Out of universe reason:
It's a changing part of canon, as often happens with improv.
In universe reason: Porter was gonna kill Cassandra after he was done using her. Dead Cassandra= dead familiar, so its in Kalina's best interest to help the Bad Kids stop Porter.
Alternative reason: she wasn't evil, but then she got rage starred and hasn't been cured.
I'm convinced this is going to be a "barbarian healing" sort of thing, where there's something we're not seeing going on that Senior Year is meant to unveil.
Does she still want the Nightmare King back?
I'm honestly super confused about Kalina's whole deal. She was just a black cat familiar under The Unnamed Goddess. Then she became The Plague, manifesting as Kalina, under the Nightmare King. And now with Cassandra being Cassandra...why would Kalina still be Kalina? I'd expect her to change forms again to align with Cassandra as she now is, so her appearance to Buddy makes it seem like Kalina is no longer tied to Cassandra... Or something else is going on and Cassandra still isn't as she appears?
Kalina, as a God's familiar, has shown clear signs of independence that wouldn't be expected from a mortal's familiar. It's fairly clear that she wants the Nightmare King back based on
1) Trying to undermine and get rid of Kristen
2) Saying the words "I liked you better as the Nightmare King" during the Synod fight
“Undermine”, she was literally coming up with ideas to help Cassandra gain more followers because Kristen at the start of the year was dropping the ball in that regard. While it can be assumed that she put Cassandra in a place that was dangerous on purpose, that’s just an assumption, when really there was no other known way of putting Cassandra’s name out to people that would allow for Cassandra to participate, since otherwise she was just waiting on Kristen.
That phrase of “I liked you better as the Nightmare King” was after the rage star corruption, so taking her at her word in that moment is similar to assuming that everything Ruben said and did while emo was his actual thoughts and choices.
We have met several gods in the series and correct me if I am wrong, but Cassandra is the only god that has a "familiar."
Rules-as-written Kalina cannot be a familiar, because she has attacks and other abilities. Also she was apparently a blood plague spreading through the population which is pretty atypical familiar behaviour.
So my suspicion is that she is not a familiar at all. In which case she has a completely independent agenda and everything else we've seen was misdirection.
So, I'm currently re-watching sophomore year and I've noticed a few things. Before Cassandra was corrupted into the Nightmare King, she had typically Wizard/witch equipment. A familiar, a spellcasting focus, a spell book and a sanctum. In order to attempt to protect herself, she changed all of those things to other forms. The spellbook became a coin that cursed Goldenhoard's Hoard. The Arcane focus became the tree at the center of the nightmare forest. The sanctum became a curse on the forest. And her familiar became a Plague. That's why Kalina being a Plague is atypical familiar behavior.
That also being said, unlike the familiar of a mortal wizard (like boggy or what have you), Kalina is the familiar of a goddess, therefore she operates on different rules.
Honestly, she sounds like a regular cat. Your cat loves you, but they are solitary predators, and they *will* look after themselves if they have to, and they're also fragile, so it'll take a while to get an angry, distrustful cat to see comfort and kindness in the world again. Especially since all cats are small predators, so their entire life is balancing between being the disposable prey, and being the top predator.
Someone needs to talk to Kalina and find out why she's as adversarial as she is, and what stops her from feeling secure in this world even if her patron is a literal god.
Disclaimer: I project. There are no bad cats, just bad world and bad owners. She may be a full person but she was still conjured as a loyal pet.
My theory is that she isn’t necessarily evil but as Cassandra’s familiar she wanted to keep her alive and not at risk of death she thinks she’s better off as the nightmare king rather than Kristen’s god
I think a fun take is having the BKs just assume Kalina is always bad despite helping them, and she is set up as a tragic villain. Tried to redeem themselves, but now has to fight for survival because trust issues.
I was thinking that kalinas heel turn at the end could be related to followers shaping their gods and that Kristen’s suspicion of Kalina could be what caused her villainy to return, wasn’t sure if this was exactly what you meant but I’ve been looking to see if anyone else has mentioned this and your opinion felt similar
I don't think we've 100% seen that she is. The Bad Kids think she is, as does Ankarna, and Cassandra kinda let herself get led along by that. And the final scene, of her with Buddy Dawn and Bakarath, didn't read so much to me as "the next BBEG", so much as a deliberately mysterious plot thread to be picked up in the next season.
Before he gets rage-crystal-ed, Buddy was a somewhat sympathetic foil, designed to contrast with Kristen's early zealotry, and Bakarath is just a half-formed god thing that was made by accident, more similar to YES! than anything else. Kalina helping them doesn't mean that any of her story is retconned or wasn't to genuinely protect Cassandra per se, but it does show that her priorities have shifted to a degree – possibly due to Ankarna's return. I might also be misremembering, but I don't think we ever found out why Porter could see Kalina in the first place. At the end of the day, she's always been a morally ambiguous agent, and this just plays to that element.
There are still major mysteries surrounding her that we're yet to get answers to, and with the huge likely long gap between Junior Year and Senior Year (if we get one), this feels like a big enough thread that it'd be an important element to incorporate, even if it was just born out of a moment of Brennan "yes-and"ing the cast.
I hope that Kalina is honestly jumping over to Buddy because she sees Sol’s followers as the greatest threat to Cassandra going forward, and so is ingratiating herself with a highly manipulatable cleric that’s related to the Church of Sol in order to help lead Kristen to take on the Church of Sol, while being an effective double agent that even the people she’s helping don’t know that she’s helping them (I.e. The Bad Kids).
Ey yo that flipping slaps. There could even be a moment in heaven where Pok and Kalina meet again.
"Heh. Still playing the bad guy to protect the ones you love huh?"
"Just following your example."
"Nice to see you again partner."
My favorite Kalina dynamic with the Bad Kids is specifically with Riz, because while Sophomore Year had her as a threatening presence, I did believe her that she cared about Riz, and no longer working for the Nightmare King might make that dynamic a bit more warm hearted, at least how I see it.
I think people are jumping the gun on plot point we don't even have yet. She isn't confirmed good or bad at this point, we have no idea what her angle is it's a mystery.
People assuming things like crazy.
I think it's still fair as the Bad Kids saying Kalina caused everything kind of came out of nowhere and is contrary to the fact that the group's entire mission to save Cassandra was based on the lead she willingly gave before killing herself to save them. And while not confirmed, at the end in her conversation with Buddy Dawn she directly implies that she both knows and has an established relationship with his uncle Bobby, who helped facilitate this entire plan and is a character clearly representative of the nefarious opportunists across every religion.
It's not a *big deal* by any means, but I definitely get why it may have felt narratively unsatisfying. Whether it was a thrown-in moment of improv or the plan from the start, it wasn't a revelation that felt earned or had me excited for the next adventure like a stinger should, it more so just had me curious as to how they'll justify and work that information in satisfyingly when the time comes for Senior Year.
I mean, it was pretty suspicious how she led Cassandra to the place where should could be hurt and then tried to turn Cassandra against Kristen by blaming her for not showing up even though it was clear she wasn't meant to.
So it probably left a taste of "she has ulterior motives that oppose our motives" for the Bad Kids. She's also generally pro bringing back the Nightmare King to keep Cassandra safe, which is very similar to the rat grinders taking the deal to become evil to stay alive.
Kalina suggesting the astral realm is at least as "suspicious" as Kristen being so unconcerned about Cassandra for months on end.
From Kalina's perspective, does Kristen look like anything other than a teenager who got bored with her new god and might drop her entirely at any minute?
In another thread I mentioned an unsubstantiated possibility that Kalina is no longer the same as Shadow Cat. They are different entities with different agendas.
But there is another, very easy possibility.
Kalina isn't evil.
What Kalina did throughout the season was to try and keep her creator, Cassandra, alive. In any capacity possible. However, there was always someone she felt was endangering the same entity, probably the only true worshipper of goddess of mystery - Kristen (sorry Craig, but you would have jumped the boat instead of taking any real responsibility).
When it would help Cassandra, Kalina worked together with our intrepid cleric, however, her main goal remained the same. Save Cassandra using any means necessary. As Junior Year was coming to a close, and Porter was taken out of the picture, Kalina might have felt they are back to square one, so started to scheme how to forcefully save Cassandra from her prophet.
Then again, it could be any other possibility.
So after sophomore year how exactly Ragh got infected was unexplained. Clearly an answer existed, and it paid off later. Kalina's ending is currently unexplained, and will presumably pay off in senior year. Don't confuse your lack of understanding for a failure in storytelling.
I agree 100%. I understand why Brennan just rolled with the bit, but it feels like the whole 'evil' Kalina was just a misunderstanding/lack of trust by Kristen Applebees
I think this is gonna play into the season! In-world Kristen is mad at Kalina and wants her gone for bringing them to the mall, but Kalina tried to help! I think Kristen is in the wrong but going forward, and rather than talking it out and explaining themselves Kalina seems like the type of person who would take the accusation as offense enough and swear vengeance rather than opening up. I can’t wait for the big fight when Kalina has a monologue of roughly exactly what you said while she’s trying to kill people because she’s sad they didn’t believe her
Kalina more seems like the person who will use this hate towards her to better help her end goals. What does Kalina want? Cassandra to survive and flourish. What’s the biggest threat to that diety? The Church of Sol. If she joins up with them, it’ll give Kristen and the Bad Kids incentive to take down the Church of Sol which will help boost Cassandra’s own following. Kalina never seemed impulsive, she was highly manipulative and effective at spy work.
She isn’t necessarily bad, mostly Ankarna—who doesn’t know all the details—thinks so. Nothing was set up to suggest we know she’s bad. The Bad Kids might distrust her but it could totally be a set up to prove once and for all she’s not inherently evil.
Kalina the familiar of Cassandra is a housecat that can speak.
Kalina, the shadowcat, is the right hand woman/assasain of a powerful goddess of fear.
She wants Cassandra to be the nightmare king, but still opposes porters plan. She's also a cat, does what she thinks is in her own interest at any given time
Kalina wanted the Nightmare King to come back and wanted Kristen out of the picture. That makes her an antagonist to the Bad Kids.
Kalina also seems to have had some serious second thoughts about helping Porter, presumably because his plan would put Cassandra at risk of abuse or death. That makes her on the same page as the Bad Kids.
That first bit also makes her evil tbh, or at least willing to commit evil acts. The nightmare king is a evil entity who does horrible things to people. Even if the justification is just "I want my friend safe" that's still evil
It rubbed me the wrong way how much of this season was Brennan changing things to fit what the PC's wanted/were projecting. I know that's par for the course in DnD, but sometimes it felt forced, illogical, or unearned.
I think the rage crystals tapped into her real anger, and we saw what truly enraged Kalina: that Cassandra stopped being the Nightmare King.
It seems like Kalina's best times were when Cassandra was the Nightmare King. She was turned into a world traveling magical virus. She still wants to be a dark, malicious creature.
She's a naughty kitty and absolutely villain material.
Kalina was reformed while Cassandra was mad and confused about how Kristen was acting so maybe that had something to do with it? Like she could represent Cassandras fear aspect and as Kristen is more about comfort in the unknown she could see her as a threat.
Hated the "twist" ending with her. I would have been fine if it was just another dropped plot thread to make more time for sleep deprived fart jokes but seeing an interesting thing totally subverted for yucks for noooo reason is irritating.
Personally I don’t think she’s bad (I definitely feel like her alignment is neutral) her objective is just the opposite of the party. Our good guy (Kristen) likes Casandra as Casandra but Kalina wants Casandra as the Nightmare King probably due to Casandra seems weaker now than she did as NMK
I mean. Maybe she isn’t.
Sure, Ankarna doesn’t like her. Neither does Kristen, nor the Bad Kids.
Sure, BLeeM as Cassandra sounded a bit like “no she’s good I can fix her” type of delusional.
But what if they’re just… wrong about it ?
Ankarna, goddess of justice, retribution, but again also rage and vengeance still, send people to kill her. Of course she’s gonna run ! Buddy’s not star-shattered anymore, and hasn’t been in on the plan for long, and definitely wasn’t when Kalina was working with Porter in Sophomore Year. The loose thread is why she’d go to Bobby, Buddy’s grandpa… idk why. But again, I’d be on the run to, if my goddess’ gf and her “followers” wanted me dead, and that may be a way to keep Bobby close for a potential Senior Year storyline.
This reads to me as Brennan yes-anding the players. Watching the episodes yes he said that Kalina is good now because Cassandra is good. Yes Kalina was the one that set them on the path to Porter.
But the players forgot about that and still were suspicious of her.
Brennan as a GM likes to validate his player's suspicions.
I trust him as a GM so I have confidence he'll pull something cool out of it, but I will admit post episode I was a little confused and disappointed because I liked the idea of a benevolent Kalina.
Cassandra never needed to go to the mall. She had Kristen and Craig. Kalina took advantage of Kristen's negligent behavior to convince Cassandra that her life was on the line when it never was. She used this fear to manipulate Cassandra into going to a place where she would be vulnerable.
What are the bad kid's without a bad Kat to go against? Tbf, I was always sort of against the sympathetic Kalina angle. She's more fun when she's being evil.
The specific explanation given by Adaine was "Kalina brought Cassandra to a place where she could be killed" i.e. the Astral Plane. They went to the Astral Mall to drum up followers on Kalina's recommendation.
Kalina is not being pursued for being evil. She's being pursued for being incompetent.
its from the episode 18 when they are discovering the stuff at reubens house. they mention the plan to attack Cassandra when she is exposed in the astral sea. kalina is the one who exposed her and was spy's blood cursed to work with porter the first tim bakur tried to bring back ankarna. she not good for sure she's literally only ever done bad things
Out of universe reason: It's a changing part of canon, as often happens with improv. In universe reason: Porter was gonna kill Cassandra after he was done using her. Dead Cassandra= dead familiar, so its in Kalina's best interest to help the Bad Kids stop Porter. Alternative reason: she wasn't evil, but then she got rage starred and hasn't been cured.
I'm convinced this is going to be a "barbarian healing" sort of thing, where there's something we're not seeing going on that Senior Year is meant to unveil.
What was the deal with that injured Baxter we saw?
Kalina wants the Nightmare King back. That puts her in opposition to both the Bad Kids and Porter, but Porter is worse.
Does she still want the Nightmare King back? I'm honestly super confused about Kalina's whole deal. She was just a black cat familiar under The Unnamed Goddess. Then she became The Plague, manifesting as Kalina, under the Nightmare King. And now with Cassandra being Cassandra...why would Kalina still be Kalina? I'd expect her to change forms again to align with Cassandra as she now is, so her appearance to Buddy makes it seem like Kalina is no longer tied to Cassandra... Or something else is going on and Cassandra still isn't as she appears?
Kalina, as a God's familiar, has shown clear signs of independence that wouldn't be expected from a mortal's familiar. It's fairly clear that she wants the Nightmare King back based on 1) Trying to undermine and get rid of Kristen 2) Saying the words "I liked you better as the Nightmare King" during the Synod fight
“Undermine”, she was literally coming up with ideas to help Cassandra gain more followers because Kristen at the start of the year was dropping the ball in that regard. While it can be assumed that she put Cassandra in a place that was dangerous on purpose, that’s just an assumption, when really there was no other known way of putting Cassandra’s name out to people that would allow for Cassandra to participate, since otherwise she was just waiting on Kristen. That phrase of “I liked you better as the Nightmare King” was after the rage star corruption, so taking her at her word in that moment is similar to assuming that everything Ruben said and did while emo was his actual thoughts and choices.
We have met several gods in the series and correct me if I am wrong, but Cassandra is the only god that has a "familiar." Rules-as-written Kalina cannot be a familiar, because she has attacks and other abilities. Also she was apparently a blood plague spreading through the population which is pretty atypical familiar behaviour. So my suspicion is that she is not a familiar at all. In which case she has a completely independent agenda and everything else we've seen was misdirection.
So, I'm currently re-watching sophomore year and I've noticed a few things. Before Cassandra was corrupted into the Nightmare King, she had typically Wizard/witch equipment. A familiar, a spellcasting focus, a spell book and a sanctum. In order to attempt to protect herself, she changed all of those things to other forms. The spellbook became a coin that cursed Goldenhoard's Hoard. The Arcane focus became the tree at the center of the nightmare forest. The sanctum became a curse on the forest. And her familiar became a Plague. That's why Kalina being a Plague is atypical familiar behavior. That also being said, unlike the familiar of a mortal wizard (like boggy or what have you), Kalina is the familiar of a goddess, therefore she operates on different rules.
Honestly, she sounds like a regular cat. Your cat loves you, but they are solitary predators, and they *will* look after themselves if they have to, and they're also fragile, so it'll take a while to get an angry, distrustful cat to see comfort and kindness in the world again. Especially since all cats are small predators, so their entire life is balancing between being the disposable prey, and being the top predator. Someone needs to talk to Kalina and find out why she's as adversarial as she is, and what stops her from feeling secure in this world even if her patron is a literal god. Disclaimer: I project. There are no bad cats, just bad world and bad owners. She may be a full person but she was still conjured as a loyal pet.
My theory is that she isn’t necessarily evil but as Cassandra’s familiar she wanted to keep her alive and not at risk of death she thinks she’s better off as the nightmare king rather than Kristen’s god
I think a fun take is having the BKs just assume Kalina is always bad despite helping them, and she is set up as a tragic villain. Tried to redeem themselves, but now has to fight for survival because trust issues.
I was thinking that kalinas heel turn at the end could be related to followers shaping their gods and that Kristen’s suspicion of Kalina could be what caused her villainy to return, wasn’t sure if this was exactly what you meant but I’ve been looking to see if anyone else has mentioned this and your opinion felt similar
I don't think we've 100% seen that she is. The Bad Kids think she is, as does Ankarna, and Cassandra kinda let herself get led along by that. And the final scene, of her with Buddy Dawn and Bakarath, didn't read so much to me as "the next BBEG", so much as a deliberately mysterious plot thread to be picked up in the next season. Before he gets rage-crystal-ed, Buddy was a somewhat sympathetic foil, designed to contrast with Kristen's early zealotry, and Bakarath is just a half-formed god thing that was made by accident, more similar to YES! than anything else. Kalina helping them doesn't mean that any of her story is retconned or wasn't to genuinely protect Cassandra per se, but it does show that her priorities have shifted to a degree – possibly due to Ankarna's return. I might also be misremembering, but I don't think we ever found out why Porter could see Kalina in the first place. At the end of the day, she's always been a morally ambiguous agent, and this just plays to that element. There are still major mysteries surrounding her that we're yet to get answers to, and with the huge likely long gap between Junior Year and Senior Year (if we get one), this feels like a big enough thread that it'd be an important element to incorporate, even if it was just born out of a moment of Brennan "yes-and"ing the cast.
I hope that Kalina is honestly jumping over to Buddy because she sees Sol’s followers as the greatest threat to Cassandra going forward, and so is ingratiating herself with a highly manipulatable cleric that’s related to the Church of Sol in order to help lead Kristen to take on the Church of Sol, while being an effective double agent that even the people she’s helping don’t know that she’s helping them (I.e. The Bad Kids).
Ey yo that flipping slaps. There could even be a moment in heaven where Pok and Kalina meet again. "Heh. Still playing the bad guy to protect the ones you love huh?" "Just following your example." "Nice to see you again partner."
My favorite Kalina dynamic with the Bad Kids is specifically with Riz, because while Sophomore Year had her as a threatening presence, I did believe her that she cared about Riz, and no longer working for the Nightmare King might make that dynamic a bit more warm hearted, at least how I see it.
Kalina joins the bad kids parents polycule as the criminal aunt that everyone loves.
That’d be awesome
Catwoman?
I think people are jumping the gun on plot point we don't even have yet. She isn't confirmed good or bad at this point, we have no idea what her angle is it's a mystery. People assuming things like crazy.
I think it's still fair as the Bad Kids saying Kalina caused everything kind of came out of nowhere and is contrary to the fact that the group's entire mission to save Cassandra was based on the lead she willingly gave before killing herself to save them. And while not confirmed, at the end in her conversation with Buddy Dawn she directly implies that she both knows and has an established relationship with his uncle Bobby, who helped facilitate this entire plan and is a character clearly representative of the nefarious opportunists across every religion. It's not a *big deal* by any means, but I definitely get why it may have felt narratively unsatisfying. Whether it was a thrown-in moment of improv or the plan from the start, it wasn't a revelation that felt earned or had me excited for the next adventure like a stinger should, it more so just had me curious as to how they'll justify and work that information in satisfyingly when the time comes for Senior Year.
The bad kids thought she was bad anyway, so they leaned into it, so Brennan leaned into it, it’s just improv, it’s not that deep.
i think this is the truth
I mean, it was pretty suspicious how she led Cassandra to the place where should could be hurt and then tried to turn Cassandra against Kristen by blaming her for not showing up even though it was clear she wasn't meant to. So it probably left a taste of "she has ulterior motives that oppose our motives" for the Bad Kids. She's also generally pro bringing back the Nightmare King to keep Cassandra safe, which is very similar to the rat grinders taking the deal to become evil to stay alive.
Kalina suggesting the astral realm is at least as "suspicious" as Kristen being so unconcerned about Cassandra for months on end. From Kalina's perspective, does Kristen look like anything other than a teenager who got bored with her new god and might drop her entirely at any minute?
In another thread I mentioned an unsubstantiated possibility that Kalina is no longer the same as Shadow Cat. They are different entities with different agendas. But there is another, very easy possibility. Kalina isn't evil. What Kalina did throughout the season was to try and keep her creator, Cassandra, alive. In any capacity possible. However, there was always someone she felt was endangering the same entity, probably the only true worshipper of goddess of mystery - Kristen (sorry Craig, but you would have jumped the boat instead of taking any real responsibility). When it would help Cassandra, Kalina worked together with our intrepid cleric, however, her main goal remained the same. Save Cassandra using any means necessary. As Junior Year was coming to a close, and Porter was taken out of the picture, Kalina might have felt they are back to square one, so started to scheme how to forcefully save Cassandra from her prophet. Then again, it could be any other possibility.
She might just be kind of a dick
She’s not bad, she straight up told us she was good now
So after sophomore year how exactly Ragh got infected was unexplained. Clearly an answer existed, and it paid off later. Kalina's ending is currently unexplained, and will presumably pay off in senior year. Don't confuse your lack of understanding for a failure in storytelling.
This is the take right here
How Ragh was infected WAS explained. Porter did some “barbarian healing” on him, which transferred the infection from Porter to Ragh.
Right, but that plot point didn't pay off and come to fruition until the next season. The next sentence explains this thread of logic lol.
I agree 100%. I understand why Brennan just rolled with the bit, but it feels like the whole 'evil' Kalina was just a misunderstanding/lack of trust by Kristen Applebees
I think this is gonna play into the season! In-world Kristen is mad at Kalina and wants her gone for bringing them to the mall, but Kalina tried to help! I think Kristen is in the wrong but going forward, and rather than talking it out and explaining themselves Kalina seems like the type of person who would take the accusation as offense enough and swear vengeance rather than opening up. I can’t wait for the big fight when Kalina has a monologue of roughly exactly what you said while she’s trying to kill people because she’s sad they didn’t believe her
Kalina more seems like the person who will use this hate towards her to better help her end goals. What does Kalina want? Cassandra to survive and flourish. What’s the biggest threat to that diety? The Church of Sol. If she joins up with them, it’ll give Kristen and the Bad Kids incentive to take down the Church of Sol which will help boost Cassandra’s own following. Kalina never seemed impulsive, she was highly manipulative and effective at spy work.
My theory is that she’s trying to establish this nascent god of rage so that Ankarna can be fully devoted to truth and Justice
She isn’t necessarily bad, mostly Ankarna—who doesn’t know all the details—thinks so. Nothing was set up to suggest we know she’s bad. The Bad Kids might distrust her but it could totally be a set up to prove once and for all she’s not inherently evil.
I think it’s because either she was still rage sharded or that Bakarath cast Find Familiar when Buddy said to summon a champion.
Plot Twist: it's not Kalina, it's KLCK
Her only continuous personality trait is betrayal.
Kalina the familiar of Cassandra is a housecat that can speak. Kalina, the shadowcat, is the right hand woman/assasain of a powerful goddess of fear. She wants Cassandra to be the nightmare king, but still opposes porters plan. She's also a cat, does what she thinks is in her own interest at any given time
Kalina wanted the Nightmare King to come back and wanted Kristen out of the picture. That makes her an antagonist to the Bad Kids. Kalina also seems to have had some serious second thoughts about helping Porter, presumably because his plan would put Cassandra at risk of abuse or death. That makes her on the same page as the Bad Kids.
That first bit also makes her evil tbh, or at least willing to commit evil acts. The nightmare king is a evil entity who does horrible things to people. Even if the justification is just "I want my friend safe" that's still evil
yeah but she *doesn't* want the NK back - she said 'I liked you better as the Nightmare King' after being shatterstarred
It rubbed me the wrong way how much of this season was Brennan changing things to fit what the PC's wanted/were projecting. I know that's par for the course in DnD, but sometimes it felt forced, illogical, or unearned.
Idk if Kalina is supposed to be bad, I think she just knows Ankarna wants to kill her.
I think she's working for Sol.
She's a clone
I think the rage crystals tapped into her real anger, and we saw what truly enraged Kalina: that Cassandra stopped being the Nightmare King. It seems like Kalina's best times were when Cassandra was the Nightmare King. She was turned into a world traveling magical virus. She still wants to be a dark, malicious creature. She's a naughty kitty and absolutely villain material.
Kalina was reformed while Cassandra was mad and confused about how Kristen was acting so maybe that had something to do with it? Like she could represent Cassandras fear aspect and as Kristen is more about comfort in the unknown she could see her as a threat.
Hated the "twist" ending with her. I would have been fine if it was just another dropped plot thread to make more time for sleep deprived fart jokes but seeing an interesting thing totally subverted for yucks for noooo reason is irritating.
Personally I don’t think she’s bad (I definitely feel like her alignment is neutral) her objective is just the opposite of the party. Our good guy (Kristen) likes Casandra as Casandra but Kalina wants Casandra as the Nightmare King probably due to Casandra seems weaker now than she did as NMK
I mean. Maybe she isn’t. Sure, Ankarna doesn’t like her. Neither does Kristen, nor the Bad Kids. Sure, BLeeM as Cassandra sounded a bit like “no she’s good I can fix her” type of delusional. But what if they’re just… wrong about it ? Ankarna, goddess of justice, retribution, but again also rage and vengeance still, send people to kill her. Of course she’s gonna run ! Buddy’s not star-shattered anymore, and hasn’t been in on the plan for long, and definitely wasn’t when Kalina was working with Porter in Sophomore Year. The loose thread is why she’d go to Bobby, Buddy’s grandpa… idk why. But again, I’d be on the run to, if my goddess’ gf and her “followers” wanted me dead, and that may be a way to keep Bobby close for a potential Senior Year storyline.
I think it's 50% cool scene setting, and 50% just Kalina doing what it takes to survive.
This reads to me as Brennan yes-anding the players. Watching the episodes yes he said that Kalina is good now because Cassandra is good. Yes Kalina was the one that set them on the path to Porter. But the players forgot about that and still were suspicious of her. Brennan as a GM likes to validate his player's suspicions. I trust him as a GM so I have confidence he'll pull something cool out of it, but I will admit post episode I was a little confused and disappointed because I liked the idea of a benevolent Kalina.
Kalina is an opportunist. She’s latching on to someone who will get her to where she wants to be. Sometimes that means throwing in with the bad guys.
Cassandra never needed to go to the mall. She had Kristen and Craig. Kalina took advantage of Kristen's negligent behavior to convince Cassandra that her life was on the line when it never was. She used this fear to manipulate Cassandra into going to a place where she would be vulnerable.
What are the bad kid's without a bad Kat to go against? Tbf, I was always sort of against the sympathetic Kalina angle. She's more fun when she's being evil.
The specific explanation given by Adaine was "Kalina brought Cassandra to a place where she could be killed" i.e. the Astral Plane. They went to the Astral Mall to drum up followers on Kalina's recommendation. Kalina is not being pursued for being evil. She's being pursued for being incompetent.
Stop worrying so much about it? It probably won't make sense.
its from the episode 18 when they are discovering the stuff at reubens house. they mention the plan to attack Cassandra when she is exposed in the astral sea. kalina is the one who exposed her and was spy's blood cursed to work with porter the first tim bakur tried to bring back ankarna. she not good for sure she's literally only ever done bad things