#c) but they clearly thought SAB wouldn't be as popular without the SOC

[bartonbones]

About Kaz: I think the problem is not so much him "loosing" but the context of the whole thing? Like, getting beaten by a Tidemaker on parem who just *turns into mist* when you hit them and whom you did not expect because the possibility of such powers was previously unknown makes for a good scene. Kaz getting beaten by two ordinary bruisers who just stroll into his office, though? That is the kind of writing the books would not get away with because it contradicts Kaz' status - if Pekka Rollins can just go everywhere and kill everyone including Kaz, what is the point? This also doesn't get followed up properly - Pekka makes his threat, Kaz goes anyway and by episode 8 no consequences happen and the average viewer has probably forgotten. It also builds up Pekka's power too much, imo. Murder other wealthy barrel bosses whenever without consequence upsets the idea of a semi-stable system of power in Ketterdam. Like, he can get away with murdering common lowlife, but rich business owners? That would not work in the books. So the problem is not that Kaz looses, it is how he looses.

i think that the narrative reasons kaz loses that fight aren't just because he's overpowered by the jurda, although that contributes, it's because the manor in which the tidemaker is manifesting makes him think about jordie, which distracts him during the fight and makes him more vulnerable. it's not just touch that's a vulnerability, it's anything that relates back to jordie, and that includes pekka.

in the show pekka rollins showing up into this space that kaz has made sacred to himself is enough to disarm him and distract him becuase it reminds him of jordie, becuase here is this man that represents the entire reason he has any vulnerabilities to begin with, and so that's what the show is telling you by having pekka rollins show up and disarm kaz: it's not that pekka rollins is the most powerful scary antagonist, becuase he's not even the antagonist for the crows in the show, it's just to let you see a manifestation of what kaz's vulnerabilities are. in the book, we learn them through kaz's internal dialogue more than anything else--at the end of this scene he blames himself for being distracted, calls himself a fool. in the show, the absence of internal dialogue means we need external factors to let us know that kaz is vulnerable and he is frustrated by his own vulnerability.

i imagine this interact will pay off more in s2 when we as a show audience are told why pekka was so disarming to kaz specifically. it also allows them to set up this dynamic of pekka meaning a lot to kaz, but kaz meaning next to nothing to pekka.

also, i don't mean this to say i think the show is a perfect 1:1 for the books, bc obviously it isn't. and i don't want to give credit where none is due by saying that i think they're trying to show that the kaz in the show is a precursor to the more stable/powerful/intimidating book kaz, although i think that would be a more interesting take given that in the timeline kaz should technically be newer to all this, but what i am saying is that the "gotcha" ism of "kaz would never get beat in the books!" doesn't make sense to me and i don't think him being caught off guard by seeing pekka rollins personally for what i assume is the first time is character assassination as much as it is a nessicary evil of only being able to adapt a two-book series in to 10 minute slots of another show.