Here we are. Episode 10 of FreeForm’s Shadowhunters, a show I can’t believe got a renewal for season 2. Not only because of its general terribleness but also because of the copyright suit against Cassandra Clare.
But let’s dive right in here because we’ve got three stories to follow:
- Clary goes to an alternate dimension
- Isabelle gets arrested for treason
- Simon visits the wolves and tries to eat a guy
As far as portal fiction goes, this was okay. Yeah, bet you didn’t see that coming. Everything in the alternate world is calm. It’s normal. Also chock full of double ententes for the universe at large. So well done there.
I think this world actually did a wonderful job exploring the possibilities of what these relationships could be. And it certainly drove home that our experiences are what makes us who we are.
Where I feel this particular line in Shadowhunters went wrong, however, is Clary’s willingness to trust Meliorne and to instantly jump through this portal. By this point in the show, so many people have proven to be untrustworthy, and I don’t feel like her character would just jump right into something else.
Although, that is pretty much what she’s done for the whole show so I don’t know why I’m surprised really.
Then we have the arc in which Isabelle is arrested for treason for helping Meliorne escape. In this story Alec discovers that Jace stole the Mortal Cup and tries to track him through their parabatai bond.
I’d like to reiterate that we still don’t know much about the parabatai bond. We don’t know how it forms. We don’t know what it does to the body. We only know that it is a deep bond. Deeper than any bond we might imagine.
In any case, Alec is trying to find a way to spare his sister the trial, conviction, and consequences of her actions. Although his general attitude is that she was in the wrong anyway.
Lastly, we have Simon “acting as an ambassador to the werewolves.” We get to see more of Simon’s struggle, which is still the longest running arc in the series. In a naivety that is true to his character he can’t seem to understand why we can’t all get along.
We get to see Simon beginning to accept his new downworlder identity as he helps Luke get away from the IA investigator.
Overall, Shadowhunters has a lot of problems. As far as episodes go, this was a vast improvement and, I am happy to say, they didn’t find Clary’s dad–which I fully expected given the general pacing the show has had thus far.
