The improvements keep coming for Shadowhunters this week as the relationships between certain characters are given more depth. This episode also left me with the most questions of any episode so far.

The main crux of this show centered around everyone trying to help save Alec and Alec’s flashbacks. I loved seeing bb!Alec and bb!Jace and it was nice to know that Jace was a cocky mess ever since the beginning lol I also liked how the writers and young actors (Leonidas Castrounis, Tomaso Sanelli, Dale Whibley, Alex Eling) wove in Alec’s struggle with his feelings for Jace in a really subtle way. Y’all know I cackled like a hyena during that scene last year when everyone saw Jace’s face pop up when it was Alec’s turn to show who he loved, but this episode really did a great job seeding in how Alec’s feelings affected him, without being as overt as season 1. I loved that bb!Izzy (Romy Weltman) got Alec right on together about his feelings for Jace v actually getting a parabatai.

Grown up Izzy is just as bad ass as her younger self, with the addition of strategy. Her plan to save Alec hinged on making a deal with Aldertree this episode to get Jace to Magnus’ apartment and it worked brilliantly. Should be interesting to see the fallout from this but I do enjoy when the show lets Izzy be smart as well as kick ass.

Magnus showed us some of that demon blood magic by choking the hell out of Raj and then slamming him into a wall. Raj was annoying as hell so I was here for this.

This was perhaps the best acted episode by Dominic Sherwood of the series run so far. Whether on the run or in emotional, he brought it in every scene. His singleminded desire to get back to Alec was nice to watch and he wrecked me reciting the Parabatai rite trying to bring Alec back. I don’t know what will happen to him now that Aldertree caught him but I’m slowly but surely coming back to the side of liking Jace.

We met some new wolves this week and one of them, Maia (Alisha Wainwright), might become my new aint shit fave. This girl lulled Jace into a false sense of security at her bar before having him get beat up and then turned into a wolf in the middle of the fucking hospital. LMAO, I kinda like her.

One big thing about this episode that we need to chat about is the rules of the supernatural world within Shadowhunters. First of all, what is the point of Luke being the alpha of the pack if he can’t order these hoes to stand down from killing people? What kind of mess? I want to stan for Luke and Maia (yay black people as wolves!) but the moments really perplexed me. Who is really in charge? Secondly, vampires. I wrote in my notes that I was surprised that Simon was able to just walk right into the house and thought that the vamp rules of the show allowed vampires to go into and out of space freely. But when Raphael makes a very clear note about Simon’s mom giving him a nice invitation to their house, I got super confused. Do vampires need to be invited in or nah?

Speaking of vampires, I think the show hasn’t nailed down the storyline for Simon as well as it should. Listen, Alberto Rosende is ACTING every week, probably the best actor on the show, but the beats he’s getting to play don’t seem to curl all the way over. I think this stems from the fact that we truly don’t understand how he feels about being a vamp and his motivations, especially when Raphael gets involved. In my mind, Simon can be one of two sides. Side A is I am a vamp and need to learn to be one, but I’m going to be a good one. Side B is “I can be awesome on my own and don’t need y’all hoes. I’m gonna do what the hell I want” Right now the show is in this weird nebulous middle ground where Simon has been sleeping in a canoe in a shipping crate despite being able to go home, hanging out with werewolves and not learning about his powers, and being told he needs to look for Camile using his sire bond but never being told how to use it. Which is it Shadowhunters? Why does Simon seem to be going through some motions of  vampire life but not digging deep into it?

Favorite Quote: “She was a giant pain in my ass, I’m gonna miss her.” – Luke

Thoughts in Order
-aww bb!alec and bb!jace, its all about confidence (jace was always gifted)
-magnus can only do so much, part of his soul is lost fix it jesus
-jace and dead girl end up on the beach
-clary storms in like a wet dog,
-simon sleeping in the shipyard, hasn’t told mom and she’s worried poor simon
-“she was a giant pain in my ass, I’m gonna miss her”
-magnus clocks Clary’s mama, how the mama and clary trash! magnus shuts door in face
-meeting with Aldertree, Clary doesn’t remember, Aldertree says he wants to guarantee Jace’s safety if they help bring them in
-of course she lied, they lost each other in the tide
-jace is alec’s only hope lawd
-new bar, new chcik werewolf yas! Maia
-why are these fools talking on the phone so loud???
-gonna try and meet at magnus’
-jace bout to get beat down by some werewolves LORDT
-do all werewolves own food places
-Raphael continues to intimidate, a vamp civil war brewing?!, raphael aint shit
-vamps can enter house without being invited, simon’s mama is drinking and not home 🙁
-Maia is reading Luke, luke vows to kill jace himself
-Magnus needs runic power, shut up Raj
-Jace and Alec training, Jace truly was a mess, po alec was pining
-jace bleeding out on walls and all these people coming around
-now Jace is in the damn hospital
-Clary and Simon searching, she wants him to come out of the coffin bout to ruin his life, looks very vampiric
-Magnus won’t leave and Raj is annoying YAS CHOKE HIM MAGNUS
-jace left just in time hiding as
-WOLF TRANSFORMATION
-jace really kicked in the door that opened outwards
-mama found him
-aldertree v izzy, she’s gonna save jace and alec
-magnus begging alec to come back, kisses him it doesn’t work
-these young actors are…
-izzy trine get young alec together, realizes he’s in love with jace “big ol softy when you stop worrying about what folks want from you”
-simon gets a kiss on the check from clary, simon and mom’s convo, raphael is “band manager”, i’m so damn tired of him, she invited raphael in the house LAWD what are the vampire rules
-what’s the point of being the alpha if you can’t tell these hoes what to do
-jace begs to get to alec, maia aint shit i like her
-luke is trash
-parabati bond ceremony and jace trine bring alec back ACT DOMINIC he’s alive
-and here come alder tree
-the lighting was
-simon living and wanting to be a vamp, why isn’t he more boss where’s the push back from him, own up to being a vamp or don’t want anything to do with y’all