By 
Oh, Alec. What did you do?
The latest hour of Shadowhunters unfolded like a slow motion car wreck.
We saw the bad stuff coming a mile away. Not just with Alec and Magnus, but with Clary, too.
Magnus and Alec were not going to make it out of this magic drama without a major dark night of the soul moment.
Clary wasn’t going to keep fighting off Jonathan’s dark appeal no matter how soothing Jace’s voice whispered to her better angels.
(Pun totally intended).
“The Beast Within” brought the character drama to a head in a devastating way. It unleashed new evil into the world (sigh, Alec).
It set up the biggest of big battles.
And it also gave Simon a big push toward his future with Izzy so it wasn’t all bad…
Let’s start with Malec (because it hurt the most).
Things were awkward between Alec and Magnus. Alec was once again hiding something as he tasked Magnus with assisting Maryse in her bookstore renovations.
Basically, Alec wanted to call Asmodeus to the surface for a chat. But he didn’t want to risk summoning him so he went through a fortune teller warlock.
In Alec’s defense, he’s desperate to help the man he loves. He knows Magnus sacrificed for him and he wants to fix it.
But damn it, Alec. You know better than this! Of course Asmodeus was going to find a way to release himself from Edom.
Never trust a prince of a hell!
In addition to his desire to be in our world, Asmodeus demanded Alec break Magnus’ heart in exchange for his magic.
Naturally, Alec said no. But then he sought outside counsel from his siblings. Jace insisted he’d never want to be away from Clary again.
Izzy, who received the full story, told Alec that Magnus would never want him to make this sacrifice (always listen to Izzy). Alec insisted Magnus would recover…even if Alec would not.
Again, noble. Selfless. Loving. All the good qualities we adore when it comes to Alec. However. And this is a big however: NEVER TAKE AWAY SOMEONE’S CHOICE.
Asmodeus knew Magnus would never willingly give up Alec. Alec knows that, too. So he made the decision for him and ended things even as Magnus begged him to, “stay with me.”
(Sad heart eyes because I can never resist a parallel).
This is not going to end well for anyone.
(Except the series finale is coming so it damn well better end happily for Malec—don’t ruin this for us, show).
It’s time to admit what we probably knew all along: they should have locked Clary up, too.
Not in a Hannibal cage; but she should have been confined to the Institute and away from weapons and battles where she could fall into a demon trap.
The signs have been there since she returned: the defense of Jonathan, the quick trigger temper, the willingness to beat down her teammates…
When the Silent Brothers can’t help you, it’s a problem.
Izzy thought she had a solution, but Heavenly Fire seemed to strengthen the bond rather than sever it. And once Clary fell into the demon…whatever that was…she chose Jonathan over Jace.
On the bright side, she saved her own life. The Seelie Queen planned to murder both siblings after her Halloween demon distractions kept the Shadowhunters busy.
Unfortunately, Clary’s dark now and she’s with Jonathan and nothing good is going to come from any of this.
Also, does anyone else think Luke returning was suspicious? The Praetor rescued him, kept him away, and then he strolled in like everything’s all well and good?
I don’t think he’s evil or anything like that. But it seems like the Praetor have a reason for wanting him reunited with his daughter at this time.
(Or maybe I’m reading too much into the dramatic episode).
Maia and Jordan also returned, fully healed, and ready to lead the New York pack. Well, Maia was ready. Jordan wavered a bit.
This story frustrates me. Mainly because Maia deserves more than a few scenes here and there. Wouldn’t it be better to see her recruiting new members for the pack than talking about it?
And it’s nice that she wants Jordan to join her—she’s genuinely forgiven him—but it still feels like Maia’s main purpose is taking care of Jordan’s feelings.
She deserves better.
Finally, the sunshine of the hour: Simon and his sister. Becky is awesome from her vampire costume to her open-mindedness to her zeroing in on Simon and Izzy’s adorableness.
Their scenes were excellent. A nice lighthearted balance to the drama heavy episode. Izzy got to save the day when the demon attempted to attack Becky, and then Becky gave Simon the push he needed.
Simon and Izzy returned to the Institute to work and he awkwardly danced around what he wanted to say. And Izzy seemed to pick up on it and then the big moment came…
I barely had time to squee before the alarms went off and the kiss was interrupted by the Seelie breach.
RUDE, show. RUDE.
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