No one is having a good day. This episode’s title was accurate in more ways than one, but mostly because everyone seemed to step into a darker place.
One of the biggest issues with this episode was Clary’s emotions. She had flip flopped last season and it seemed like it would be over now, but she was back to wishing she had never become a shadowhunter in the first place. Her reasoning this time around had more ground to it, but it didn’t hold because she had already done this before. Now it’s becoming a cliche that she wants to quit when the emotional going gets tough. Once again she needs to pick the life that she wants and stick with it. That will cement her character and force her to make other decisions than to run away from her problems. Another issue with Clary’s choices was when she went with Dot. It did seem like Dot grabbed her instead of her willingly going, but she didn’t react to the dark veins Dot clearly had on her face, and it’s not like she couldn’t see them because Jocelyn saw them despite her distance. Clary needs to start making better choices if she’s going to be the main character (not that she has a choice).
Jocelyn isn’t doing any better with her choices. Her constant lying is getting her in trouble with Clary. First it was being a shadowhunter and now it’s that Jace is going to become evil. It was nice that Jocelyn’s reasoning for disliking Jace is the opposing reason for why Valentine loves him, but it needs to be more clear why she would want to kill her son so much. We got that flash back, but Jace was a baby and clearly wouldn’t have control of his powers. She said he had done dark things more than once, so the audience needs to see something so dark that a mother would want to kill her own son. Maybe a glimpse of the vision where Jace ends up going completely evil would help with that idea.
Valentine also seemed to be lacking this episode. He’s more willing to put up with the fact that Jace still seems to want nothing to with him. It does seem like he’s slightly getting through to his son, but other than that he seems soft towards him, especially when Jace was escaping with Clary. Valentine needs to stay a harsh force to show how evil his point of view is. He can have lighter moments, but they can’t seem like he’s lazy.
Jace also didn’t make good decisions until the end of the episode. He saved his father when he could’ve tried to taken him out, and even Valentine mentioned how he might be warming up to him. It felt odd how easily Jace chose to go on the mission when his father asked Clary if she wanted to go instead. He didn’t fight to get her off the boat he simply said he was going while somehow being content that Clary would be left with Valentine. In the end he did choose to run which was a better idea than staying with his evil father, but now the Institute will be after him for treason.
Alec is burning bridges over finding chase. His fears are more rational now that he knows that Clary’s family isn’t in Jace’s best interest. Her mom wants to kill him and her dad wants to turn him into a weapon. Knowing that it’s hard not to agree with him a little bit. Although, his rash measures are going to get people hurt. For example, how he used the stone to find Jace, but he something went wrong because both their noses started bleeding. His scenes show how much his brother means to him, but they also show that love can be a liability. It’s interesting to think about how this might affect the group and missions going forward.
Although it was nice to see Izzy kick that big guy’s butt it felt too easy. I would’ve liked to see her skill trump his muscles in a more realistic fight.
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Once again Simon isn’t having the best of luck. He did learn to use his powers, but that’s because Raphael wants to kill him if he doesn’t find Camille. Also Simon was about to get hurt by a fire breathing snake if he didn’t learn to use his powers. Hopefully his confidence will continue to grow, and whatever is in that box will help him find Camille.
Rating: 7/10
Shadowhunters airs Mondays @ 8/7c on Freeform
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