SHADOWHUNTERS Brings Out the Snarky Jace
Season 2, Episode 7 “How Are Thou Fallen”
Written by Hollie Overton
Directed by Ben Hernandez Bray
[All images courtesy of Freeform]
Last week on Shadowhunters, we met Luke’s (Isaiah Mustafa) sister, Cleophas (Lisa Berry), an Iron Sister and apparently a Circle member. Clary (Katherine McNamara) and Izzy (Emeraude Toubia) went to meet with the Iron Sisters to get more information about the Soul Sword, which Valentine (Alan Van Sprang) stole, and Izzy almost dies in the purity ritual thanks to Aldertree (Nick Sagar). Jace (Dominic Sherwood) got demoted to ichor duty, and Magnus (Harry Shum Jr) and Alec (Matthew Daddario) went on their first date. After Clary showed Cleophas the new rune that came to her, Cleophas killed a fellow sister and left the Citadel. For a full recap/review of last week’s episode, you can go here. This week’s is below!
We start off this week with Cleophas making her way to Valentine’s hidden lair, where he has the Soul Sword on display. He doesn’t trust her, so she offers to prove she’s loyal after telling him about Clary’s special rune abilities. When she leaves, Valentine confronts a guy who’s chained up and accuses him of helping Clary.
Zooming over to the Institute, Clary stops short when she hears a shattering scream in her head, which no one else hears. Jumping over to Magnus’s place, we see he and Alec have just come back from a Tokyo and Prague trip. I wish we could have seen them actually going. The scene in India was beautiful, and I’m sure they could’ve pulled out some amazing scenery for both of those locations. Unfortunately, the show’s budget held them back.
I was pretty surprised when we found out that Jace is basically filling his time with sex. Since he was kicked out of the Institute and Clary is off the table (you know, cause she’s his sister), he is just getting all of his pent up rage and frustration out with flings. I love the confrontation between him and Alec, though. Not only is Jace shirtless, which is never a bad thing, but their tense chemistry just shone through. I love both Sherwood and Daddario, and scenes with either of them are typically my favorite anyways, so when you put both of them together, I love it even more.
I also love Alec and Clary together. Alec is less snarky to her right now, but he’s preoccupied, and they’re both worried about Jace. Plus, ever since he killed his mom, he’s obviously been different around her. It would be pretty awkward in that situation.
Izzy has seen better days. She’s obviously having withdrawals from the Yin Fen. Toubia does a great job portraying her struggle with the desperation and rage from not having any.
Basically everyone ends up at the Hunter’s Moon werewolf bar this episode. Magnus shows up to get a drink while Izzy shows up to meet with a drug dealer for more Yin Fen. I love how wise, direct, and manipulative Magnus is sometimes, in this case with the drug guy. For fans of the books, Magnus name drops a character from The Infernal Devices series (the prequels to The Mortal Instruments), which was cool.
Simon (Alberto Rosende) gets ready for his hangout with Maia (Alisha Wainwright) then shows up two hours too early, cause that’s a very Simon thing to do! While he’s waiting for her to get done bartending, Izzy tells him he should drink her blood, cause Yin Fen is made from vampire venom, and that would be a direct source of it. Like I said, she’s pretty desperate. I love Simon’s reaction, though!
I have to say that this episode was probably my favorite of the whole series so far, and it was specifically because of Jace! I’ve mentioned before that one of my biggest issues with the series was that Jace lacked all of the sass that book Jace had. I feel like this episode was so great because he had all of that snarkiness that I love about the character! He is witty and sarcastic, and his interactions with Maia were hilarious! This was the Jace I’ve been looking for.
Clary heals Cleophas after she stumbled into the Jade Wolf with a (self-inflicted) cut on her side. She wants to go with Cleophas to Valentine in order to get the Soul Sword, but Luke doesn’t trust his sister. After all, she did disown him and called him some really means things after he turned into a werewolf, so there’s that.
My favorite scene of this episode is when Jace is giving Simon pointers on how to attract ladies. Simon’s attempts were hilarious, and Jace’s reactions to them were perfect. I feel like that would really happen if these two got together. It was also so fun seeing Rosende portray the stud muffin version of Simon that Jace transforms into. I laughed during most of the scene!
I also loved the scene where Alec asks Izzy for advice on taking his relationship with Magnus to the next level. They just seem like siblings, especially when she jokes with him about it. They fit really well together as brother and sister.
While Clary is busy tasing Luke in the back so she can run away with Cleophas and get the Soul Sword, Simon is taking Jace’s advice and acting aloof and disinterested in Maia when she finally gets off work. Unfortunately, it backfires, and he ruins it with her, causing her to storm out. I know how the relationships all end up in the books, but I think they would be a pretty awesome couple together!
The next Alec and Magnus scene has apparently garnered some complaints from viewers. Alec goes over and passionately kisses Magnus, but when Magnus has concerns about moving too fast and ruining their relationship, Alec tells him not to worry about it and keeps going. I’ll admit, I did not think it was a bad scene, but some are concerned it gives the wrong idea about consent, and I can see where they’re coming from. It even garnered an apology on Twitter from Todd Slavkin, the showrunner for the series.
With Cleophas by her side, Clary ends up learning that the screaming she’s hearing in her head is from an angel. It turns out the old man chained up at Valentine’s hideout is Ithuriel (Alec Stockwell). When Cleophas realizes this, she turns against Valentine because he’s going back on everything they’re supposed to stand for.
Luke and Jace, who left his lady friends as soon as Luke said Clary was in trouble, show up to protect Clary from Cleophas, but they all end up joining together to get the Soul Sword from Valentine. This is because they realize the approaching storm gives Valentine the last ingredient he needs to activate the Soul Sword, which we learned in the last episode was lighting (along with the angel power).
They end up confronting Valentine, but it seems that everyone’s emotions change very quickly in this episode. Cleophas went from despising her brother for being a downworlder to trusting him, and Luke went from hating the sister who disowned him to not wanting to risk shooting her in order to stop Valentine. This leads to Valentines escape with Cleophas.
The fight scene on the roof was fun, especially because it’s been awhile since we’ve had a good fight, and there was a strobe light involved. I think the light flashed much too quickly to be convincing as lightning, but I enjoyed the scene nonetheless. And after it was all over, Clary got another rune vision straight from Ithuriel in order to break his chains.
He ends up showing Jace and Clary a random vision of a robed figure with a black hand and gold veins grabbing the Soul Sword, then both dissolve. Then he just flies away, leaving them confused.
I always love the music in this show, so it’s always a pleasure listening to that while watching. I also loved this episode for the snarky, witty Jace in it! I really think it was my favorite so far! I’m looking forward to seeing if he keeps up that personality or goes back to the more moody version. I also am curious when some relationships from the book will start developing.
What are you looking forward to in the last couple of episodes of this half of the season? Comment below to discuss!
Shadowhunters airs on Mondays at 8/7c on Freeform. You can watch all of the past episodes on the Freeform app or site. And don’t forget to come back each week for a new recap and review!
