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bluephoenixdruidicprincess · 7 years ago

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Shadowhunters Season 2 Review and Thoughts for Season 3

Alright, it’s that time again. It’s time for me to give you all the low-down on Shadowhunters Season 2 as a whole. My thoughts, my feelings, and improvements I would like to see made in Season 3. Season 2 was definitely an improvement over Season 1 but trust me, it still has its issues.

This is going to be an honest review of my thoughts and feelings regarding this show. If you’re the kind of Shadowhunters fan where you only want to hear positive things about the show, this is not the place for you. If you decide to stick around and get offended by what is said, then that’s on you. I warned you. Just know that if you send me any rude comments or messages, I will 100% ignore you. I find that’s the best way to deal with bullies. I work 14 hour days. Do you really think I want to waste my incredibly valuable free time dealing with derogatory comments? Hell no. This review will consist of my honest opinions. Opinions are never right or wrong. I’m not telling you how to think and feel. I’m telling you what I think and feel. So please, let’s discuss with dignity and respect. If I’m critical about the show, it’s only because I want it to get better. There is, in fact, a difference between hating a show and being critical of it. I do not hate Shadowhunters; I am being critical and analyzing the flaws as I would with any other show. There are positives but there are also negatives. It’s great if you want to promote positivity with this show (and I encourage you to do so) but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t acknowledge the things that are legitimately wrong with it. Also, keep in mind that despite the fact that I do love the books, me being critical of this show has nothing to do with my love of the books. I don’t really care if the show deviates from the source material as long as it’s good and it makes sense. My problems with this show are problems that I would have with any show or book for that matter. I think it’s perfectly reasonable to take issue with a show that has plot holes, shoddy world-building and inconsistent characters. There will be spoilers for the books and movies.

I want to preface this with I am neither PRO nor ANTI Shadowhunters. I see it as neither a good or horrible show. It’s serviceable. That’s really what this show is. Ultimately, as far as tv shows goes on their own, it’s nothing all that special. It could be -- it certainly tries -- but at the end of the day, it falls flat. It’s a show where it’s interesting to watch and see what’s going to happen, but I also don’t find myself all that excited to watch the newest episode. This show has never gotten me to the point where I was counting down the days until the next episode airs. Usually, I’ll watch an episode and then I’ll be like, “Ok. That was alright. I’m ready to go watch something else now.” There’s no, “OMG! That episode was insane. When is the next one coming out?” That has never happened to me with this show. This is going to be spread into two different sections. The show’s storytelling and the characters and their relationships. So let’s get on with this.

The Storytelling

If there is one good thing I have to say about Shadowhunters in its sophomore season, is that compared to Season 1, vast improvements were made to the writing. Granted, the bar wasn’t set all that high considering how nonsensical and ridiculous Season 1 was but hey, it was an improvement. It was an improvement in the sense that at least now, the episodes are arcing properly. I may not have been a big fan of how a lot of the actual story was being told, but at least it was arcing. But, I do have to say that overall, Season 2 had a very clunky feel to it. There were a lot of different plot points going around and most of them were dropped without having any real resolution. Izzy’s drug addiction was completely dropped, her insecurities toward Alec were dropped, Aldertree served absolutely no purpose in the overarching plot in season 2, Jocelyn’s death did absolutely nothing for the story. It didn’t drive Clary in any way which was actually the idea behind it. While under a spell, Alec attempts to commit suicide because of the guilt he has for the part he played in Jocelyn’s death and then that’s completely dropped. The demon-shadowhunter baby plot point never shows up again. Trust me, I could go on and on. I haven’t even hit 2B yet. But I don’t want this post to end up being 15 pages long so I’m going to stop here. Let’s not get me started on the dumbness and pointlessness that is Azazel. I’m sure you guys get the point. I do feel like Season 3 is probably going to be written a little better than Season 2. For Season 2, we had new showrunners and I think ultimately, they were using Season 2 to filter out a lot of the weird plot writing that Season 1 had going on. With a lot of those weird plot points closed out now, Season 3 is probably going to arc much better. Or at least one can hope. I am definitely going to use Season 3 as a factor in deciding whether or not I’m even going to stick with the show.

I’ve talked about the show’s issues with arcing, dropped storylines, now let’s talk about elements of writing that drive a show. Let’s begin with pacing. Pacing was a HUGE problem with Season 1. Now, Season 2 episodes were a little bit better paced but there were still points when characters jumped to conclusions about something and you’re just like, “Wait, how did we get from Point A to Point B?” If I have one critique to make regarding this show’s pacing, they need to stop having 3 or 4 plot points going on in a single episode. This show has so much potential to be really awesome if they could focus on the characters and their interactions with each other. The characters, their actions, their motivations is what should be moving the plot forward but it’s the other way around in this show. And that also adds to the clunkiness of the storytelling. An episode should have an A plot and a B plot and that’s it. But sometimes we’re getting C, D, and even E plots at times in a single episode. All of these are characters are super interesting. Let’s spend less time with the plot and more with the characters.

Another issue this show has is payoffs. This kind of goes along with pacing. The show isn’t always evenly paced in its plot which is why we sometimes have moments within the story that kind of come out of left field. If you have an idea of where you want your character to be at a certain point in the season, you need to pace that character development out. So when that character has that really epic moment, it completely “wows” your audience. This is what’s known as a pay-off. If you don’t pace it well, the pay-off is very bland and uninteresting. A good example of this is in the Season 2 finale. That moment when Clary was about to be executed and Jace manages to break free and save her. The pay-off could’ve been amazing but I found myself asking, “Why didn’t he just do this in the tent?” All throughout 2B, Jace has never been depicted of having problems using his angelic superpower and yet now, he’s only willing to use it to break free of the chains when Clary’s about to be killed? This would’ve worked fine if throughout 2B, we’d seen Jace having issues using this power and then in this moment, when he sees Clary about to be killed, that’s when he’s able to turn it on. That is what’s known as a pay-off. And it could’ve added something to the Clace dynamic. Then, of course, the other big thing I’ve talked about is Clary’s fighting skills. This is something I wish they had paced out a little more evenly so when she killed Valentine in the finale, it would’ve been far more impactful. Everyone likes to talk about how Clary was so bad-ass in that moment but for me, it was a “whatever” moment. I’ve lost count of how many Circle members Clary actually killed without pause through the duration of Season 2. And I’m supposed to be impressed that she killed Valentine? What would’ve been far more impressive is if throughout the series, we see her learning how to fight, stumbling through at times (because that is far more realistic), her mother’s death driving her to be better and then finally in this moment after watching Valentine kill Jace, knowing Valentine’s actions led to her mother’s death and the destruction of her brother’s soul, she’s able to call forth everything she’s learned to exact her revenge. To finally destroy the man who took everything from her. Once again, that’s a payoff. But instead, it just falls flat. Yes, it’s great to see a girl be a bad-ass but at the same time, it’s nothing I haven’t seen her do before. Why should I care? Because it’s Valentine this time? In Season 3, I would definitely like to see a greater emphasis placed on character motivations and payoffs.

This show has a huge subtlety issue as well. Now this pops up in various forms throughout the writing. Sometimes, it’s through character actions or sometimes it’s over-explaining things through dialogue. Either way, it leaves the audience with the impression that the writers think their audience is stupid. Now, my most hated scene in the Season 2 finale is that moment when Alec was given the specific job to take care of the demons while Magnus closes the rift. And Alec takes one shot and misses and then decides he needs to abandon the mission and go to Magnus pleading for help. Alec would never do this. His job was to keep the demon off of Magnus and instead he leads it directly to Magnus? It makes no sense particularly since earlier in the episode, Alec took multiple shots to slay the demon that was flying around Manhattan and it never phased him when he missed. He was chillin like a melon. And it goes completely against what we know about Alec to begin with. He is not afraid to sacrifice himself to save the people he loves. He would not have retreated back to Magnus. He would’ve continued fighting until he killed the demon or the demon killed him. Because in Alec’s eyes, the life of Magnus and his sister is far more important. I get what this scene was going for. They wanted to showcase that Magnus still cared about Alec but there are hundreds of ways they could’ve done this. But I guess the writers were afraid that it wouldn’t have been clear that Magnus still cared about Alec if it wasn’t this big huge moment of Alec pleading Magnus to save him? If you don’t have subtlety in your story telling, you also lose a lot of the impact. The dialogue also needs some work in this as well. The show has the tendency to spoon-feed information that can be inferred by the audience. I feel like this show is trying to gain the early to mid-20s audience. If this is the case, how about treating us like we’re intelligent 20-year-old adults? Exactly how bad do they think the public school system is that we can’t infer what something called “a Kill Tree” does or that Edomi are demons that come from Edom? The dialogue at times gets a little clunky because of this need to over-state everything.

I also have a problem with how this show deals with conflicts. And this stems from the arcing as well as the pacing problem. This show resolves conflicts within the story alarmingly fast. There are conflicts that can’t be resolved easily and every time the show does, you lose the impact of these characters feeling like real people. It also hinders the plot because it makes the plot feel very disjointed.

Now let’s talk about the adaptation part of the story-telling. My problem with this show has never been them not following the books. My problem is them following the books, then not following the books, and then going back to following the books again without keeping with the changes they made. Let me better explain this, as I know it’s a little confusing. This show will make changes to a particular plot or character point that doesn’t exist in the books. And that’s fine. I don’t have a problem with that. My problem is that they’ll make those changes and then take another scene 100 pages down the line out of the book and use it nearly verbatim. When you made that original change, the context has changed as well which means that scene isn’t going to work the same way. You have to change that scene to fit the new context. An example of this is the infamous Seelie Court kiss scene. Previously in Season 2, the writers had made the change that Clary was really enjoying this new-found romantic relationship with Simon. Or at least, there weren’t any hints that she was secretly coveting Jace in episodes prior. She had even told Simon that despite knowing Jace isn’t her brother, she had no plans to break it off with Simon. She wanted to be with him. And this change would’ve been alright but the show still tried to keep the Seelie Court kiss scene more or less verbatim as it is in the books. In the books, this scene and how it plays out makes sense because the reader could always tell that even though Clary didn’t overtly hate her romantic relationship with Simon, it didn’t make her feel the same way she felt when she was with Jace. None of that is applied in the show. The show goes on stating that Jace is the kiss that will set them free as it is the kiss Clary most desires but there was no set up to this revelation so the pay-off of the kiss scene doesn’t work. Because you were never really led to believe that while Clary was dating Simon she wanted to be with Jace. As I said, they made a change and as a result the context has changed so the future writing also needed to change…which they didn’t do. When authors write certain things at certain points in their books, it’s for a very calculated reason. Everything more or less has a purpose. When you adapt a book to any kind of film, it’s a given that changes are going to have to be made and that has never been my issue with the show. It’s always been them making a change and then not having the rest of the story change along with it to support that change. Ultimately, at the end of the day, I wish Shadowhunters had taken The Vampire Diaries or the The 100 approach to their writing. I wish they had taken the bones of the source material and then told their own story and created the characters and their personalities in their own way. When Shadowhunters was first announced, initially, that’s what I thought they were going to do. I can’t help but feel like maybe this show might’ve been better written and executed if it weren’t for them being so bogged down by the source material. As much as I love the books (and trust me, I do), this show could have really benefited from a Kevin Williamson level of adaptation. For those of you who don’t know, he was the one who developed The Vampire Diaries for tv adaptation and I was always really impressed with how it was adapted. And I will never apologize for liking Vampire Diaries. Yes, it got a little convoluted in later seasons but seasons 1-3 are fantastic. I am more or less excited for Shadowhunters Season 3 because we are starting to delve into the second half of The Mortal Instruments series and I feel like the second half is going to work much better for adapting. Shadowhunters made the decision to create the show with an ensemble cast in mind however, the first half of The Mortal Instruments isn’t very conducive for an ensemble cast. You pretty much follow Clary and Jace and that’s about it. But the second half starts focusing much more heavily on the other characters. And I feel like it’s definitely going to be easier to adapt. Season 1 and 2 were bogged down by the fact that in the source material, there isn’t a whole lot that characters like Alec, Magnus, Izzy, and Luke are actually doing. Clary and Jace are the ones that are driving the story. And it’s very clear with the storytelling in the show, that the writers didn’t really know what to do with them. This is definitely something I think is going to be improved in Season 3.

Season 3 also needs to work on their world-building. More specifically, their use of magic systems. I continues to grate my nerves that there are no rules to their magic system. As I’ve said before, rules are so important in a fantasy and most importantly in the magic system within that fantasy. If your magic system has no rules then you can do anything with magic. If you can do anything with magic, what makes it compelling? All it does is become a convenient plot device. And I love magic systems. I don’t want to see a magic system be used as a cheap plot device. I want magic to be its own character in a way.

So there are certain themes I’d like to see explored in Season 3. Well, really only one theme. And that is, “consequences”. This show has a huge problem with it’s characters never facing any true consequences for their actions. In the finale, it was laughable to me that when Jace mentions to Clary that she can’t just bring someone back from the dead without a consequence and she’s all, “not this time. This time there won’t be any consequences.” This line is funny to me because it actually implies that Clary has faced consequences for her actions before, which she has not. I really hope the show goes into this theme in Season 3. That they really bring to the fore front that Clary’s selfish nature is the root cause for these horrible things that are going to happen. I really hope the show has the guts to go this direction. They probably won’t considering how much they love to paint Clary as this Mary Sue who is beyond special and could never do anything wrong because she’s so selfless and wonderful (ugh, I just vomited a little in my mouth writing that). But as Season 3 hasn’t aired yet, I’m going to hope for the best. It’s not just Clary that has this issue either. It’s the show’s story-telling as a whole. Their inability to have any truly impactful consequences. The best example is how Max played out in Season 2B. Now, I’m not saying that Max should have died, as he does in the books. I’m saying something resonatingly impactful should’ve happened to him. My own dark theory was that Jonathon hurt him so bad that it put him in a coma that he would never wake up from and that was the driving force for Izzy to go after Jonathon. And it kind of sort of happened. Max does go into a coma but then he gets a miracle treatment from the Silent Brothers and he’s perfectly fine now. It has no lasting impact. Essentially there was no consequence for anyone letting Jonathon into their lives besides a couple of nameless dead shadowhunters. Max recovers and then they go after Jonathon. Yes, they’re mad about what Jonathon did to Max but ultimately, it’s not going to leave a lasting impression on their psyche. It definitely felt like the writers chickened out. There are a lot of different directions the theme of consequences could take Season 3 and I hope the writers are brave enough to take it because at this point, they really need it.

Characters and Their Relationships

Let’s talk about these characters and their relationships now. How these characters are depicted gets very uneven at times. And this show has an issue with slow-burn. They do not know how to do a slow-burn. It stems from their pacing and subtlety issues. They want people to like this show so badly that they’re forgetting why people cling to fandoms in the first place. It’s not that two people are in a wonderful relationship that leaves you in a pile of goo everytime you see them together on screen, it’s how they got there, how their relationship developed, how they as characters develop. That’s what leaves you in a pile of goo. And I haven’t had that experience with this show yet. Yes, I love Malec but there are so many problems with the writing that prevents me from having that gooey feeling. This show is by no means bad but i wouldn’t call it good either. The times it leans closer to the good spectrum are when the characters are driving the story. Let’s start talking about these characters.

First up is Clary. Oh boy. I’ve made no secret about my distaste for Clary. And it’s really difficult to pinpoint exactly what it is about her that grates on my nerves. There’s a lot of little things that bother me. Ultimately, it’s the Mary Sue-ness of her character. As I said earlier, it’s her doing really selfish things but everyone else ignoring it because they think she’s so selfless and wonderful. Now, I don’t have a problem with Clary being a selfish person. At her core, that’s what she is. She follows her heart and that leads her to doing selfish things. It’s perfectly human. Humans are selfish beings. Even when we go out of our way to help others, there’s still a selfish undertone – for a lot of us, it makes us feel good knowing we helped someone, it benefited us in some way. But the fact that no one calls Clary out on her crap any more is what I dislike. Clary does these selfish acts because it’s a way to push the plot forward but it’s never used to push her character forward and that’s the issue I have with her. If the show didn’t tote her around as this perfect being and just own up to the fact that she is selfish, I would have no issues with Clary. Dare I say it, I may even like her. Which is why I mentioned earlier when I talked about the consequences theme for Season 3, I would like to see her selfish nature be called to the fore front. For Clary to really be held accountable for her selfish decisions. For her to really look at herself and be like, “oh, no. I’m causing this. Everything bad that’s happening is all because of me.” Really, I just want the show to do something that will make this audience think, “Yeah. She’s not perfect. She makes mistakes.”

On to Jace. I fluctuate a lot on my feelings for Jace. Dom Sherwood does a fantastic job of portraying him. That’s never been my issue. He is fantastic at bringing this very angsty feel to Jace. Which is important because Jace is quite angsty. And I do love it when male characters show their vulnerable side. However, sometimes the writers take Jace’s angst to an absurd level. Just how easily this guy gets moved to tears, I find a little ridiculous. This guy is more emotional than I have been in my entire life. And I say that with the time period I went through puberty in mind where getting a B on a homework assignment was enough to drive me to tears. It’s really hard for me to believe that a 20-year-old, whether they be male, female, unspecified gender, whatever, would be crying over some of the things he cries over. My feelings might be hurt a little but I don’t think I’d cry over some of these things. But I’m also a really sarcastic person and sarcastic people usually don’t let too many things bother them. We believe in hiding our insecurities through jokes. It’s probably why I like Book Jace so much. A lot of the fandom thinks Book Jace is mean. I don’t know where they get that. I think he’s really funny and whenever the fandom says that he’s mean, I really have to question how they, as a person, functions in the real world. Trust me, there are some genuinely mean people in the real world. Some of them are located right here in this fandom. If you think Book Jace is mean, how do you deal with those people? But don’t take this to mean I hate Jace. I haven’t genuinely hated Jace since Season 1 Episode 6 when I changed his name (temporarily) to The Douche. I like him much more in Season 2. His motivations and his character development as a whole is super interesting. And I love it when he gets snarky. Doesn’t happen nearly as much as it should, though. I live for the moments when Jace gets sassy. I really like what Christine from polandbanannasbooks said about the kind of person Book Jace is. He’s a more sexy and angsty version of Chandler Bing. I’d like to see that guy pop up more in the show.

With Clary and Jace talked about now, let’s take a brief interlude and talk about Clace now. Clace is definitely an example of a couple they rushed when they didn’t need to. It’s not that Kat and Dom have bad chemistry, They have this fun, breezy chemistry about them that works super well when they’re just hanging out. However, when it gets to the point where they’re being forced into having a romantic, epic moment, it’s just that. It feels forced. The show also doesn’t do them any favors by making them so generically YA at the same time. They fall for each other simply because “they were meant for each other.” No work has actually been put forth into developing their relationship, what it is about each other that they like so much. It’s just bland, cheesy, YA tropes. And not the good kind of YA tropes. My hopes for Season 3 is that we’ll get moments where they’re start actively learning about each other on an intellectual level.

For Simon as a character, I’m not really super interested in him. He’s super funny. The show clearly gave all the Jace snark to him. But at the end of the day, even though it felt like he had a lot to do this season, it also feels like he didn’t really accomplish that much. For me, as a character leaving an impact on the season, he didn’t really factor all that much. I am very interested to see how his character is going to progress in Season 3 as it looks like they’re going completely off-book with him. Like I said, I almost prefer that the show would go off-book.

I guess we’ve got to talk about Izzy, now. Izzy has always been a character that routinely falls on the wayside for me. A lot of the fandom seems to really like her but I find her kind of dull at times. And she is a bad-ass but she never contributes a whole lot. The show never really knows what to do with her. They like to tell us she’s a bad-ass but she has very few character moments that actually lend to that. She seems to only serve as a support function for Alec and Clary. I was super excited when they started introducing this drug addiction for her character. A lot of people say this ruined her character. In my eyes, it’s hard to ruin a character who was on as shaky foundation as she was to begin with. She has no real consistent character foundations. I liked the drug addiction plot because something interesting was finally being done with her character. And no one comment saying, “Oh but Izzy is so great because she’s the best pathologist in NYC. That’s a contribution.” I hate the whole “Izzy is the best pathologist” angle. First of all, it is such a Mary Sue angle to make her the best. Second of all, what exactly makes her better than all of the other pathologists? Third of all, I find it insulting that this 19-year-old is the best pathologist in NYC when you have people who spend 10+ years receiving their medical training. At what age did she begin her training? When she was 6? Not to mention, there are so many plot holes with the pathologist angle that I don’t even want to get into right now. Basically, for Izzy, I hope that she gets written better in Season 3. They were going an interesting angle with the drug addiction but then she got a miracle cure and it’s never mentioned. There was absolutely no point to that plot at all.

I’m very much on the rocks about whether or not I want the show to go the Sizzy route. The Sizzy that I love is from the books. And Izzy’s personality has changed so much that we’re not going to get Sizzy from the books. Now what the show is currently doing with Simon and Izzy could lead to some really interesting foundations in their romantic relationship IF they keep it a slow-burn. But this show also sucks at slow burns so I don’t know how optimistic I should be.

Next up is Alec. My favorite character in both the books and show. He was already pretty good in the books but the show did a really great job with figuring him out as a character in the show. I just really enjoy him. He is a little inconsistent with his logic. And like with Izzy, I wish that he would do more in the fore front of the story. He fares much better than Izzy does in the story telling but his plot points always feel like they’re just kind of added on and then subsequently dropped. He has all of these great B plot ideas that never really seem to affect any of the main story and as a result, they’re usually dropped. And then of course, a lot of the fandom doesn’t perceive Alec as his own character. They see him as one half of Malec. And if he’s not doing something that’s going to forward the Malec plot than it’s automatically trash. I definitely wouldn’t mind seeing Alec spend a bit more time away from the Malec plots and really give us a chance to see more of him as a person.

As I made in my previous point, we can’t talk about Alec without talking about Magnus. I am very off and on about Magnus as a character. Honestly, this guy’s motivations and his changes in motivations were starting to give me whiplash. I care about Magnus in the sense that he’s a really interesting character and when he’s allowed to be snarky, he’s great. But the way that he reacts to situations, it doesn’t feel real. And I’m not talking about the acting. I’m talking about the writing. He reacts to things in a very childish and vindictive way.

Which means I have to stop beating around the bush. I have to talk about Malec this season. Oh boy. This is going to be long. Malec in this season was great…when they have absolutely no conflict. When they’re hanging out and having fun, supporting each other, you love them as a couple. However, when they’re in a fight, Malec grates on my nerves. I had gotten to the point in 2B where I straight up didn’t care about what was going on in their relationship. I became apathetic to Malec. The world must truly be ending. Now, this is not me saying I don’t want Malec to ever fight. This is a dig at how poorly written the Malec fights are. Here’s the thing, the ideas behind the Malec fights are actually really good but the flaw is in their execution. There’s a very childish tint to it. I hate what happens in these Malec fights and I hate how they’re resolved. Here is the specific formula on Malec fights:

1) Alec does something that angers Magnus

2) Magnus tells Alec to get out (because that’s a totally healthy way of dealing with your problems)

3) Alec apologizes and Magnus forgives him but Magnus (in his eyes at least) has nothing to apologize for

Rinse and repeat. It happens this way every couple of episodes. And I hate how unequal this relationship is. And this is not me being mad that my favorite character is the one at fault in his relationship, this is me being mad that it’s being written like everything is always Alec’s fault and Magnus never does anything wrong. Even though it’s not true. He also adds to these fights but it’s never called to attention in the writing. This is not a very healthy way to approach a relationship. And with it always highlighting that Alec is at fault, this could very easily be interpreted as an abusive relationship. You have one party believing he’s at fault for a conflict, he apologizes, and the other party gets to continue thinking he’s the perfect one in the relationship and can proceed to blame his lover for anything that goes wrong. Because that’s the way it’s always been. Now I know that’s a little extreme. Granted, Malec isn’t quite there yet, but if this formula keeps up, it won’t be that big of a stretch to call this an abusive relationship. A relationship is all about equality. You cannot have a successful relationship if one person holds all of the power. I really hope Season 3 is going to address this. I really hope there’s a reason for why Malec conflicts were written this way and not just because the writers really like Magnus. I’m hoping Season 3 is going to explore Alec noticing these tell tale problems in his relationship with Magnus and starts questioning it. Maybe this will lead to them breaking up for a much longer space of time because he doesn’t truly believe that Magnus respects him or his position in this relationship. I really did not like how Malec got back together in the finale. I believe the exact words I said in response to Alec saying “I can’t live without you” was “oh, please. Come on.” Seriously, they had been broken up for barely 1 episode. At most, it was a couple of days. You need to be broken up a little longer than that before I’ll accept that sort of declaration.

Not only do I have a problem with Alec always being the bad guy in the relationship, I also have a problem with how Magnus deals with conflicts. Essentially, when a relationship conflict crops up, he responds with, “You’re making me mad. Get out. I don’t want to deal with you.” That is not a healthy way to deal with relationship woes. Why does a character who has 500 years worth of relationship experience behave like a 16-year-old yet his partner, a 20-year-old is far more willing to stick it out and compromise right off the bat. And I have to ask, is this how he’s always going to deal with these relationship conflicts? Is this how he’s always dealt with them? If that’s the case, no wonder he’s had 7,000 relationships. He’s probably never made it past the first fight. He probably tells each of his lovers when they have a fight to get out and leave him alone and they’re probably all, “You know what Magnus? You’re a cool guy and all but I need someone who who’s going to behave like an actual mature adult so I’m going to peace the fuck out.”

When this guy gets his feelings hurt, he becomes ultra vindictive and childish. I mean, just in the last 2 episodes of season 2, he was absolutely horrible. He was actually willing to let NYC be destroyed because he didn’t want to help Alec. As much as I do like Magnus �� and I really do, don’t misunderstand me – but Alec deserves better. Like I said, I hope the writers are going for Magnus’ behavior to be called out in Season 3 but I also know better. Hope for the best but prepare for the worst.

Well, I think I’ve ranted on Malec for long enough, let’s talk about Luke. Luke has the potential to be a really great character but he also suffers from much the same things that Izzy and Alec suffer from. The story not really knowing what to do with him as a character. I mean, there are long stretches of time where Luke just kind of disappears. Hopefully, this will change in Season 3 and he’ll become a much more active agent in the story. I also hope he quits his day job as a detective because he is the worst detective ever. I don’t even know how he still has a job. He never seems to be working.

And a little side note. I’m also low-key shipping Luke and Maryse. I think they could be really interesting as a couple.

Now we’ve got Maia. I actually really like Maia but for whatever reason, the show just cannot write her in a decent, consistent way during a finale episode. In the 2A finale, they had her automatically jump to killing Clary with no real development into her making a decision like that and in 2B she’s all damsel in distress in the Seelie realm. Never mind the fact that she’s been depicted as a bad-ass werewolf in earlier episodes, but in the finale she was just really quiet and meek. It was very strange. Definitely for Season 3, they need to make Maia more consistent with her character development and not just change her personality whenever it suits the plot.

Will Tudor was also amazing as Sebastian/Jonathon. I’m not a fan of the burnt blob he turns into. I find Jonathon a much more threatening villain when he’s Will Tudor being creepy as fuck as opposed to the burnt blob the show decided to add. I’m really hoping he returns as Will Tudor and not the burnt corpse.

Not a whole lot to say about Valentine. Ultimately, I’m very disappointed with where he went as a villain. I always found Valentine to be moderately interesting in the books and the show just took away everything that was interesting about him and left us with a Disney villain. Alan Van Sprang did the best he could trying to humanize Valentine but the script wasn’t doing him any favors. Hopefully the next super-villain this show has will write their villain in a less cheesy and cliché way.

In my Season 2 Finale review, I had also had this theory where I was hoping Maxim Roy will come back to play Lillith in the form of Jocelyn. I think that would be really interesting. And no, I don’t keep up on the Season 3 spoilers/behind-the-scene stuff. I want to be surprised when it airs. So no one tell me that Maxim Roy isn’t returning. I’d prefer to be disappointed on my own.

One more thing I want to mention is the Jalec parabatai bond. The show has taken a lot of steps to improve the parabatai bond and I love that they have. However, they seem to only highlight the angsty parts of it or to use it as a plot device. The parabatai bond is super interesting in both the positive and negative effects it leaves on those who have it. The show loves to talk about the negative effects of it. I would like to see the show start to show the benefits it has. They also need to make this bond more consistent and equal. A lot of times, it feels like Alec experiences the effects more than Jace. It was beyond weird to me in Season 2 Episode 3, that Jace finally makes it off the ship but yet can’t tell that there’s something wrong with Alec. And then Jace cuts his hand, and Alec has no problem feeling that? If there’s one thing I’d like from the parabatai bond in Season 3, it’s the consistency.

At the end of the day, this show tries really hard to be epic. It really wants to be on Vampire Diaries caliber but the writing just isn’t there. The acting is. That isn’t the issue. I love the actors, I love the way they portray their characters. Even the ideas the writers have are actually really good ideas. It’s just the execution that they have a problem with. Once the writing catches up to the actors’ talent, I think we’ll have a truly amazing show on our hands.

Well, that’s about all I have about Season 2. Again, I am neither PRO nor ANTI shadowhunters. In my eyes, it’s neither a good or bad show. It’s just bland. What I’m doing here is just looking at this show and telling you what it makes me think and feel. Do you have to agree with me? No. But you should still respect it. So, with that said, I would love to hear your thoughts and feelings about Season 2. Are there changes you think could be made that I didn’t mention? I’d love to hear how other people interpret this show. This is why fandoms are so much fun but they’re horrible places when can’t people can’t respect each other’s opinions. So please, respect make the dream work.

And with this blog post out of the way, I am now going to go see American Assassin and proceed to fall in love with Dylan O’Brien’s talent to create strong but vulnerable characters.

#shadowhunters #shadowhunters season 2 #shadowhunters 2a #shadowhunters 2b #shadowhunters review #shadowhunters season 3 #clace #malec #sizzy

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likelovelikesuicide · 7 years ago

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Shadowhunters - Hiatus week rant

Shadowhunters is on hiatus this week because ‘merica... so I give you another rant because I prefer to dwell on this show week after week over dealing with real life...

I would like to start by saying that my opinions, as presented, are in no way a reflection on the writers, actors, or anyone else affiliated with the show. I am here solely for the characters, the stories and while I understand that real people control what happens behind the scenes, I know that no single person is to blame for any of the issues I’m pointing out here and also, I reject reality. Life has a fucked up plot on it’s own, so whatever...

1. Let’s begin with the elephant in the room, the scene that caused the most issue since s2 began - Magnus and Alec in 2.07 - Let me begin by saying that I actually like and enjoy the “first time” scene in the context of their relationship and I think the consent issue was a misunderstanding on the part of the audience. In this scene, Alec goes to his boyfriend, hopeful and intent on moving forward within their relationship by spending a night together (& doing some lovin’) … Magnus, rightfully given his past, expresses his concerns with moving too fast because he has serious feelings for Alec and he doesn't just want sex from this. Alec, being the straight forward guy that he is, tells Magnus that he has nothing to worry about because he, Alec, wants this too. This meaning them, being together. He's not saying he wants sex. He's saying he wants to be with Magnus. - this. Us. - The scene fits their story and so much of the dialogue is context within their overall arc. _ However, the issue with the scene is in how it was framed in the episode. Earlier on we see Magnus and Alec stop a kiss because Jace is making noise with a girl somewhere in their home. Then we see an extended scene of Jace with the girl, being naked, intimate, and frankly vulgar on screen. Especially when Alec enters the room and the random topless girl comes onto him in his boyfriend’s home where Jace is a guest. It made Jace look cheap and disrespectful, and it sets the mood for a “first time" scene that was sent off screen without so much as a raised shirt. From the writer's perspective, I think they wanted to show a contrast of lust vs. love but it didn't work at all and from the LGBT perspective, what was shown made it look like they’re trying to keep us behind closed doors. And fuck that. ---This was also demonstrated in 2.13 when Alec and Magnus’ make-up kiss is panned off screen to show Maia lick Jace’s abs for no reason whatsoever and it needs to stop. Either stop showing it or show it for everyone. They aren't filming Malec in the same way they film the other couples. And they know it. Cut the crap.

there’s more but I’ll but it under a read more to safe your dash

2. Timeline. Tone. Episode themes. These things are needed to maintain a story, and right now they are truly all over the place - I mean, has it been a month since S2 started? Six months? A week? A year? We don't know. (season 1 was a month fight me on this) The impossible timelines make watching the episodes jarring in a way that is not entertaining, it’s uncomfortable. (Ref. Glee s4/s5. All of LOST, teen wolf, etc.) Overall this is an issue of pacing in scenes between the various pairings...Raphael and Izzy got a 5 minute scene of them cooking and sharing blood that could have been done in a forth of that time, plus several scenes that actually should be talked about regarding the consent issue… Magnus and Alec got the build up… ish… now they get a minute here, a kiss there. Their time together is implied, referenced... their love established through time spent together off screen - Izzy and Sebastian got full scenes of them just talking for the sake of talking and cementing his creep factor… Clary and Simon have multiple, full scenes in a single episodes to display their feelings, support each other and be together publicly as well as separate scenes and stories going on throughout their doomed relationship.… Jace and Simon spent an entire episode messing with each other in a bar for shits and giggles… Maia and Jace banter, Maia and Simon flirt, Izzy and Simon do mean things together while being really nice about it, Raphael and Simon bicker and try to hurt each other like school children on a playdate… Luke and Simon share war stories… (Honestly what I’m getting from this is everyone wants time with Simon, including the writers… which I get… poor Simon...and okay you got my point, there is no balance. I’ll stop now)

3. Alright look, I didn’t read the books and I’m never going to, but I think in some ways the show is written around the idea that you have read the books - thus you know who random people are (Jace’s seelie bitch, Lydia, Imogene, Ragnor, Catirina, etc.) But like, they don’t follow the books, at all. I mean I started the first book and before I returned it to the library because god, no - I read far enough to know that Dot is like, an old lady or something. And the books start when Clary is 16... My point being, they use the story, the world, the ideas without following the books and that’s fine, except like, I don’t know nor do I care who the Herondale’s are so why give Jace this big reunion with grandma (crazy bitch) Imogene scene when there was NO context for it. Also, if I had read the books, as in the case of Harry Potter or Twilight (ya i read it, i loved it. Fight me, New Moon is a great book) I would want to see the books on screen as they were in print because that’s all anyone ever wants when they find out a series they read and liked is being made into a movie or tv show. They want the book, the characters, the scenes, the world translated to screen as they imagined it…. So I get it. sorry book stan’s. Also, is Aldertree always a total douche?

4. So… The show started with Clary and she is presented as a strong female protagonist - physically she is equal to the most elite in her race without proper training, she has special abilities specific to her, but she is headstrong to a fault. She is flighty and rarely listens to advice or reason, therefore she is easily led into traps that harm not only her, but the people around her (didn’t Magnus call Jocelyn out for something like this) … I won’t deny that Clary cares for other people... however, she is an 18 (?) year old and pretty much everyone is blinded by their emotions at that age, her faults are relatable. What I need for Clary is her to remember who she was. She grew up a mundane, she lost her mother... Twice. She wanted to be an artist, she was happy and looking forward to her future. When the show started she was a girl with a plan for her life and okay, maybe art school won’t work… but why can’t she make a name for herself in the institute? In Idris? Why is her story so focused on the men around her? Simon? Jace? Sebastian? This series of love triangles don't interest me at all… How about Clary testifying against her father, Valentine, at a Clave trail and burying his ass? How about Clary supporting Izzy as she rebuilds her strength and realizing first that something's up with this Sebastian dude? How about Clary getting back into her art and learning to control her new skill through her mundane ability? How about Clary understanding that Alec has earned and deserves to be Head of the Institute and refusing to undercut his authority because she respects him?

5. How about Jace doing the same… because Alec is his parabati and that still means something… actually how about Jace takes a nap for an episode cause I don't see another way he's going to keep himself out of trouble and/or keep it in his pants.

6. The continued implications of incest have been unnecessary from the start... I get that it's a theme in the books and that's on the original writer... but in the show it doesn't follow that no one thought to run a DNA test on Clary and Jace in s1? Really? No One? Izzy? … and in a warrior/soldier society like the Shadowhunters, regular blood tests would be mandatory anyway… (which also would have eliminated the whole yin fen issue for Izzy, just saying) But now, of course we have Sebastian, and I know enough about the story to know that he is the real Jonathan Morgenstern and I hope Clary figures that out on the show before any actual implied incest occurs because that shit will cause the show the be cancelled and condemned. Straight up.

7. Okay, going back to 2a for a moment, can we talk about the whole thing where Valentine captured an Angel?? Like a real Angel? Like a straight up ANGEL? Shouldn’t that be a big deal? Or at least A moment of concern for the Clave? Doesn’t anyone else want to know HOW HE CAPTURED AN ANGEL??? - sure the mortal cup is out there (*cough* Sebastian has it *Cough*) But if no one has so much as seen an Angel in living memory, isn’t it kind of like a hugely dangerous wtf thing that Valentine can capture one??? (I’m sorry this story was so swept under the rug and like, I actually want to KNOW)

8. I think we can all agree that the lighting department is run by vampires and maybe Simon should take over that job on the Malec scenes in particular because LET THERE BE LIGHT PEOPLE

9. Editing seems to be an issue overall - with pacing or scenes cutting abruptly off and I’m sorry but there was a moment in 2.13 where I could have sworn I was watching Criminal Minds and look Shadowhunters air’s on an american family channel at 7pm on Mondays (without parental warnings)… let's leave the gore and raunchy hook ups to the 10pm shows, please. There are children present… also, small additions or subtractions make a world of difference - imagine for a moment that instead of Alec entering Magnus’ loft in 2.13 after the fight and saying “you were right, you never have to prove yourself to me… I love you” - Alec had instead said something like “you were right, you should never have to prove yourself to my bosses. I’m sorry. I love you.” and given back the envelope with the hair in it??? How much more meaningful would that have been. Especially given that Alec was now Head of the Institute - it would show he trusts his boyfriend. It would set up his alliance with the downworld, thus introducing the plot for the next episode… it would have shown Alec’s respect for his partner over what the Clave expects of those they call downworlders… sorry I’m done.

10. What is the overall plot to season 2??? Is it all focused around the war with Valentine? Season 1 was obviously meant to follow Clary as she searched for her mother and shit went down around her… however, season 2 has branched out from that, allowing several other key characters more focus and next week we will hit the final stretch. 6 weeks to build up to another inevitable cliff hanger because they already have a third season and this is when you do that shit. But what will it be? As I said, I didn't read the books, so I only have vague references to the possibilities... but I hope we'll all be able to enjoy the remainder of the summer season before counting down the days till season 3.

#Shadowhunters #shadowhunters 2b #Shadowhunters 2a #Magnus Bane #Alec Lightwood #Malec #clary fairchild #jace herondale #Simon Lewis #clace #climon #sh spoilers #rant #by di

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