Well Shadowhunters fans, it seems they really ramped up the action this week with great fight sequences, interesting storylines, and plenty of action. Hopefully this might see the series pick up again, but as always, there are up’s and down’s in any series.
On last week’s episode things got a little crazy with the vampire Simon created; a deruned Maryse Lightwood visited her children; Alec and Magnus continued to face issues; we met Brother Zachariah; Luke’s police partner Ollie became one of Lilith’s disciples; and lastly, the gang discovered Jace is the Owl.
Love Is Not Easy
The episode kicks off with Clary catching up to Jace. The two engage in quite an epic fight sequence until he holds her by the throat and dangles her over the edge. Clary confesses her love for him, but he drops her onto a car below. I’m sorry, but where has this kind of action been?
At Simon’s apartment, Maia brings more blood over and she’s happy until she sees Kyle. Before she leaves, she explains that his name is Jordan Kyle and that he is the werewolf who turned her. Kyle then explains to Simon he didn’t realise Maia and Simon were dating until it was too late, but nevertheless, Simon is not happy.
Simon then receives a call from Clary saying that she can’t move and he races over to her. Quite literally the next second, Clary is standing and all good, other than the fact her boyfriend is the Owl and threw her off a building.
The group now knows that the demon is Lilith thanks to the books they obtained from Brother Zachariah, but they’re all confused as to why she picked Jace to be her minion. Clary comes clean about what happened at Lake Lyn with Raziel and then the death of Ithuriel. Instead of reprimanding Clary, Alec embraces her and claims he would have done the same thing.
Meanwhile, Luke tries to get in touch with Sam, Ollie’s girlfriend, so she can get to safety, but Ollie has already killed her own mother. Lilith claims that the 33 sacrifices have nourished Jonathan and that he will rise soon. Lilith wants Jace to go to Alicante and visit the Cemetery of the Disgraced so he can bring back “the flesh of his father”—also known as Valentine.
The Tale of Maia and Kyle
Simon visits Maia at Jade Wolf and apologises, but all she wants is some alone time. We then see flashbacks of a slightly younger Maia meeting Kyle for the first time at the beach. Later on, Kyle’s reminisces and it seems Maia conquered her fear of the ocean, which causes them to talk of moving to Fiji together. Kyle then calls the Praetor to ask to be taken off the case regardless of the consequences.
We see another flashback where Kyle has quite the nasty slash on his chest while Maia has received a full scholarship to study marine science except he yells at her about their plans to go to Fiji. Kyle is then seen stalking Maia and acting jealous over another guy and apparently he now gives her permission to go to college if it means they can be together. She leaves, but this causes Kyle to shift due to his anger and then he wakes up naked on the ground covered in blood. He finds Maia on the ground with her throat slashed and runs away.
In the present time, Kyle leaves a note for Maia and finds her about to knock on the apartment door. He explains he didn’t know how to tell her and she assumed it was for revenge, but he couldn’t control himself. She was mostly angry because he just left her there and never saw her again. He tried joining the Praetor to help redeem himself and she says he is staying on Simon’s case because he shouldn’t abandon another person.
Time For Some Undercover Work
Luke goes to see the shadowhunters and Magnus claims he might be able to rid Jace of Lilith’s control, but they’ll need to stop him somehow. Isabelle recalls a piece of Clave technology called the Malachai Configuration, which is essentially a cage for Greater demons and it is currently stored in the Alicante armory. Clary thinks Imogen might hand it over since she is Jace’s grandmother.
Magnus feels guilty about giving the elixir to Lilith and vows to fix it, which leads to Magnus and Alec embracing and apologising about their fight. Magnus then tries to figure out an antidote and receives a few words of encouragement from Catarina.
Clary, Izzy and Alec visit Imogen in Alicante and explain the situation, but they leave out the Raziel part. It seems Imogen is convinced until Consul Penhallow comes across the group, but Alec distracts her so Izzy and Clary can obtain the configuration. After obtaining the weapon and now preparing to leave, Clary thinks Jace would have been better without her, but Izzy says she made him happy.
Meanwhile Luke needs Simon for a reconnaissance mission as he thinks he might know where Lilith and everyone else is. Ollie’s girlfriend then storms in demanding answers which winds up with her slapping Luke. Simon and Luke head off and Simon explains his situation with Maia, so Luke comes clean about asking the Praetor to help Simon out and Luke learns they sent Kyle.
Simon and Luke arrive at the Church of Talto and Luke tries to reason with Ollie, but she’s not having it. Simon is attacked by two members and it causes his mark to flare up and it kills them. Lilith asks Ollie how her disciples disintegrated and she knows exactly what Simon is when she learns it was a vampire.
Imogen receives a visit from Jace who wants to be escorted to the cemetery so he can mourn his parents. Unfortunately she makes the mistake of reaching for a blade and he stabs her. Before she dies, she manages to send a fire message to Alec so the trio change their course of action.
Jace digs up Valentine’s grave when Alec yells out to him before they each drop a blade into the ground and trap him. The Clave are hot on their heels so Clary draws a portal rune sending them back to Magnus’, while she stays behind. At the end of the episode, despite it being elusive, I assume Clary has been apprehended by the Clave and taken to the Gard.
Final Thoughts?
I must admit, I was pleasantly surprised with this week’s episode! It seemed as though each character received an adequate amount of screen time and they even managed to squeeze in some Malec, Jaia (I believe that’s the ship name), and Clace moments for consistency. However, there were a few things glossed over like Clary being up and walking so soon, and yes they have iratzes, but they are still painful to apply and even when the body is healing. Unless Magnus did some magic? Who knows! The end of the episode was slightly frustrating, but most likely it is the Gard as Clary mentioned it earlier in the episode when she confessed to Alec what she had done.
The fight sequences were very well done, and I applaud the stunt team for producing a realistic sequence between Clary and Jace! Plus I commend the crew for not putting overly excessive effects on the scene like in previous episodes where they’ve done some slow-mo work.
It was great to see the backstory of both Kyle and Maia as this was quite close to how it happened in the book series. I was surprised at the screen time they received, but it was definitely needed especially as their characters will progress quite significantly over the next season.
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