About:
Shadowhunter of the Week: Maryse
Previously: Simon unintentionally invokes his forehead mark shield powers when he defends himself against the werewolf pack; and possessed humans are sacrificing their loved ones for Lilith and the Church of Talto.
What Happened
Clary, Izzy, and Jace surveil Morgan, an attempted victim of the mysterious Owlface demon, who gets possessed anyway and ends up being held captive at the Institute in its only holding cell. Meanwhile, Owlface is suspected to be a glamour and not a demon at all, which turns out to be true because OMG OWLFACE IS JACE FACE. (But none of our Shadowhunters — apparently even including Jace — are aware, obvs.)
Simon’s looking for answers about his magical forehead mark. The ones who would help him — the Shadowhunters and the warlocks — have no clue, and those who might know the answer — the vampires and the Seelies — have shut him out. Quite literally in the case of the Seelies, since he’s been locked out of their realm. He’s also overstayed his welcome with the werewolves, so now he’s also houseless to boot.
Raphael’s mourning the death of his beloved sister, Rosa. But he’s also keeping new vampire Heidi sedated and preventing her from meeting her sire for ~REASONS~, so of course, she escapes.
Maryse is in town, but with Izzy and Jace both skipping the Lightwood fam jam, she has dinner with only Alec and Magnus. It actually goes quite well, with Maryse and Magnus hitting it off, despite their rocky history. But this new carefree and fun Maryse has a bombshell to drop: she’s been reclassified as traitor to the Clave, and she’ll be stripped of her runes and exiled from Alicante.
Shadowhighlights
- Raphael getting to spend time with Rosa one last time. (Even if I do have misgivings, which we’ll get to later.)
- IZZY COMFORTING RAPAHEL. So much sexy brooding.
- MALEC DINNER PARTY. Allllll the reaction shots, basically.
- Ollie being in the loop about non-mundane shizz is probably the most I’ve ever liked her. I’ve been wondering if the books ever had a mundane major character, since we haven’t really gotten that perspective yet, and Ollie seems better suited as a curious audience stand-in rather than a nosy busybody. (Which, to be fair, is also her job to be a nosy busybody as a detective.)
- Lilith calls Owlface her Owl too, lol.
Shadowlowlights
- “You allow him to sleep with our women.” GROSS, Rufus Glen. Thank goodness Luke shut that shit down.
- Raphael insisting to Rosa that her brother (aka also Raphael) had said goodbye to her when he left home felt… probably not the best to do to someone with memory loss? Even though he was trying to help her remember, I thought that you’re not really supposed to further agitate or confuse someone in that state.
- For Freeform viewers, this is the fire Netflix graphic that you’re missing out on, because WHAT.
Shadowhunter of the Week
I am FASCINATED by what’s going to happen to Maryse once she’s no longer a Shadowhunter. (And I bet she is, too, since so much of her identity was tied to working for the Clave.) Is she going to stick around in New York after she becomes a mundane? Is she going to have her memories wiped like Hermione’s parents? is she ever going to hook up with Luke? I DEMAND A MARYSE SPINOFF.
Say What?
Clary: “It’s not easy finding something cute that can accommodate a weapon.”
The Shadowhunter struggle.
Magnus: “I’m far from being a boy, but I appreciate the sentiment.”
He must have the best skincare routine to preserve his youthful looks. (Also magic and immortality, but same diff.)
Maryse: “The Clave’s always had its faults. My generation nearly destroyed everything in our passion to fix it. Yours will have to be wiser.”
PREACH. Mundanes of your generation would do well to heed your words, too.
Simon: “I’m a grown vampire, Fray. I can handle this.”
Exhibit A of this franchise’s love of multiple last names for the same person. And Exhibit B….
Jonathan: “Ah, there it is. The famous Morgenstern swagger. Or is it Wayland? Herondale? Lightwood? it’s hard to keep track of exactly who you are, isn’t it?”
Hallucination Jonathan speaking TRUTH.
Jonathan: “There’s a rather attractive redhead I’m dying to speak to.”
HALLUCINATION JONATHAN, THAT IS YOUR SISTER. My goodness, this show loves flirting with incest.
Maryse [to Magnus]: “Thank you for loving my boy.”
CAUSE OF DEATH: MARYSE LIGHTWOOD.
Swimfan Says
Here’s Shadowhunter Chronicles expert and co-host of The Parabatai Podcast, Meredith (@legallyblonde), with her thoughts!
- If you had told me back in Season 1 that I’d be excited to see Maryse back in the show, I would’ve laughed. She’s had such a great redemption arc since then, and this episode solidified it. It’s important, too, that she acknowledged what she had done while in the Circle and didn’t try to justify her actions away. (I also have questions about Robert being sent to the LA Institute.) It was also adorable to see Izzy and Alec spiraling over why she was coming, only to have her be the opposite of what they’d expected of her, and her speeches to Magnus and Alec at the end of dinner were very heartwarming.
- The scenes with Raphael showed one of the downsides to being immortal: gradually losing everyone you loved as a mundane while you stay the same. The scene with his sister was heartbreaking, and I still love the chemistry between him and Izzy (even if it is complicated by that whole bloodlust issue),
- Lilith has a different sort of hold on Jace in the books, and making him The Owl was an interesting and well-executed twist on that plot line. I’m looking forward to seeing how that develops.
Burning Questions
- Is Heidi the vampire that Simon accidentally turned on a bender? Simon’s a dad?!?!?
- This show tends to have a pretty good memory, soooooooo are we ever going to circle back to Raphael perhaps being asexual?
- With the elder Lightwoods’ situations in flux, what’s going to happen to Max? What is happening with Max? Do we care? Can we continue to not care?
