Shadowhunters - You Are Not Your Own - Review + POLL

This week on Shadowhunters, we saw the result of Azazel’s body switch. Magnus was trapped in Valentine’s body and got tortured before they finally figured things out. Valentine revealed that Jace is a Herondale. They managed to switch their bodies back and Valentine failed to escape. Alec (temporarily) destroyed Azazel (which seemed a bit too easy). Izzy and Simon went to see Raphael’s sister and sort of threatened Raphael (which was a terrible idea). He didn’t take it well. Sebastian helped Clary deal with her Rune problem. 

I see you, villain: I spent the entire episode squinting at Sebastian, trying to analyze every single move he made. Most of his motivations are pretty obvious, gaining people’s trust. But it’s his behavior towards Clary and Jace that interests me the most. We haven’t seen him interact with Jace all that much, I’m assuming this will happen more in future episodes, but we did get quite a lot of him and Clary. What struck me most was how often he mentioned her family. The way he talked about her losing ever family member made me think he’s doing this on purpose in the hopes that when his true identity is revealed, she’ll be so happy to have family left that she’ll take his side. Side note, I’m very happy to see Sebastian is having trouble getting past Alec’s bullshit meter. 

Finally! I’m so glad the Herondale cat is out of the bag. Jace will finally be able to learn more about where he came from, though his history is not always pretty. I hope we get to delve into just how much Valentine messed with the Herondales. It was nice to see a different side to Imogen Herondale. We only really saw the cold, professional side to her but you could see how much her family means to her. As much as I would love flashbacks to the Infernal Devices, I don’t it’ll happen because if I’m not mistaken, they don’t have the rights for those books. Though I wouldn’t mind one of Magnus’ stories, lord knows he has plenty. 

She’s back! As suspicious as I am of what Sebastian gave her, I sure am happy to see Izzy almost back to her old self. She seems to have regained some of her fire but does seem to be more hesitant than she used to be, almost like she doesn’t fully trust her own judgment anymore. I was glad to see her team up with Simon. We haven’t really seen them interact much since the first season. The writers are clearly laying the groundwork for an eventual relationship (they said as much on Twitter) but I really hope they take things slow. Simon is going to be absolutely crushed when his relationship with Clary ends (the cracks are already starting to show) and neither he nor Izzy should rush into a new relationship. 

Favorite character: I hate body switches. I always get so frustrated by how long it takes everyone to figure out what happened. I felt so bad for Magnus. Not only did he get stuck in the body of a man he hates, he also got tortured. Magnus mentioned that it made him relive some memories he’d tried to keep buried. I’m hoping this means we’ll delve more into his backstory. As for Alec, I think he’s going to feel guilty for not getting him out sooner. I doubt Magnus will actually blame him, but we all know Alec. I expect (and demand) some deep Malec conversations next week. 

Best quotes: Clary: “It can’t be easy, being a Herondale.” Jace: “Oh yeah, you know, must be tough being like Shadowhunter royalty. All the power, prestige.” 
Izzy: “Simon, save your sweet side for someone who cares.” 

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. 

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