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malecsecretsanta · 5 years

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Merry Christmas, @Secretphilosopherwitch!

I hope you have a wonderful holiday season and I cannot express how wonderful it was to write soulmate fluff for these two <3

Read on AO3

*****

My heart knew who it belonged to [long before I met him]

According to the records in the recesses of the New York Institute, the first documentation of a Shadowhunter with a soulmark was Jonathan Shadowhunter. The drawing of the mark was old and looked as if it’d been written on a scrap piece of paper, the name barely legible anymore, but Alec paid no mind to the age or legibility of the soulmark. The fact that there was proof of its existence, an unquestionable account of the phenomenon gave him hope.

Soulmates were a blessing from the angels, the markings on their skin just as revered as the runes they put on their bodies. If a Shadowhunter was lucky enough to have a soulmate, the mark would show up on a Nephilim’s eighteenth birthday and was celebrated with gusto. Family gatherings and sacred rituals where the Shadowhunter who’d been blessed had to swear an oath to uphold and cherish the soulmate that Raziel blessed them with.

And Alec prayed every night to be blessed with a soulmate. To have someone who was destined for him, who’d love him with their whole being. If he happened to pray harder for it not to be a girl, that would remain his secret, especially from his parents.

Growing up, Alec spent all his time training, trying to live up to his parents’ expectations. He’d push aside his own well-being, his own happiness, in hopes of getting a shred of pride from one of them. No matter how many times he’d tried and failed to reach their impossible standards, Alec refused to give up on earning their approval. And that meant squirreling away his sexuality like it was some heinous decision he had made.

No one wishes for life to be harder than it already is.

But soulmates could be the same gender, it was ridiculous to think that only men and women could be soulmates. Even the Clave wasn’t that blind, but for same sex soulmates, they were highly discouraged, if not forced, to keep their bond purely platonic. But Alec had still seen how his fellow Shadowhunters felt about those pairings. Like they were less, a bond Raziel had given them as an afterthought and not with all the care the typical soulmark was given.

So as hard as Alec prayed for his soulmate to be a man, he knew he couldn’t have it all. But that was enough for him. It had to be.

On the cusp of his eighteenth birthday, he anxiously awaited to see if he would get a soulmark. He knew he should’ve been asleep, birthday or not he had to be up bright and early to send out the next squads on patrol. It wouldn’t do him any favors to be exhausted. But he just couldn’t fall asleep, not when he was so close to possibly getting what he wanted.

He lazily traced his parabatai rune and hoped his anxiousness wasn’t being sent through his and Jace’s bond. At one point in time, Jace not being his soulmate would’ve devastated him, but his past crush had faded back to brotherly affection after they’d become parabatai and he was beyond thankful that it did. He felt enough shame for liking men, he didn’t need to add that into the mix.

He was broken from his musings by a knock on his door before Izzy stepped in with a bright smile. She knew how much Alec had been waiting for this day. “How you holding up, Big Bro?” Izzy asked, sitting on his bed.

Alec sat up and shrugged. “Just waiting,” Alec said.

His sister rolled her eyes and shoved his shoulder. “I could feel your anticipation from my room.”

“Wouldn’t you be?”

“Oh no doubt,” Izzy gave him a soft look, “But I know how much this means to you.”

He flushed and broke away from her gaze to stare at the clock. He had a minute left. “Do you think I’ll get one?” Alec asked, his voice so quiet he wondered if Izzy had even heard him. But he knew she had when he felt her arm snake around his shoulders.

“Alec, if ever there was someone who deserves a soulmark, it’d be you.” She said it so confidently, like Alec not getting a soulmark was unfathomable.

He went to respond in kind to Izzy, to tell her that she’d get one too, when he felt a heat blossom in his chest that stole the air from his lungs. The heat quickly traveled down his arms, not unlike a caress and Alec could do nothing but stare in amazement as his soulmark pigmented his arms. He might have heard Izzy gasp beside him but he was too focused on what he was seeing.

His soulmark was unlike any he’d ever seen before. It wasn’t a name and it wasn’t a design, but more of a swatch of blues that seemed to glitter against his arms. The blue lazily flowed around his runes and shifted along his skin as if it were alive.

And Alec loved it. He loved how warm the marks were, how they sent affection flickering down to his fingertips. How the blue caressed his skin with all the familiarity of eternity, like it couldn’t help but explore his skin with avid attention.

“Beautiful,” Alec muttered, tracing the mark with his fingers. Izzy broke his wonderment with a swipe of her thumb underneath his eye. He hadn’t even noticed he’d started crying. “Izzy, I have a soulmate.”

Izzy’s eyes were glistening with unshed tears, but her bright smile could’ve lit up the room. “You have a soulmate,” she repeated, turning her attention back to the marks on his arm. “I’ve never seen a soulmark like this.”

Perhaps Alec should’ve felt cheated that he didn’t have a name to go off of, but he honestly loved the swirls of blue that now decorated his skin. “Neither have I.” But that didn’t matter. Not when he knew for sure he had a soulmate, waiting for him to find and love with the ferocity of his entire being.

Even though he’d received his soulmark, it wasn’t as if Alec could just take as much time as he’d like to try and find them. And while he adored his mark, it did make finding his soulmate a much more daunting task since he didn’t have a name to go off of or a mark to match to someone else’s. But he never let himself lose hope, not about this.

Alec’s twenty-third birthday rolled around with still no leads on his soulmate. Maybe if he was anyone else, he’d feel hopeless at this point, but he was stubborn. He gave no room for his parents to even suggest him settling down with some girl. He had someone. Someone waiting for him just as he was waiting for them.

Somewhere.

And then this tiny, fiery haired mundane comes barreling into his life and he was suddenly captured in her whirlwind drama via Jace’s insistence. He admits to himself that he could stand to be a little kinder to the girl who fell into the Shadow World with all the finesse of a duckling, but suddenly the little spare time he had was going to her and her problems instead of his searches for his soulmate.

He tried to tell himself to calm down, to offer the help Jace expected him to give, but it was hard to tell himself that when his heart yearned for its soulmate. It was literally the one thing he truly wanted for himself and it seemed to be put on the back burner for this girl.

Until that one momentous meeting.

Back at Pandemonium once more, now with the necklace they were going to offer to the High Warlock of Brooklyn, Magnus Bane as incentive to return Clary’s memories. He left the transaction for the others to handle, instead checking the parameter for any suspicious activity.

Well, he would have been more attentive in his search if his soulmark didn’t start pulsing and wriggling on his arms. Sure the mark liked to dance across his skin, but it’d never done this before. It seemed to be responding to something. Or someone, Alec thought with wide eyes. He darted his eyes around the hordes of people dancing as if thinking his soulmate might spontaneously appear from the crowd.

Instead of his soulmate, he spotted a few suspicious characters weaving their way through the crowds. He edged after them, taking in all the details he could from where he was until he spotted a rune on both of the men’s throats.

The Circle had infiltrated the club.

He quickly notched an arrow and let it fly as he quickly headed back to where he’d left Jace, Izzy, and Clary. All around him chaos erupted, Downworlders fleeing the club as fast as they could, whether that was by portal or just supernatural speed. Alec did his best to keep his eyes peeled for any more of Valentine’s Shadowhunters. He’d put away his bow and switched to his seraph blade to allow for more maneuverability as he started making his way through the throngs of panicked clubbers.

With each step closer to his destination he felt the pulsing of his mark increase until it suddenly stopped just in time to see a portal close not far from the rest of his group. He stopped in his tracks. His soulmate… was a warlock? Or at least he could assume they were given the portal. He’d never even considered the thought of his soulmate being a Downworlder, but was that bad?

He didn’t have time to think on the subject, instead gathering everyone up and herding them as quickly as he could to the nearest exit. “Come on, we need to get out of here,” he said over the panicking crowds of people who were still fleeing from the scene as fast as they could.

“But my memories.” Clary insisted.

Alec frowned and looked at the group. “You didn’t get her memories back?” He asked.

Jace rolled his eyes. “Kinda hard to do that when our meeting with Bane was interrupted before we could really get started,” Jace said with a shrug.

“Well if you didn’t get to finish your deal, where’s the necklace?”

Izzy winced and gave him a sheepish smile. “Magnus wanted to see the necklace to prove it was the real deal,” Izzy said.

He groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. “So we not only didn’t get Clary’s memories back, but we also lost our only bargaining chip.”

“Hey, we can still talk to the guy,” Jace retorted, crossing his arms. “I doubt Magnus is going to just call our deal null before we get a chance to settle something.”

“And how do you plan to find him? He fled with the other warlocks.” And my soulmate, Alec wanted to say but held himself back. It wasn’t the right time to bring it up, especially if he was just getting his hopes up.

Jace shot him a mischievous grin and held up a button. “Lucky for us we can track him.” He motioned his hand over at Alec. “Come on, we’re going to have to use parabatai tracking to find him.”

Alec rolled his eyes but walked over and held his hand out for Jace to draw the rune before they clasped hands. He closed his eyes and concentrated on searching for Magnus’ location.

Near instantly, he felt the same tingling from his soulmark as before and felt almost giddy that tracking Magnus seemed to be what he needed to do to find his soulmate. All too soon Jace pulled away and the feeling vanished once more.

But he knew that he was going to have another chance to meet his soulmate. Whoever they were.

Fighting off the Circle members that had invaded the warehouse went about the same as any mission. Alec focused on saving anyone he could, firing arrow after arrow to take them down as he moved further into the building. And if he happened to be following the way his soulmark was trying to draw him, he didn’t have to admit that to anyone. Nothing was going to prevent him from finding his soulmate, not this time.

As he climbed up the stairs he came across a single man firing spells at the Circle members around him. It was magical to see a warlock in action, especially since he hadn’t seen many of the others he’d come across fighting. The man was almost unearthly in his grace and his magic just seemed to be an extension of his body. Which he supposed it was for warlocks.

He was almost so enraptured that he didn’t notice the Circle member coming up from the warlock’s blind spot, but he quickly fired an arrow to take care of the man at the same time the warlock took down the last of his opponents.

The warlock turned around to face him and Alec felt his breath hitch. He had always wondered what it’d be like to finally meet his soulmate, what the moment would feel like when they’d meet eyes, but all those wondering thoughts paled in comparison. As his eyes met the other man’s he felt like his world disappeared and his heart was caught in a mini supernova of longing and love. He felt warm and light like he’d sprouted the wings of his angelic heritage that had given him his marks.

And his marks, oh his marks. The tingling had settled into a pleasant buzz against his skin. He chanced a glance down at them and couldn’t fight the delighted smile that settled on his face when he saw that the blue swirls were making themselves into hearts before returning to their nonsensical pattern.

He turned his attention back to the warlock in front of him, the smile still firmly on his face. He recognized the face from the photos he’d seen earlier, but those pictures couldn’t do justice to the beauty that was Magnus Bane.

“Who are you?” Magnus asked, with a flirtatious air.

Alec felt his words flee at being addressed by his soulmate. His soulmate… He never thought he would get to find them. He must have been staring for too long because Magnus walked over to him. Maybe it should have been nerve racking to be so close to your soulmate, but all Alec felt was bliss as Magnus drew closer and closer.

He needed to say something, anything. “You’re beautiful,” Alec said softly. He hadn’t meant to say that, he’d meant to introduce himself like a normal person.

Magnus seemed to preen at the comment though, so Alec counted it as a win. “Well, aren’t you a charmer,” Magnus said with a smile of his own.

“I’m A-Alec.”

“Short for Alexander, I presume.”

Alec nodded his head. He didn’t know what he was supposed to do. Did Magnus know Alec was his soulmate? Was their bond just one-way? Would Magnus even care if Alec was his soulmate? All these questions kept running through his mind and he couldn’t concentrate. He didn’t know what to do. So he did the first thing that came to mind: he held out his hand.

Magnus stared at Alec’s hand with detached interest before clasping their hands together. Their hands fit perfectly together and they both watched in awe as Alec’s soulmark started to glow. Magnus Bane really was his soulmate.

Magnus let go of Alec’s hand and stared as his magic seemed to cling to the glowing marks. He let out a breathless little ‘oh,’ and looked back at Alec.

Neither said a word, as if believing if they tried to talk they’d break this wondrous moment. But Alec couldn’t stop himself for long.

“I’ve waited for you my whole life,” He said, smiling at the other man. “From the very moment I found out about soulmates I’ve been waiting to meet you.” Feeling daring, he reached his hand out to cup Magnus’s cheek, rubbing his thumb lightly over a highlighted cheekbone. “You’re just as perfect as I imagined.” He shook his head, “No even more than I imagined.”

Magnus eyes looked glassy and he blinked his eyes to try and prevent the tears from falling. “I never dreamed I would get a soulmate,” he whispered. “Warlocks don’t get marks or anything of the sort telling us we have a soulmate, it’s just a feeling or a pull from our magic. Most don’t even dare to dream that even that is true.”

Magnus brought his own hand up to cup Alec’s neck and Alec leant into the touch. “We live long lives and thinking about missing our soulmates or losing them to time… I never bothered to look.”

Alec’s heart ached at the admission but he didn’t hold it against Magnus. “Good thing I bothered to look for the both of us.”

Magnus gave a watery chuckle. “A very good thing indeed.”

“And… are you disappointed?”

The warlock furrowed his brows and gave Alec a quick once over. “Surprised, that you’re a Shadowhunter, but disappointed?” Magnus smiled at him. “I don’t think anyone in their right mind would be disappointed to have you, Alexander.”

He knew that they couldn’t stay in their own little world for much longer but Alec felt like he could stay in this moment happily for the rest of his life. He knew they were going to have to talk about a lot of things and their relationship probably wouldn’t be smooth sailing, but Raziel if Alec thought it would all be worth it. Because Magnus Bane, High Warlock of Brooklyn, was his soulmate.

And Magnus would always be worth it.

Alec walked into their apartment with a happy smile as he took in the sight in-front of him. Little Max was creating little bubbles out of thin air while Magnus praised his use of magic. Their little blueberry was getting better with his magic every day.

Magnus turned his attention away from Max when he heard Alec set his bow down beside the door. “Look blueberry, Daddy’s home!” Magnus said, swooping their son up into his arms and making his way over to Alec.

The swirls of blue on Alec’s arms glowed softly before turning back to their glittery glory as Alec wrapped them both in his arms. “I’m home,” Alec sighed with a pleased hum. He reluctantly pulled away but it seemed Max had other ideas as he refused to let go of Alec’s shirt. “Hi Max, has Papa been teaching you more magic?”

Max giggled, nodding his head and babbling at him. He had learned a few words, but he wouldn’t start making clear sentences for a little while longer.

Alec grinned and looked at Magnus with a soft look. His husband was beautiful as ever, his tailored trousers following the long line of his legs and the plunging neckline of his shirt leaving little to the imagination. The assortment of necklaces had been exchanged for a thick cord of leather that sat a little below his collarbones and held the arrowhead Alec had given Magnus all those years ago.

“Rafe’s not with you?” Magnus asked, adjusting his hold on Max.

Alec shook his head. “He wanted to hang out with his Uncle Jace for a while, but he’ll be home in an hour or two.”

Magnus sighed, throwing his head back. “Oh Alexander, whatever shall we do? One of our son’s already doesn’t want to hang out with us.”

He snorted and bumped Magnus playfully. “Nah, he still loves us just as much as he always has.” He leaned over and pressed his lips against Magnus’s, relishing in the buzz of perfection that radiated through him. He ended their chaste kiss to lean his forehead against Magnus’s. “I love you,” he whispered.

Magnus smiled that wonderful smile that made the corners of his eyes wrinkle ever so slightly. “I love you too.”

Alec would’ve gone in for another kiss if Max hadn’t gotten impatient and started making bubbles appear between them. Alec stared wide-eyed at Magnus through the gathering of bubbles and couldn’t help but burst into laughter. Magnus was quick to join him, his head thrown back joyously.

He leaned down to Max and started planting kisses all over his son’s face. Max clapped his hands happily giving Alec his own version of a kiss on his cheek.

He never thought that having a soulmate would lead to this life he had, but he was right.

Loving Magnus Lightwood-Bane would always be worth it.

#Secretphilosopherwitch #malecsanta19 #*fics19 #*gifts19

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flower-of-the-desert · 5 years

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City of Bones Thoughts

So full disclosure, I came into this with hella low expectations and prepared for the worst thing I’ve ever read basically. Many of that is because of the comments I’ve seen from other people and if I’m being completely honest? I disagree with about 90% of the things I’ve seen them say about this book. So there’s that. My thoughts in no particular order are below, I’ll try to keep it brief since otherwise it’s gonna get sooo long (my notes ended up being 14 pages which I debated whether I should just post them or not but decided to just give a summed up version instead).

Overall, I enjoyed this book a whole lot more than I ever thought I would and I love that. I absolutely loved many things from world-building elements to character interactions and conflicts and resolutions and I’m definitely looking forward to the next ones.

1) I like the writing style; one thing I’ve always liked about CC’s books is that it’s easy to read them because the writing isnt some pretentious attempt at sounding smart, it’s simple and easy to understand and I very much enjoy that. And it’s actually a bit better than TID? which I didnt expect but in TID there were a lot - and I mean a lot - of repetitions and the same descriptions used a million times in like a page-two pages max which was kind of annoying and I thought it would be the same here but it wasnt which again, I enjoyed very much.

2) I like the basic idea of the plot, there was nothing super shocking about it, of course, since I’ve already watched the show but I like the idea of the whole hidden world, angels vs demons, warlocks, magic, vampires and werewolves and all that; I’ve said before and I’ll say again, one of my favourite - if not the favourite - things about these series is the universe that it created. It has some of my all time favourite tropes and world-building elements and it’s the first thing I fell in love with.

3) I like Hodge being the guy backstabbing the heroes and the foreshadowing of that; it was subtle enough that if I didnt know I wouldnt immediately realise it but if I reread the book or read it already knowing what he’ll do it’s super fun to pick up on the little clues.

4) I loved that we actually got a resolution to the Clary/Alec conflict - and a satisfactory one at that! I absolutely didnt expect there to be one but I adore that their big fight was properly addressed and they both handled it in a mature responsible way.

5) Speaking of the big fight - one of my favourite scenes of the book! And one of the things I strongly disgaree that it was So PrObLeMaTiC; I mean yes, both of them were wrong to act the way they did, absolutely, but like people arent always fucking perfect? Sometimes they do bad things, they lash out and hurt other people in a moment of high emotions, etc. It doesnt make them terrible people forever more (especially if they apologize and realise their mistakes, which both Clary and Alec did). So in that repsect I fucking loved that scene - it was emotional, it was ugly but incredibly true to both characters and what they’ve been bottling up since the start of the story. And like I said, it had an actual resolution which makes it even better.

6) Another favourite scene - MAGNUS (is anyone surprised anymore). Every time Magnus was in a scene or was mentioned I might have definitely screamed. It be my brand. The scene where the gang goes to him for help is just amazing - everything about it; some many things going on, Magnus’s reluctance to help shadowhunters vs his fondness for Clary, Jace trying to blackmail him with the treath of the Clave like a typical shadowhunter, Alec’s quiet observations of Magnus and how he was the first and only one to not get upset with him and to assure him his past isnt his fault (also speaking of that, if Magnus shared his past with his step-father in this scene then doesnt that create a slight plot hole with TRSOM where he shares the same story with Alec? Although I assumed this was the first time Alec was hearing it but I dont think anything indicated this int he scene itself? Also Magnus was very brief here and didnt go into details so that could also be a reason). Magnus’s struggle to express to Clary that different doesnt always mean better and also how upset he got with the implication that he might have done something to “break” her when all he’s ever wanted was to help - I love him so damn much. Also I love love how utterly unimpressed he is with shadowhunters still and how badass bossy he is and how he still managed to slip in some knock-downs on the Clave and shadowhunters by reminding Clary she isnt better than the rest of them.

7) “Keep it in your pants, shadowhunter” only a true King(TM) can open his introduction scene like this.

Also “Not for free, darling, and you cant afford me” - BEST LINE OF THE WHOLE BOOK

8) Magnus throwing a birthday party for his cat - ❤️❤️❤️

9) Another scene I love and I think it did a great job of setting up both characters is the convo bw Alec and Isabelle while Clary is unconscious - I made a seperate post just about that because I liked it that much but basically I love that we see Isabelle being rather judgemental while Alec - the gay shadowhunter living in a unaccepting society is the one that seems to be missing that quality and comes to the defence of people more often than not.

10) Speaking of Alec, I really really like him so far; he’s sweet and clever and sarcastic in a different way than Jace and apparently has the one brain cell of the whole Institute 99% of the time (the other 1% is when Church has it) which is just a perfect recipe for a favourite character in my dictionary. I hope I keep liking him because after three seasons of wanting to punch show!Alec in the face, I really need this. Another agrument I disagree with comes with Alec’s fighting skills and people saying CC made her gay character deliberately weak... but like the narrative explicitly points out several times that Alec hasnt killed a demon yet not because he’s weak but because he focused on watching Jace and Izzy’s backs and using more defensive tactics rather than offensive. And then in the fight with Abbadon all of them are shown to be shaking in fear and basically useless against the demon, not only Alec. Jace - the golden hero - cant do anything either so I fail to see this as a slight against Alec. The fact that Isabelle and Jace arent dead yet should be proof enough that Alec is good at his job.

11) people getting called out for doing/saying shitty things at various points - I love that song

12) there’s a lot more self-awareness than I originally anticipated.

13) “You need to know someone to love them” - book!Alec be speaking from my soul

14) I liked rat!Simon 100% more than human!Simon and that should tell you all you need to know about my feelings about him.

15) the finale scene between Clary, Luke, Jace and Valentine - I loved that. Although I knew what would happen it still gripped me in a way I didnt expect and I was practically on the edge of my seat. The way Jace struggled with his feeling for his father, Clary trying to break him out of it, Luke and Valentine facing off - there was so much emotion going on and characters pushing each other and interacting in meaningful ways and arh, I loved it.

16) Jace’s portrayl as an abuse victim makes so much sense like every word and action makes sense given his backstory and it really makes me feel for him... except that one scene where he manipulates Alec into coming with them when he didnt want to by hitting on his insecurities. That was one thing I wished had also been addressed in the end.

17) Things I didnt enjoy - the girl hate between Clary and Isabelle and Simon’s nice guy bullshit. Both can kindly fuck off. Those are probably my biggest complains in this book which I hope with that ending we’re going to fix at least the first issue.

#city of bones #the shadowhunter chronicles #tsc

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merlinthoughts · 6 years

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Season 1 Episode 5 - Lancelot<3

- YES BBG’s IT'S MY BOY LANCE

- he’s one of my fav characters u guys don't even KNOW

- like yah okay, i've only seen hiM FOR ONE EPISODE

- but he’s the light of my life

- and he may not even come back but he looks like a character that would come back especially if the fucking ep is named after him

- oh damn, i sure hope he does

- and goes into arthurs posse of knights or whatever, replacing val

- or what valerie was gonna be

- idek, lets get to it bc i could go on for days just picturing lance as a main character while continuously expressing my love for him

- BUT NOTHING ELSE OBVIOUSLY BC THIS IS NOW A CATHOLIC WEBSITE

- tumblrs trynna urge me to go with them nasty thoughts

- you wish tumblr

- you WISH you can ban me

- u can't live without sucking dick >:(

- wow slow down shev... wow okay sorry. christianism. i forgot

- it got the best of me

- back to the episode!

- omg it's buckbeak why he making a cameo in merlin??

- my inner potterhead(uwu) is coming out i hate this

- bet you can't guess which house i'm in ;)

- it's fucking slytherin, it's literally so obvious

- hissshiss motherfuckers

- ew guys

- this is so hard to type considering my fucking ‘-’ button (called a dash for u furries who only see a face) is broken and i have to literally smash it to make it work, so i'm just insanely typing up the next dash by screaming at my keyboard that i can't fucking fix

- and i have so many dasHES TO DO!

- that made no sense bc yall aren't living in my socks at the moment

- BUT I'M DYING IT'S SO HARD TO JUST GET IT TO PRESS

- fuck it copy paste, my best friend, you always come when the time is needed

- LANCELOT LOOKS SO BEAUTIFUL

- lowkey looked like that guy from the 100 though

- but better

- nothing against baloney of course

- lancelot literally just introduced himself, the camera panned in onto his chest, then he proceeded to faint or some shit with the camera still zoomed on his chest, and merlin reached up to grab his shirt, probably to yank it the fuck off and the opening credits rolled up. wtf was that scene.

- WAIT I REWINDED IT

- it's not supposed to be a zoom in of his chest lmao, my hoe ass thought we had a little fanservice for a second, but there's a big mushroom-looking blood stain on his shirt which i guess is supposed to mean he's fucking dead so it's not all that confusing anymore

- when was he stabbed tho?

- whatever. shit always goes down in BBC that's often unexplainable.

- “it had claws, wings…” arthur stops his sentence melodramatically while uther looks terrified. “and.. what?” WHAT UTHER?? WHAT DO YOU EXPECT?? YOU THINK ARTHURS GONNA BE LIKE “FANGS, STEVE BUSCEMI'S EYEBALLS, DANNY DEVITO’S HAIRLINE, TALKS LIKE JOHN MULANEY?? I JUST TOLD YOU WHAT I SAW, NOT WHAT I IMAGINED. FATHER”

- but no… livestock apparently

- that’s what uthers shocked by

- not that theres a fucking griffin living in his world

- wait theres magic, means theres magic creatures doy

- but still, even if we all had magic here, i think it would be a little shocking seeing a griffin come for buckingham palace randomly

- or i guess if youre reading this and are in america, in the white house

- oh and it took only people apparently

- i guess that’s a little more severe but i stand uncorrected

- they be having a wild time in the hippogriff’s house ;)

- honestly sounds like a fucked up hogawart house

- here we have slytherin, hufflepuff, ravenclaw and... *looks at smudged writing on hand* hippogriff

- okay, who tf has a dream of coming to camelot when it's the most feared place, with banned magic and an asshole king with his hot bitchy son and a sorcerer who just brings chaos to the land

- well i mean, me

- bc of the hot bitchy son but whatever

- camelot? more like cameNOT

- arthur calls himself the ultimate killing machine like the edge lord he is

- ARTHUR FUCKING KO’D THE BITCH

- knee to the nose and all wtf man

- this is probably foreshadowing smth with the “only noble blood can swoosh like a knight” thing, like somethings gonna happen and poor people are gonna revolt and uthers gonna be like “GEEZ fine, okay, no nobles can become a knight”

- merlins such a shit stirer, telling lance he can be a knight and telling him arthur would love him when we really know whats gonna happen bc of that rule

- and here’s gaius like uhh u liar wtf, crushing lance’s dreams while merlins just like wtf gaius, live in the moment, we can do anything, this is OUR show

- literally their such good friends and have known each other for a solid 10 minutes only

- i'm not that big into beards but id love to rub my face on lance’s

- HOMEWORK IS MERLIN’S EXCUSE, MERLIN UR LIKE 20 IN A WORLD PROB WITHOUT HOMEWORK

- haha little fault there, or like a minor inconvenience which isn’t important but i like to pretend to be smart: middle ages or well the show’s era was more in “AD” (476-ish is the start of middle ages, while the arthurian legend is supposed to happen in the 5/6th century so yeah, technically 400/500 AD), and homework supposedly only started up in 1095 so BOOM BBC GOTCHA

- no, merlin’s not gonna perform magic right in front of the librarian

- does he not know the wrath of librarians???

- our librarian at school literally kicked everyone out of the library once for the whole semester because there was an apple core on the bookshelf. this was during exam week. do u know how much i wanted to kill the person who didn't admit to their mistakes and let everyone suffer. WE COULDN'T ENTER TO EVEN STUDY

- OH GOD, HE'S DOING IT MERLIN IS A FUCKING MESS

- gwen and lancelot are my favourite thing, i literally want them to be together by the next episode

- or the next one with lance

- WAIT LANCELOT IS SUPPOSED TO BE A MAIN CHARACTER ISN'T HE BC I KNOW VAGUELY THE ARTHURIAN LEGEND AND LANCELOT WAS A KNIGHT WASN'T HE???? HE WAS A FUCKING KNIGHT AND ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT NEXT TO LIKE IDK BEDEVERE OR SMTH THIS IS AMAZING NEWS GUYS I LITERALLY COULD BE A DETECTIVE

- !!!! the only heto ship on this show i actually adore !!!!!!

- i mean i only love two things: merthur and glance

- idek what gwen and lance’s ship name is so its now glance

- merlin would be the best wingman for them by being gwens bestie

- “you can start by cleaning out the stables” *lance looks to merlin while merlin gives him the biggest smile and thumbs up* this fuckING DORK

- harry potter au where everything is the same but that grim reaper looking human creature in the prisoner of azkaban executing buckbeak is actually lancelot in the future

- for symbolism purpose, not saying lance is like an animal killer but yknow

- same thing with the griffin yknow

- the two prettiest dudes in my world fighting against one another while sweat is glistening down their forheads is my new favourite aesthetic

- BUCKBEAK HAS COME

- oh wait no, people having been attacked by buckbeak have come

- netflix fucked up by subbing arthur as “orther” and i never laughed so hard

- don’t make me fucking laugh when there’s an ambush, netflix, this is not christian

- annd arthur’s pride is gone, and he goes up to chop lance’s fucking head off

- OH SHIT THAT TRANSITION THOUGH

- i'm so proud of my bb like genuinely so proud, lance deserves so much and here is is!! a knight!!

- MORGANA APPEARS THE LOML

- the three lomls in one room?? seriously bbc?? you really doing that to me?? for once im actually impressed and happy

- he's gonna get caught, i mean i KNOW that, but like it's still stressing out

- ewewewewewewewewewew

- arthur called morgana “isn't she so beautiful??” with a lovey dovey face pls don't lead this to that stepsibling porn bullshit i'm going to fucking puke

- i hated that shadowhunter bullshit like they seriously going to hit me with the indirect incest?? i was so done. i hated jace and clary, idc if theyre like the most popular couple, like wheres my raphael lovers at bc that's a boy i can enjoy

- “so if you could choose one... lance or arthur?” merlin subtly asks gwen like he doesn't have an answer himself

- it would have been so perfect geez, gwen and lance, merlin and arthur, myself and morgana

- i really wanna know what lance, merlin and arthur look like drunk bc that's a hell of a hangover they got the next morning and they probably cut out most of the soiree so like what did they do?? was there any drunk dancing and flirting??? bc i literally want to see that happen

- ik it's a bad thing but those drunk tropes where someone confesses their love to the person they like while under the influence is my favourite thing bc it's both hilarious, genuine and the other person often helps them to their feet and gets them to a safer place to rest and that's fricken adorable guys!

- not the drinking obviously, thats like a thing you can enjoy if you want but ya girl does not like drinking. or, well, she likes drinking with a limit. you can tell who likes to be the designated driver lmao. people here be drinking flat out whiskey and i tried it once and it burned by fucking throat

- merlin fucked up

- and this is technically his fault

- THEY GOT CAUGHT LMAO IT IS HIS FAULT

- hungover and caught this won't bode well

- “not worthy of a knighthood”

- hey so how do you retract a knighthood?

- do you like reverse the shoulder tapping

- like if you're christian, bc you know, we, as a christian group on this tumblr site, should already know about it... but when we do that cross thing on our shoulders, it means like a direct call with god or some shit. and if we do it the opposite direction it's considered the antichrist so is it the same for knighthood?

- OMG I JUST HAD AN EPIPHANy

- okay with christianity it's tapping the head the stomach, shoulder then shoulder, right? but the reverse is the anti cross like shoulder to shoulder, stomach and head. but… what if it were tapping the stomach, crotch, hip to hip? it would make sense right??? since the cross is upside down… it would lead to the dick and not the head. THAT'S WHY IT'S AN UPSIDE DOWN CROSS. BC YOU AINT SUPPOSED TO GRAB THEM BALLS UNTIL MARRIAGE!!! I SEE OMG I SEE YOU JESUS, TRYNNA HIDE UR FLOURISHING SEXUALITY

- omg guys, don't grab ur fucking balls in this blog post, it's considered the antichrist

- “you never will be” lmao he's gonna come back, he's lancelot, that's a main in the og legend

- how pissed will lance be with merlin

- i hope big time bc like... angry lance *dries off sweat with hands*

- aw damn lance isn't mad he's like “this is my punishment. mine to bare, mine to bare alone. stop blaming urself. i put this on me” this fucking goof is making me swoon once fucking more

- NOW BUCKBEAKS BACK

- he's a real goat x3

- buckbeak can literally fuck shit up in the air, camelot has nothing on him

- ARTHURS FUCKING DEAD LMAO

- oh wait he aint, just a few of his knights

- imagine being an extra and playing as one of those knights. having to fight next to bradley james, and have him look at you when someones doing something stupid like you can mentally agree with him and then pretend to die on camera. that would be my dream. make-a-wish better do me some good when i get diseased that will prob be named after me

- hoephagus

- stupidolis

- nah thats stupid

- ;)

- i now understand mulans will to pretend to be a guy and join the army bc i would literally do that if i could stay with arthur fucking pendragon

- aw it's called a griffin not a hippogriff

- i'm saddened

- harry potter has taught me WRONG

- this looks to be the climax where merlins like “fine guys, geez, i'll kill the griffin bc i'm magic!! wow!!! but arthur obviously knew, and i thought gwen was gonna know but she shocked me even more when she didn’t like fucking hell everyones oblivious. but since you can only kill buckbeak with magic, sigh, i'm exposing myself ig” even if it's like halfway through season 1 with 5 seasons altogether, this looks to be the right time

- this really sounds to be what we are waiting for, what kilgarah said about the destiny merlin will have

- WAIT WE HAVEN'T SEE THAT BITCH IN A WHILE

- wheres the dickwad gone lmao like was the actor busy the last few episodes or what?

- OMG ARHTURS BREAKING LANCE OUT OF PRISON SO HE CAN BE A KNIGHT

- how is the “arthurs pretty gay” theory not popped up more times on here

- like we all know merthurs pretty great and all

- but CANON wise arthur seems super gay to me

- like he just told lance to get up his ass because “i need… uhh... camelot needs” like he was just about to say he needs lance in his life

- have you not seen the glances??

- fucking hell

- arthur slowly comes closer to lance pretending to talk about what he knows about the creature

- lance also coming closer to ask if he truly believes that, with a raised eyebrow

- thought this shit was only in books and fanfics

- but no guys, we got a gay eyebrow raise

- bc we all know only the gays are capable of eyebrow raises

- fucking hell this is gay i cant even explain it

- like its subtly gay, but out of context youd think this is something out of a fansite

- and merlins not even in this scene

- “take the horse and never return to this place” OKAY NO FIRST OF ALL SECOND OF ALL FUCK OFF LMAO THIS ISNT GAY ANYMORE

- i mean he’s doing it out of the goodness of his heart, saving him from prison and all but lance wants to like… be a good man and you aint letting him do that

- OMG LANCE IS SAYING GOODBYE TO GWEN

- LANCE BETTER FUCKING KISS HER

- I LOVE GWEN AND LANCE TOGETHER #STAN

- fucking kiss you fucking bafoon

- THEY DIDN'T FUCKING KISS WTFUCKINGFUCK

- merlin looks so dumb holding his dagger as if he doesn’t know what to do with it but i love that for me

- WAIT I THOUGHT LANCELOT WAS LITERALLY GONNA GO YEET OUT OF CAMELOT NOT TO FUCKING SACRIFICE HIMSELF AND FIGHT THE GRIFFIN

- bafoons, all of them

- big bouncing bucking bafoons

- arthur looks so scared i've never been so in love and want to PROTECT

- omg for all merlin and lance know, that scream was arthur fucking dying- OMG IT WAS ARTHUR

- HE'S FUCKAN DEAD

- nvm he's alive but like yall not think to check for some arterial wounds bc he could be alive now, but in 5 mins he could legit not make it

- slow music means death

- lancelot you were the best husband i've ever had, rip

- i would be crying more if i didn’t know what happened, but since i already spoiled myself on the first season by watching this about a year ago, i'm not that sad but its still getting to me slightly

- hahahaha so happy everyones okayyy

- ARTHUR AND LANCE TiME!

- arthur looks so happy for lance literally crack ship right there

- why does nobody talk about this wyd

- and here’s arthur defending lance’s honour

- but uthers being a bitch

- omg that transition from lance being told to wait outside, the camera following him out of the room and the doors slamming behind him just in time to hear uther yell at arthur from next door is what gives me chills

- uther better fucking accept lance

- “the law is the law” yeah but the law also says to stop being a stuck-up bitch, uther

- literally lance is the only fucking person to not see through merlins blatant magic tricks

- like he saw that shit, called it out and was not like “oh what its a trick of the wind, surely”

- and he's not fazed at all, u see merlin it aint that bad to tell some people

- the only thing he is worrying about is the credit he says he doesn’t deserve bc merlin killed the griffin and not him

- see how fucking great my husband is, guys

- he better not be like “sucks to suck, i lied again! it aint me, chief” to uther and arthur

- NAH OKAY HE’S JUST BIDDING HIS FAREWELL IM GONNA FUCKING CRY IN THE CLUB

- he better fucking come back soon >:(

- seasonal guest star at least

- main characters, big bonus

- we barely saw morgana this episode and i'm not okay with that, but at the same time it was more lance-centric so i'm aight actually. we got all the time in the world for my baby girl, but lance :’( good luck man

- literally everyone is so gay for lance

- gwens into him for sure, and i love that the most (guess thats not gay but whatever, beggars can't be choosers)

- arthur has a little crush ngl

- and merlins full out in love with him

- not to mention MY FUCKING SELF

- i mean, i won't deny that he’s literally perfect in every way and i've only known him for one episode, but i agree whole heatedly with these crushes

- “till next time, sir lancelot” merlin whispers with a smile

- yeah that's me right there

- BC I'LL BE SEEING HIM IN THE FINAL EPISODE OF THIS SEASON!

- greeting us all with the news on being cast full-time for the show, being the best guard around and a lover boy to all

- guys i feel like i'm on aphrodisiacs but instead of desire for sex, it's love for lancelot

- send help

#this is a long one yall #maybe bc i found a new crush but yknow #merlin #merlin bbc #merthur #s1 #s1ep5

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random-thoughts-collection · 7 years

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Shadowhunters | 3.01 Review

Shadowhunters - On Infernal Ground

written by Todd Slavkin & Darren Swimmer, directed by Matt Hasting

After a great finale in season 2, season 3 starts of on the same high level: the characters are now dealing with the aftermath of Valentine’s and Sebastian’s attack and the result of their own actions. We’re also introduced to the new antagonist: Lilith. A lot of this first episode is a setup, but for that it is well done. Almost every character gets their little moment, and the bigger stories are set in motion. There are a lot of little plots and to take care of, so I’ll try to devide this into character groups in a futile attempt to get this review in order.

Clary & Jace

“No one can know, Clary.”

The episode starts on a positive note and an important step in Clary’s development: she is finally officially recognized as a Shadowhunter and gets her Shadowhunter rune as well as signature weapons – dual kindjals, two weapons that Clary chose by instinct. Luke later reveals to her that these weapons were her parents’ weapons before. In the following fight against a demon Clary uses them quite well but also shows that her real strength lies in creating and drawing runes. I like that we get to see Clary as a competent fighter but they still let her real powers be her ability to draw runes. With this skill she’s equally (if not more) useful as other Shadowhunters, despite her lack of experience.

Clary’s Shadowhunter initiation is overshadowed by the fact that Clary and Jace both haven’t told anyone about the wish that Clary used to revive Jace after Valentine had killed him. Jace seems to be naturally disturbed by this, but he’s also plagued by nightmares. His parabatai Alec suspects there is more to the story than Jace and Clary are willing to admit, but they both refuse to tell him the truth.

Alec & Magnus

“You never have to pretend how you feel.”

Alec was offered a position on the Council, while Magnus was dismissed because of his support for the Seelie Queen. He claims to be okay with it, but after talking to Catarina at the hospital Alec realizes that is not the case. Magnus also pretends to be okay with Alec possibly moving to Idris for his new job, but in the end Alec can get him to open up about how he really feels like and assures him that he can be honest with him – and that he won’t move to Idris.

Luke & Ollie

“That wolf… that was you, wasn't it?”

Since Ollie has found out about Luke’s identity as a werewolf, Luke tries to convince her that this idea is ridiculous. And most people would probably believe him, but apparently Ollie has had an encounter with werewolves before, so she spends most of the episode being quite annoyed with Luke. At times I find it hard to believe that Ollie would be that carefree about talking to a werewolf, especially since she has been attacked by one before. However, when Ollie gets attacked by a demon Luke tries to protect her in his werewolf form and is unable to deny it later on.

Lilith & Sebastian

“I'm here now, son.”

Sebastian turns out to be not-quite-dead, thanks to the new season’s antagonist Lilith. How exactly their relationship fits together remains to be seen. As Lilith states in the hospital she can’t have children, but maybe that is only true for a very specific way. When Lilith was in the hospital, I first feared she might start to eat the children, but that was not the case - and it interesting to see that almost vulnerable longing for these babies. It is almost touching if it weren’t for the fact that she is a powerful demon who thanks nice-guy!Tim for his kind words by letting a demon possess him. It was really a shame because he really seemed like a good guy, and even though he was a random guy I felt sorry for him and his wife. And the demon in him was really creepy, especially during the fight against Clary. So far it’s not clear what Lilith actually wants to accomplish, but there seem to be 33 more demons waiting to join the party. Am I the only one who thought the demon Lilith was talking to in the end looks a bit like an evil chicken?

Simon, Maia, Izzy and Raphael

“You're the new weapons master? Izzy, that is perfect for you.“

There is not much time spend on Simon, Maia, Izzy or Raphael, but they’re not forgotten and their parts are not less important.

Simon is more or less forced to entertain the Seelie Queen and her court, or otherwise she wouldn’t have let Maia go at the end of last season. Alberto Rosende gives us another beautiful part of a song, and the Seelie Queen is pleased as well. However, her true reason for having Simon at her court is to brand him with a mark. Simon has no idea what it is, and it quickly fades. When he is allowed to leave the court, Maia - who was worried about his absence - soon forgives him for leaving without saying anything.

While Clary has been made an official Shadowhunter and Alec has been offered a promotion to Idris, izzy has been made weapons master at the New York institue, and she helps Clary to find her new wepaons and later joins JAce and Alec in the investigation of the demon attack. Having Izzy be the new weapons master fits perfectly, and after her long journey of recovering after the Yin Feng it’s great to see her in this position.

Rapahel has probably the least amount of screen time, but to make up for that he has a nice little moment with Magnus that reminds us of their connection. He gets a vampire tranquilizer from Magnus claiming it is for himself. A few scenes later we see him using it on another vampire for what looks like some form of experiment. Raphael is using light, so this is probably bad news for Simon.

A good opening for the new season

“I sang you a song about nature!”

There is a lot to like about the new episode and as it is often the case I enjoy episode especially when they make the smaller scenes work within the episodes.

For starters, Clary’s and Jace’s fight scene: I cannot help it, I love all the fight scenes in Shadowhunters. They are so well done, they always managed to give us nice character moments along with it, and they are just all around badass. And it just makes sense? These people are fighting all the time, their job is to hunt demons - so yes, of course they need to train. A lot of shows (that are not anime) don’t really take the time to show that on a regular basis, but it is great that they include it here.

I was also very happy when the Shadowhunters met Catarina in the hospital. It was nice to see her again! And another encounter that was well done was Charlie - the guy that Izzy met at the hospital when she tried to get some candy there was so nice and friendly, it was refreshing. Their conversation was nothing special or super interestng, but it was a nice moment anyway. He was cleary interested in her and she was sort of reluctant, but he stayed polite and respectful, so it worked. I hope this guy won’t fall victim to a demon attack or something similar.

Having read the books I can only say that I’m looking forward to what kind of story the writers can come up with for Alec and Magnus. They won’t be stuck on vacation for a season and just send in some pictures every now and then, and it’s exciting to know that even after having read the books there is no way of knowing what will happen next. There are a few ideas what could happen, but seeing how Simon got his mark there could be all kinds of twists on the book’s story. In this rare case I can’t say that I’m disappointed because the writing of the show has been really good so far.

All in all I’m mostly impressed how the episode managed to have all these little plots in it but still make it feel like one whole episode, one story, where many people have a part in it but it is still all connected. Maybe that is because despite everyone having their own little story they still relate to other stories as well. Luke might be busy with dealing with Ollie, but he still has an open ear for Clary. Maia worries about Simon, but she’s also concerned with Luke’s “Ollie-problem”. Luke is not a Shadowhunter anymore, but he’ll send his Shadowhunter friends after the demon, and when the Jace, Alec and Izzy go to the hospital to investigate, they meet Magnus’ friend Catarina who’s worried about Magnus. Clary’s and Jace’s little secret is connected to Sebastian and therefore to Lilith, who is behind the demon’s attack in the first place, and it all comes together so wonderfully that I can’t help but be amazed by the amount of plot the writers managed to put into this episode without making it feel like it’s going to explore from the mass of things that happen.

Kudos to you, Shadowhunters creators!

Next: The Powers That Be (spoilers)

youtube

The Warlocks’ magic is becoming corrupted by a demonic presence while Izzy and Luke try to track down more information on the recent series of possessions.

In the next episode, the Institue is under attack - again - and some Shadowhunters are quick to respond with racism - again. We’re also introduced to the new High Warlock of Brooklyn, Lorenzo Rey. Going by promo, sneak peek and press release, this episode will focus more on Magnus and Alec, as well as Izzy and Luke.

#Shadowhunters review #SH review #Shadowhunters #review #SH 3x01 #SH s3

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bookdragonlibrary · 5 years

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Fifth Tuesday YJ appreciation

1-3 ; 4-6 ; 7-9 ; 10-13 ; 14-16 ; 17 ; 18 ; 19 ; 20 ; 21 ; 22 ; 23 ; 24-26

—————————— Quiet Conversations

- 1st January. Ok so this is happening in the same time that part of the previous episode.

- Silas tries desperately to connect back with his son :( Now their motivations are reverse.

- He feels bad :( That’s why he wasn’t there in the previous episode :(

- I love than you still see Fred’s true form in his reflexion. How did you feel Vic? Wait, did he spend the whole day outside?!

- The Father box has spread :(

- Where’s Gar?

- Jeff is there! And so is Dreamer! What didn’t they call the New Gods sooner?

- So Metron is an inventor among New Gods as he created Motherboxes, Fatherboxes and boomtube and his Mobius chair I guess.

- So it was a runaway note :(

- “We’ve talk” Now the Team will ask questions and discover she’s dying.

- So cute Fred wants to stay for his BF and Tara is concerned for Violet.

- Brion is a little bit confused with everything going on...

- Is that a M for Metron? Nope, it’s a nose xD Wait, what? The Source Wall. Source of what? The universe? Are this people? Is it people who are the source of this wall?

- Aw Harper got a bruise :(

- “Must be great to have a lot of people worried about you...” Her father seems pretty careless, yeah.

- Love Tara’s big smile! :D This is promising!

- Dhabar. I suppose this is in Qurac? Violet had to boom tube there.

- Cousin? Oh it’s her mother! But Violet seems pretty emotionless. I mean, of course, she never met her :(

- Can Violet speak Arabic because she remembers it from Gabrielle’s memories or she can speak any languages thanks to the Motherbox technology like Scarab?

- So the Center is built near the Star labs. Erdel initiative again. It’s the Zeta lab. Ed talked about it in the previous episode.

- I wonder how Atantis was designed to be understood underwater. Are Atlantis also lips readers?

- Since they can’t communicate, how did Kaldur know she wants to go?

- This is Eduardo senior.

- A41. There are 40 Leaguers? :o Wait, what is the A designation for already? Since B is for the Team. Kaldur is now 27.

- His magic is rusty but it worked perfectly. Imagine how powerful he would be if he had finished the magic school! :D

- So she’s Indian! :D

- She is happy! :D That should have been so frustrating to not be able to communicate with people. I think they have no idea where she comes from since they can’t hear the language underwater.

- Silas Stone is A42. So Jace just authorized him. Nope. Dr Irons.

- Thanks for the body horror. That wasn’t necessary. I think Vic and Violet are cursed because they are both through enormous pain this season...

- So the nose from earlier belongs to Gog. So all the people in the wall are gods.

- Minosyss Ring. Must be outside our solar system.

- “My brother.” So Clark still considered him as a brother?!

- Put him in a coma? I know it’s logical but still :(

- Jace covers her phone. Should be her mentor. So they isn’t someone she wants the Team to see? Bad news :/

- Whoa! The parademons’ lasers are strong enough to put Superman inconscious :o

- This is a strike! :D

- So Conner has his Kryptonian name: Kon-El!

- “I’m glad to see you.” At least, this has changed :)

- So the League is still after the Furies and stolen minerals to finish whatever machine this was.

- Wait! Granny had finished her machine already?!

- Now the Team now she is also working for Darkseid.

- Clark as his best man? He didn’t have better choice?

- “1.5 Kryptonian” So Conner isn’t 50% from Clark and Lex.

- Harper’s brother, Colin, has a black eye? This can’t be rough housing.

- “If i say anything, you have to tell the authorities.” So Harper is more afraid of being separated from her brother than she is of her dad.

- Why “of Atlantis”? King Orin isn’t sufficiant? Oh it’s for introducing him to the girl :)

- She noticed he lied. Thanks to her meta powers? I know people think she is Dolphin, so maybe she has something similar to their sonar to... feel emotions and feelings of people?

- I love that their gesture of respect is a fist on their forehead, maybe to imitate the sonar of dolphins? This is the tiny details which show a fantasy culture ;)

- Yes, she must talk to her mentor as they’re talking about Violet.

- Brion is sad and lost :(

- Now she says Halo instead of Violet. Why?

- That was a good speech actually. It made him smile again.

- Aw! So Vic was still missing his father :3

- “I am here to watch him die.” Thas wasn’t the plan, dude!

- “I have never seen a Fatherbox completly override an organic system.” Wait to see Violet!

- “Death is common place.” The problem between humans and gods, they don’t see things the same.

- Clever idea, Jeff. And Conner just throw him xD And Metron just stand up like nothing happened xD

- “0.5 of nothing.” Is it because he half human? (mostly)

- Sha’lain’a and Clavin Durham, Kaldur parents! I know he was named after him but I ignored his character was also his adopted father.

- Dolphin (I will call her like that until she has a name, because refering as the girl isn’t pratical) doesn’t like hug. Or to be touched in general? Because of the trauma I think :(

- So Kaldur’s parents adopted her? Hey, Kaldur has a little sister now! I knew he was a good big bro figure! :D (So please don’t ship them, that would be gross I think :/ )

- Calvin comes from San Diego.

- “It is more than I ever received up there.” She should have a heartbreaking backstory :’(

- “I have known bad men” I don’t like when tragic backstory involve a young girl and bad men. They often take the same route... :/

- It’s great someone finally says to Kaldur is a good person :3 We waited for this since season 1 and he particularly deserved it after season 2.

- I live M’gann knows this is a lie but still acts like it’s true to make Harper talk :)

- So Harper has the gun to bring it away from her alcoholic father. And guess let’s try it after I suppose?

- “Alcohol and fire arms, not a good mix.” “Duh!” The call back xD

- I love how she said she’s a big sister protecting her little brother and reminds her she’s a kid too :’( And then telling her it’s normal to be more afraid of a unknown situation (what comes next) than the present situation (which is worse but at least familiar).

- Even her voice is hearbreaking! :(

- Did you notice on the board in the background “Living with abuse is not a life”?

- Violet still wants to “fix” people, meaning bring them peace?

- We see Brion watching Fatherbox’ soul and understand what Violet is/ the difference between Violet and Gabrielle.

- “The soul of the Fatherbox has returned to the source.” So all Mother and Fatherboxes come from the Mobius chair.

- Vic is now Mobius tech. No more Fatherbox. Good news.

- “No and yes.” What is that supposed to mean? And who was he looking at while saying no?

- Finally a hug between Vic and his father! Maybe now Fatherbox isn’t a threat anymore, Vic think it’s safe to be with his dad again :)

- So Violet wanted to heal Gabrielle and go stuck in her body instead. Could it still be possible to resucitate Gabrielle? Can it happen if Violet actually die for real?

- “Everyone reacts differently in difficult times.” Gabrielle’s mother has such a deep philosophy.

- Samad lost his brother and Gabrielle’s mother lost her husband and now her daughter :(

- She is so sweet to Violet! :’(

- Tara and Violet hug!

- M’gann bring Harper and Colin to Child Protective Services. I hope they would have new parents! Who would they be? Someone we know? Would they be heroes too? As Harped is a vigilante in the comics. Batman will adopt her? Or would it be M’gann and Conner?

- Dolphin is happy! :D

- And here is Wyynde, King Orin’s guard/councelor? AND KALDUR’S BOYFRIEND?! This is so great! I knew he was bi in the YJ show! (Edit: Greg said he’s polysexual actually.) This was straightbaiting for people who wanted to ship Kaldur with Dolphin!

- Jace is so happy to see Violet back! :)

- Tara is talking to Slade! And she seems wanting to stop her infiltration mission because it’s a good environment for her! :)

- The message at the end!

It was a really great episode with a lot of happy endings and characters moving on.

#young justice #YJ reviews #watch young justice #watch young justice outsiders

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legionofcrows · 7 years

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That Jace ending scene though! I knew that storyline was coming but I wanted to avoid it as long as possible! Kind of bummed we didn't get a peaceful clace scene in the end like we did in the books. Before the "let's continue to torture Jace as much as we can" storyline continued next season! But I agree that he probably feels off balance, coming back to life definitely should have a effect. Do u think we'll get this Lilith storyline for all of s3? I hope it's over as soon as possible!

I don’t know about the Lilith storyline because in my opinion City of Ashes and City of Fallen Angels were the two books where virtually nothing happened until like the last quarter of the book. And they did City of Ashes in like 3 episodes but they said Lilith was the big bad for season 3 so I don’t really know if it’s going to be a half season or a whole season thing

#asked and answered #shadowhunters spoilers #Anonymous

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likelovelikesuicide · 7 years

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Shadowhunters - Reflect - Rant

So… I randomly have the week semi-free (I work as an in-home nanny for 2 boys under the age of 10, think of it like an Au Pair but less french…and this week Dad is home) so I have all the time in the world for several days and I’m gonna share some thoughts… feel free to talk at me…

I want them to kill Valentine because fuck Valentine, but I don’t want to lose Alan because his scenes with Will are stellar.. Also, can we take a moment to praise Will for handling the role of Demon-Toast-Boy/Sebastian/Jonathan so fucking well. Honestly, give Will an Oscar, an Emmy, a SAG award, fuck just make him president. He’s earned it.

It’s nice that they’re not trying to force or rush the Simon/Izzy relationship that everyone expects via the books… They need time to develop because right now, it’s not romantic at all… they are just two people with common friends who have helped each other out in the past and they continue to support each other though some really shit times. It’s a relationship based on mutual understanding. Plus they enjoy each other. Simon clearly finds Izzy lovely and engaging and he already cares for Max… Izzy knows Simon is sweet, caring and smart, plus he makes her laugh. I think we will see a lot of Sizzy in s3 but I imagine it will take a least half a season to get to romance.

Speaking of which, I’m also pleasantly surprised that they aren’t diving right back into an intense, sexual relationship between Clary and Jace - I think the kiss at the Seelie Court sealed the deal for Jace but he realized that he has to give Clary time, like she gave him and frankly, there’s a lot of shit going on around Clary right now (that’s pretty much constant…really) but anyway, I like where they’re going and I like that it’s not just Clary jumping from Jace, to Simon, to Jace, to Sebastian (ewww stop that you, no. stop it. Bad demon. -#Hits Jonathan with a stick), to Jace - It’s Clary just dealing with life… and I get that.

I love that legit everyone is aware of Alec and Magnus’ relationship and they all support it. Shit most of the other characters knew they were in love before they even got close to saying it to each other… #everyoneshipsmalec #powercouple

I need Alec to figure out Sebastian can’t be trusted before anyone else does and before they’re told by Max…. let all the extra hours at work pay off (plus I think Seb/Johnny Boy is a little bit scared of Alec and he should be, that boy don’t play and if Alec ever found out that Seb/Johnny Boy was the reason for Azazel’s attack, and thus what happened to Magnus… well, like I said, our boy don’t play around. Ya feel me?)

Okay LOOK… This arc for Magnus and Alec is about perspective and perspective is one of the hardest parts of being in any relationship, whether you’ve been together a week, a month, a year or 50 years, sometimes people fuck up simply because of how they see a situation vs. how their partner will see it. This is also about Alec learning to prioritize Magnus and his relationship while still being Head of the New York institute and leading the Shadowhunters in what everyone acknowledges to be an open war against Valentine and his followers.

Magnus’ point of view on everything that’s going on is so vastly different from Alec’s that they are bound to have problems. They always knew this - they are very totally different worlds, different centuries - and Magnus’ past also includes many dealings with the Clave that ended in broken promises, empty words… and now he’s left to wonder, is Alec really so different from the rest?

This is my perspective on what happen

Upon finding out that the Soul Sword was not only missing, but the Clave has been lying about it since Valentine’s attack, Alec focuses his mind on locating it before the information gets out… Maybe he’s planning how to tell the downworld council as a way to avoid any bias? Maybe he wants to talk to the Clave personally, gather more information before causing another panic?

In confidence, he tells the shadowhunters he trusts the most - Izzy, Jace and Clary - (Izzy makes it clear she thinks Alec should tell Magnus)

Magnus comes to Alec’s office that evening when he doesn’t turn up for dinner. They enjoy a nice meal together as Magnus explains his meeting with the Seelie Queen, all the while praising Alec for his honesty as the new Head of the Institute. Alec is clearly aware that he should say something, but the words don’t come… he never did have a way with words. Plus he doesn’t want to have to ask Magnus to keep the information quiet, because that wouldn’t be fair either… He’s essentially stuck between two shit choices and instead of making a choice, he has a nice lobster dinner with his boyfriend and enjoy’s their time together. Was it the right choice? No. Did he have a right choice? No. Should he have informed Magnus immediately upon finding out about the missing Soul Sword? Yes. From a relationship standpoint. Should he have shared state secrets against orders? No. But he should have told his boyfriend. Fuck. moving on…

Magnus returns home and Luke is there with a note from Cleo that Valentine has the Soul Sword… Magnus immediately assumes Alec doesn’t know but Luke isn’t so sure, and he’s right because Luke, of all people, knows how the shadowhunters work and Alec is HEAD OF THE FUCKING INSTITUTE now… My point is, Luke knows that for Magnus and Alec, it’s fucking complicated and I love that he’s trying to help them.

The argument between Magnus and Alec is so well done, #kudos. Alec is defensive because he doesn’t see Magnus’ point of view at all - Magnus is pissed, throwing cheap shots, questioning everything because fuck… and look, Alec clearly compartmentalizes his feelings against his duties, he always has. This is the same boy who almost married a girl he cared nothing about because of his sense of DUTY TO HIS FAMILY. Plus, He was raised with a lot of prejudice ideals about emotions and downworlders and shadowhunters and now… He is finally living the life he always wanted -he has his dream job and Magnus - and he’s trying not to fuck it up, of course he fails at that sometimes… we’ve all been there, am I right? - Magnus, on the other hand, is experienced beyond comprehension. He’s been alive longer than many civilizations and he’s not about to take shit from anyone. Ever. But he fell in love with a Shadowhunter and he KNOWS what Shadowhunters are like. What they have always been like. The Shadowhunters are an elitist society. They used to hunt his kind for sport … But Magus believes Alec is different… He truly trusted that Alec was different and he got knocked on his ass for it. I would have blown up something too… but probably not my liquor stash…

Fuck all this fight was always coming because they are from totally different worlds and #life. Also, Alec needs to pull his head out of his ass and prioritize his boyfriend before he loses the best thing that ever happened to him

I see a lot of talk about racism in the fandom and my opinion on racism is that if you make shit about race you are the problem… also I am a ghost pale, freckled, ginger, bisexual woman, and I acknowledge that my point of view on racism is based on my parents/extended family being hardcore american southern racists and I never understood wtf their problem was at all. People all look different. Humans are all equal.End of discussion … So I’m just gonna put it out there that if you have a problem with Magnus that has anything do with the fact that he’s Asian because he was born in Indonesia to an Indonesian woman, but you don’t mind the whole thing were his father is a greater demon and literally one of the princes of hell… then you are the problem.

Okay so we have 3 episodes left and overall it’s shaping up to be a good season. I’m hoping the next 3 Mondays impress the hell out of me and we get a great season worth marathoning… I lost count of how many times I marathoned s1 (and yet I still almost always missed episode 13)

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theravennest · 8 years

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5 Times Magnus Said Yes + 1 Time He Didn’t

A/N: Apparently, I wasn’t gonna feel better until I wrote something. lmao Here’s 6 different ways that scene could’ve gone in a 5 + 1, semi-script format. Enjoy! Beware there are light spoilers for the Bane Chronicles. Though I...adjusted some dialog for one of the scenes from the books...cuz I felt like it. Also, it’s a tad long.

Fandom: Shadowhunters TV Pairing: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood Rating: PG

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Version 1 – Bad at Words

Magnus: Alexander…I may be experienced but..it’s rare that I’ve ever felt this way about someone and…I worry that once we- that if we rush into this, that I may lose you.

Alec: What? Why would you think that?

Magnus: Look, you’re not the only one that feels vulnerable.

Alec: Magnus, you have nothing to worry about. I want this.

*Alec leans in to kiss Magnus but Magnus raises his hand to his chest again.*

Magnus: I know. I know you do but I’ve gone too fast before or someone else has. At the start of a relationship, I mean. And afterwards everything began to fade until I was left alone. I don’t want to do that with you. I know that I want this to last.

Alec: Magnus…I know the way I came in made it seem like I just want to- to just have sex or- or…that I’m not thinking of the future. That was- that was my fault. I didn’t say it right. You know I’m terrible at words.—Izzy’s going to kill me.

Magnus: Izzy?

Alec: Never mind, it’s nothing. Listen, what I meant was that I am thinking of the future. A future with you. Yes, I want to be with you now but that won’t stop tonight. You know me, Magnus. You know that once- once I’ve decided to make someone one of my people, one of my family, that’s it for me. I do anything for them. You’re that for me. One- one of my family. I’m guessing that you’re not sure because of something that happened to you before. I can see that I- that I ignored your feelings there, I’m sorry.

Magnus: Thank you, Alec.

Alec: Magnus, I don’t want to do anything you don’t want to—if you want to wait, we will—but I do want you to know that I am ready and I’m ready for you and I’m ready for this and everything that comes after too. And I want to wait until you feel ready too. I don’t want to be with you just for a night. I want to be with you for as many nights as possible. For as many nights as you’ll have me. I don’t know what will happen from now on but I know what I’m feeling right now won’t fade.

Magnus: Oh, Alexander…

Alec: Is that ok? Did I say it right this time?

Magnus: Yes…yes, you said it perfectly. Come here.

*Magnus pulls Alec in for a soft kiss and leads him back to the bedroom.*

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Version 2 – The Uncontrollable Metaphors

Magnus: Alexander…I may be experienced but..it’s rare that I’ve ever felt this way about someone and…I worry that once we- that if we rush into this, that I may lose you.

Alec: What? Why would you think that?

Magnus: Look, you’re not the only one that feels vulnerable.

Alec: Magnus, you have nothing to worry about. I want this.

*Alec leans in to kiss Magnus but Magnus raises his hand to his chest again.*

Magnus: Wait. Wait, Alec…there’s more that I need to say.

*Alec pauses as Magnus searches for words.*

Magnus: Remember when we were on the balcony, when Jace was missing, and you told me that with him gone, the ground was shifting and it was hard to keep your balance?

Alec: Yes?

Magnus: That’s what I feel now…earlier today, every day lately, when I’m with you. Like I’m standing on shifting sand as the tide pulls me under.

Alec: Magnus…

Magnus: I’m drowning in you, Alexander. In what I’m feeling for you. Every day it gets harder to stay afloat. What if I get pulled out to sea and you’re still standing on the shore?

Alec: Okay, I’m going to be honest, this metaphor is losing me a little.

*Magnus gives a self-deprecating laugh.*

Magnus: You’re right. No more flowery language for this. I don’t want us to want different things, to feel different things, in this relationship. I want us to go at the same pace so that neither of us is left feeling less than the other person.

Alec: Agreed.

*Magnus pauses and looks away to gather his strength.*

Magnus: I’m falling for you, Alexander. I’m falling in a way I rarely, if ever, have before. Can you honestly tell me you’re feeling the same?

*Alec licks his lips and takes a deep breath before he goes to talk.*

Alec: You know that I don’t have- I don’t have any real experience other than you. The only thing I know is the- whatever I was feeling for Jace. What that was is not what this is with you. I know we said no more metaphors but…you told me once that emotions are like symptoms. I can feel myself getting those every day with you. And it’s more than when you walk into a room. It’s when I think about you during debriefings because I’m standing where you once stood. It’s when I’m walking through Soho and I see something shining on a table and I know I want to buy it for you. It’s when I go to sleep at night and instead of my heart beating faster it slows down because I thought of you in my dreams and it calmed me. I don’t know if that’s falling for someone like you’re falling but I think it is…isn’t it?

*Magnus struggles to control himself before he talks.*

Magnus: Yes, Alexander. That’s exactly what it is.

*Magnus smiles brightly and pulls Alec in for a kiss, pulling them both back into the bedroom.*

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Version 3 – The Omamori

Magnus: Alexander…I may be experienced but..it’s rare that I’ve ever felt this way about someone and…I worry that once we- that if we rush into this, that I may lose you.

Alec: What? Why would you think that?

Magnus: Look, you’re not the only one that feels vulnerable. Today…when you gave me that omamori…I felt something I hadn’t felt-

*Magnus turns his head away for a second.*

Magnus: Do you know the last time someone gave me a gift?

*Alec shakes his head and looks puzzled but interested while Magnus gives a wry smile.*

Magnus: Me neither. *laughs* It’s been that long since someone has. Memories are my personal specialty so trust me when I say it’s hard for me to forget something.

Magnus: I told someone today that I’m used to people demanding things of me. It’s rare for people to give me things. Rarer still for it to be a gift from someone I am in a relationship with. With my friends, Tessa, Cat- *pause* Ragnor…immortals don’t really gift each other material things; we have an eternity to acquire our own wealth. We give each other metaphorical things like time alive together or space for seclusion or a traveling adventure. But lovers give material things, tangible things, and you’re the first one to do that for me in so long I can’t remember.

*Magnus pauses as he searches Alec’s eyes.*

Alec: You think that what’s happening with us is special.

Magnus: Yes! Special for me in a way that it might not be for you yet or ever.

*Alec takes a moment to think.*

Alec: Did you know that the cherry blossom is about how life is short?

Magnus: *smiling in sudden surprise* Ah, well…that’s a rather abbreviated interpretation but yes, it’s something like that. Are you talking about our walk in Tennoji Temple today? Under the cherry blossoms?

Alec: *blushing in embarrassment* I asked the man who gave that gift to me and he told me about the trees and—look, his English was tourist strong and my Japanese consists of things I picked up listening to Max talk for hours about his anime so I’m not sure if this is what he meant but…he said cherry blossoms were about how quickly life goes but how beautiful it was when it’s there.

Magnus: A flash of dazzling brilliance but gone so quickly, blooming only for that flash. You must appreciate everything, in every moment, before the season turns and the petals fall, leaving only barren branches.

Alec: Um…yeah, all of..that. *sighs* I can’t promise you forever, Magnus. I know that I’m..just a moment flashing in your life. So I bought that gift hoping that the protection I can’t promise would last longer than even me.

Magnus: Alexander…

Alec: It is special between us, Magnus. For me and for you. Both of us. Together.

Magnus: Do you mean that?

Alec: I do, Magnus. I really do.

*Alec leans in to kiss Magnus softly and pulls back to hover just over his mouth.*

Alec: Are you ok? Are you still feeling…vulnerable?

*Magnus simply inhales for a moment, sharing a breath between them.*

Magnus: No. Not anymore.

*Magnus pulls Alec back in for another kiss and they walk back into the bedroom.*

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Version 4 – The Playful Callback

Magnus: Alexander…I may be experienced but..it’s rare that I’ve ever felt this way about someone and…I worry that once we- that if we rush into this, that I may lose you.

Alec: What? Why would you think that?

Magnus: Look, you’re not the only one that feels vulnerable.

Alec: Magnus, you have nothing to worry about. I want this. I told you that I spent my whole life thinking I couldn’t have what I want. Like I couldn’t be who I want. You’re the first person that made me want to try. I don’t want to mess this up. I don’t want to lose you either. And I don’t want to lie to you, Magnus. Some of what I’m feeling tonight comes from before us, even before we met. It’s about something I’ve been wanting for a long time. Not the- the s- sex part. Okay, well yes, the sex but not just the sex. I’m not saying this right… *huffs* I know it seems like I suddenly wanted to have sex with you but I��ve been thinking about this for a long time. I’ve been stuck on pause my whole life, staring at the same picture of my family and my responsibilities and it wasn’t until I met you that someone bothered to press play. This want isn’t just from tonight and it isn’t just for tonight. It’s all of my life leading up to this moment here with you.

*Alec looks at Magnus and takes his hand.*

Alec: I don’t want to make it hard for you or pressure you but I’m not rushing. I’ve been waiting for this my whole life…I- did any of what I just said reassure you at all or did I make it worse?

Magnus: *Magnus is holding back a smile.* It was certainly a bit of a ramble but I got your meaning.

Alec: Okay?

Magnus: Okay…

Alec: Okay?

Magnus: Okay.

Alec: …Let’s play.

*The smile Magnus is holding back bursts free at that. Alec leans in to kiss Magnus and pulls him close as they continue back to the bedroom.*

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Version 5 – The Bare Minimum

Magnus: Alexander…I may be experienced but..it’s rare that I’ve ever felt this way about someone and…I worry that once we- that if we rush into this, that I may lose you.

Alec: What? Why would you think that?

Magnus: Look, you’re not the only one that feels vulnerable.

Alec: Magnus, you have nothing to worry about. I want this.

*Goes to kiss Magnus again but pauses.*

Alec: Do you?

*Magnus softens and smiles a little.*

Magnus: I do.

Alec: Great.

*Alec continues kissing Magnus and they push back into the bedroom.*

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Version 6 – The Harlem Blues

Magnus: Alexander…I may be experienced but..it’s rare that I’ve ever felt this way about someone and…I worry that once we- that if we rush into this, that I may lose you.

Alec: What? Why would you think that?

Magnus: Look, you’re not the only one that feels vulnerable.

Alec: Magnus, you have nothing to worry about. I want this.

*Alec leans in to kiss Magnus but Magnus raises his hand to his chest again.*

Magnus: I know you want this but…I think I want to wait. There are a dozen reasons to wait and keep talking.

Alec: Okay…

Magnus: Let’s sit down.

*Magnus leads them over to his couch. Alec rubs his sweaty palms on his pants, biting his lip as he darts glances at Magnus’ face from beneath his lashes.*

Magnus: I know our last talk about exes didn’t go so well but I guess I should tell you why I’m feeling vulnerable.

Alec: Say what you think.

Magnus: *a smile flashes* You already know about Camille. Some of it, at least. She is- was...a difficult ex and a complicated one.

Alec: Clearly…

Magnus: Yes, well…I’ve had different kinds of endings. Not just the ones that end in violence and a portal to Idris. *he takes a deep breath* In the late 1930s, I met a woman. A gorgeous mundane singer named Etta whom I asked to dance. We had one dance and we fell so hard, so fast it was like we were in love before the end of the song or maybe even before the song began.

*Magnus looks off into some liminal space, memories flashing that Alec can’t see.*

Magnus: It was the end of the Harlem Renaissance then or rather what history says was the end of it. Mortals love to put a date stamp on things. In truth the art forms continued long after the history books stopped talking about it, a little changed in topic but just as raw. The Great Depression had torn through everyone, even the Shadow World. I lost a lot then. Not just money. The only thing we had was each other and art. The artistry and inspiration and joy and rage and pain that came from Black Harlem artists in that time was like nothing I had ever experienced before. Nothing I have since, if I’m honest. Etta was part of that for me and it was a whirlwind.

*Alec’s leg gives a nervous jump and he grips his own thigh hard.*

Magnus: We didn’t stop, we didn’t think, we just felt as much as possible, as hard as possible. We thought love would be enough. Every morning hitting the pavement, trying to squeeze out a little coin that we knew would be gone by the end of the night. Every night in my apartment, slow dancing and never letting go. But by the 50s we both understood. We weren’t on the same page, not anymore. I was still twisting in the whirlwind and she was wanting to find a bunker for shelter.

*Magnus looks at Alec then.*

Magnus: She was one of the best club singers for over a decade while I knew her. Many men would come by her set and fall all over her, offering her what she wasn’t able to get from me. She wanted kids, you see. Children I couldn’t…couldn’t give her. A life lived growing old and watching the next generation prosper. She knew about me, about the Shadow World, had even met Raphael when he was staying with me for a time. I wondered if she would become immortal for me, if she wanted to live forever with me. There are…ways. But she said she didn’t want it. “If I could have more time with you, Magnus baby, I would slow the clock right on the second hand. Holding you in the eternity nestled between my heartbeats…but I don’t want to smash the clock. I don’t want to stop it. Just…pause it for a little while.”

*A tear trickles down Magnus’ cheek, surprising him. He pauses to wipe it away and his face settles into neutrality.*

Alec: Magnus…

Magnus: She left me then. Found a man, had two daughters. It wasn’t a parting like Camille. We didn’t salt the earth. I kept up with her and watched over her—which she knew—and every year that grew on, it got harder. Until her mind went and she didn’t even know my face when I came to visit her.

Alec: By the Angel…

Magnus: We wanted different things and we didn’t stop to think about it. We didn’t stop to talk. She was the last person I loved before- *sighs* …I told you once that I hadn’t allowed myself to feel anything for anyone for almost a century. She was the last one before I stopped. The one that made me stop. And I messed it up because I went too fast and didn’t make sure we both knew what we wanted.

*Magnus stands and glides towards the closed glass doors of his balcony and crosses his arms across his chest. Alec and Magnus look at each other through their reflections in the glass panes.*

Magnus: I do want to be with you, Alexander. In every way imaginable. Consumedly, maddeningly…but if I’ve learned nothing from my past, Etta at least taught me that the whirlwind is fun for a time but a tornado always leaves wreckage in its wake.

Alec: We’ll wait. I can wait. I’m not-

*Alec stands abruptly and goes over to Magnus. He hesitates for a moment and then wraps his arms around Magnus from behind. Magnus’ hands that had been gripping his own biceps loosen and move to lightly press against Alec’s forearms.*

Alec: I’m not going anywhere.

*Magnus is somehow more vulnerable than ever before and yet more secure than he was earlier that evening. Waiting and talking had been exactly the right thing to do. He closes his eyes and rests his head against Alec’s temple.*

Magnus: Thank you.

*Fade to black.*

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A/N: I changed the dialog for Etta. lmao IDGAF. This is show Malec anyway so I decided to give her a more lyrical turn on account of she was a musician during the Harlem Renaissance. Apparently I was feeling really metaphorical today cuz there’s like 6 of them in this joint. I’m sorry.

The Harlem Blues was my favorite cuz I loved the idea of Etta even if we barely see her in the books. The Omamori was my second favorite cuz it tied to the gift.

Let me know what you think. Which version is the one you liked most? Peace.

#shadowhunters #magnus bane #alec lightwood #malec #harry shum jr #matthew daddario #fanfiction #myfics #I tag as if this is not the first fic-type thing I've ever written on here. lmao

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iheartfictionalboys · 8 years

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Shadowhunters Season 2, Episode 1 Review- This Guilty Blood

So Season 2 of Shadowhunters is finally out and I can get back to doing my reviews on each episode like I did with the first season. To be honest I wasn’t sure if this show would even get a second season but now that it has I’m expecting great things. I assume that the second season will be portraying the story arcs that happen in the second book, City of Ashes so I’m judging based off that material. So without further ado let’s get started. And like with last season these do contain spoilers so make sure you watch the episode first.

Things I liked:

- Valentine making pasta sauce will forever be iconic.

- One thing I’m kinda surprised I liked was the fact Magnus confronted Alec about the kiss. He basically said Alec didn’t do him but for himself and I kinda liked that. I don’t really know why but I think it’ll make their relationship more complex and that’s what’s kinda great about Malec in the books is they have a complex relationship so I’m glad they’re not just gonna be a cutesy gay couple cuz what I loved, and I think a lot of people loved, about Malec was that they were real and got into arguments and worked through tough times and seemed possible. So yeah, couples arguing for the win :P

- K izzy’s snake turning into a staff was awesome. And can I just say Emeraude Toubia in Izzy workout clothes is just goals. Actually Emeruade Toubia in general is goals and she’s my favourite part of the show.

- I know I’m focusing on this scene a lot but I just like Izzy kinda training Clary like a little I know there were ulterior motives in the training session but still.

- Matthew Daddario really portrays Alec’s personality and inability to express his feelings a lot of the time well and that makes me happy.

- That brief Clary and Simon moment where they’re talking about hangovers and laughing. I love that Katherine and Alberto really have such great friendship chemistry and make these two characters genuinely seem like best friends.

- “I’m a vampire I’m running slow for you.” - classic Simon

Things I didn’t like:

- Some of the camerawork was really weird. Like kinda shaky in some places i don’t know if that was intentional or not but it just seemed out of place.

- Who is Victor Aldertree? Is this a character I forgot? Wait isn’t he the crazy leader of the Clave who like locks Simon up in jail in City of Glass? What? Why would they make such a change like this? I mean the boy is fine but I don’t understand why they didn’t bring the inquisitor in because she was an awesome villainish character who could have been interesting particularly because of her connection to Jace.

- There is some cringy dialogue I’m sorry but there is like it doesn’t sound like something that would come out of a teenager’s mouth.

- I never really liked Jocelyn that much in the books to begin with so waking her up early from the comma is not something I liked. I don’t really get why they woke her up early because the best thing about the City of Ashes book is you get to see Clary come into her own and become stronger because she doesn’t really have anyone to protect her in the same ways as before. With Jocelyn around in the show I worry that development won’t get to happen.

- WHY. WHY DOES THIS SHOW LIKE TO JUMP AROUND WITH PLOT SO MUCH. WHY ARE THEY REVEALING ALL THE VALENTINE EXPERIMENTING STUFF NOW. THAT DOESN’T COME UP TIL LATE END OF BOOK 2 STRETCHING INTO LIKE BOOK 3 I THINK. IT IS UNNECESSARY AND CREATES AN UNNATURAL PROGRESSION FOR THE CHARACTERS AND THE STORY.

- ALSO I AM SORRY BUT ANY WOMAN WHO IS PREGNANT OR REALLY JUST ANYONE HAVE A NEEDLE INJECTED INTO THEIR STOMACH WOULD WAKE THE FUCK UP AND NOT JUST SLEEP THROUGH IT. AND SIDE NOTE, VALENTINE NEVER INJECTED JOCELYN HE GAVE HER DRINKS JUST SAYING.

- I’m sure I said this at some point during last season’s reviews but I’ll say it again. I do not like Valentine. Nothing personal against the actor but it’s just not a believable performance in my eyes and he doesn’t suit the personality or style of Valentine. One thing I liked about when Jonathan Rhys Meyers played Valentine in the movie was that I genuinely believed he could be Valentine. I don’t believe this guy is Valentine or has Valentine’s personality and that’s a problem for me.

- K apparently I hate moms in this series but let me just explain this: in City of Ashes Maryse had difficulty in believing Jace was innocent or believing he was working with Valentine and I hated that but she never seemed to completely stop loving him or thinking it was a mistake to take him in or tell Alec Jace wasn’t his brother. TV Maryse, WOW IS SHE A BITCH. HOW CAN YOU SAY SUCH TERRIBLE THINGS ABOUT JACE. HE WAS YOUR SON FOR 10 YEARS YOU CARED FOR HIM AND SUDDENLY HE’S TRASH?!?! LIKE WTF?!?! They’ve made the character a bitch and i recognize she was kinda bitchy in the beginning but WOW THEY BUMPED IT UP AND I AM NOT PLEASED. SHE’S LIKE NOT EVEN A MOM TO HER KIDS ANYMORE OR REALLY EVER.

- So for those who care to know I write these review points as I watch the show. Remember that Jocelyn note a couple notes back? Prediction came true within about 30 minutes. WOW JOCELYN I DO NOT LIKE YOU. YOU STOLE YOUR DAUGHTER’S PHONE AND STELE AND LOCKED HER IN A PIER. YOU ARE HOLDING HER BACK I GET YOU WANT TO PROTECT HER BUT YOU ARE NOT HELPING HER.

- This one isn’t really a dislike it just makes me laugh but like cuz its awkward. Why is it every time Magnus does magic it looks like he’s doing tai chi. If memory serves (which it may not it’s been a while since I read the books) book Magnus could like do stuff by snapping his fingers and waving not getting ready to do like crouching tiger hidden dragon stuff. It just looks kinda silly but like not in a way that’s intolerable.

- EWWW. VALENTINE TALKING TO JACE ABOUT INCEST FEELINGS EWWWW. THAT IS NEVER A CONVERSATION I NEEDED OR WANTED.

- OK WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT THIS FUCKER OF AN ENDING, A) JACE DOESN’T BREAK THE ACCORDS. B) JOCELYN WOULD NEVER TRY TO KILL HER SON WITH A CROSSBOW LIKE WTF WAS THAT. C) VALENTINE NEVER GETS SHOT IN THE CHEST. WHAT IN ALL THAT IS HOLY WERE MY EYES FORCED TO WITNESS?!?!?!

Alrighty so clearly I wasn’t a fan of this first episode. On an objective scale though it isn’t bad it’s following the world it has set up and is naturally progressing in terms of that. If you’ve never read the books this would probably have been really enthralling. And I gotta say they do the secondary characters so much justice I really respect that. But as someone who has read and loves the books it breaks my heart to see such straying from the source material. I know it’s its own thing and isn’t trying to be the books but it’s making changes that don’t benefit the storytelling and that is really upsetting. City of Ashes is in my top 3 favourite Mortal Instrument Books it’s one of my favourites so I’m gonna be harder on this season (as you can see through my like/dislike ratio already). All in all, I gotta see where they take it before I make any judgments I mean they may do something really cool I’m just going to say that I’m weary right now. Hope you come back next week to see my opinions on episode 2. And next week I’ll make sure to set up like a link to this stuff so spoilers aren’t out in the open I just kinda rushed to make this week’s :P

#shadowhunters #season 2 #episode 1 #this guilty blood #review #my opinion #kat mcnamara #emeraude toubia #matthew daddario #alberto rosende #dominic sherwood #so many emotions

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bluephoenixdruidicprincess · 6 years

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Shadowhunters Season 3 Episode 8, A Heart of Darkness Review

Welcome to another Shadowhunters review. Because I love to torture myself with ridiculous and illogical writing. But actually this week's episode, whereas it was ridiculous and illogical, I didn't hate this episode. It wasn't great but for an hour of television, I could tolerate it. So here we are with Season 3 Episode 8, A Heart of Darkness.

I would like to preface this review with saying that I am NOT a huge supporter of this show. I do enjoy certain elements of it but I'm not what would be classified as a devoted fan. For me, Shadowhunters is not a good show and I do get very critical of the show in my reviews. Honestly, for me, I watch the show because 1) I'm too curious not to and 2) I find that this show can be so bad its funny and that's how I reap enjoyment out of it. I am not at all invested in this show or its characters anymore. I'm just watching to see what happens. If you're a die hard fan and you lash out at everyone who has a different opinion than you, you might want to skip these. I'm just saying. My reviews may not be for you. If you do decide to be a total troll, well then pay attention to the below disclaimer.

This is going to be an honest review of my thoughts and feelings regarding this episode. 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, quirky and socially awkward me, think and feel. So please, lets discuss with dignity and respect. If I'm critical about this 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 I'm not going to point out the things that are legitimately wrong with it. Also, keep in mind that despite the fact that I do like the books, me being critical of this show has nothing to do with my fondness for the books. I don't really care if the show deviates from the source material as long as the changes are good, it makes sense, and it doesn't create plot holes within the confines of the world the show has created. My problems with this show are problems 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 movie.

This episode could actually have been very enjoyable if the show had bothered to take its time with previous character arcs. There were quite a few character moments that made me legitimately feel things in this episode. Not enough to cry or anything like that but if the show had bothered to learn that you don't have to cover two books a season and slow down in which case they would've had time to properly explore and flesh out some of these character dynamics, it would've resulted in me probably being moved to tears in this episode. But unfortunately, the show did not do that so what could've been very emotional moments just continues to fall flat. And I realize I just contradicted myself a little there so let me explain. I did feel things in this episode for the characters but the characters and their relationship dynamics have been so shakily developed that it was more me feeling for these characters as if they were their book counterparts. I'll delve more into this explanation as I go through this review.

The Episode Where Shadowhunters Got All Teen Wolf On Us

You know, I'm not even mad that Shadowhunters pretty much stole an entire plot point from another supernatural teen drama. Shadowhunters does love its tropes even though when they do it, their version is somehow much more boring than the original plot point it was inspired from but that's beside the point. And honestly, if you're going to take a plot point from another supernatural teem drama, you can do a lot worse than Teen Wolf. Not to mention, the specific plot arc they used from Teen Wolf is one of my favorites with the plot highlighted by the amazing character relationships of the Sciles (Scott/Stiles) bromance and the slowest of slow burns, Stydia (Stiles/Lydia). Both were amazing character dynamics within the show that I greatly enjoyed. R.I.P. Teen Wolf. I still miss you.

Shadowhunters didn't do quite as well with this plot as Teen Wolf did simply because Shadowhunters does very little to actively develop their characters in general but nonetheless, I did quite enjoy this plot point, flaws and all.

This segment was probably my favorite of the entire episode. Alec and Izzy going to help bring Jace's soul back to the surface was really interesting. The show has spent so much time on these character's love lives that a lot of times we forget that these three have spent most of their childhood together. That they do have real bonds with each other. From what we've been told, they were a moderately successful team before they met Clary and it was really great to see that dynamic again. In the book, it's actually Clary who's able to break through Jace's possession and it works there. But for the show, it's definitely something that makes more sense if Alec and Izzy were the ones to do it. Show Clace just doesn’t have the relationship foundation to make that plot point not cheesy. I suppose the show could still go back and make Clary be the one to do it and just like earlier this season, it'll still be cheesy and I'll still hate it. So I'm really hoping the show doesn't go for that. That it'll be Alec and Izzy that will motivate Jace to push past the possession. But at the same time, I’m not holding my breath for that one. This is Shadowhunters after all; I’m not sure it knows how to not be cheesy and cliché.

I really enjoyed how we got to see Alec, Izzy, and Jace sparring with each other as kids. The dialogue was cringey as hell but the actual idea behind the scene I really enjoyed. I liked the song that Izzy sang to Jace. I thought that it was a really nice touch and I certainly never expected the show to use that song. It's not in the context of how it was used in the books but I felt like it was very effectively used in this scene. And Emeraude's pronunciation of french wasn't half bad, either, so I'll give her that. I like how the first part of their journey starts with "Three go in, three come out." And the journey ends with the same "Three go in, three come out." If you haven't stuck with me through my Supernatural re-watch you wouldn't know this, but I'm a huge sap for episodic symmetry. I absolutely love it when that sort of thing happens. Shadowhunters needs to do more of that instead of having these one-off scenes that have no bearing for the rest of the episode and the rest of the season for that matter. And then the plot point ends with Alec and Izzy in total despair after Lillith gets Jace again when they promised it wouldn't happen. Which I also really enjoyed. Obviously, not the part where they're in deep emotional pain but, you know, plot symmetry.

Of course, not everything with this plot was great. For starters, the insinuation that Alec's parabatai bond is the strongest connection there is has me a little iffy. The show's version of a parabatai bond's strength goes up and down. It has no consistency so I have a really hard time believing that one. Then Magnus also talks about how what he's doing is super dangerous and it could be the end for Alec and I'm just like, "As opposed to when?" Whenever Alec does stuff like this, he always ends up in the worst possible shape. Seriously, if we're to look at the parabatai bond through the eyes of the show, why would anyone ever want a parabatai? Other than to receive an abundance of tracking abilities, that is. I wish the show would stop focusing on the dramatic elements of parabatai-ness and start showing the positives of having a parabatai. Because at this point, I see none.

I also wish we got an explanation just in general of how this process of going into Jace's mind works. It feels really convenient that for starters, Magnus has the ability to project Alec into Jace's mind using the parabatai bond and then he also has the ability to bring Izzy along for the ride as well. How? Who knows. I guess it's a spell that Magnus just happens to know even though it doesn't really make sense that Magnus would have any ability to influence runic magic. This sounds more like something a Silent Brother would be able to do as opposed to a warlock. Warlocks have power to manipulate demon magic. The runes stem from angelic magic. His magic shouldn't have any power over angelic magic. But I should stop this. The apocalypse will hit before this show ever explains its magic system or its world-building. And I'm talking fire and brim stone apocalypse not that whole Walking Dead/zombie apocalypse thing society is currently obsessed with. The zombie fad is dumb and I hate The Walking Dead with a blood searing passion.

And again, kind of an issue with the plot is how little we have to go on with Jace, Alec, and Izzy's relationship. This is what I meant when I felt emotional about scenes but it was more on the behalf of the book characters than the show characters. We haven't really been given a lot on the show about how Jace, Alec, and Izzy functioned together so it was easier for me to use the book counterparts as surrogates in this scene and that's what got me emotional. Thinking about how the book characters would react in this kind of situation is what illicited an emotional response with me. Whereas the show characters aren’t too terribly written, I don’t have much of a connection with any of them and we have this show’s dialogue and poorly executed plots to blame for that.

I'm also going to be nitpicky here. Why was Lillith having Jace stab Clary over and over in his head? In order to make sure Clary couldn't reach him anymore, Lillith had to take away his love for Clary with an anti-love potion. He supposedly doesn't love her anymore so why would him continuously stabbing Clary in his head be an effective means for torture? He doesn't love her so he shouldn't be affected by it. I feel like I’m missing something here.

Also, not sure why Asmodeus would care if LIllith killed Magnus. Why would he care about some half-human whelp that resides in one of many hundreds of dimensions out there? It makes sense why Lillith cares about Jonathon because her ability to have children was taken from her so she clings to Jonathon. However, Asmodeus is hardly in that same boat. He can have any number of children in the hundreds of dimensions he can visit. Why would he care about Magnus? I guess we'll see whenever he gets introduced. I’m honestly not excited for that.

Like with Lillith, anything Owl Jace had to say was super bland and uninteresting. And nothing he had to say was all that ground-breaking or hurtful. It's like insulting someone while you're tired. You're literally too tired to put any bite behind your insults. You're just insulting for the sake of insulting. It was super obvious that he was talking and no one really cared what he had to say. I certainly didn't. And I'm not entirely certain why Simon thought yelling at Owl Jace was somehow going to make Jace feel bad. Was he not told that Jace is being possessed? It was really weird and I didn't care about it. It was cheaply manufactured drama and that’s the worst kind. Owl Jace also made a comment about Alec being with Magnus but at the same time truly wanting to be with Jace instead and I'm just like, "Where the hell did this come from?" Alec being in love with Jace hasn't been talked about since Season 1. I didn't even realize this was still an issue within their character dynamics. The show definitely should've re-introduced this particular character dynamic before mentioning it in this episode. But they probably didn’t have any time what with the million and one side characters they have in this show.

Clary's Interrogation

This entire episode, we have Clary being interrogated by the Mortal Sword and in what it accomplishes, it works. But what it does with her character, I dislike. So initially last episode, I had this head canon that the reason Clary decided to stay behind unnecessarily was because she's dealing with a lot of guilt regarding the consequences that have arisen from her using the wish on Jace. This is her way of making amends for what's happened. I'm all for this character arc obviously because Clary never being held accountable for her actions is something I despise about this show's writing. I really want Clary to "grow-up" (even though she's 18 and she should already have been taught that decisions have consequences a long time ago) and learn that there are consequences. That just because you break the law for the right reasons doesn't absolve you of guilt. You do a bad thing for the right reasons? That doesn't make the bad thing a good thing. You should still be willing to hold yourself accountable for the bad things that happen as a result. In this way, Clary is very similar to her father. Valentine did a whole mess of terrible things and he attached a bunch of justifications to those bad things in order to make them good things in his eyes and refused to hold himself accountable for the lives he destroyed. Looking at it through this, can you really say Clary is much better despite all of her protests? If she goes unchecked, Clary is surprisingly a lot like her father. So I was really hoping that Clary was having a bit of an epiphany and I was super excited to see this play out.

But no. Apparently, the only reason she's doing this is to buy time for everyone else. And this makes absolutely no sense. When the Clave apprehended her, they didn't know who dug up the grave. They literally only know the story BECAUSE she stayed behind. Because they had someone to use the Mortal Sword on to tell them who dug up the grave. If she had went with everyone else, the Clave still wouldn't have had any idea what's going on. My head canon makes sense but what the show did instead makes absolutely no sense. It just makes our heroine look dumb and not in a "this makes sense for her character" dumb because I respect that sometimes characters make dumb decisions based on their character arcs. This is just dumb story-telling that wasn't properly thought out at its conception and no one bothered to tweek it. Seriously, who edits these scripts? Does no one in the Shadowhunters writing room care that their show makes no sense? That their characters are dumb simply because the plot demands them to be but yet they still expect the audience to view the characters as these legitimate, hyper-intelligent adults? Shouldn't you as a writer care about something like that? Why do the writers have zero respect for their audience's intelligence? Because I've got to believe that these writers realize how dumb their characters are and they're just hoping the audience will go with it. And the truly depressing part is that I wish I could say that this is only a problem Shadowhunters has. But I've seen other Freeform shows and they also display the same level of lazy writing. If Freeform wants to get on the level with CW, it's not going to be enough for them to be more "edgy" (and they’re barely edgy as it is), they also need to work out the kinks in their story-telling. That's where their real problem lies.

And Clary, for whatever reason, can resist the Mortal Sword which, eww. Mary Sue attacks again. I get that this episode was attempting to exposit information to the Clave so our characters are on a time crunch. But it was completely unnecessary for Clary to have this ability to be able to resist the sword and just further pushes her into the Mary Sue archetype. At this point, we get it. Clary is strong and amazing. The show's really laying this theme on thick. You would have to have an IQ of -900 not to have picked up on that Clary is supposed to be strong. Seriously, what does this show have against allowing Clary to be vulnerable? Even in her emotional moments, she lacks vulnerability. Because even when she cries, she's still perceived as better than everyone else because she has the audacity to show how she's feeling. That her feelings is what makes her better than everyone else. Clary eventually, in probably her biggest Mary Sue moment ever, is able to push the sword away from her and tells the Clave she's happy she used the wish. Because it stops anyone else from being able to use it to destroy the downworlders. And I can't help but feel she's making a lot of assumptions about the Clave here. That if they were to ever use the wish, she believes that they'll use it to rid everyone of demon blood. The only one who's guilty of that is Valentine. She has no idea if the Clave made a wish, it would include downworlders. It might but it might not. It's all in how you word the wish.

But at the end of the episode, Jia Penhallow (Aline's mother) asks Clary if she has any final words before she places punishment and Clary asks Jia to think if it were Aline, and Jia was in the same situation, wouldn't she have done it for Aline? And Jia just verbally bitch smacks Clary by stating no, she wouldn't have. Because she understands that there's things in this world bigger than her and her daughter. That being a shadowhunter is about sacrifice. I'm not too fond of the overarching theme that shadowhunters aren't allowed to feel which seems to be what's driving this scene (honestly that particular theme can curl up and die in Season 1) but I do like the idea that despite Jia loving her daughter, she would let her daughter go if she had to weigh her daughter against the fate of the entire world. And Clary has always kind of scoffed at the idea of shadowhunters "being dead inside" as she so blatantly stated once in Season 1. She views it as a flaw within their society and in certain aspects, it is a flaw. Love can make you stronger and them shutting emotion out completely is a bad thing that I hate that the show decided to implement but when it comes to doing what's right and helping the most amount of people which is what shadowhunters exist for, you have to accept that sometimes sacrifices are necessary. And shadowhunters live a life where dying young is something that's expected and they come to terms with it at a very young age. They respect that in order to save the world, they may have to give everything up. That's the cost for the power they received. So in that respect, I do like what Jia is saying here and it's definitely something Clary needs to hear. Hopefully, this will spur some much necessary character development Clary’s way.

Then Jia sentences Clary to death and of course the show chooses the most dramatic punishment possible. Honestly, I feel like death is the wrong punishment to give here. It's kind of giving Clary the easy way out (not that I believe for a second that Clary is actually going to die) but if it were me, I would want Clary to survive to watch the repercussions of her actions. For her to see the world be seeped into hopeless despair. That's the kind of punishment I would give Clary. For her to see just how much her actions could have destroyed the world. But like I said, this whole death sentence scene is completely moot because we all know she's gong to escape.

I know this section turned into a bit of a rant but to be clear, I do appreciate what this plot accomplishes i.e. the Clave finding out about Jace and Clary being put in a tight situation however I do not appreciate what it does for Clary as a character. I was hoping for some character growth but it doesn't look like we're going to get it.

Simon/Maia/Jordan Love Triangle in Full Swing

Now that I've finished with my rant lets get on to another thing I liked. I really enjoyed how the Simon/Maia/Jordan love triangle played out. It was awkward when it needed to be, it was dramatic when it needed to be. Really the only thing I wish the show had done more of was develop Simon and Jordan's bromance a little more. Because it really feels like they've known each other for at most a week. If we take the Maia drama out of the mix, it feels a little contrived that Simon feels this betrayed over a guy he barely knows. Also, I’m sad that it looks like the Jace/Jordan/Simon bromance isn't actually going to play out. Damn you, writers. You had a chance to actually make your show fun and interesting and you blew it because you insist on covering two books a season when it isn't necessary. Just slow down and have fun with the characters. Why are the writers in such a rush to get through the books? They don't have the rights to The Dark Artifices/Shadowhunter Academy/Bane Chronicles. They only have The Infernal Devices and I find it highly unlikely Freeform is willing to produce a period drama. And if the show's attempt at original characters is anything to go by, I really don't have a lot of faith that they can pull off their own original story arcs. At least not in the interesting way Vampre Diaries and The 100 manage.

I really liked how Maia's drama with Jordan unfolded. It's true. It would be so much easier for Maia to hate Jordan if he was still the same person that left her bleeding out in the woods. But he isn't and she's having a lot of problems dealing with this. And I do enjoy seeing this sort of complexity with these characters. It's not something this show is very good with. So when it does happen, it's always a real treat. Hopefully, the show won’t drop the ball on this.

Time To Talk About Lillith

It's that time again. I guess I have to summon up a section to talk about Lillith, the blandest of the bland. Her blandness even rivals Show Valentine's. Also it would be nice if Lillith would stop sucking as a villain. She keeps on failing in her plans and it’s really difficult for me to take her seriously. She's basically the Rita Repulsa of Shadowhunters.

So first off, what is going on with Ollie? Is she possessed or is her blood tainted? I really can't tell. If she was possessed, why would she be surprised by the power Lillith has? But I suppose the real question is when will Ollie die already? Seriously, just have her fall off a building or something at this point. I don't care. Just get rid of her. She's a boring character and stop wasting screen time on her and give that screen time to characters I actually care about. I don't even care that she's an LGBT character. She does nothing I care about. And honestly, I really hate it when LGBT characters are put into a book or show just to make a statement about how progressive they are. I love having LGBT characters but I only want them to be in the story if they contribute to the narrative. If they have little to no place within the story, I want them gone. All I care about is them as characters. If you're not going to do anything with them, then what's the point? And I feel the same way in regards to hetero characters. If you don't add anything to the story, I want you gone.

Let's talk about this business with the seelie queen. So Lillith attackes the seelie queen's knights because she wants the seelie queen to take the mark off Simon. And I actually like the idea that the seelie queen's reasoning for marking Simon was to protect him because the seelies believe in protecting those who are unique. It makes sense. They're immortal so they need unique creatures to pass the time. But I really don't like how weak the seelie queen was protrayed here. I don't think it's in character for her at all. Even if she's beaten, she's still 5 steps ahead of everyone. She's immortal, basically ageless, she knows she'll get her revenge. She's patient. I couldn't get behind this moment because it didn't feel like the seelie queen. It just felt very convenient and didn't align at all with the character we’ve seen previously.

And the episode ends with Lillith escaping with Jace. Nice to know my prediction this weekend was corrcet. Owl Jace did escape and it was for dumb and contrived reasons. I'm very disappointed in you, show. Quit being so predictable.

Overall, even though it felt like I ranted about a few things, I did enjoy this episode in a way I haven't enjoyed the show in a while. It wasn't good, it wasn't bad, but I could tolerate it. It had some nice character moments which I lived for and bits of the plot weren't half bad. Truthfully, if the show spent a little more time building up their character dynamics, this episode might've been able to move me to tears. I'd probably give this episode a B- to B. Like an 84%. Not bad at all. Next week is the two hour finale so those episodes better be good. I can barely focus on this show for 42 minutes. These episodes better be something special to warrant airing the episodes 9 and 10 back to back.

As always, I'm open to discuss this episode with anyone. Did you agree? Did you disagree? Just remember these are my thoughts and opinions. I'm not telling you how to think and feel. I'm telling you what I think and feel. I don't police anyone on fandom so I expect that you don't police me and we'll get along fine.

#shadowhunters #sh #shadowhunters review #sh review #shadowhunters 3a #shadowhunters 3a review #shadowhunters season 3 episode 8 #shadowhunters 3x08 #shadowhunters s0308 #shadowhunters a heart of darkness #a heart of darkness

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bluephoenixdruidicprincess · 7 years

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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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