Let’s get the eternally
dull Jace and Clary moments out of the way first. Jace is still having all
kinds of issues because he thinks he’s going to murder Clary
Personally i think
it’s a pretty understandable instinct but that’s just me
He wants to “do
something normal” with Clary, like take her on a date since nude modelling is
apparently out of the question. So he wants to take her to a restaurant except
he has no idea how restaurants work (I’m not sure how much Shadowhunters are
paid either). He calls Izzy for restaurant advice but she doesn’t know Clary.
So he calls Simon instead
Simon and Maia are
being ultra sweet and cute together. Maia’s all worried about the Seelie mark
on him but Simon’s pretty chill because he likes flirting with her and all is
good so he’s not worried about invisible Seelie marks. Also they try to eat
together with geeky quizzes and Simon still tries but can’t actually eat food
which is both disgusting and cute. The local werewolves also take issue with
Maia sleeping with Simon and want her to get rid of him to which Maia has a
firm hell no and promises a world of pain to anyone who keeps pushing this.
I would say Luke would get involved but I don’t think Luke even remembers he has a werewolf pack. He’s busy going to the institute, worrying about Lillith’s growing cult of possessed nice people and giving Izzy advice on work life balance using himself as an apt cautionary tale.
Jace and Clary go to
the restaurant Simon advised, only don’t book a table because Jace doesn’t know
how restaurants work and they end up seated at Simon and Maia’s table who were
going to the same restaurant on the same night because New York is that small
and Simon recommended the only restaurant he knows. I also want to know where
Simon gets his own money
The date is every bit
as awkward as expected. Ranging from Simon having to tell Jace what Clary wants
(though, to be honest, Clary if you agree to split an appetiser with Jace,
don’t tell him to pick whatever he wants if you have this many food issues).
And Jace knows where an intimate tattoo on Maia’s body is from when they slept
together. Awkward.
Actually I also want
to know how old these people are. Though I’d want cocktails too
However I give points
for Simon and Maia being super mature about this, who they slept with in the
past isn’t relevant or something to be ashamed of: the now is what is
important. I think Clary and Jace attempt to replicate that but Clary still has
issued with Jace not sleeping with her due to his murder nightmares. Jace tries
to reassure her of her specialness by mentioning all the little things he
notices about her. I get that couples do this, I do this myself (though I think
in real couples it’s more the hundred little things your partner does that are
REALLY ANNOYING), but mentioning them aloud just seems vaguely stalkerish
rather than romantic (unless it’s all those annoying things in which case it’s
an argument).
He’s still having
murder dreams though.
To Magnus and Alec
and the actual plot. There’s a big party where Magnus has to officially pass on
the title to next High Warlock which is just rubbing salt into the wounds but
warlocks love their parties. The new High Warlock is Lorenzo, who is younger
than Magnus and apparently the Worst. Because he does things like tell the
Shadowhunters “hey I’m actually going to represent my people rather than be
your toy” and “I’m the High Warlock, not your dial a portal because you can’t
be bothered to hail a cab”.
I’m not seeing
Lorenzo as terribad awful because he’s not a subservient to Shadowhunter whims
and a submissive servant as Magnus has turned out to be.
During the party
magic starts futzing up and one of the warlocks is killed by his own portal
It turns out every
time Lillith uses her sacrificial victims to donate blood on the Sebastien
Alter it causes all of the leylines in the city to go all dark and tained which
screws up magic.
No-one else knows
this is Lillith and instead focus on Asmodeus, the Greater Demon who is the
most powerful of them all and the one most likely to mess with Ley Lines.
Lorenzo accuses Magnus of being the one behind this as he’s the Warlock most
capable of using Asmodeus’s power - being his son and all. Alec overhears all
this because he’s hanging around to have one of their classic
3-feet-between-them-conversations.
Magnus is super
embarrassed by this and doesn’t want Alec to know. I guess it’s the power
thing. Or maybe knowing a specific demon is Magnus’s father is more unpleasant
than just the general vague knowledge of demonic parenthood. It’s not really
explained why it bothers Magnus since demonic parentage is normal for warlocks
and they don’t go into much detail except be a sadness thing.
They decide they need
to examine the ley lines but to do that they need to go back into Lorenzo’s
house- which means Alec grossly abusing his rank as head of the institute to
gain access and promise he’ll investigate Magnus, honest, and by the way can i
look at your extensive antique collection (not a euphemism). Which gives Magnus
chance to use not subtle magic to conclude the city’s ley lines are being
futzed up by evil magic - but not Asmodeus’s.
It keeps happening
and the next time causes a power surge in a hospital where a warlock is healing
people which is messy and sad.
To the institute to
make a plan. And, hey everyone kind of acknowledges that the warlocks and the
seelie are experts in this but absolutely no-one thinks to involve any more of
them in this despite the fact the Shadowhunters have no magic. I’d like to see
this explored as the Shadowhunters allowing their prejudices to utterly blinker
them to useful sources of aid, but they do like lone wolfing it.
Instead the plan is
to have Magnus remap the leylines of the city under the Institute so Alec can
dump their shiny Angel core into the leylines and purify them.
The downside is if a
dark surge happens at the wrong moment it would probably blow up the institute
Raj and some of his
fellows are Not Happy with this and would rather just evict all warlocks from
New York which is, of course, evil and won’t change the problem of magic
futzing up and probably messing with electricity
When Alec and Magnus do their thing (unsupported by actual magic users) Raj tries to sabotage them by shutting Alec out of the system forcing Alec to go to manual (whyfore can Raj block the head of the institute out of the system? This doesn’t make sense. Why does a system that requires codes you can be locked out of have a back up which basically involves pulling a switch? Why have this much security and this little?)
It works- though
Lillith is able to protect her precious alter from all the angel shininess. And
Raj & co are banished.
Magnus again tests to
see if Alec is upset about his parentage but Alec is fine with it - and eve
gives us one of their rare kisses (leaning in to keep bodies separate of course
but still, the level of affection here is still way more than previous seasons
even if it doesn’t compare with Simon/Maia and Jace/Clary). They still hate
Lorenzo
Izzy also gets cctv
of Lillith’s demons which she doesn’t recognise and everyone is super
suspicious and worried
And those werewolves
try to attack Simon - but his mark on his forehead goes all shiny and throws them
aside.
I actually like
Lorenzo but have a feeling he’s going to be demonised for daring to speak
against the Shadowhunters. You can’t create a system where the Shadowhunters
are basically oppressive arseholes to the Downworlders, then expect us to hate
those like the Seelie Queen and Lorenzo who aren’t subservient to them
I did like the focus
on Magnus and Alec though, maybe for this season they won’t be an afterthought
