After stepping it up significantly last week, we had high hopes for this episode, and Shadowhunters seemed to deliver once again.
In the previous episode Jace and Clary met the angel Ithuriel; Alec and Magnus grew closer; Simon and Maia went on a date; Luke attempted to rescue Cleophas from Valentine; and Izzy went on the hunt for some more yin fen.
The episode opens with us returning to Izzy, who is surrounded by vampires. Since she couldn’t get yin fen, she is now going straight to the source to get vampire venom. The vampires begin to attack her, but Raphael steps in. She begs Raphael to bite her and despite his initial refusal, she convinces him.
We see Maryse and Max Lightwood return to the Institute to announce Max has finally passed his trails and will be receiving his first rune. Unfortunately, Robert Lightwood isn’t attending, so Alec must organise Max’s ceremonial party. But with tensions still high between Alec and his mother, he asks Magnus to plan the party in an attempt to show Magnus is here to stay, as well as the fact he throws some excellent parties. Valentine also returns in this episode and meets up with creepy warlock Iris from a few episodes ago and forces her to do something for him, otherwise he will harm Madzie, the warlock child.
After Simon’s date with Maia and her voicing her thoughts, Simon decides to come clean to Clary about his feelings. Simon being Simon, he rambles on and drops the love bomb to Clary, but she kisses him. Thankfully the kiss they share is sweet, and not at all awkward like Clary and Jace’s first kiss in Season 1. Speaking of relationships, Jace ends up talking to Magnus about Alec. Jace tells Magnus he can feel Alec is happy through the parabatai bond and also gives Magnus the talk and warns him about hurting his brother.
Max’s ceremonial party begins with Clary and Simon arriving all playful. Both Jace and Maia see, which causes a bit of awkward tension for the two. Jace speaks to the lovebirds and Simon becomes nervous, but Jace tells Clary he is happy for her, although it seems he continues to pine away for her. Maryse and Max then arrive, and despite her anger towards Magnus hosting, she still brings a thank-you gift in the form of alcohol because she ‘heard Magnus likes to drink’.
Meanwhile, the party isn’t going so smoothly. Clary catches Maia and Simon kissing and when she confronts him, he acts as though it shouldn’t matter. Magnus gives Max a gift, but then he becomes rude and when Jace scolds him, Max lets it slip that Maryse no longer calls him a son. Maryse races after Jace to apologise, but attacks him instead.
Izzy is still making her way to the party when she meets Raphael. She begs for another bite as she wants to appear strong in front of her mother. He refuses and tells her again she needs help, reflecting on his own past when he became a vampire and Magnus helped him. However, he caves and she gets the venom while he gets Shadowhunter blood. Fans of the books don’t appear to be happy about this pairing, but in reality, it’s not really out of character for Isabelle as she dates Downworlders.
Back at the party, Clary sees Simon and Maia together again and she flips, but Magnus tells her she’s hallucinating and realises something is off. Soon after, Alec also begins to hallucinate in thinking Clary is blaming him for her mother’s death. He is then found on the ledge ready to jump, and he does. But Magnus arrives in time to save him with his magic. With all the Shadowhunters now in the same place, they begin to argue which causes Magnus to get his spellbook. He removes the spell, but then his spellbook disappears so he casts up his wards to prevent anyone leaving.
After inspecting every guest, he comes to the conclusion it must be the red cat from earlier. They find the cat and just as it’s running away, he casts a spell and it reveals itself to be Iris, the creepy warlock. The two begin to throw spells at one another and it is quite an epic magic battle for the show. He learns Valentine now has his spellbook and could undo everything Magnus has ever done. For her crime, he sends her through a portal to the Clave.
Jace and Clary then reveal to everyone what happened with Ithuriel and the runes Clary can create. Magnus realises Clary has pure angel blood because of her connection, which also means she can be used to activate the Soul Sword.
After all the drama, Clary and Simon share another moment, Max receives his first rune, and Maryse and Jace make up with one another. Maryse also tells Jace and Alec that Robert has been cheating, but not to share the information with Isabelle as she loves him too much.
The episode ends with Valentine and the warlock child at the park where he says Clary and Madzie will like one annother, so it seems as though the two will be involved with the Soul Sword.
Overall, the episode had it all again and let’s hope we can expect this from every future episode. Shadowhunters continues next with ‘Bound by Blood’.
What did you think of the episode? Let us know in the comments below!
