kaz when he successfully makes off with the Heartrender.
- So Much for Stealth: Everything goes to hell when a soldier lights a lantern against orders, bringing the monsters down on them.
