SHADOWHUNTERS Continues to Surprise

Season 2, Episode 4 “Day of Wrath”
Written by Jamie Gorenberg
Directed by Joe Lazarov

[Header image courtesy of Freeform/ Ben Mark Holzberg]

On last week’s episode of Shadowhunters, Alec (Matthew Daddario) was stuck in a coma after trying to connect with Jace (Dominic Sherwood) through their parabatai bond with the help of the Adamas. Magnus (Harry Shum Jr.) continued to keep Alec alive until Jace could get to him and wake him, at which point Aldertree (Nick Sagar) came in and arrested Jace. We were also introduced to Maia (Alisha Wainwright), a werewolf in Luke’s pack who wants vengeance against Jace for killing Gretel (Joanne Jansen). My full recap and review of episode three can be found here. My 1-minute recap and review of episode four is below.

This episode of Shadowhunters starts us off in the cemetery leading to the City of Bones, where the Silent Brothers live and keep prisoners for the Clave. It’s also where shadowhunters are buried, hence the “bones” part. This is where Jace is being kept, and Clary (Katherine McNamara) is on her way to visit him. The City and cemetery look different from the previous time we saw them; however, this could just be a different entrance to a different part of the cavernous city below. There’s a lot more screaming in this part, which is where the prisoners are kept and tortured interrogated.

Jace, in his usual brooding fashion, pushes Clary away and tells her to leave. He’s afraid Valentine (Alan Van Sprang) will use her against him, which is probably completely true. He’s kind of evil like that, and he’s also done it before.

Over at the Institute, Alec is alive and well! We get so close to having more Malec action with a first date setup, but of course it’s interrupted for debriefing after the whole coma and arrest stuff. I guess we’ll put a hold on that for a little while longer, as they don’t have another scene together in this episode.

I was really hopeful that we had a prospect of seeing Idris soon, since Jocelyn was being reassigned there, and Clary was considering joining her. Unfortunately, as we see later in this show, that doesn’t seem to be as much of a possibility based on that premise now.

I love Alec’s snarky banter with Clary! While out demon hunting, they almost even start bonding. It may be because Daddario is my favorite actor in the show that makes me enjoy his quips that he shoots at Clary, though. Whatever the reason, even though their relationship isn’t always pleasant, I always find it fun to watch.

Aldertree is definitely on a downhill path in the likability department. I started off really enjoying his character (and his accent!), but last episode really started changing him, and this episode did nothing to help. He ends up torturing Raphael (David Castro) in order to get information on Camille (Kaitlyn Leeb). He no longer seems to be doing things strict and by-the-book, as I originally thought. He has definitely veered off course, and calls torture “motivation” in order to get away with breaking the Accords. He is turning into quite the villain!

I still feel bad for Simon (Alberto Rosende). He just hasn’t caught a break yet, whether it’s with his family, Clary, Aldertree, Raphael, or the box he found at Camille’s. I do still love his character, though, and he is still so relatable because of his misfortunes! I also love his costume style. The clothes in this series are all typically subdued, with the exception of Izzy (Emeraude Toubia), of course, but his is the most relaxed and casual of the outfits.

On that note, I’ve been wondering why the women in the show must always have some type of heel on, even when wearing demon-hunting boots! Don’t get me wrong, the style looks nice, but it just seems so impractical, and it especially doesn’t seem to fit Clary’s personality.

On a more positive note, for those fans of the Jocelyn (Maxim Roy) and Luke (Isaiah Mustafa) relationship, they do share an on-screen kiss. After Luke vows to drops everything and move to Idris with Jocelyn, it really solidified the love he’s always had for her.

When Izzy and Alec bring the body the demon killed back to the Institute, I wasn’t thrilled with the acting in the scene. Toubia’s lines didn’t feel authentic, and Stephanie Bennett, who plays Lydia, felt stiff. Aside from that, it was business as usual for the acting as a whole.

I always love Magnus’s nonchalant saunter when he doesn’t care about something that’s trivial to someone of his age. His character is probably my favorite overall, given his personality. He’s wise, fun, and kind of quirky, so I always enjoy his scenes.

Back at the Institute, after a shadowhunter was possessed by the hidden demon and killed a fellow shadowhunter, the whole building gets put into quarantine until they can destroy the Valentine-modified demon that can sneak past all of their wards and detectors. The demon-hopping certainly added some mystery to the episode, because you never knew where it was going to pop up! Next stop: Raj (Raymond Ablack), who attacks Lydia and breaks her arm before Alec stops him with an arrow.

Over to the City of Bones again where we find Jace being questioned by Aldertree by means of the Soul Sword, which forces you to tell the truth or causes severe pain until you do. I liked how the sword glowed to show the struggle Jace was going through in answering some of the questions. In the end, he admitted he still loves Clary (not like a sister), both agrees and disagrees with Valentine’s views on downworlders, and cannot pledge his full loyalty to the Clave. It’s the last one that gets him in the most trouble, and he’s sentenced to life imprisonment. He responds by trying to kill himself, but is stopped by one of the Silent Brothers.

Back at Magnus’s place, and he sends both Simon and Raphael out to get more supplies before they can summon Camille with the grave dirt in the box that Simon found. Of course, tricky Magnus is just playing them, as he immediately calls her there while the other two are gone. Side note, I’m not a fan of Camille, personally.

I’m also not a huge fan of Jocelyn, so the next scene that involved her didn’t hit me as hard as it hit others. We see Clary coming into the hallway where Alec is sitting, his hand covered in blood. He is apparently just outside of Clary’s room, and when she makes her way in, she sees her mother on the floor suffering from the same deadly wound the other demon victims have. Jocelyn has been killed! Actually, physically killed! This was such a huge divergence from the book series that I didn’t think it was true at first. I thought it was one of those tricks shows and movies pull on viewers to make you think someone’s dead, but it’s actually some entirely different scenario and the person comes walking in later with an explanation. It looks like I was wrong, though, and she’s actually dead.

Over at Magnus’s house again, and we get some background development for his and Camille’s relationship. Of course, Simon prompted the first discussion, which revealed that Camille had actually saved Magnus’s life when he had given up back in the 1870’s and was going to jump off a bridge. Magnus’s discussion with Camille is more superficial as she tries using their past to talk him into letting her go. Unfortunately for her, it doesn’t work, and he forces her through a portal to Idris.

We get two appearances in this episode for characters we don’t see much of anymore. First is Hodge (Jon Cor), who is positioned in the cell next to Jace. When Valentine breaks into the City of Bones and kills the Silent Brothers in order to get Jace out so he can join Valentine again, Hodge ends up helping Jace as he escapes. Unfortunately for Hodge, he takes a dagger to the forehead, so we might not be seeing him again, either.

After that, Jace attempts to attack Valentine, and Dot (Vanessa Matsui) pushes him back. The last time we saw her, she was opening a hole in the ward around Valentine’s ship so Clary and Jace could jump overboard and escape. It appears he at least didn’t kill her, but he probably did ensure more “loyalty” from her after that stunt. Her appearance in this episode is brief, as she protects Valentine and creates a portal, but it does at least answer the question of what happened to her after rescuing the main pair.

The fight scene in this episode felt anticlimactic. The fights with Jace are usually so powerful, but this one felt brief and underwhelming. There wasn’t much of a fight there, and it was over fairly quickly.

After Alec’s demon possession, the demon moves on to Izzy and she tries to attack Clary and Alec. Because this is immediately after Clary found her mom dead, she’s understandably a little upset with the demon, so she ends up stabbing Izzy in the back then cutting down the demon and officially destroying it. At that moment, Jace, Aldertree, and Simon all show up, which leads me to a couple of questions. My first question is why did Simon and Raphael split up when Magnus sent them both to Catarina for supplies? My second question is why did Simon go to the Institute instead of to Catarina’s and then Magnus’s? It’s almost as if they completely forgot they were on a really important mission to find Camille in order to save Raphael and Simon from being killed. But I digress.

Overall, I thought this episode was decent. It certainly wasn’t my favorite episode of season two, but it’s also not my least favorite episode of the show as a whole. The music is always good, and the constant departure from the books helps separate it into its own show and keep book readers guessing as to what happens next, as well.

I’m still looking forward to more Malec development, and especially to the introduction of Sebastian. What are you looking forward to in this season? Comment below!

 

Shadowhunters airs on Mondays at 8/7c on Freeform. You can watch all episodes on the Freeform app or site, and don’t forget to come back here for another review each week!