About:
Shadowhunter Downworlder of the Week: Lorenzo
Previously: Jace has visions of killing Clary; Simon has been marked in a mysterious ceremony performed by the Seelies; and Jonathan’s demon mama, Lilith, begins activating disciples of the Church of Talto.
What Happened
During Lorenzo Rey’s victory party for being elected as the new High Warlock of Brooklyn, the ley line beneath his mansion becomes corrupted, causing the magic of the many warlocks in attendance to go haywire. Asmodeus, a Greater Demon and also MAGNUS’ ESTRANGED FATHER, is suspected initially, but stealthy sleuthing spouses (whatever, I’m going for alliteration) Magnus and Alec discover that an unrecognized and even more powerful demon from Edom is to blame. (Psst — the real culprits are Lilith and her newest possessed disciples, each of whom made a human sacrifice for the Church of Talto, just like Demon Nurse Tim did.) To restore the ley lines, Magnus redirects the Institute’s angelic core to flood them with angelic energy — a risky manoeuvre that Raj tries and fails to sabotage, which lands him and his cronies a banishment to Wrangel Island, and that Lorenzo takes credit for after it’s successful.
Jace takes Clary out on a proper — or, rather, mundane date at a restaurant suggested by Simon… which gets them seated right next to Simon and Maia, aka her ex-BF and his ex-FWB. AWKWARDNESS ENSUES when Maia and Jace’s past fling is revealed, but both couples emerge stronger in the aftermath.
Not so happy with Maia and Simon — and just Simon in general — are a faction of werewolves who disapprove of the relationship and try to evict Simon from the pack’s property. When one of them attacks Simon, he unknowingly Wonder Womans to protect himself, an ability seemingly granted by the mark given to him at the Seelie Court.
Shadowhighlights
- Madzie sighting! Alec with small children is downright UNFAIR.
- Also v. cute: Maia and Simon, especially with her being the doting and protective girlfriend who’s on the same pop culture wavelength as him.
- Clary sketching. Hey, the show remembered that she’s an artist!
- Believe it or not, I do try to avoid objectifying the cast in these recaps (we’d be here all day if I didn’t), but OMGGGGG ALEC IN BOXER BRIEFS. (And also shirtless, if you’re into that, I guess.)
- LOL, Alec keeping Lorenzo distracted and having to be sneaky.
- The accidental double date, OBVS, which was as revelatory to those involved about werewolf logistics and vampire physiology as it was about Jace and Maia’s shared history.
- If I made a playlist for this episode, it’d just be this on infinite repeat, because Maia and Alec both basically give their boyfriends the Backstreet Boys “I don’t care who you are, where you’re from, what you did, as long as you love me” speech.
- SMELL YA LATER, RAJ. Who could have known that leaving Degrassi would turn you into such a tool?
- Look, I know she’s evil incarnate, but we can all admit that Lilith has amazing fashion sense, right?
Shadowlowlights
- SO MANY COCKTAILS, which is obvs not the lowlight, but Clary is still underage! (And Maia was the one to suggest drinks, even though she’s a stickler for liquor laws. Except when it comes to Clary, apparently.)
- The random things that Jace lists about Clary are, uh, supposed to be romantic? Or make her sound like a child, same difference. (Mostly the thinking face and double-knotting shoelaces.)
- I’m not exactly optimistic about the direction of Izzy’s storyline this season. Workaholic gal has no time for love, but it’s tragically the only thing that’ll fulfill her life, WOMP WOMP. It’s all very ’00s romantic comedy heroine.
- The whole reason for this scene to exist is that it’s 3am and nobody else is awake. AND YET SOMEONE WALKS BY RIGHT BEHIND THEM. (Just when I think the show’s paying attention to detail, I swear.)
Shadowhunter Downworlder of the Week
Ceramics enthusiast Lorenzo Rey is an insufferable blowhard, but I kind of love him anyway?! At least as a worthy antagonist to root against and a scenery-chewing successor to Valentine.
Say What?
Maia: “Well, what did it look like?”
Maia and Simon, comedy duo.
Simon: “I don’t know. I can’t see my own forehead.”
Jace: “What are you talking about? I’ve been on tons of dates.”
Mock if you must, Izzy, but we really do need a webisode devoted to Jace’s book club.
Isabelle: “With who? Your book club?”
Jace: “I want to take her someplace mundane, not boring.”
Expressing Shadow World dating woes.
Simon: “Look, you don’t have to apologize.”
Maia: “I wasn’t going to. I was single at the time.”FIST PUMP, MAIA. And I made the same observation as Simon, since they and Clary/Maia were the only combos that hadn’t yet hooked up in the awkward double date.
Simon: “I know. And I just assume that everyone’s slept with Jace at this point. It’s only a matter of time before I sleep with him myself, I guess.”
“I did it.”
“You did it?”Nice try at taking all the glory for yourself, Alec, but you’ve got to give Magnus his due. (Unlike some people, LORENZO.)
“Yeah. Well, maybe I got a little help.”
Swimfan Says
Here’s Shadowhunter Chronicles expert and co-host of The Parabatai Podcast, Meredith (@legallyblonde), with her thoughts!
- Jace is terrible at planning dates, but it’s the thought that counts? And, y’all, he put so much thought into what unintentionally became the most awkward double date. (Maia, you are correct that cocktails are always the answer.) Between Simon knowing Clary better than Jace does, Jace accidentally revealing his and Maia’s past, um, experience, and all of the interpersonal dynamics going on, it certainly was a mundane but not boring time that Clary won’t forget? It also resulted in very cute moments for both Jace/Clary and Simon/Maia after the couples went their separate ways.
- Speaking of couples, Magnus and Alec were this week’s stealth and battle couple, which was fantastic. Alec has repeatedly proven he can be very crafty in achieving his goals, and his deflecting Lorenzo Rey’s attention while Magnus investigated the magical drama was a delight to watch.
- On a book related note, we saw the effect of the Mark given to Simon by the Seelie Queen, which I am now certain is the same Mark given by Clary in the books. There were also references to Wrangel Island and the Spiral Labyrinth. (The Shadow World: where banishment involves doing extensive research.)
Burning Questions
- … so Clary and Jace haven’t boned? Just some very chaste yet scantily clad crawling on top of each other in bed then? OK.
- But when will Clary get to draw Jace like one of her French girls?!?
- How tf was Raj — or anyone — able to lock Alec out of the Institute system? This is some faulty shit; ALEC IS THE HEAD OFTHE INSTITUTE, FFS.
- Speaking of, what’s with the leadership at the Institute and in the Brooklyn pack? Why are there so many rogue dissenters? Get your houses in order, y’all.
- What kind of books do y’all think Jace’s book club reads? I wish we’d see him reading more often (or at all, since ‘book club’ is so often used as euphemism for his hookups) so that we could compile a reading list. Where’s your sense of organic marketing, Show?!
