Mundie Moms

Friday, June 30, 2017

Shadowhunters TV Series, S2B, E14: THE FAIR FOLKS / Review #shadowhunters

From Freeform's website.
Fairies are tricky and unpredictable, we really looked forward to this episode because the Seelie Court has always been a fan favorite moment, at least in City of Ashes.

SOPHIE'S REVIEW

Okay, the episode starts off with Jace playing the piano and Sebbie-baby watching him menacingly.

Seb (slow clap, literally): I had no idea I was in the company of a virtuoso.
Jace (chuckles): Yeah, right.
Seb: No, seriously, it's extraordinary. I mean I wish I could play like that. Where did you learn? Who taught you?
Jace (far off dreamy look and his nose stuck in a book): Valentine, if you can believe that.
Seb: Huh. I guess even an evil mastermind can appreciate fine music.

Here we go, it's the start of another episode, MMs.  Hang on tight, I have a feeling this is going to be one bumpy ride because it starts off with Sebbie-baby summarizing Jace's feelings for Clary and reminding him of the romantic subplot in this season.

Image found on Freeform's website.
One of the bizzaro aspects to this bizarro series is how the writers/directors/producers continue to ignore Cassie's beautifully complex politics within the Shadowhunter universe. These politics are layered, complex and mirror, at times, our own world history. For a politics nerd like me, it's one of the sweetest benefits of reading this series -- to see how Cassie dovetails current and past politics. But in Bizzaro World, we just make this up as we go along, so we have weirdly awkward moments like Alec stating he will be hosting regular cabinet meetings or the one from last week's epi where Jace handed off the Institiute to Alec right after Gramquisitor handed it to Jace. In fact, there's a moment in this week's episode where an anonymous Shadowhunter says -- "just wait, in a week, it'll be someone else." See what I mean? There is ZERO respect to the source material. Like, zip, zero, nada.

image found on google.

Let's just keep swimming, shall we?

Honestly, I watched the rest of the episode without hitting the pause button to stop and write my thoughts. I just watched the entire trainwreck unfold. And I'm left thinking:

What do the show's faithful viewers see in it?

Is it the skeleton of the complexity of Cassie's story? is it a glimpse at the large cast of characters and their intertwined history? Is it the impossible romance of Clace and Malec that pulls them in? Is it truly Sebbie-baby? The villain who is so masked that you don't realize he's a mastermind behind it all?

What are they seeing that I'm not. 

Maybe, it's that Kill Tree (did anyone else spit-take when Jace explained a fairy tree that "almost tore Simon's pretty face off"?). Where else have we seen a whomper of a tree, oh wait...

image found on google.

I'd like to announce here that I'm done, but I just can't be. Not yet. I have loved these characters through thousands of pages. I have cried with them through impossible odds. I have cheered for them when all hope should've been lost. I hate what Freeform has done to them, but I keep watching and writing in hope that maybe, maybe they will listen and give back those characters, their plots, their quests, their impossible struggles back to me.

- - - 

MMs, it's awfully quiet uptown (sorry, I know, a Hamilton reference when you least expect it). Are you still watching this with us? What are your thoughts on this last episode?

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