Mundie Moms

Thursday, April 19, 2018

Shadowhunters TV Series S3E1; ON INFERNAL GROUND / Review #shadowhunters

From Freeform's Shadowhunters website
I know you are sitting back wondering why am I still watching this? Well, according to Freeform there are "14 Reasons The Shadowhunters Season 3 Premiere Was Everything We Were Hoping For (There's so much to discuss)". In my best Jeremy Clarkson voice, I answer back to them, "Indeed."

image found here. 

* * * * SPOILERS AHEAD * * * * 

Let me start by saying I felt a lot like I did at the beginning of reading City of Fallen Angels, which is to say optimistic and hopeful that my beloved characters would go on and live through new adventures. But, because this is the plot of CoFA, this isn't necessarily the case. There are some beautiful (for super-fans like me) moments such as seeing Alicante and watching a Shadowhunter ceremony (Clary finally can lose her Shadowhunter-in-training status).

And then there are throw away, made-for-TV moments, like Jace and Clary standing at the Cemetery for the Disgraced (such an original name, not) and discussing that they really need to tell Alec about the entire Raziel raising dealio while standing in front of Jace's parents' graves. For the record, my eyeroll count began here.

Eyeroll #2: "Girl's like a damn dog with a bone'. Yeah, Luke uttered that well penned phrase when discussing his mundane partner's penchant for not letting go of the fact that werewolves are real. We find out she was scratched by one. And her explanation of this smacks of Twi-Bella's realization that OMG, vampires are real (start the count for "stealing another show's feels").

Cut to alien-like soul-sucking where BloodclotJonathan, I think (and he looks more like the Shape of Water creature, web feet and all) attacks a medical worker. But, not to worry, we then quickly cut to Malec, where we find out that Magnus is back in the biz of helping people and Alec confesses that he's been offered a seat on the Council. This would separate our favorite pair because, Alec would have to move to Idris. See how fast things are moving here?

From Freeform's Shadowhunters page
Izzy is the new Weapons Master (eyeroll). And we have our "the wand chooses the wizard, Harry" moment as she selects her weapons of choice, which as Luke reveals later, are her mother's and father's blades. Light and Dark. Dark and Light. Where have we heard this before? Oh yeah, in any number of fantasy movies.

Next shot? Shirtless Jace. An overhead shot of him in bed having what turns out to be a Jonathan-manipulated nightmare of Clary being stabbed during a training session. At least some of the book's plot is in tact. Kinda.

The bizarre moment of the episode goes to BoyBander Simon singing to the Seelie Queen. References to dearly departed David Bowie (along with a mispronunciation of his name) are bandied about. Why? I have no idea, but I'm irritated and so is the Goblin King.

image found here. 
Simon is inexplicably relegated to the Wander Woods. WTH is a Wander Wood? Anyone? Anyone? Yeah, okay. And he gets what I assume is the Mark of Cain branded on him before he's released back to the mundie world.

I'd like to stop the review here, I really would. But, the show kept moving in these quick, little, cutaway scenes. We see Magnus and Rafael, who asks Magnus for a vampire tranquilizer because his last living relative is dying. Isabelle flirts with a nameless doctor in a hospital. Jace and Clary spar for no reason except he keeps hearing Jonathan's voice in his head. Jonathan attacks Luke's partner. Luke turns wolfie and we have the line, we've all been waiting for as he confesses that "all legends are true". UGH.

Clary dispatches what I'm assuming is Jonathan in a moth-like, Shape-of-Water-like form back to Lillith.

From Freeform's Shadowhunter tumbl
Are you exhausted? I am. I am so exhausted that I can't even remember if Shirtless Jace appeared once or twice. There was so much crammed into this episode that it was far from cohesive storytelling. My guess is that, because of the breakneck speed of storytelling, we're going to get books 4, 5 and 6 in this season.

What are your thoughts, Mundie Moms? Who's still watching with me?

FINAL COUNTS
Total eyerolls: 5
Total Shirtless Jace moments: 2
Total stealing another show's feels: 4

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