#i have nothing against anyone who like theses ships/characters/dynamics

[narzissenkreuz-ordo]

if i see one more person say that the aventurine & ratio ship is just the haikvh of hsr i think i will go absolutely nuclear w/ the block button

i have no opinion on aventurine x ratio because THEY ARENT EVEN OUT YET. THEY HAVE NOT MET IN CANON YET but god if they get the haikvh treatment im gonna mald. i cannot stand the ship at all which sucks because i LOVE kaveh & al haitham as characters but i literally cannot go into the characters tags because theres nothing there since i have the ship tags blocked.

its so frustrating to see people make expectations on characters backstories and interpersonal relationships before actual canon comes out. ive seen this happen so many times and i lived through the webttore twt fallout. speculation and being excited for a character is great and fine but youre setting yourself up for failure if the character you created in your head doesnt live up to the actual canon character then your initial excitement and joy is just. gone :(

[hiddlesgirl]

SH 201: This Guilty Blood

I really enjoyed the first episode of season 2. I love the new opening titles, a vast improvement on last season; I also love the new seraph blades, they look so much more realistic and beautiful, the runes and Circle rune scar look better and the CGI is improved too. In general it just looks better. We get to see more of Valentine, a new character and Malec scenes right off the bat.

We start with Clary finding Jace on the ship, Jace then fights and kills two Valentines; turns out Valentine was disguised a Clary and it was a test. Firstly, the fight sequences were brilliant; really well choreographed, were dynamic and looked realistic. The introduction to the new seraph blades was cool, I loved the close up of the blade sections lighting up with angelic energy and the detailing of the blade; so much better than the lightsabers from season 1. Valentine was testing Jace’s loyality, which was to Clary; he is figuring out how much work he is going to need to do to win Jace’s loyalty. We also get a first glimpse of Valentine’s menagerie of imprisoned Downworlders that he has presumably been experimenting on.

I absolutely love the new opening titles. It is sleek, stylish and looks a lot more awesome compared to season 1 opening titles. Using the black background really highlighted the blades, Luke’s eyes and Magnus’ magic; I love the close ups and slow motion action shots. It is so beautiful and a vast improvement.

We cut to the institute where the hunt for Jace is well under way; Lydia, Izzy and Alec are searching New York using technology while Magnus is trying to use Jace’s jacket to track him. Unfortunately nothing comes up. I love the new CGI hologram maps Izzy uses, they are very Stark Industries; awesome. It is very clear in this scene that Alec is very frustrated and worked up due to Jace’s disappearance; he is taking it out on everyone around him, including Magnus. He is very short with Magnus after the tracking fails; he then barks orders at the Shadowhunters and snaps at Lydia. Despite the fact that everyone is trying their best to find Jace Alec feels that it isn’t good enough, it is probably a backlash from his own guilt at not being able to stop Jace in the first place, not being able to find him and the strain of not being able to feel him through his parabatai rune. Izzy looks to Magnus as Alec gets angrier, she knows that if anyone can help calm Alec it would probably be Magnus. After she suggests Alec take a break Lydia dismisses him; as Alec goes to leave Magnus gently touches his arm in an effort to comfort and calm him but Alec jerks his arm out of Magnus’ hand and tells everyone to back off. Alec is lashing out at everyone because of his own turmoil. You can see how his behaviour is affecting Magnus, Magnus is trying to help not only find Jace but be there for Alec; but he is, yet again, being pushed away.

Magnus finds Alec on the roof, Alec apologises for how he reacted that it wasn’t personal; Magnus replies with ‘I’m a lot to get used to’. That statement isn’t addressed further in the conversation but it breaks my heart because Magnus feels that he is a burden, people have to get used to him; it suggests that people have left him in the past because of his eccentricities, his personality. Magnus tries to tell Alec he understands, but Alec dismiss that; he goes on to talk about the depth of the parabatai bond, if one of them dies so does a part of the other. It’s great to get some more insight into to parabatai bond and what it means for the pair. He tells Magnus that he feels useless in being able to help Jace, Magnus asks what he can do to help. Alec tries to convince him to help with parabatai tracking, when Magnus refuses to endanger his life Alec says ��Why can’t you just do this one thing. After everything I’ve done for you.’ The confusion is immediately apparent on Magnus’ face as Alec leaves. Understandably Magnus does not want to take part in something that could severely harm or even kill Alec, parabatai tracking is dangerous. Alec immediately goes on the offensive and tries to guilt Magnus into helping him; I understand Alec’s frustration at the moment but that doesn’t give him the right to treat Magnus’ poorly and try to guilt trip him into helping him, especially when that action could hurt Alec.

Clary has told Jocelyn that her son is alive, disbelievingly she turns to Luke for clarification who confirms it; Simon then turns up and Jocelyn find out he is a vampire. I really liked that in the previous scene between Clary and Jocelyn Clary was making the point to Jocelyn that she should never have kept the Shadow World from her, she deserved to know who she was. I think that the actress who plays Jocelyn is much more emotive than she was in season 1 and her chemistry with the other actors is better too. I feel bad for Simon in this scene because even though Jocelyn is part of the Shadow World she flinched away from him, and it had to have hurt at least a little to have your second mom flinch away from you. But I understand that it must have been a shock to Jocelyn, which no one prepared her for; it will be an adjustment.

We move to the boat where Jace is in the middle of being severely beaten by what I presume is an experimented on downworlder; Valentine tells him he is a born fighter, active’s his iratze rune and tells him to get dressed. I compliment the scene on being realistic, the acting and the movements were on the mark; the brutality is very convincing, I find myself flinching each time. Jace is extremely resilient and defiant which I love, despite his physical pain and mental torment he doesn’t want to give Valentine the satisfaction.

We then see Valentine preparing a pasta dish (this is making me so hungry right now) when Jace walks in; Valentine then tries to get Jace to eat the food by imparting another shared memory. Jace tries to attack Valentine; then questions him about his reasons behind why he became Michael Wayland, and then when he orphaned him. Valentine tells him that Jocelyn abandoned him and shows him a memory of himself injecting an unborn Jace with demon blood. The acting from both Dom and Alan is superb in this scene; theses two really make it hard to look away from the screen when they are in a scene together. Jace is feeling so lost, his feelings for his father conflicting with what he knows about Valentine; and his feelings of abandonment are enforced by Valentine.

Back at the institute Magnus is leaving after his interview with Aldertree; he says to Alec ‘at my house there’s steak and vodka, I’d rather be there’ another fantastic line. Alec asks if he isn’t going to help, Magnus tries to make the point that Alec’s actions at his wedding were for him, not Magnus; Alec gets angry. Magnus makes the point that he is doing everything he can to find Jace and there’s no excuse to treat Magnus the way Alec has been treating him; Alec yells ‘What do you want from me?’ Magnus replies ‘At the moment, nothing.’ The alarm goes off at Magnus takes the opportunity to leave. You can see the raw emotion on Magnus’ face, despite his attempts to help it doesn’t seem to be enough for Alec and he doesn’t deserve to be Alec’s verbal punching bag in the process. He likes Alec and wants to help but he won’t stand for being treated so badly, especially when all he is doing to trying to help. Harry’s acting is amazing, and these two together always make a great scene; you can feel the tension and emotion.

We get another lovely little moment between Luke and Simon, I love the bond that they have and their scenes together are always very endearing. Luke reassures Simon that he can stay with them as like as he likes, he is determined to keep Simon safe despite the prejudice of the pack. They briefly discuss Simon’s feelings for Clary, he tells Simon to be bold and Simon answers ‘I’m bold, adjacent’ it is a brilliant line which is really well delivered as always by Alberto. When the wolves surround him he tries to use encanto to control them, Alberto’s acting is brilliant; it is hilarious to watch but again very endearing.

Valentine waffles on about how demons are salve to their impulses and that even one drop of demon blood makes you a threat to humanity; saying this directly to Jace who just found out he has pure demon blood. Jace tries to defend Downworlders but Valentine counters that they cannot control their demonic blood forever. Jace asks if it’s so terrible why inject it into your own son to which Valentine replies ‘to fight fire with fire’ Jace was always meant to be a weapon for him to wield. Prejudice towards Downworlders is deeply ingrained into Shadowhunters, even against those who uphold the accords, so it must be extremely difficult to Jace to come to terms with the fact that he has demon blood running through his veins. Also, Valentine consistently makes the point that demon blood makes a person a danger; with Jace struggling with his sense of self prior to this, this revelation must really be playing havoc with his self esteem and self image.

Izzy and Clary are training at the institute, it is more of a ruse for them to talk in plain sight, with Izzy suggesting to Clary a way to get out of the institute. I really love this scene, it is really well choreographed and feels fun; you can really feel their friendship. I love Izzy’s proud little smile at the end when Clary takes her down and it’s clear the Clary has gotten what Izzy was trying to get across.

We then have the scene between Alec and Maryse; she tries to convince Alec that Jace is no longer part of their family and to forget him. Alec refuses to listen, Jace is his parabatai. I love this scene, Alec has come so far; in season 1 he wanted to please his parents but now he has the courage to make his own decisions based on what he thinks is right, and is willing to stand up to her. I also love the line ‘I don’t push someone away just because they’re a hard choice’ not only is he talking about Jace but I think he’s talking about Magnus too. He knows that defending Jace is going to be an uphill battle until they get him back a prove his innocence but he is willing to do that because Jace is his parabatai and his brother, he will not give up on him. Magnus is a hard choice because he is a Downworlder and they will always face people who will have a problem with that, including his parents; but it’s worth it because his feelings for Magnus and Magnus’ feelings for him make it worthwhile. I think he also has acknowledged that he has been pushing Magnus away and that he needs to fix it.

‘First rule of Shadowhunting; don’t give anyone your phone or stele.’ I love Simon and this line, Alberto always delivers his lines brilliantly.

Let me just say that I love Magnus’ cat eyes and magic in the apology scene, I always love his magic but I think that this version of his eyes are my favourite so far; also Harry is freaking gorgeous and his muscles (especially his arms) are beautiful (again, if spontaneous nosebleeds caused by sexiness were possible I would need a new shirt). I am always completely hypnotised by the way Harry moves in this scene, so graceful but you can sense the strength and control behind his motions. 

I love that when Alec tries to solve the issue with a simple ‘I’m sorry’ Magnus is having none of it and coxes him into actually admitting what he is apologising for. I also love that when Alec asks him to stop what he’s doing Magnus throws the ball of magic in his direction, he makes it clear that he is not happy with Alec and that Alec is not making the situation any better at the moment. I also love the line ‘this may surprise you, but you’re new for me too’ it is Magnus making it clear to Alec that even though he isn’t new to relationships Alec is still new and unknown territory, just as Magnus is to him. When Alec tries to almost justify his behaviour with Jace’s absence Magnus goes to walk away, and I actually like this because Alec needs to talk responsibility for his actions and the hurt he has caused not try to excuse it. I love the way Alec catches his arm to prevent him leaving and slides his hand down so that they are almost holding hands; apparently this was improvised by Matt. He then finally is able to apologise for taking out his emotions on Magnus, very sincerely; Magnus immediately forgives him. All Magnus really wanted was for Alec to acknowledge that he was taking his emotions out on Magnus, pushing him away and that wasn’t right. I love Alec’s smile when Magnus fixes the collar of his jacket, it’s so simply joyful and relief that he is forgiven; I also love that he says ‘I’ve been working on it’ but it was only when he was touching Magnus that he seemed to find the right words. 

I really like that Magnus says ‘You’re forgiven’, so many times people say ‘it’s okay’; but saying it’s okay implies that their behaviour and actions are acceptable. Alec’s words and treatment of Magnus was definitely not acceptable, and they both knew it. So I love that he said ‘you’re forgiven’; he is forgiving Alec for his actions, but only after Alec admitted and acknowledged his wrong doing. 

Magnus makes the point that they are always going to face challenges and that Alec shouldn’t push him away when things get difficult; and I love Alec’s very serious nod. It shows that he has learned and is taking the situation seriously; he now knows that pushing Magnus away doesn’t solve anything and having Magnus support him is much better. What I also love about this scene is it highlights the importance of communication; they have to be able to talk to each other and support each other for their relationship to work; which is also another reason why Magnus was so insistent that Alec say what he was apologising for.

Jocelyn is trying to find Jace using his glove, Alec and Magnus are about use the parabatai rune and Maryse is using the institute technology; they all see Jace appear when he steps through the portal with Valentine. Valentine tells Jace that his demon will make him kill eventually and it is why he wants Clary; when he hears a scream Jace heads into a vampire den. When he finds them feeding on humans he kills them, taking the leader into the street; she surrenders to the authority of the Clave. This means that Jace can’t kill her because it would mean breaking the accords. Valentine is watching the exchange with interest. The vampire calls him weak for obeying the Clave, you can see the frustration on his face; Valentine asks if he is going to let the vampire mock him. Clary, Simon and Jocelyn all arrive to see Jace kill the vampire. Valentine’s smug expression prove that this whole situation has been manipulated by him, to try to bring Jace around to his way of thinking, to get Jace to kill a vampire despite the accords; Jace is clearly struggling with his actions and the emotions warring within him.

Jocelyn then tries to kill Jace, Valentine steps in front of him and takes the shot. As Jocelyn is reloading he grabs the injured Valentine and goes through the portal. The whole situation has worked in Valentine’s favour and I wouldn’t be surprised if he had planned for something like that to happen; he knows how the Clave works and probably assumes that the Clave will have ordered him captures dead or alive. It was another ploy in getting Jace on his side, to prove to him that the Clave want him dead but that he loves him; trying to convince Jace to join his cause.

Overall I liked this episode and it makes me excited for the rest of season 2; I loved Simon’s line ‘I’m a vampire, I’m running slow for you’, brilliant. I love the new titles, seraph blades and runes; the CGI is better and I love the new look of the portals, so much better than the wall of purple in season 1. There were some great Valentine and Malec scenes; and I am interested to see what happened with Aldertree because he is causing a lot of friction already, the actor is awesome because I already dislike the character.