We have a completely
unnecessary recap showing Lillith and child Jonathan reminding us that the evil
demon queen of Edom thinks of Jonathan as her evil demonic son. We knew this
but hey they had minutes to fill.
In the present
Lillith has set up shop atop a high rise with a huge number of cult followers
while Jace drags a very angsty Clary after him. She does manage to cut herself
and leave a trail of blood which is shockingly smart for her. She must have hit
her head. Of course we get more waaaahing over Jace and I’m reminded that three
seasons have still utterly failed to invest me in either of these characters
We get some sass
between Clary and Lillith because it’s Spunky Protag 101 to have some
wisecracking. She’s not very good at it. This should shock no-one.
Magnus is appealing
to his dad to get the power to save Jace. Because Jace is all important. This
involves Magnus going to Edom, the demon world, at vast personal risk to appeal
to his dad for help. This is the same dad he once banished: when he was a child
and kicked out by his mortal parents, Magnus was taken in by Asmodeus who was
all kind and parental. And evil. Magnus does not remember their time together
fondly and it likely left daddy dearest with a grudge. Of course this doesn’t
matter, Jace is in trouble
He goes to Edom and
has a pretty awesome scene with his very powerful evil father who wants them to
be together again (not happening). And since Magnus can’t rely on parental
goodwill, he has to make a deal.
Remind me again why
Magnus gives a damn about Jace? This is why his relationship with Alec is so
abused - it’s just used as an excuse to make Magnus servile to all
Shadowhunters
Speaking of people
sacrificing for Jace and Clary, Luke ends up suspended from the force because
he won’t stay and try to make up some convincing cover for himself, the missing
Ollie, his dead mother etc because he and Maryse want to ride to Clary’s rescue.
They follow the trail of blood and Maryse asks for a sword so she too can fight
and die for her Clariness. But no, Alec protests, he doesn’t want to lose his
mother since she has no super powers any more - also Jace will need her.
Naturally this sways Maryse: what to do when faced with a choice between Mary
Sue and Gary Stu.
Time for a scene that
is not about Clary or Jace. I know it’s shocking. But Simon continues to have
his utterly heatbreaking scene with his family, going to see his sister in
hospital while he hears his mother, Elaine, try to convince the police a
vampire attacked her. The whole scene is brutal as Simon positively radiates
pain as he goes to his sister, Becca’s hospital bed and waits for her to wake
up
When she does wake up
she’s afraid and shocked - but he’s in control now. Being a big reader of YA
she wonders when she’ll turn but Simon assures he she won’t, telling her of all
the many hard steps you have to go through to actually be turned into a
vampire. And this horrifies her, because Becca realises her little brother went
through all of that alone without her or the rest of his family. And I love
this, I love what moved her is the idea she wasn’t there to protect and support
her brother, I love that family bond (and I love the protectiveness of a sister
to a brother). I love how she resists the idea of having her memory removed
because she has his back now, forever. And this is a wonderful scene which
deserves to be on a much better show
As does the utterly
tragic devastating scene of Simon realising his mother doesn’t accept him - and
using his mind control powers to make her forget he’s a vampire. And think he’s
dead. Leaving her with a beautiful goodbye message and leaving, while she weeps
inconsolably. It’s powerful, it’s moving, it’s emotional and Izzy tells him
they need him to leave his family to rescue Clary,
…
..
.
Yeah, I’m not even
going to say anything. I don’t need to. Everyone should be able to see this
nonsense and cringe
To the building and
everyone is duly worried Simon will kill Jace accidentally with his mark. So
the plan is lots of distraction while Simon takes a stele to Clary
Luke and Izzy fight a
wave of cultists, including Ollie
While Alec fights
Jace. There’s a lot of minor stabbing but in the end Jace wins, breaks his arm
and starts to stab him mortally with his own arrow… until magnus finally zaps
in and unleashes his powers on Jace, deposessing him and turning him back to
his blandness.
What did that cost him
to get that power from Asmodeus? His magic.
Magnus has just
sacrificed his magic for Jace. For Jace, a man he has no investment in, he
sacrificed his power, what it means to be a warlock, for fecking Jace.
Oh yes,
and I called it. I actually called this shit: “Also
Magnus swore to give up all his power if he had to. Shadowhunters if you decide
to drain Magnus/strip him of his immortality for the sake of Jace I will break
things” This is how boring
and predictable tropes around marginalised characters are.
With Alec possibly
dying on the floor with only a magic-less warlock to defend/heal him, naturally
Jace leaves to run inside for Clary. Of course he does.
There he finds some
cultists who have alien-exploded into demons which he kills, in theory saving
Izzy and Luke but they could have killed them before he heads upwards
Upstairs Clary gets
her stele from Simon and uses it to taunt Lillith. Lillith has used her woo-woo
to link Jonathan and Clary’s life for lots and lots of drama next half of the
season. Maybe she rightly guessed that the whole cast would rather end the
world than hurt precious Clary
Personally I think
this is a bonus
So Clary can now
threaten suicide to stop Lillith - oh Clary, don’t tease me. She throws around
some sunlight because tanning is the ultimate risk to demons, but the main goal
is to distract her long enough for Simon to start pounding on Jonathan’s
sarcophagus. Lillith is NOT AMUSED by this and charges in, smacking Simon… and
activating the Mark. This results in a big explosion. Lillith is banished,
Simon is knocked off the sky scraper but manages to climb back up, while
Lillith and Jonathan are utterly destroyed
Hah, if you believe
that I have a bridge to sell you. On Mars. It’s for unicorn crossings.
