Review: Shadowhunters

Episode 2 – The Descent Into Hell Is Easy

Now that’s she has discovered she is now a Shadowhunter herself. Clary wastes no time in trying to use her newly awakened skills to find her mother, but there’s only one catch…

A. Clary has no idea how to use her Shadowhunter powers

B. And she has no idea where her mother is

In this episode, we learned Jocelyn’s comatose body has been captured by Valentine who seems to share a previous connection to her and since her sleep is magically induced. He wastes no time in capturing innocent warlocks and killing them when they cannot awaken Jocelyn. In the books, warlocks are the immortal children of demons and humans with potentially limitless power.

We also see Clary, Jace, Alec, Simon and Isabelle head for the forbidden City of Bones to talk to people known as the Silent Brothers and see if they can help unlock the rest of Clary’s memories.

They are, as Jace puts it, ‘Shadowhunters with superior powers’ and Isabelle describes them as ‘not very pleasant’.

Judging by the fact that they have their eyes and mouths stitched shut I’m with Izzy on this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vpkr3ODKdyc

While learning more about Valentine from Jace’s teacher Hodge Starkweather (John Cor), Clary comes to learn about the Mortal Cup, a very powerful artefact which has the potential to create more Shadowhunters. But if it fell into Valentine’s hands then they are all doomed so the race is on to rescue Jocelyn and find the Mortal Cup before Valentine can get his hands on it.

Meanwhile, a hidden warlock and friend of Clary, Dot, seeks out Magnus Bane as he is the one who helped Jocelyn sleep. She warns him that Valentine is hunting down and murdering warlocks and will be coming after him once he finds out, but Magnus simply decides to hide away until it blows over, which leads to Dot being captured by Valentine’s forces, The Circle.

Once the Shadowhunters discover that Valentine, it becomes important that Clary recover her memories to see if she knows anything about their enemy, so with Jace in tow, Clary finds the Silent Brothers. To help restore what was locked away, Clary is exposed to the Soul Sword which restores her memories and she learns an awful truth….Valentine is her biological father.

The episode ends with Simon being captured by vampires in exchange for the Mortal Cup but since neither side has it then how will they rescue Simon from a grim fate?

I liked this episode, because not only did it provide more background into the everyday lives of Jace, Alec and Isabelle, but it provided some insight into the mythology of the show like the Circle members who were once good Shadowhunters then became corrupted by Valentine.

The relationships between the main cast are also developing as Jace and Clary continue to grow closer, while Simon and Isabelle’s seems to be budding, as he is captivated by her beauty. Alec and Clary continue to butt heads and doesn’t show any signs of getting better once he discovers Clary is Valentine’s daughter.

A tad more emotional than the pilot and less emphasis on combat, but it was a good episode as it didn’t try to cram too much into a short space of time so looking forward to episode 3.