Jacquelyn Southerland

All troupe are obviously present and poorly written. Characters are flat and their forced backstories during “filler time” is too much and artificial. Example: Inej just starts talking about her missing family in the middle of an assassination attempt (let that sink in). Alina ( main character and my sweet summer child ) is badly written female protagonist for a wartime piece. This character got her whole unit massacred and pondered on the loss for five seconds, no survival guilt or any internal self reflection on her actions. Question: how can you start off bookish and stubborn to return to your ‘friend’ on the front line then turn into a foppish person overnight because they don’t write back during wartime? I would imagine Alina would be a little smarter than that. I mean wouldn’t she go through moments of grief about wandering the ‘what if’ of her friend/s at the front. You know stuff that adds layers to her character that allows the audience to be invested in her possible reunion (if any). I understand it is a teen drama, it is to be drama times 50, but even the teenage audience could question the many questionable choices of the characters. I know it is based off a book series, and explained in the book. However, I didn’t read the book( didn’t know it existed), so the world-building shouldn’t feel fractured an confusing to people new to it. The only saving graces to this series are locations and costumes. Those teams earned their checks. Suggestion: Watch some Korean dramas (focus on period pieces), Shadow and Bones writing team. It will teach you about pacing, character building, and properly using politics as a prop.