#i have no idea if this is a unreleased kiss scene from season 1 or is it a tease for season 2

[nexttimeisnotthesame]

Post-credits scene: 情牵三世 浮生若梦

[where-theres-smoak-2]

Did you catch the darklina theme playing when The darkling remembers his first kiss with Alina then Alina kills him? If you haven't it's this motif that plays which has some very somber slow violin that sounds tragically romantic. In Fact as weird as this sounds the violins almost sound inverted,if that even makes any sense. I first heard it at the fountain scene in season 1 specifically when Aleks said "you and I are going to change the world Alina" and you can hear it in the background. Then you can hear it more erupt when they start kissing on the desk in ep 5. Before the 2nd season aired I listened to the OST and I was obsessed with the track titled 'Let me be your Monster'. At around 1:53 you can hear the same theme being played and I immediately told myself that it was a scene of them probably kissing because it's literally their theme but then it abruptly pauses with one violin string being played for almost 20secs. It then builds up and carries on the theme then with an added trombone or something in the background then it's gets lower and lower until it ends with a sad violin ravka theme being played. I then thought it was probably the darkling dying. I came to a realisation that it could be Alina pulling a Jon snow on him. Imagine my surprise when it turns out I was right both times 😭 Anyway you probably already knew about the music but I wanted to share some thoughts on it and my personal experience trying to guess what was happening in this scene 😂 I'm kind of new to the grishaverse and I finished season one 3 weeks before the new season dropped so I was kind of obsessing. I wanted to know what you think of their theme? It gives me a James bond feel and I love it. Sounds almost like a 'What could have been' theme. It also feels very Romeo and Juliet-esque if that makes sense.

(P.S.) I also realised there is a motif that's played when Alina uses the shadow cut in the finale of S2 that is the same as when the darkling uses the shadow cut for the first time in S1 ep2 in the show. The track is called 'Rise and fall" on the S2 OST and it starts around 2:20 and it ends around 3:10(just some more parallels I've noticed with the darkling and Alina from season 1 to season 2).

Ok I love everything you said here. I also love the darklina theme so much, after season aired I played it pretty much non stop. Fun fact the original theme that was played in season 1 is titled 'Hope For The Future'. I also thought this was a very fitting title as this was very much what Alina represented to Aleks, but also it was what Alina saw in Aleks, she too at a time believed that they could bring hope to ravka together. Another fun fact is that there are actually two versions of this theme, on that was officially released and another unreleased version. The officially released one is the one that plays during the fountain scene and their first kiss and the unreleased on plays when they kiss on the desk in 1x05.

The officially released one, Hope For The Future, is much softer than the unreleased one. What I love about the Hope For The Future theme is that it starts out almost tentative, its slow and there are pauses. But then as the piece goes on the pace picks up and the chords are stronger and the music begins to swell so that it sounds uplifting. What I love about it is it mirrors Alina's character arc, when she first meets Aleks and comes to the LP she is very unsure of herself and her powers and still very much sees herself as the stick from Keramzin, but then he shows her who she truly is, shows her that she is grisha and powerful. So by the time you get to the point where they are sharing their first kiss in 1x05 she is a much more confident person who has more faith in herself and the music matches that.

It's a similar idea with Aleks, at first I think he was very tentative about his feelings for her, he has lost many a lover and so I don't think he wanted to open his heart up to more heartbreak despite feeling the connection between. Before Alina I think he was a very isolated and lonely man. But again by that first kiss he is letting her in more and is once again letting hope into his heart and believing for the first time in hundreds of years that he may find peace and that they may be able to save the grisha.

When it comes to the unreleased version that plays during their desk kiss it is a bit different. Whilst it carries the same tune or melody it sounds to me alot more passionate if that makes sense. The music swells much quicker and to me there also almost seems to be an ache or desperation behind those swells. There is a brief moment in the middle of the song where it slows and quietens, its the moment when Aleks asks if she is sure, then the music swells again as they kiss once more. For me this piece followed their passion in the scene and it also really captures that longing and ache they feel for each other. But also there is something euphoric about the piece.

When it comes to 'Let Me Be You Monster' what is interesting is the part that is the darklina theme, I am pretty sure is actually the unreleased version and not the Hope For The Future one from their first kiss. So they've taken footage of their first kiss but played the theme from their desk kiss over it.

Like you I listened to the soundtrack before season 2's release and become obsessed with this particular piece. I also upon realising it was the darklina theme thought it might be a kiss scene, I predicted that it would be the chapel scene form book 2 as the beginning part of the song sounds very menacing and dangerous and then it shifts into the darklina theme. So I thought the beginning part was going to be Alina and co running from the nichevo'ya and then the darklina theme the moment when she kisses him and uses his powers against him. But then I heard the part at the very end where it sounds very similar to the noise they use for the fold, like this pained cry, it played in the background during the fountain scene in 1x04 when Alina was telling the story about the black heretic and the creation of the fold. To me though the way these notes were drifting off in the song made me think of a dying cry. That's when I started wondering if it was actually Aleks' death scene. We know now that the menacing start to the song was the nichevo'ya attacking Alina and her realising, from the way Aleks lunged out as if to catch it and pull it back, that he didn't have control over them.

Something else that is interesting is that on the season 2 soundtrack there is another track called Hope For The Future, it plays over Aleks' funeral and you can here that first kiss theme in it but it is much slower, like they've dragged each note out which really made me think about how long a life Aleks had, like each stretched out note is symbolic of the hundreds of long lifetimes Aleks has endured. The track is also very sombre and sad, there are no uplifting swells really and it is much more muted, it very much sounded like a lament.

Good catch on the motif playing when Alina uses the shadow cut being the same as when the darkling does, I did not catch that myself.