I am really excited for
Shadowhunters to be back. The episode after the hiatus was emotional as everyone was mourning Clary (Katherine McNamara), and the use of their memory flashes helped to convey that. Dominic Sherwood especially did a spectacular job in his mourning as Jace, so devastated that he doesn’t even get any hope from Luke (Isaiah Mustafa)’s suggestion that Clary may still be alive.
Obviously, it wasn’t a surprise that Clary was alive, nor that she was with Jonathan, but I did enjoy McNamara’s scenes with Luke Baines, especially the way she held her own. However, I’m not sure her plan to walk out into the middle of the snow in Siberia with assumedly no stele was a very smart one.
The scenes with Magnus (Harry Shum Jr.) and Alec (Matthew Daddario) were sweet, with Alec trying to convince Magnus that losing his magic wasn’t everything. Their interactions with Madzie (Ariana Williams) were also cute, especially Alec reading to her.
It seems like Mia (Alisha Wainwright) and Simon (Alberto Rosende) may be moving further apart. While I do like Mia, I’ve always been an fan of the Simon/Isabelle (Emeraude Toubia) relationship from Cassandra Clare’s books, and I’m hoping that this episode is hinting that that could be coming.
I also liked the final scene of the episode with Clary and Jonathan, when Clary stabbed him. She was not willing to give one inch and let him in. I’m curious though if the fact that they are bound as one is representing the twinning ritual that took place between Jonathan and Jace in the book. I do enjoy when pieces from the novels are woven into the series, even if they are spun differently.
I can’t wait to see the rest of this final chapter of Shadowhunters play out, though I am really sad to see the show ending, and while not super optimistic, I still hold out hope that the series will find another home on a streaming service or elsewhere.
RECAP: The mid season premiere picks up where the finale left off. Clary was sentenced to death by the Gard, but Lilith (Anna Hopkins) used Jace to break her out. Magnus lost his magic after trading it to release Lilith’s hold over Jace. Lilith resurrected Clary’s brother Jonathan, and after hitting Simon, the apartment they were in exploded. A free Jace caught up to them, only to find Simon, who tells him that he killed Clary.
At the start of the episode, Jace, Alec, and Isabelle try to catch an escaped Seelie prisoner (Jason Gosbee). Jace is upset over Clary and takes him on himself. They come to his aid and catch the man.
Meanwhile, Simon is also grieving when Mia arrives. It was because of him and his mark that the apartment blew, and he thinks that is what killed Clary and blames himself.
Meanwhile, Clary is actually alive, alone with Jonathan, who now has his true face. They both have matching symbols because of their bond. According to Jonathan, Lilith moved the apartment to Siberia. He wants to keep her safe, and no one can find her there. If the Clave finds her alive, they would kill her on sight. He says that Lilith is back in Edom where she belongs.
Her brother is nice to her, and she plays along, but as soon as she gets a chance, she storms outside into the snow. He follows her.
Back in New York, Magnus is annoyed that his magic is gone and that he can’t use it to do everyday tasks like his makeup. Alec tells him he doesn’t need it and is beautiful the way he is.
Catarina (Sophia Walker) shows up needing Magnus to babysit Madzie while she goes to a nursing convention.
Meanwhile, back at Simon's apartment, Maia unsuccessfully tries to convince him that Clary’s death was Lilith’s fault. He tells her that he really wanted to call her, but figured she needed space. He’s upset she has been gone and asks where she went. She says she went back to Ocean City. She thought about seeing her family, but didn’t have the guts. She just needed some time to think. He asks if it was about Jordan, but she just dodges the question and says she was thinking about a lot of things. He tells her that he knows it was a hard time for her, but it was an odd time to take off, considering everything. She apologizes.
She suggests they go outside for a bit, go for a walk, and get some sun, but he won’t leave the house, because he’s scared that his mark of Cain puts everyone in danger, not just those who try to hurt him. Clary didn’t try to hurt him, but she still ended up dead.
Meanwhile, Clary continues to trek through the snow.
I
sabelle tells Alec that she got off the phone with Alicante. They are arranging transport for the Seelie. She tells him that during her interrogation, he said that he was being tortured at the Gard. Seelies can’t lie. Alec says that that’s a violation of the Accords. She wants him to bring it up with Consul Jia Penhallow (Françoise Yip), though he says she’s not their friend since their trip to Alicante. Isabelle tells him he’s the head of the Institute, and she will listen. He says he’ll take it under advisement. He asks if he’s seen Jace, but she hasn’t since the previous night.
Isabelle finds Jace having broken stuff in his room, grieving. She notices he has a knife. She tells him that she misses Clary too. He’s also upset about the things he’s done, like killing Imogen. She tells him it was the Owl; he wasn’t himself. He knows, but he has memories of everything. She makes him promise he won’t hurt himself.
Back at Magnus's, Alec reads to Madzie. She wants Magnus to make a nightlight like he did last time, but he can’t, so she makes her own in the form of a floating moon.
Magnus and Alec leave the room, and Alec tries to kiss him, but he’s afraid she might hear. He suggests they watch a movie by a director he knows.
Suddenly Iris (Stephanie Belding) shows up from a portal and tries to grab Madzie. Alec uses his arrows to stop her in time. She goes back through the portal.
Meanwhile Clary passes out in the cold, too tired to continue.
Back at the Institute, Alec, Isabelle, and Jace talk about what happened with Iris. She was able to get to Madzie, because Magnus’s wards lost power when he lost his magic.
Magnus comes in and tells them that Madzie is back with Catarina to be safe.
They need a plan to stop Iris from getting Madzie. They try to get Magnus to stay behind, as he is without magic, but he wants to help and knows Iris. Alec finally relents. Magnus suggests they start with the sweep of her brownstone.
Alec talks to Jace about the way he’s been acting. Alec tells him he needs some time off. He lets him know that if Jace were to kill himself, it would devastate him, as he is his Parabatai. Alec makes him take a break from their work for awhile, and Jace, realizing how he’s been acting, reluctantly agrees.
Maia comes to see Isabelle and tells her that Simon blames himself for Clary’s death and is paralyzed by his mark, refusing to even leave his apartment. He and Clary have been best friends since they were kids. Isabelle tells her it isn’t just about Clary, but also that the stalker vampire, Heidi, made Simon feed on his sister Becky in front of their mother, who couldn’t handle it. He had to encanto her to make her believe he was dead.
Mia didn’t know, because she wasn’t there. Isabelle doesn’t fault her for needing to be alone. When times get tough some people need to be alone, whereas some need to be around other people. She’s like that and thinks Simon is too. Maia tells her he’s afraid right now to be around anyone. She wants Isabelle’s help to get rid of the mark. If anyone could do it, she figured it would be Isabelle.
Jonathan finds Clary in the snow and carries her back.
Magnus, Alec, and Isabelle have gone looking for Iris to stop her. She wasn’t at the brownstone, so they move on to an herbal shop. Iris shows up through another portal and grabs Magnus before they can stop her, pulling him into it with her.
Jonathan tries to get Clary to eat. He understands she doesn’t trust him, but would like her to try; he’s her brother. He says that he might have demon blood, but so do others that she loves. His curse started when he was abandoned by their mother. He asks if she wouldn’t be different if instead of Jocelyn she was raised by a sadistic father. She tells him that Jace was raised by Valentine. He adds though that he wasn’t sent to Edom to be burned by Lilith.
Clary says she won’t give him her pity, but he’s not interested in pity, just understanding. He can’t deny what he’s done, but it is behind him now, and he can change. He wants to change. He tells her that whatever good exists in her, at least some of that has to be inside him too, somewhere. He intends to prove it to her.
He goes to get firewood. She looks at the silverware on the table.
Jace arrives at a motel, Luke having called him to come. Luke looks a little frantic. Jace asks about Ollie. Luke tells her she doesn’t remember a thing, and the Praetor was good about getting her and Samantha relocated with new identities.
He tells Jace that he thinks it’s possible Clary is alive and that during the explosion, Lilith’s apartment was relocated with Clary alive inside.
As a young Shadowhunter, he heard about a rare form of inter-dimensional travel that demons use. At the exact moment of the explosion, there was a precipitous drop in air pressure that occurred in just one square block where Clary was being held. He scanned the data and found one other time when that happened. It was when Simon and Mia found the church of Talto. It happened right when Simon blew Lilith’s disciples into salt. He doesn’t think it’s a coincidence. Lilith might have sensed them coming and got out of there.
Jace doesn’t believe it could be true, but Luke asks him to at least use the Institute to check the data. He just wants him to look into it; he thinks he’ll find something there.
Iris uses magic to try break into Magnus’s head to get the memory of where Madzie is. Although he has no magic, his mind is strong, and he has centuries of memories to sort through.
Meanwhile, Alec is freaking out. Isabelle tells him that Magnus isn’t what Iris really wants, but rather Madzie. She comes up with a plan that might bring him back, but they’ll have to use the girl.
Mia talks to Simon. She tells him that Isabelle said there is one person that might know something: Raphael (David Castro). He was researching Daylighters and might have learned something. She has paid for a portal for him to Detroit. Simon is still angry at him, because without Raphael, he’d still have a family. She knows, but Raphael might be the only one that knows something about the mark.
Simon goes to see the vampire, who’s in a community center feeding the homeless. He is sorry for what has happened. After apologizing, Raphael tells him about a legend of a vampire living in the sewers of New York. He’s the oldest vampire in the city, perhaps in the world, but no one has ever seen him or even heard his name. If anyone knows how to get rid of the mark though, it would be him.
Iris is still looking through Magnus’s memories. She’s ready to use a spell to torture it out of him when she receives a fire message from Caterina. One of his Shadowhunters friends contacted Catarina, and she agrees with Iris that Madzie should be with her. Confused, Magnus confirms it is her handwriting.
Upon arriving through a portal with Magnus, Iris sees Madzie, but it’s just an illusion using Seelie magic. Angry at being tricked, she starts throwing fireballs at Magnus.
When she and Alec arrive, Isabelle uses her bracelet to cuff Iris and arrest her. Alecs helps Magnus.
Jia comes to Alec to congratulate him for rounding up the escapees. She also came to tell him and the Institute that she is posthumously pardoning Clary for her crimes against the Clave; she saved her life. She says however, he should pay for his subordination, but many at Alicante consider him and his Institute heroes for taking down Lilith. Going after him would be a political minefield for her. Though she says that she will continue to watch his every move.
Isabelle brings up the issue of the torture of the Downworlder escapees to Jia, but she denies anything is going on and leaves through a portal.
The escaped Seelie that attacked the others earlier in the episode who said he was tortured, is tied up and again being tortured, but it’s not the Gard who has him.
Magnus and Alec talk. Magnus is still upset about his lack of Magic. Alec tells him that he was powerful enough to hold his ground and keep away the location of Madzie from Iris, and that his power isn’t just from magic, it comes from his inner strength, which he is overflowing with.
They share a kiss.
Magnus, however, says he still feels humiliated they had to rescue him and that he had to be healed by Catarina. He hates relying onto others to take a care of him. Alec says that he’s been taking care of others for a long time, and sometimes it’s okay to let others take care of him.
Magnus says that he’ll tell him one thing; it’s the last time he plans on getting beat up. He wants to learn to fight without magic. Alec agrees to help him out.
Meanwhile, Simon prepares to go to the sewers to search for the vampire. Mia tells him she isn’t going, because bringing a werewolf to a vampire is a bad idea, and he won’t open up. She also needs to check on the pack. She offers to stay if he does need her, but he tells her she has done more than enough.
She wishes him good luck on the hunt and says to call if he finds him. He questions if he should call anyway, but she doesn’t answer, and just says that she’s always there for him and that he’s not alone.
When he returns, Clary pretends once again to trust Jonathan when he tells her he wants to take her to where she’s always wanted to go: Paris.
She suddenly pulls the knife from behind her back that she had grabbed from the table and stabs him from his jaw up through his mouth. Before she can do anything else, she develops the same wound and starts bleeding from her mouth in pain. They both collapse.
Jonathan uses his stele to draw an Iratze to heal them. To her horror, he tells her that they are bound as one now.