#triangles as in the simon/isabelle stuff too

[theglassesgirl]

@shadowcatgirl09 reminded me of a fundamentally good point so i’m just gonna

[thepandamightwrite]

Jessa Wedding

Word count: 1.7k (this turned out a lot longer than I expected)

Fluff   or    Angst

Stuff to know: A suggen is the person that escorts a shadowhunter to their fiance during the wedding. More info here (You have to scroll down to the wedding part)

Anyway, hope y’all enjoy this cause it was super fun to write! 💕

“Is this really necessary?” asked Jem. “Oh yes, absolutely,” responded Magnus. He was really taking the wedding seriously, as were all the other Shadowhunters. Alec, Jace, Simon, Julien and Emma had accompanied him to the shop where they were getting Jem’s gear specially tailored. He felt it was highly excessive of course, he didn’t really care what he wore as long as he actually got to marry Tessa this time. However, Magnus adamantly refused to listen to any protests and took it upon himself to manage Jem’s wardrobe. “Have you decided who’s gonna be your Suggen for the wedding?” asked Emma. She was incredibly excited for the celebration, and she had nominated herself as the chief wedding planner, a job she took quite seriously. “Ummm what’s a Suggen,” inquired Simon, who wasn’t quite familiar with Shadowhunter weddings yet. “The person that escorts the bride or groom down the aisle, which is a huge honor,” responded Jace, sounding like he was reciting from the Codex. “So, what are you going to do,” asked Alec. Unfortunately, Jem didn’t have an answer for him, after all, the only person he would want to escort him to Tessa had died years ago. A few months ago, he would never have even imagined that he’d be able to get married, and if it ever did happen, he would want Will to be there. Sadly, that was unlikely to happen, so Jem had to pick someone else. Unfortunately, there weren’t many people that he was close with that were still alive. There was Magnus, Emma, and perhaps Jace, although none of them seemed right. “Voila,” Magnus exclaimed. The group gathered and nodded approvingly at the outfit. Even Jem managed a grin through his increasing worry.

“Achooo,” exclaimed Isabelle as the werewolf escorting the tulips out passed her by. “Oh dear, I’m terribly sorry about this,” apologized Tessa, as she had been all afternoon. She had entrusted Ragnor to arrange for some nice flowers, and of course he’d picked the one kind Isabelle was severely allergic to. “Oh don’t worry about it Tessa,” she responded breezily, although her nose was red and her eyes watery due to the constant sneezing. “I’m just excited you’re getting married to Jem, for real this time,” Isabelle squealed before a bout of sneezes overtook her. “Yeah,” chimed Clary, who was festooning the trees with lights. Tessa still couldn’t believe that she was getting married, again, next week. It was almost like a dream, she thought people only got to be with the love of their life once, if they were lucky. She, on the other hand, was able to marry them both. Her heart suddenly ached for her first husband, Will, whom she missed dearly. She had shared everything with him, when he was alive, and she couldn’t have imagined it any other way. It felt wrong somehow, that her wedding with Jem, something she knew Will would be thrilled about, was the one thing she would never tell him. “Tessa!” called Isabelle. “You’ve picked your Suggen, right?” “No, I actually haven’t,” she responded, slightly fatigued with the whole business. “What?! The wedding is tomorrow! You have to decide soon!” exclaimed Clary from the other end of the garden. “Yes, I know, I know,” Tessa sighed. “It’s just that a Suggen has to be someone that is incredibly special to you, and the only person I can think of is no longer alive.” Both the girls looked over at Tessa with sad eyes. “I’m sure Will knows you’re getting married, wherever he is, and he’s going to be ecstatic about it, don’t worry,” consoled Clary. “Yes, you’re right,” Tessa conceded. “I’ll just have to come up with someone else, maybe Magnus….”

Clary, Isabelle, Emma, Jace, Alec and Magnus huddled behind a tree, trying to desperately shield the pentagram from passerby. “I still can’t believe we’re doing this,” sighed Alec. “Dude, face it, this isn’t even close to the craziest thing we’ve done, am I right?” retorted Jace. “That’s true,” acknowledged Clary with the soft smile she reserved just for her boyfriend. “However, we haven’t exactly tried to bring back the dead.” “We’re not bringing back the dead, just conjuring a ghost. They’re not the same thing,” clarified Magnus, looking up from the spellbook briefly. “Alright, it’s showtime,” he said with a wicked grin.”

Jem couldn’t get his jacket on for some reason. His hands were shaking like butterflies and he lost all his usual dexterity that he’d developed over years of violin playing. “Let me help you with that fy nghariad,” offered a familiar voice. Jem whirled around at the sound of the person he hadn’t heard in a hundred years. He leaned against the doorframe, his mused ink-black hair falling into those familiar piercing blue eyes. “Will,” Jem whispered in disbelief. “How are you even here?” He asked, still unable to comprehend what he saw before him. “Magnus summoned me from the afterlife, yanked me out of an argument with Gabriel too. It was a good one actually, I was definitely winning it, you see-” Will was cut off by Jem running up and swallowing him in the most consuming hug he’d ever been given. They both murmured senseless words of reassurance to each other in hopes of processing the strangeness of it all. They whispered of the day Will won the bet that bound them as parabatai. They hummed of the day they defeated Mortmain. They mumbled of James, Lucie, Charlotte, Henry, Gabriel, Gideon, Sophie and Cecily. They whispered of their friendship and the love that extended through death. And most of all, they muttered of Tessa and the all consuming feelings they both shared for her. And- “ACK!” Will shrieked followed by a string of Welsh curses that would make any sailor whistle with appreciation. He glared down at Church who looked up at Will, his eyes flashing with recognition and mischief. Jem couldn’t help but giggle as he realized the best solution to his and Tessa’s Suggon dilemma.

Tessa stared at her reflection in her mirror. It was her wedding day. She really ought to be more excited, but she couldn’t help but miss the gaze of a certain pair of blue eyes. And then, as if she had summoned him with her thoughts alone, a familiar figure appeared next to her reflection. “Tessa, fy nghariad, oh how I’ve missed you.” She gasped, unable to believe her eyes and ears at the person standing behind her. “Will, how on earth did you get here?” “Well, the door was unlocked so I turned the handle and stepped inside, I’m sure you’re aware of how the mechanism works,” he retorted with his trademark sarcastic drawl. Tessa let out a sob and flung herself into his translucent arms, which were still somehow solid and familiar against her. His hands absentmindedly stroked her back as he murmured,“Tess, my Tessa, you know I’d never miss you and Jem’s wedding for the world for not even death can keep us apart.” Tessa gasped in shock. “Oh no! The wedding! It’s starting now! But I haven’t even picked a Suggen!” Tessa exclaimed in a panic. “What are you talking about my dear, I’m right here,” said Will with a crooked grin.

“Where are they? Jem and Tessa should’ve been here 20 minutes ago,” said Simon, his voice jittery with nerves and his eyes glancing around furtively. “I’m not sure. It’s not like them to be late to anything, much less their own wedding,” mused Isabelle. Out of the group, only Magnus seemed to be at ease, laughing at something Ragnor was saying. Suddenly, Jem appeared and started walking towards the altar. Jace observed with a curious look on his face, after all, no one appeared to be escorting Jem. As he neared their seats however, they noticed the Suggen at his feet. “Church?!?!” Emma sputtered in disbelief. Jem turned and looked at them with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. “Why yes, he’s one of my closest companions and we’ve been through thick and thin together, so why not?” Jace, Clary, and Isabelle started giggling uncontrollably and soon everyone was joining in. However, Alec was staring incredulously at Jem and soon asked, “What about the ghost we summoned?!?!” Jem looked over his shoulder and grinned. “You’ll see.”

Tessa looked over at Will and was reassured to find his eyes as bright and supportive as they had been when he was alive. He squeezed her hand tightly and they started walking towards her fiance. It was almost poetic really, her deceased husband guiding her toward his parabatai, the only other person whom he trusted to love Tessa. As she walked towards him, Jem ran his eyes over her adoringly and she saw the look of recognition in his eyes when he took in her dress. After all, it was almost identical to the one she’d worn when they slayed Benedict Lightwood, which was her original wedding gown. It felt like time slowed down as she and Will floated towards the person that completed their love triangle (and the cat they hated) and out of the 3 of them, there wasn’t a dry eye in sight. When Tessa went to stand next to Jem, she noticed the strange markings on his gear jacket. Since neither of them were full shadowhunters, they had to adapt the wedding traditions to suit their needs. In his case, what would normally be golden runes on his jacket became motifs of the clockwork angel that had protected her so many centuries ago. “Because I too will never let any harm come to you,” murmured Jem when he noticed Tessa’s expression. 

After reciting their elegant vows that they’d carefully crafted for the occasion, Jem and Tessa finally exchanged rings and kissed, sealing their marriage forever. Will stood smiling off to the side, next to his archnemesis, Church, who was scowling disapprovingly at him. He was absolutely ecstatic, after all, here were two of the most important people in his life committing to a life of joy and togetherness. Although he wasn’t a particularly sentimental person, Will’s vision was warped and swimming through a lens of joyous tears. At last, the ceremony was over and everyone was dancing slowly to the lulling piano music fondly extracted from the delicate instrument by a very handsome blond man. He must be a Herondale, Will thought. After all, that self assured attitude and the love in his eyes when he saw a particularly striking red headed lady could only come from somewhere. Suddenly, two familiar hands clasped at each of his shoulders. Will turned, looked at the loves of his life who looked as content as he’d ever seen them. Wordlessly, they all clasped hands and headed off to be alone.

[ladyhindsight]

Don't you feel that CC's main characters always get what they need to succeed in a contrived way? I was thinking more specifically about COHF when Isabelle gets a really bad injury that might kill her and than we suddenly discover that Simon's vampire blood has magic healing powers, and the more I think about it, more situations like that I find. Like, warlock magic and Clary's power of creating runes follow what specific rules? it seems like they just do whatever the plot needs them to do

I’ve talked about it when it comes up in some context, so yeah. I don’t recall that specific example about Simon’s magic blood, but given that it is in the book, it’s actually the most basic form of a contrived plot there is–this before unmentioned but instrumental element in the story that will solve a problem. Whenever a story takes that form, unsolvable suddenly becoming solvable because a character suddenly has the solution though said solution has never been present before it becomes relevant in that scene, it’s painfully obvious that it is contrived.

The keyword here is ‘plausibility’. Plausibility suffers because the story/plot lacks those elements that are crucial for the story to feel “organic” or natural. Being introduced to them once they become handy or relevant for the plot or a scene only speaks of poor attempt at plotting a story–and no attempt of fixing it in editing phase.

Contrivance also takes away any stakes that could be present. Clare’s plots are awfully cushioned, especially when certain characters are in question, while presenting Super High stakes. Even when characters “lose” something they actually lose nothing. I’m not saying happy endings suck, I’m saying contrived happy endings suck. They are not earned.

I’ve been pretty heavy on TID lately, and I’ve already mentioned this before, but Tessa’s story arc remains still the best example of blatant contrivance there is in these series. So, as I’ve said before: 

“My issues with Will/Tessa/Jem triangle have nothing to do with the notion that it was “a different kind of love story” or as if Tessa isn’t allowed to have multiple relationships. Be my guest. I take issue with the fact that the way Clare plots her stories is obvious and always convenient. It is almost as if she weasels her way out of things, bends the rules of her own world, and creates loopholes so the characters like Clary, Tessa, and Jace get to be – perhaps too excessively – special whereas other characters are not. Just because young adult literature may be easily overlooked genre, it doesn’t mean it shouldn’t have standards.

As it is, you can see miles away where she is going with her writing, and it does not cause excitement or oooh noises. It causes deep frustration and eyes rolling so backwards they might never roll back again. Jem being ill and eventually becoming a Silent Brother sets him aside for a while so Tessa may have children and her great love with Will. Of course, as convenience dictates it, because of yin fen Jem may never become fully a Silent Brother, “mutilated” with mouth sown shut and no hair or eyes, so he may continue being handsome as hell and later be magically cured and have his great love with Tessa. You see where I’m going with this?”

Clare’s Shadowhunting world wasn’t in the beginning of the series (especially then) and still isn’t fully developed which can be seen from the way new things just pop up without any previous mention. Shadow Markets, centurions, Brother Zachariah who wasn’t included in TMI until Clare had the idea of TID, etc. For whatever reason, like you said, she has also failed to establish this whole Nephilim world with specific rules. Warlock magic and Clary’s powers know no specific limitations because they are either used to solve an otherwise unsolvable situation or to prevent or block off certain story lines, i.e. immortality runes and such. But oh, rune as contraceptive is a thing that certainly exists. When I read that part I had to put the book down and go do something else for a while. The silliness and embarrassment because of it broke something in me.

Contrived elements in Clare’s books seemed to incline towards romantic scenes. That scene between Simon and Isabelle says as much. They need to get close, you know like, really close, and do all kinds of nasty stuff the author thinks is Hot. …Or something like that. Other contrived things:

Tessa and Will’s Magic Dungeon Sex

Jem being The Hot Silent Brother so Tessa wouldn’t have to date a mangled-looking man

When Jace and Clary get through that portal to the happening and leave Isabelle and Alec behind because fighting with Clary improves Jace’s fighting abilities rather than fighting with his parabatai for, you know, the sole reason that concept even exists

Jace and Clary’s Safe Sex in the hell cave

Any scene with Oops, ahaha, how did /we/ end up here? Just the two of us? How uncanny!

Whenever something is a hunch or a whim or just meant to be

Any fight with Alec and Magnus as participants

Simon being able to revert his immortality via Asmodeus because the Rules dictate that the time you have not spent aging is actually spent aging. Just not on the outside, silly

Clary and Jace’s kiss in the Seelie Court in front of Simon (while Clary is dating Simon and thinking Jace is her brother and they still go for it like, hot diggety, go for it.)

Anytime there is sex in weird places, at inappropriate times

I think it’s safe to say that these aren’t terribly intelligently plotted books.

[snarktheater]

Shadowhunters — Episode 2x15

There’s no real reason for me to open this post with this particular gif. It's entirely gratuitous. But I've gotta keep my spirits up somehow, and this seemed like a good way to do it.

See, there are two main plotlines in this episode (as usual), and they revolve around Simon and Sebastian. So my interest levels are altogether rather low. Hence the need for some sexy Matthew Daddario to cheer me up. The episode isn't even particularly bad, by the way—spoiler, I guess. It's mostly just that I have a hard time feeling anything for Simon beyond "oh, no, Simon's on screen". Especially now that we're ramping up the love triangle again.

Anyway. Let's talk about Simon, actually. His deal is…brooding at the Hunter's Moon because of what happened at the Seelie Court, getting drunk, refusing to take Clary's calls, you know, all the things you do in healthy relationships.

Quinn shows up, and…remember Quinn? Probably not, especially since I didn't even know he had a name until now. Quinn's the guy who defected from Raphael's vampire clan to pledge fealty to Simon as the Daylighter. And apparently, that involves buying Simon a drink.

"Plasma?" "The hard stuff."

Is he trying to get Simon drunk? Well, even now with the hindsight of everything that happens in the episode, I'm not sure if he's malevolent or just a douchebag who thinks getting blacked-out drunk is a good idea. Either way, I don't particularly like him, so as you can guess, his interactions with Simon mostly leave me wanting to fast forward over them.

Quinn then brings Simon to a "bleeder den", where mundanes who happen to know about vampires can let themselves be bitten.

"Isn't this against the Accords?" "It's kind of a grey area."

Okay, well, the Accords are shitty and Shadowhunters are doing a crap job protecting humans, that's nothing new. Better question, though: don't you feel even a little bad at using literal addicts to your own advantage? I mean, we spent a good chunk of the season highlighting the terrible effects that vampire venom addiction had on Isabelle, and I lost track of whether Simon knows about that, but he should still show some empathy towards those "willing" donors.

Ha, Simon showing empathy. And then what? No, instead he starts feeding on a girl. She has a name, I think it's Heidi, but it doesn't matter since the next time we see her, she's dead.

And I mean, the show's so obviously trying to hint at Simon being her killer that it's an obvious red herring. Seriously. Next time Simon shows up, he's covered in blood. Don't worry, he cleans it up at super speed so he can be pissy at Clary over what happened at the Seelie Court.

"You don't mean ['I love you'] the way I mean it! You never have. Ever since we were kids, I've been in love with you."

"It's [Clary's feelings for Jace] nothing like you and me." "But it's enough."

And, like…I don't know. I can't feel any sympathy for that. I mean, I understand jealousy, but I can't sympathize with it. The point is this: Clary has feelings for two people, and sure, they may not be the same kind of feelings, but she still chose Simon. And she hasn't given any indication that she's regretting that choice, or considering to cheat on him with Jace, or anything like that.

I mean, even if we admit the premise that "Seelie magic is always true" (something Isabelle tells Clary earlier in the episode), all it says is Clary desires Jace the most. Which, considering she's dating Simon and not Jace, isn't that automatically true? You can't really desire what you already have.

Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled that Clary and Simon are on the way to breaking up, but I feel like Simon's self-righteous attitude is just completely undeserved. He's rejecting her because 1) she has feelings for another guy and 2) she "doesn't love him the way he loves her", which doesn't really mean anything? Nobody feels things the exact same way. And, again, she chose him, so clearly she decided he was more important.

Ugh. I can't believe I'm arguing fairy logic and relationships with this show now. Let's jus move on to the next scene, with Simon trashing his shirt while trying to remember what happened at the den (you thought I was exaggerating about blacked-out drunk?). Luke shows up, because he heard about the girl's death and how it's obviously the work of a vampire, and he wanted Simon to help him investigate. Oh, and comfort him about the Clary thing, too.

"What's going on between you two, I'm always here for you. You're the closest thing to a son that I've got."

Aw. That'd be adorable if I cared about Simon!

But just then, Luke's partner Ollie calls to tell Luke that they found Simon's prints on Heidi, which Simon overhears because vampire hearing, and he runs away. As you do.

So Simon's on the run, and Luke tells Clary about the whole thing, including the possibility that Simon might have killed someone. To her credit, she's in denial, but that kind of makes it worse because Luke has to say this:

"Demon blood…it changes a person."

And…like, you know how Downworlders are usually a big allegory for oppression? Yeah, when Downworlders themselves go "yeah, we really are dangerous and out of control", it kind of makes it sound like that oppression is justified. Especially coming from Luke, who's been on the more reasonable end of things. So could you…maybe…not?

Anyway. He's going to find Simon and…I don't know, either arrest him or cover up, it's not clear yet. Clary insists to come along, which Luke eventually caves to, but the real question is: isn't investigating this kind of her job anyway as a Shadowhunter? Is Clary even working officially as a Shadowhunter?

Meanwhile, Simon asks Raphael for help finding Quinn and for shelter. Raphael, being a good guy, naturally agrees and—nah, I'm just fucking with you. Raphael will only help Simon in exchange for the secret to being a Daylighter. Because he's terrible. Lest you forget.

So Simon's out on his own, and he decides to retrace his steps from the previous night and hopefully figure out what happened. Which immediately gets him caught by Ollie, because…no duh, cops keep an eye on the scene of a crime. Who'd have thought?

But wait, it gets stupider. See, while she's talking to Simon (who immediately confessed) in her car, Ollie lets it slip that Heidi's bite mark is on her feet. And…like, Simon is grossed out by feet, so he totally never would have done that! Because people never do things that would normally gross them out when they're inebriated, right?

Well, the logic's sound enough for Simon, at least, who breaks out of Ollie's car, because I guess potentially being a murderer is horrible, but actually revealing the Shadow World to a policewoman is just a-okay!

He goes back to the den again, and lo and behold, Quinn's here, biting some other girl on the feet, which totally proves he's the murderer. Well, that and he confesses on the spot.

"It was an accident. Accidents happen, don't worry about it."

Simon threatens to turn him in, which leads to Quinn trying to kill him, because that's how deep his devotion to Simon was. No big loss, right?

I should mention that Clary and Luke track Simon down to the den, and Raphael's also on the case and reaches the den on his own. I should, because it's an attempt at generating tension, and it falls exceptionally flat when Simon…kills Quinn by himself just before the other three enter the den. Congratulations, one of your main characters and two of your main supporting cast were utterly useless.

Well, actually, Luke and Raphael do one more thing, which is hypnotize Ollie into forgetting the whole thing ever happened. So once again, Clary's stuck alone in being more or less useless. Oh, she does get a moment of wrap-up where Simon visits her at the Institute and angsts all over her, but says he'll remain friends with her but just needs time to heal. So…even that scene was all about Simon. You know, for a supposed protagonist who narrates the show's opening, Clary's shoved in the background pretty regularly.

Speaking of which, the episode's other plotline is the one that actually matters, as you might have gathered. And it opens with Sebastian being creepy on purpose some more, down to and including ironing his own hand.

Does this serve a point? We already saw him hold his hand on an open flame, and also, you know, he's holding someone captive. I think the latter qualifies as a better proof that he's a bad guy. We don't need this shit, you guys.

The actual plot, by the way, is that Alec is organizing the transfer of Valentine to the Gard in Idris. I don't know why he wasn't sent straight there when he was first captured, by the way, but okay, good. He's dealing with Magnus's angst over the memories of his past that were triggered when he was tortured as Valentine a few episodes ago, and…I'll skip straight to the resolution of that, because it's what matters the least.

Basically, the memory in question is of Magnus's mom, who (seemingly) killed herself in shame over her son being a warlock. Since the only proof we have of that is Magnus's human dad's word, and that she died from being stabbed in the heart, I have some doubts, but okay. The bad (worse?) part of the memory is that said human dad yelled at Magnus about it, and Magnus lashed out with magic, killing him.

Magnus feels bad, because even at that age, he was in control of his magic and should have known better, and he feels like a monster undeserving of Alec's love. The solution is…kind of obvious.

"There's nothing ugly about you."

Wow. So profound. Also I should remind everyone that this is happening because Alec sanctioned torture of Magnus. Unwittingly, sure, but the fact that Magnus basically has to ask for Alec's acceptance as a consequence of that is a little bit jarring. To say the least.

Meanwhile on the actual plot side of things, Isabelle's tasked with organizing security for Valentine's transfer. The Magnus thing is basically just a delay since he's the only warlock with clearance to open a Portal for something this high-profile. And the show's going to use that delay, fear not.

I'll skip over the scene of Jace removing Valentine's Circle rune. The show says it's because the new wards in Idris won't let him through if he has the rune, but honestly, that scene is nothing but Jace rehashing all the ways Valentine fucked him up emotionally, and then inflicting violence on Valentine (because removing a rune is painful, not because he's actually beating him up, but it's still violence). It's just utterly pointless.

What does matter is that Aline shows up in the meantime. Yeah, Aline is in the show now. Turns out, she heard that her cousin (you know, Sebastian) had resurfaced in New York after going MIA for a while, and she came to check up on him. Cue our Sebastian going back home to his prisoner, who, in a completely unsurprising twist, is the real Sebastian Verlac.

"Tell me [everything about her] or she dies!"

Well, I'll give it to our fake Sebastian: at least he knows how to come up with a decent threat that he can actually carry out.

So Aline and not-Sebastian (and yes, I still need to figure out how to call him) spend the evening together, and he somehow manages to trick her into thinking she's really her cousin. I mean, she does express some suspicions, but overall, it works. However, twist of all twists, the real Sebastian manages to break free from his bonds and escape Sebastian's apartment! Ooh, how tense, I wonder if he'll manage to alert anyone!

Yeah, don't get excited. He reaches the Institute just as Aline is saying goodbye to Isabelle after fake-Sebastian convinced her to go check up on their aunt Elodie, the woman who was taking care of real-Sebastian. And just before real-Sebastian reaches them, fake-Sebastian stabs him in the back. See, his landlord saw his apartment door open, and called him because he thought there was a break-in, so he was already hunting for real-Sebastian, and because dramatic timing rules all, he found him at the very last moment.

What about Valentine's transfer, you may ask? Well, yeah, actually, that wasn't really relevant to the plot of the episode, was it? It just comes back up at the very end of the episode, so you already know it's going to be our cliffhanger. And indeed, just before Valentine walks into Magnus's Portal, another Shadowhunter (Duncan Armstrong, who had been previously seen criticizing Alec's leadership) grabs him, and they never show up on the other side of the Portal.

And then, surprise! We find out that fake-Sebastian is the one who orchestrated that by threatening Duncan's family. He kills Duncan immediately, because \~evil\~, and greets Valentine by revealing who he really is.

And a "hello, Father" for good measure, if there were people in the audience who hadn't understood who he was yet.

And that's the end of the episode. The Simon stuff is trash, but I actually want to talk more about the dual Sebastian plot line. Because it should have been a tense plot, but it's so by-the-numbers that I doubt it would surprise anyone. However, it could easily have been salvaged, and I'm going to propose a version of events that would probably have worked much better (maybe even for people who read the books).

See, the issue here is twofold. One, we the audience already know that Jonathan Morgenstern is impersonating Sebastian, that he's evil, and that he has him captive. Two, we see Sebastian get his way in literally everything he does, so seeing real-Sebastian escape, when we're still halfway through this story arc, isn't really a tense moment. We know Sebastian won't be outed. So that shouldn't be the stakes here, because it makes the conclusion (fake-Sebastian killing real-Sebastian) the safe, predictable decision, and makes real-Sebastian being alive completely irrelevant.

So I propose this instead: everything unfolds as it does up until this episode, without the scenes of fake-Sebastian being obviously evil and creepy by gratuitously burning himself and also having a captive that we know about. Then, in this episode, someone (say, Aline) finds real-Sebastian captive. In his own (supposed) home or elsewhere, it doesn't matter. But real-Sebastian doesn't know that someone's impersonating him; maybe he's only seen Jonathan in his burned appearance we saw at the end of the episode. Based on something Jonathan says next episode, that form is actually stronger, so it would even make sense for him to use it.

Sebastian is rescued, but he's too weak to give too many details (and crucially, reveal he's been captive for a long time while a fake was going around). Aline investigates his capture, and finds Jonathan, still in his burned form, probably trying to get to real-Sebastian and make him disappear before he can spill too much information. Have all the action you want, Jonathan vanishes in the midst of it, having seemingly given up. Real-Sebastian, importantly, must be out of sight during all of this.

So cut to Aline going to check on her cousin, and he acts a little weird and maybe doesn't even know she's his cousin, but oh well, he's still pretty shaken up, so she dismisses it. Of course, it's actually fake-Sebastian again, but the characters don't know that, and we the audience don't either. Well, you can guess it is, but it's left uncertain enough. Maybe Aline found something that hinted at a long captivity, but fake-Sebastian denies being captive for more than a day, comes up with a theory that there may have been other captives, and she takes it at face value and leaves.

That creates mystery, and more importantly, some desperately-needed tension in the form of uncertainty—not for the characters, but for us, the audience. You can even keep the end of the episode intact, except Jonathan doesn't reveal to Valentine that he's in disguise as Sebastian yet. It doubles as a red herring, since now it looks like Jonathan was at the Insitute to (successfully) interfere with Valentine's transfer to Idris, rather than his actual goal of replacing Sebastian.

You can then reveal that real-Sebastian is dead…whenever the show will actually reveal it to the characters (I assume it will eventually). And now we, the audience, share the impact of that twist with the characters.

Of course, there are practical issues with this. In particular, it means having Will Tudor in the burned make-up (and having to make a different voice for Jonathan Morgenstern). And I realize it's easy to make a fix-fic after the fact to improve on a story that already exists. But…well, this was such an easy fix, and one that should have been obvious. Don't give the audience more information than the characters, and then treat the issue like a mystery. It's simple.

Anyway, that's all I have to say for this episode. Hope you enjoyed at least my little writing exercise, because I sure did, and that's pretty much the only thing I actually enjoyed about doing this review.

[takaraphoenix]

Phoe′s Book Report - City of Bones, pages 200-215

I know it’s not a lot of pages, but I already got a lot to say?

I don’t like book!Clary. I’m very, very, very upset about that fact. Like, really genuinely pissed.

There were literally only two reasons why I bought those books all those years ago. Jalec and Clary. I watched that movie when it first hit theaters and I squealed about the cute blonde twink and the tall, dark and handsome guy who was canonically in love with him? That was already a huge yes for me. And the other reason - maybe even more important reason - was Clary.

In a world filled with Bellas and Katnisses and I don’t even bother trying to remember what the chick from that Divergent stuff was called.... Clary seemed like a genuinely strong female lead. One not mainly defined by her love-triangle and by being an “unassuming brunette wall-flower who still ends up having everyone adore her”.

Show!Clary has her moments of being annoying - particularly in season 1 with the whining about everything and her blatant disregard and no-care attitude toward EVERYTHING that it means to be a Shadwohunter and how their world works. I cut her slack, because her mom just got abducted and she is thrown into this whole new world. That she doesn’t care about the rules of that world if those rules stand in the way of finding her mother, I can make that excuse and accept her annoying moments as her being a teenager at her limit.

Book!Clary so far... didn’t do much whining or disrespecting, which is appreciated. But aside from that, her character is just plain awful. She’s vindictive and petty and I find that to be disgusting character traits.

She doesn’t want Simon to trail after her like a lost puppy, but she’s rageful and spiteful when he trails after Isabelle. Even though she doesn’t want him, she also doesn’t want anyone else to have him. What kind of behavior is that? It’s what I cherished about show!Clary, because she was jealous yes but she was never vindictive about it and she never stood in Simon’s way.

Same goes for her relationship with Isabelle. Mainly, book!Clary is resenting Isabelle for having Simon trail after her and for being pretty. Literally, there’s an entire paragraph of Clary describing how pretty Isabelle looks - and the fucking paragraph ends with “Clary hated her”. What the fuck? Was this written by a middle-aged man who assumes that all teenage girls hate other girls for being pretty? That’s so painfully petty - and she just keeps doing it.

Show!Clary seemed to bond with Isabelle right from the start and when they had the “Let’s put on Izzy’s clothes for Magnus’ party!” scene, it was a friendly bonding moment. Now it was mainly Clary judging Isabelle for basically everything? Her clothes, her makeup, looking pretty.

Which brings me right to the next point. Clary’s extraordinarily fine-tuned gay-dar.

As above mentioned, Jalec is literally one of the two reasons I bought this book. So I have been reading it with shipper-goggles from page one. And so far, I have read nothing that indicated Jalec. Zero. Literally zero. There was that one tiny scene at the diner? Where Jace cuts Alec off and Alec just trails off. But... even that is something I do all the time when being cut off by friends, family, strangers. Not exactly too ship-worthy.

But for Clary, that was apparently already enough to read Jalec? Wow. That’s impressive. But she knows neither Alec nor Isabelle - not even Jace, if we’re being honest - enough to bring such a personal topic up. And she doesn’t even bring it up with Alec himself. She brings it up with his sister. Damn. You don’t care enough to get to fully know them but gossiping about Alec’s sexuality is totally something you wanna do? With his sister, at that. That’s just ridiculous.

I genuinely can’t tell if that’s just book!Clary’s character, or if it’s inexperienced writing on the writer’s part? In an attempt to cram exposition in?

Because just before that, we had that utterly expositional scene of her accidentally finding a photograph of the Circle. But not to worry, it’s only the Real Important Circle. Valentine, Jocelyn, Luke, the Lightwoods, Hodge, Michael Wayland. Everyone who, up to that point in the book, is important.

And between those two scenes, crammed in, the falcon story. As... a bedtime story. In the show, they had at least already gotten closer and it was in some sort of context. Here? “Oh, girl I’ve known for like five days, you can’t sleep? Lemme tell you a bedtime story about my childhood abuse so the readers will start to get a feel for me being vulnerable on the inside and broken from my past.”....

All three of those exposisitions having been crammed into those 15 pages I just read. That’s a ridiculous amount of exposition that wasn’t even attempted to be veiled in any kind of way.

So, yeah, I find exposition to be handled in a very... stumbling and awkward manner so far.

Romance too.

Aside from the ghost!Jalec that Clary is already seeing? The kinda-Climon of Clary being pettily jealous is a little painful. The Sizzy with its instant infatuation and Simon literally doing nothing else aside from following a pretty total stranger around..... a bit much. And the Clace is just weird. Like. I don’t even have other words for it aside from weird, to be honest? There’s clearly no romantic interest, there’s barbs and jibes being traded like pre-teens pulling on the pigtails of the girl they like? There’s Jace being an UTTER creep by waiting for her in her bedroom - on her bed - and going through her most personal belonging, her sketchbook.

So, yeah, I’m not too impressed by the book so far. I liked that it was slower paced than the story so far, but the show is at least attempting to put exposition where it makes sense and feels somewhat natural.

Not to mention, show!Clary is a hundred times more likable than book!Clary is so far and literally all the relationships - romantic and friendly - are so much more natural and nicer on the show.

This book in particular would benefit from a change of POV. In a way like Heroes of Olympus - but please not as badly handled as that; rather more evenly divided between the characters. But giving insight into Alec would make the Jalec feel less sudden, which I can NOT believe I’m actually saying. Getting insight into Jace would make the sudden bedtime story feel less creey. Getting insight into Simon would help make him feel less like a brainless puppy who just follows every pretty girl he sees.

I’m genuinely afraid of Malec at this point because multiple book-reading people of mine have already told me that show!Malec is so much better at communication than book!Malec and... show!Malec literally does? Not? Communicate? (I mean, I won’t let someone else’s opinion influence my opinion, but if people who are fans of both the book and the ship already say their communication in the books suck... then that does frighten me...)

[lindel86-blog]

Hey guys, somehow I ended up taking an unintentional hiatus??? But I’m back now and finallyyy sat down and watched S2.

Rambling thoughts under the cut-- spoilers abound.

Overall, I liked this season better than S1. 

Despite a bit of a slow start and an annoying plot line on occasion, I really enjoyed the high intensity of this season. Very binge-worthy. And wow, Jonathan was a great villain!!! I liked the twisted family story of Clary, Jonathan, and Valentine (+ Jace), as well as the overarching conflicts between the Clave and the Downworld those complex themes mirror the real world, and sadly are especially relevant in today’s political climate. 

The mythology of the Shadowhunters world was expanded too, and I found it much more engrossing this season. And the improvement in special effects was A+

My cons for the season were mainly these: I thought Jocelyn’s death came out of the blue and could have been written in a much more affecting way. It just seemed so random for such an important character? I also thought the show added some unnecessary bits of drama, hook ups, and romantic teases where it didn’t need to be? But it wasn’t that big a deal so... *shrugs*

Back to the good: the relationships between characters (romantic, platonic, and familial) were developed really well overall imo. And it was so so good to get more backstory on several characters.

I thought Maia was a great addiction, and though I disliked the Simon/Clary/Jace love triangle, I feel like it was handled fairly well by the writers (I’m just still not a fan, and personally I hate love triangles in general). I was much more interested in each character’s struggles within the larger conflicts of the story.

Alec and Magnus’ relationship continued to be realistic and heartrendingly beautiful. Sometimes it was frustrating to watch because you could see where both were coming from in their decisions, but at the same time you wanted to shake them. I loved how they worked through their issues, though, and came out the stronger for it. They are so good and so important-- and their ending scene in the finale!!!! <3 

Isabelle and Alec, two of my faves in general, also had some great scenes together. Their relationship with their parents this season was interesting too.

I liked Simon and Maia more than I expected, and I hope we get more of them next season. I really like them together-- they fit so naturally imo. 

And Clary and Jace--so glad they finally got their shit together at the end, I actually found their romance enjoyable in the last couple eps. 

Again, Jonathan was a great villain, and him and Valentine together was a killer (heh) combo.

That season finale overall was really awesome-- Clary killing Valentine was so satisfying, and then her wishing for Jace to come back. That was some good stuff. And then Clary made out with Jace next to her father’s dead body like damn girl you are hardcore af lmao.

Back to relationships for a sec: I get the sense that it’s an unpopular opinion? But I absolutely love Raphael x Isabelle. I think maybe I’ll make a separate post about them. If you don’t ship it like I do, maybe add Rizzy to your blacklist cuz I’m definitely, definitely into it.

Anyway, I’m gonna go back and rewatch S1 and 2 and try to absorb everything at a slower pace, then maybe I’ll have some clear ideas for fic writing.

[geraltcirilla]

Does anyone know what’s happening with Maia/Simon/Clary? I know in the books Simon dates both Clary and Maia, and the show and writers have been giving hints that Simon and Clary would date soon, but now all these bts and promo pics and stuff are showing Maia and Simon. I assumed Simon would date Clary for a few episodes, realize it’s not going to work and then be with Maia. But it sort of feels like the writers are trying to write the Simon/Maia and Clary/Simon relationships AT THE SAME TIME. (Maybe to substitute the plot of Simon cheating on Maia and Isabelle?) 

I think that is a huge mistake. They really should not make this a love triangle.

It’s better just to let Clary be single for a while (she has a lot going on--her father is Voldemort, her mother is dead, she has these new unexplained powers, etc.--she has too much on her plate right now to date anyone, let alone her best friend. The stakes are pretty high with that relationship and she’s too distracted.) The writers can go ahead with Maia and Simon, I think they are really cute. But it’s a mistake to turn this into a love triangle. It’ll only hurt everyone involved.

[thesoliloquyofastranger-blog]

City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare

He we are, the fifth book of the Mortal Instruments series--City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare. This book picks up where we left off in City of Fallen Angels, with Jace having disappeared with the resurrected Sebastian, and the search for them beginning before they can cause any real mayhem.

Of the three books of this second half of the series, I think this is the book that suffers the most from middle book syndrome. I think the biggest cause of this is the decision that was made somewhere along the road to make this book focus just as much, if not more so, on the romantic tension rather than the actual tension of finding Jace.

Instead of the action sequences that some of us, including yours truly, were hoping for, we get a lot of stuff going towards resolving the various love triangles that have cropped up over the course of the previous book.

We get the Simon/Maia/Jordan triangle. This one gets resolved with Maia favouring (her ex that turned her into a werewolf) Jordan. Thankfully, Simon doesn’t always need to be second-best to someone else, which was the fate reserved for him in the original trilogy--he does indeed get Isabelle, though not before significant amount of angst.

I do have to wonder how any author can get away with putting this many love triangles into one series. Even Stephanie Meyer had to stop at just the one main love triangle. Of course, Stephanie Meyer was also a hack who decided to have nothing else happen in the plot, while Cassandra Clare is capable of writing an interesting plot to go with her love triangles when she wants to. (This is ignoring the fact that when it comes to writing, I’m also a hack.)

I know the original trilogy had a lot of romantic tension, but I think a lot of that was justified because of the connection between Clary and Jace and their angst over their seeming family relationship. While I think it would have been more interesting if they decided to say, “Fuck it, we’re going to make this a thing anyway” and just ran with it, that’s possibly more the result of me spending far too much time on the internet, and it’s understandable why there was that angst there.

Plus there was at least some character development beyond the love triangle in that original trilogy. Clary was coming to terms with being a Shadowhunter and that her mother had decided to wipe her memories and keep all of this from her, and Jace had to deal with everyone being suspicious of him because of his connection to Valentine Morgernstern. 

In this trilogy, a lot of the romantic tension is between the side characters who really aren’t getting much character development otherwise. The bulk of Simon’s character development came in the previous trilogy with his unwilling conversion to vampirism (and also his childhood crush on Clary). In this trilogy, he’s come to terms with his identity for the most part and while he’s still angsting over the finer points of being a vampire, a lot of his development seems to be coming from his love triangles.

Speaking of romantic tension, Clary does spend a lot of time angsting over Jace here obviously. First she’s angsting over not knowing where he is, and then she’s angsting over how much of a Sebastian sycophant he is. 

I think if City of Lost Souls was primarily about this Clarly/Jace/Sebastian dynamic, it would have worked just fine. However, the other shit that was added drags the book down a lot for me.