Shadowhunters Episode 9 – Rise Up Review

With series inching ever slowly towards the finale, things are heating up between the ragtag bunch of misfit heroes, but events and loyalties are threatening to further pull them apart.

Isabelle’s ex, Meliorn, is arrested by Lydia after being accused of holding information regarding Valentine. Isabelle and Lydia immediately butt heads over this as Lydia continues to show how cold and ruthless she can be in the name of the Law and her zero tolerance towards Downworlders coupled with her dislike and distrust of Miss Lightwood. With Alec constantly taking her side, it seems the Lightwood family are coming apart at the seams.

Meanwhile, Simon continues to struggle with his new state of existence, adding an emotional depth to him as he lashes out at Clary, Jace and Luke as they try and help him come to terms with what has happened.

Raphael Santiago offers to help Simon with the events that have transpired in the last episode, but is he genuinely wanting to aid the poor young man or does he have a more sinister motive in mind? Given they fact that they’re vampires, I’m going to guess something else is going on here.

Once Clary hears word of what is going on back the Institute; herself, Jace, Simon and Isabelle make a deal with the vampires and the werewolves to rescue Meliorn from a terrible fate.

While all this is going on; Alec continues to be dominated by the rules of being a Shadowhunters and begins going down a road that could cost him everything, especially when Magnus tries to reach out to him and Alec coldly pushes him away to chase after Lydia like the trained puppy he is becoming.

Poor Magnus, he can tell Alec is attracted to him but Alec still refuses to accept it, and himself. It’s also good to see Isabelle get back to her rebellious side by defying Lydia and the Clave, a high ranking group of Shadowhunters that govern all Shadowhunters.

As the episode comes to its climax; secrets are revealed, Shadowhunters are betrayed and an incredibly strong bond has been severed. How can Clary and co. ever hope to recover from this? It’s been interesting to see how the characters have grown since the pilot and how they are developing in different ways as the plot follows a blended series of events from the books.

Coming next is episode 10 – This World Inverted