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Shadowhunter of the Week: Clary
Previously: Clary’s not-brother, Jace, beats her actual brother, Jonathan, in a fight to the death (OR IS IT?!?!); Malec is back together; unbeknownst to Maia and Luke, Simon exchanges his own freedom for their release from the Seelie Court; Valentine kills Jace and raises Raziel, but Clary kills him and uses Raziel’s wish to resurrect Jace; and Jonathan is rescued by a demon that he calls his mother.
Hello from a million years ago when Season 3 premiered aka last week! To make up for the tardiness, I present y’all with the gift of excessive GIFs.
What Happened:
SO MUCH SECRET-KEEPING. The episode would be half as long if everyone just learned to communicate better.
Clary begrudingly goes along with Jace’s plan to keep his Raziel revival on the DL to protect her from Clave consequences for using up the wish. (You’d think she’d be more on board, since she’d be the one in trubs, but alas.) However, Alec totally suspects something’s up, since he felt Jace die and his parabatai rune disappeared. And another side effect of being brought back from the dead is Jace having nightmares and visions of Jonathan telling him to kill Clary, which certainly puts a damper on new status as not-siblings-but-a-couple.
Alec’s mulling over a position on the Council, but hasn’t told his family about it because it’d require moving to Idris — meaning WITHOUT MAGNUS, who’s supportive and facing a career change of his own. He’s been booted as the High Warlock of Brooklyn and hiding his sads from Alec. When the truth comes out, Alec assures Magnus to always be honest with his feelings — starting with not wanting Alec to accept the Council job after all. Which Alec doesn’t, so he’s staying!
Nurse Tim isn’t actually keeping a secret; he’s just keeping a Wraith in his flesh suit (i.e., he’s been possessed), thanks to Jonathan’s mama, Lilith. But then Demon Tim gets vanquished by Clary, so Lilith dispatches her demon son (Jonathan? Someone else?) to track down the next of her 33 “virtuous disciples” of the Church of Talto.
Investigating the carnage of Demon Tim are Brooklyn’s only cops, Luke and Ollie. When Ollie gets caught in the demonic crossfire, Luke saves her in wolf form, which means he’s FINALLY stopped gaslighting the shizz out of her and admits that “all the legends are true” and ‘BEE TEE DUBS, I’M A WOLFCOP‘.
After being released by the Seelie Queen — but not before getting some sort of magical forehead brand — Simon ‘fesses up to Maia where he’s been and why, even though he’s still unsure what tf happened. (You and me both, bud.)
Raphael approaches Magnus for dagget root, or vampire tranquilizer, supposedly for a new recruit. Except TWIST, it’s really for self-medicating because his sister Rosa is dying. But TWIST AGAIN, he’s doing something ironically shady with UV light exposure on vampires.
… like, seriously. All y’all have way too many secrets.
Shadowhighlights
- Maia’s been promoted to the opening credits! Although maybe it’s from not hearing it in so long, but does the theme song sound a little different, too?
- MAGNUS BANE FOREVER.
- LOLOLOL artsy shot of blatant gratuitous shirtlessness.
- Clace sparring, for Meredith’s indispensable help with my GIF hunt (and all other Shadowhunters knowledge).
- The Clace chemistry was actually pretty fire, probably more so than it’s ever been. (Although the level of undress could have obviously been a contributing factor.)
- Magnus and Raphael’s found family is lowkey one of my favourite things about this show.
- IZZY LIGHTWOOD IS QUEEN. (And also the newly promoted weapons master!)
- And she’s also getting her flirt on with Dr. Meet Cute! (Please don’t be evil, because IZZY DESERVES THE BEST.)
- There was some cool fight choreo in Clary’s solo demon takedown.
Shadowlowlights
- I get that this is a weekly TV show on Freeform, but OOF — the special effects were rough, between the green screen for Alicante and the uncanny valley Tim demonic contortions.
- Céline and Stephen Herondale’s graves are in the Cemetery of the Disgraced. Like, DANG — can’t spell ‘Shadowhunter’ without ‘shade’, amirite?
- OH DEAR GOD, Simon singing for the Seelies. (The song got better as it went on, but still.) But not since BOWIE did the Seelie Queen have such an entertaining guest, are you fucking kidding me?
Shadowhunter of the Week
The newest full-fledged Shadowhunter handled herself quite well on her first solo mission. Clary also picked out a new weapon in the form of dual kindjals that used to belong to her parents; is Luke’s observation about her having both light and dark sides foreshadowing or what? (Although that’s probably being way too generous to Jocelyn, who sure as hell wasn’t all light.)
Say What?
Magnus: “Isn’t that what you’ve always dreamed of?”
Daaaaamn, who knew Alec could be such a romantic? (Obvs, Magnus brings it out in him.)
Alec: “I’ve always dreamed of meeting someone like you.”
Clary: “You give yourself way too much credit.”
Jace: “Do I?”
Clary: “All the time.”Some verbal foreplay.
Jace: “I think it’s deserved.”
Maia: “Simon, you brave, stupid idiot.”
I agree with two of those.
Swimfan Says
Here’s Shadowhunter Chronicles expert and co-host of The Parabatai Podcast, Meredith (@legallyblonde), with her thoughts!
- I suspect the Mark that Simon receives from the Seelie Queen is the same one that Clary gives him at the end of City of Glass. I’m very interested to see how this plays out and what the Queen’s mysterious (and probably nefarious) plans are for Simon.
- Jace’s dream about Jonathan telling him to kill Clary was very nuanced and a sign of more angst to come, I’m sure, given how Jace reacted to accidentally cutting Clary during training. (P.S. I loved their flirty banter during that scene.)
- Lilith certainly knows how to make a villainous entrance, and I can’t wait to see more about her and the Church of Talto.
- I love that Ollie refused to let Luke lie to her about werewolves and kept pushing until he admitted the truth about it. After all, all the legends are true.
Burning Questions
- Is the show going to work in “All the legends are true” every season? Because they’re 3-for-3 so far. (And maybe even every season opener?)
- Lilith is enough bad news, but her ex Adam made her barren? What’s the likelihood of him making an appearance in the first half of Season 3?
- What are you up to, Raphael?!? Clearly something no good if you’re lying about it to Magnus.
