"The best illusions are the most convincing. That's the game."
— Kaz
Alina escapes the Crows, who try to find her and evade Kirigan and his crew at the same time, and reunites with Mal. Washed ashore in the northern wilderness, Nina and Matthias must now work together to survive.
Tropes in this episode:
- Angsty Surviving Twin: Polina, the twin of the Grisha Inej previously killed, swears revenge upon Inej, who then kills her.
- Big Damn Reunion: Mal and Alina reunite in the forest after being separated in the second episode.
- Blinded by the Light:
- Alina shines her light and sun powers in Kaz's and Jesper's faces so she can escape them. Inej voluntarily lets her run. Alina also permanently blinds another soldier who tries to detain her because she looks like a Shu spy.
- When facing off with Kirigan, Kaz throws down some kind of gunpowder bomb to temporarily blind him and disperse the darkness he's generating.
- Blatant Lies: Given that he's being interrogated by people that can read his heartbeat, Arken doesn't fool anyone that he's an innocent bystander in all this. On seeing the multiple scars on his arm, it's obvious he's The Conductor.
- Booby Trap: Left by the Crows in the carriage they stole, to warn them when their enemies have caught up. Our heroes then steal Kirigan's carriage to make their getaway.
- Boring, but Practical: David's powers aren't anywhere near as visually impressive as those of Kirigan, Zoya or even Ivan, but his ability to focus on certain types of metal proves far more useful in the long run.
- Can't Kill You, Still Need You: Matthias Helvar and Nina Zenik after the ship goes down, and then after they get to shore and have to slog across the permafrost. She needs his physical strength, and he needs her Heartrender abilities to withstand the cold.
- Catch Your Death of Cold: Matthias and Nina getting their clothes soaking wet in the freezing cold is played as a serious threat to their lives.
- Chekhov's Gun: A ring made out of a rare metal that Genya gave Alina in the previous episode, which even warranted a close-up, turns out to be a means by which David can track her.
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: After Kirigan and his lackeys spend the whole night failing to capture the Crows or learn where Alina has gotten to (with Polina dying in the process) David pipes up that he can track Alina by using his powers to hone in on a ring that Genya previously gave her. He likely would have been able to suggest it earlier if Kirigan hadn't made him stay in the carriage when they arrived, thinking he'd be of no use in their search.
- Covert Pervert: When Matthias starts undressing for the Intimate Healing with Nina he demands she turn around, and she does so while mocking his prudishness. She continues to mock him by saying she's sure there's nothing impressive about him, yet still turns around to sneak a peek, and is clearly distracted by his bare chest.
- A Crack in the Ice: Matthias and Nina seem on the point of resolving their Belligerent Sexual Tension when a crevasse opens beneath Nina's feet. Matthias is clearly considering letting her fall to her death, but he pulls her to safety instead, then wraps his furs around her.
- Eating the Eye Candy: Nina says there's nothing impressive about Matthias, but changes her mind after he takes his clothes off and is clearly eyeing him.
- Exactly What I Aimed At: While Inej is fighting Polina, the Inferni blasts fire at her which Inej manages to dodge, but it turns out the blast was actually aimed at the steam pipe behind Inej, which blows up and throws her across the room.
- First-Name Basis: An embarrassed Alina has to explain to Mal who "Aleksander" is. Mal to his credit doesn't make an issue over her being on such an intimate basis with The Dreaded General Kirigan.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: While Nina and Mattias are arguing on what is seemingly solid ground, the creaking of ice can be heard under their feet. Sure enough, it collapses and Nina nearly falls into a hidden ravine in the very same scene.
- Good Is Not Soft: Despite her reluctance to kill, Inej gives Polina the Coup de Grâce when she threatens to keeping hunting her and kill everyone she loves. Averted with Jesper, who can't give the Grisha hunting him the Coup de Grâce while a child is watching.
- Heart Is an Awesome Power: After his fellow Grisha spend the episode trying and dismally failing (despite all their flashy powers) to capture the Crows or find Alina, Non-Action Guy David — who spent the night sitting in the carriage reading a book, since Kirigan didn't think he'd be any use on the mission — suggests that he use his own Durast powers to track Alina via an iridium ring.
- Heartbeat Soundtrack: Although it doesn't drown out the actual soundtrack, Matthias's heartbeat can be heard when Nina uses her heart-rending abilities on him.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: Jesper shoots a man three times in the same place in order to penetrate his bulletproof coat while unable to see his target! The last shot was even a ricochet shot.
- I Never Got Any Letters: What Mal and Alina say to each other after both have run away from Kirigan. They are both angry at each other, thinking one doesn't care about the other.
- Irony: David, the apparently useless Durast who Kirigan told to wait in the carriage, is the one who ends up providing a way to effectively track Alina.
- Let's Split Up, Gang!: For once this works; Kaz tells everyone to split up because the Grisha hunting party will be less dangerous as individuals than fighting as a team.
- Logical Weakness: Kaz manages to render Kirigan's Casting a Shadow powers unusable for a moment with a blinding flash bomb.
- Modesty Bedsheet: Nina and Matthias wrap themselves in a blanket to cover up their nudity during the Intimate Healing scene. Justified in that they're also trying to protect themselves from the cold, although Matthias notably has his blanket only wrapped over his waist at one point, probably just for a gratuitous Shirtless Scene.
- Mundane Utility: Alina uses her sun powers to break a lock.
- Naked People Are Funny: Nina and Matthias having to strip down to resort to Intimate Healing is Played for Laughs, due to Nina's immodest attitude to nudity in contrast to Matthias prudishness.
- Offscreen Teleportation: Kaz sets off a type of gunpowder bomb to create a massive light that will dispel Kirigan's shadow powers and blind him for an instant, but he also disappears from the immediate area before Kirigan can catch him — even with his bad leg and cane.
- Percussive Therapy: After Kirigan rejects her offer of Sex for Solace and walks off the room, Zoya uses her wind powers to blow objects across the room.
- Reaction Shot: While Matthias is trying to light a fire, he glances up to see Nina disrobing and does a hilarious double-take (top right gif)
. - Sex Is Evil, and I Am Horny: Matthias was raised in a very fundamentalist society where women are meant to be submissive and chaste, and so doesn't handle being trapped in an enclosed space with a beautiful woman insisting that they strip naked to share body heat particularly well, resorting to calling said woman "immodest" and "lewd" to try and hide his obvious attraction to her. Unfortunately for him, Nina is a Heartrender and therefore fully aware of the effect she's having on him, taking every opportunity to needle him about it.Nina: [sharing body heat with Matthias in bed] Relax. This isn’t where I have my way with you.
Matthias: I can't wait to be back in my own bed.
Nina: Yeah, I can feel just how much you hate sleeping next to me. - Ship Tease: Fitting for an episode titled for a Suli proverb from the books: "The heart is an arrow. It demands aim to land true."
- Zoya tries to rekindle her relationship with Kirigan by offering Sex for Solace (unfortunately he rejects her as he's still obsessed with Alina).
- Alina and Mal reunite and have an After-Action Patch-Up with obligatory Shirtless Scene.
- Matthias and Nina save each other's lives amid much Belligerent Sexual Tension.
- Shoulders-Up Nudity: When Nina and Matthias strip, all that's really shown are their bare shoulders, lower legs, and the top of Nina's generous bust.
- Take Off Your Clothes: In a rare case of a female character demanding this of a male one, Nina insists that Matthias take off his wet clothes so they can share body heat.
- Smoke Out: Just as Kirigan is about to kill Kaz, he is able to use a smoke bomb to blind Kirigan and provide cover for him to escape.
- Tamer and Chaster: A minor example regarding Nina's Double Entendre after she and Matthias wake up after sharing body heat in bed together. Her sarcastic line on the show is "I can feel how much you hate sleeping next to me," but a viewer could hypothetically interpret this as a reference to him accidentally throwing his arm over her in the night. This is in comparison to the book, in which the two of them have to spend several nights together, and her original line makes it much clearer about what she's actually referring to: "I can feel just how much you hate sleeping next to me. I feel it every morning."
- There Is Only One Bed: Nina and Matthias have to share a bed when they chance upon a whaler's hut.
- Throw the Book at Them: Squishy Wizard David resorts to tossing a book at Jesper when the latter happens upon him in the carriage.
- Underestimating Badassery: The Grisha all make this mistake with the Crows: Ivan invites Jesper to challenge him, confident in his kefta and ability to track him by heartbeat, only for Jesper to shoot him multiple times in the same spot all while staying out of sight; Polena's fury costs her her life when Inej stabs her in a way that would give her a chance of survival, only to pull it out at her promises of revenge; Kirigan himself fails to capture Kaz who taunts him about Alina's escape and evades the shadow cut with a flashbang. Crows 3, Grisha 0.
- Unstoppable Rage: Subverted. Polena, the twin sister of the Inferni man Inej killed swears to destroy everything in her path in order to kill Inej, but Zoya stops her. That doesn't make her rage any less dangerous, though.
