Shadowhunters - Raising Hell - Review

This week on Shadowhunters, Simon left the Institute despite Clary trying to convince him to stay. He suffered from some hallucinations and at the end of the episode, found himself at Hotel Dumort. The rest of the gang arranged a meeting with Magnus Bane. After saving him and some of the warlocks he was staying with, he agreed to help Clary try to regain her memories. They were however unsuccessful after Clary had to kill the memory demon in order to save Jace’s life. Meanwhile Magnus tried to flirt with Alec and Valentine found a way to use Clary’s necklace against her. 

Favorite pairing: Magnus and Alec finally met this week and it was glorious. Magnus’ (attempts at) flirting were hilarious. And Alec could barely get out two sentences without stuttering. They were my favorite part of this week’s episode. Alec still has a lot of issues that he needs to work out, but I hope there’ll be some (slow) development between these two. 

Favorite character: Alec, however, is still very much in the closet. Izzy has tried to talk to him about it, not very tactful, but Alec prefers to ignore his feelings for Jace. Those feelings were exposed by the memory demon when it took a memory of who Alec loves the most, Jace. Alec immediately panicked, not realizing at the time that because of their parabatai bond, Jace being the person he loves most isn’t that weird. He’s so worried about Jace finding out and it ruining their friendship. But he’s also worried about what everyone would think. The Shadowhunter world isn’t exactly the most progressive community. Gay Shadowhunters are usually shunned by the Clave, which is probably why Alec’s been trying so hard to follow all their rules, to not draw attention to himself. I expect we’ll see more of Alec dealing with this when his mother makes an appearance next week. 

Favorite storyline: I liked seeing what was going on with Simon, because in the books we didn’t realize what was happening until it was too late. There were hints, but none as obvious as those on the show. I had to look up how a vampire is turned in the Shadowhunter world because it’s been while since I read the books. But apparently Simon is in the fledgling state. He has ingested vampire blood, which is why he’s hallucinating and drawn to Hotel Dumort. I’m not sure how long the blood remains in his system but the next step would be to die which would put his body in transition. After he’s buried he’d have to crawl out of his grave on his own and consume a lot of human blood in the next 24 hours. So basically, it’s a lot like on ‘The Vampire Diaries’ only slightly more complicated. How long the vampire blood remains in his system will probably determine how quickly this storyline will advance. I’m very curious to see how it will pan out combined with the book 1 storylines. 

Not happy about it: There’s been a lot of discussion about this on Tumblr and I have to agree that I didn’t like the memory demon storyline. More specifically, how easy it was for Clary to kill him. That demon was supposed to be a Greater Demon. In the books Greater Demons have been responsible for the deaths of experienced Shadowhunters and it often takes several Shadowhunters to destroy just one. The fact that it just took Clary one swing pissed me off beyond words. That’s all I’ll say about this for now. 

Favorite friendship: I like the relationship between Alec and Izzy and I wish they would focus a bit more on that in the next few episodes. As we could see this week, Alec is the person Izzy loves the most. I’m pretty sure she’d do just about anything for her brother(s). I hope he’ll confide in her a bit more. Even though she can be blunt sometimes, she means well. I also can’t wait to see their interactions with the third Lightwood sibling, Max, who should make his first appearance in episode 9. 

Most wasted character: I didn’t really see the point in Valentine’s scenes this week. There was no real progress in his storyline. All it did was show how ruthless he is and his disdain for ‘impure’ Shadowhunters. While that last part is important for the flasbacks that we’ll see in one of the next few episodes, it could also have easily been mentioned then. It just felt like filler to me. 

Honorable mention: I know I’m not the only book fan who picked up on the Tessa mention. While I’m always happy when The Infernal Devices get mentioned, I doubt we’ll actually see her on the show. This was more something they added for the book fans. What are those things called, Easter eggs? I’m not even sure I want to see any of the Infernal Devices characters on the show because I have such a clear picture of it in my head, that I don’t want to ruin. But I have no problem with name drops. Magnus will undoubtedly mention Will at some point, as he did in the books. 

Best quotes: Simon: “Come at me, bro.” 
Izzy: “You’re so lucky to have such a flat chest.” 
Izzy: “Damn, I make this necklace look so good.” 
Magnus: “Ugh, it’s inevitable. After each move I get the itch to redecorate. Normally, I love a dirty lair but this one is just sloppy.” 
Magnus: “About Alec, is he more of a flower or a cologne man?” 
Magnus: “Pretty boy, get your team ready.” Jace: “I know what to do.” Magnus: “Um, not talking to you. I’m talking to you.” *points at Alec* 
Magnus: “The only other person I’ve known who could draw as well was Michelangelo, who was excellent in bed I might add.” 
Izzy: “You people are pathetic.” 
Clary: “Is he going to be alright?” Magnus: “I don’t know. Does he normally just lay like that without moving?” 

That’s it for this week. Check in again next week for an all new review and let me know in the comments what you thought of this week’s episode.

About the Author - Belle333Black

Jamie Coudeville (Belle333Black) writes reviews for The Originals and Shadowhunters. She's 21, lives in Belgium and her favorite shows are The Originals, Vampire Diaries, Orphan Black, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., ...

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