WARNING: This article includes spoilers for Shadow and Bone Season 1, currently streaming on Netflix, and for Leigh Bardugo's Grishaverse novels.
Shadow and Bone is a character-based, epic fantasy show produced by Netflix, based on Leigh Bardugo's Grishaverse books. The first volume of the first trilogy, Shadow & Bone, was published in 2012 and quickly made it to the New York Times best-sellers list and to the shelves of many fans of fantasy and young adult literature. The follow-up duology, Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom, was met with even more critical success, garnering positive reactions even from readers who had disliked the adventures of Alina, Mal and the Darkling, but had fallen head over heels for the down-to-earth scoundrels of Ketterdam.
Even before the Netflix show was announced, the relatively small fanbase was very active, positive, creative and funny, so when Netflix released a five-minute documentary about the making of the Grishaverse, fans were quick to crop shots of the in-costume actors' interviews to create a series of memes that reframed Shadow & Bone: The Epic Fantasy, as Shadow & Bone: The Reality Dating Show. Much of this brief meme moment in time was lovingly collected by Twitter user @brekkmaheart in this curated compilation thread.
The memes, all of which were generated by fans, cover the interpersonal conflict between the different characters, using the same non-scripted one-liners that could be found in any reality show with a confession cam, usually paired with the reaction of their "love interest" to the same events. The fans' love for the source material is self-evident, as they managed to perfectly capture the absurdity of Kaz's, Kirigan's and even Mal's "love languages" and Alina's, Inej's and Jesper's exasperation, turning the subtext of the show into a spot-on self-conscious parody worthy of a Saturday Night Live skit.
@Ghafasbrooke even included an homage to Adam Driver's Matt the Radar Technician from SNL's Star Wars mini-saga:
So, without further ado, let's introduce the main cast, courtesy of @dckrlings.
At the time of the memefication, the show itself had not yet premiered, so the memes contained certain events that, at the time of writing, might only take place in the books. The Shadow & Bone: Reality Dating Show memes fall mostly into three categories: the drama surrounding Alina, Mal and Kirigan's love triangle -- or just the Darkling's failed attempts at fully seducing Alina; Kaz and Inej's frustrating dynamic and the growing hostility between Kirigan and Kaz, the two "dark" bachelors of this imaginary show.
General Kirigan's Growing Love Pains
Kaz's Best Investment
Kaz Brekker cannot catch a break with Inej Ghafa either. While in the books and the show, it's clear that both of these characters are fighting inner battles to overcome the respective traumas that are currently preventing them from establishing healthy, open interpersonal relationships, the memes focused on the awkward external expression of this struggle.
The short Netflix documentary also confirmed that Kirigan, the series' main villain, and Kaz Brekker, the anti-villain, were on a collision course to secure Ravka's most important human asset: Alina. However, instead of focusing on any potential romantic tension and creating a second love triangle, the fans focused on how Kaz's and Kirigan's early childhood experiences influence their priorities in life.
This is a non-comprehensive compilation of the hundreds of memes that popped up in the week leading up to Shadow & Bone's release. Fans of the universe might want to peruse the original thread, as there are some hilarious deep cuts about Mal's future tattoo, references to Jordie, Wylan, Nikolai and other characters that have yet to make their appearance and even some homages to the true dark horse of the show, Milo the goat.
A Netflix production from Shawn Levy's 21 Laps Entertainment, Eric Heisserer, Leigh Bardugo, Pouya Shahbazian and Lee Toland Krieger, Shadow and Bone stars Jessie Mei Li (Alina Starkov), Archie Renaux (Malyen Oretsev), Freddy Carter (Kaz Brekker), Amita Suman (Inej), Kit Young (Jesper Fahey), Ben Barnes (General Kirigan), Sujaya Dasgupta (Zoya Nazyalensky), Danielle Galligan (Nina Zenik), Daisy Head (Genya Safin), Simon Sears (Ivan), Calahan Skogman (Matthias Helvar), Zoë Wanamaker (Baghra), Kevin Eldon (The Apparat), Julian Kostov (Fedyor), Luke Pasqualino (David), Jasmine Blackborow (Marie), Gabrielle Brooks (Nadia). The series premieres April 23 on Netflix.