Mundie Moms

Friday, July 21, 2017

Shadowhunters TV Series, S2E16; DAY OF ATONEMENT/ Review #shadowhunters

All images used can be found on Freeform's website.
We caught up from our vacation with this week's episode, "Day of Atonement". Here's hoping that it's some real atonement and we see a glimpse of the books we love.

EMMALY'S REVIEW

So our evil Sebastian has captured Valentine during the transfer to Idris but he didn’t do it to let him go it seems. We are now confirmed Seb was the one who was helping Luke kill Valentine. We also have confirmation Seb is in fact our Jonathan and has demon blood. But even Valentine couldn't control him. Jonathan revealing some of his worst traits retelling stories of his childhood. Valentine actually looks scared and rightly so I’m guessing. Jonathan has some serious Father issues that's for sure.

Image found on Freeform's website.

As the side plot of this story we are introduced to Maia going with Simon to his family dinner. Gotta have some nice stuff alongside the the evil stuff. It is cute and it’s nice that she is helping him out. At the end we see a small spark of what might be a future relationship. I do like this ship, it does fit this part of the story well.

Now Alec Jace Clary and Izzy are trying to find where Valentine has gone. Jace remembers a cabin in Idris and by looking at the map Clary makes her first portal. Yay some more of Clary’s extra powers are starting to show. So Jace and Clary go off to Idris landing in Lake Lyn. Book readers will be worried about them landing in the lake, and swallowing the water. And yes we realise that’s a problem as Clary looses Jace and starts hearing things. She even gets to chat to Etherial who tells her that Jonathan is alive. She thinks it is Jace, but do we know better. Was I the only one who thought Lake Lyn was a lot bigger? Or couldn’t they find a bigger lake for a shooting location. Aren’t the great lakes close to Toronto?

Image found on Freeform's website.

After Alec is worried something is wrong with Jace and they see they have left via a portal, Izzy is sent to help. My first thought was why is she going alone? isn’t there hundreds of other Shadowhunters at the Institute that could have gone too, you know as back up. But of course she finds Jace straight away and they find Clary who is a little out of her mind. A weird staged fight scene happens and Jace saves Clary from the Lyn water madness activating her healing rune. They then have a moment. Like I said in last week’s review, closer to them getting together, but not there yet, gotta wait for the season finale for that.

At the end we work out that the clave doesn’t have the Soul Sword that in fact evil Sebastian/Jonathan has it. But against his plans of sending Valentine to Edom, the Soul Sword allows Valentine to tell the truth about how Jonathan was always his finest creation. So now Valentine and Jonathan are back playing happy families again in NYC. I’m guessing our Sebastian stand-in will go back to the Institute tomorrow like nothing happened. And the big reveal even the non book readers would be working out was that there are in fact two Jonathan’s, our Jace and the evil one.

A better episode by far as some of the major plot lines are kept closer to the book. I can see some of the plots from the final 3 books in the TMI series might show up now. Unless it takes a while for them to find out who the evil Seb is. We do have a major death to come soon I think, and I just hope they do it justice.


SOPHIE'S REVIEW

Well, Mundie Mamas, we're in for another rollercoaster ride. In today's very special Shadowhunters we learn that Downworlders depression can be "seriously dangerous". Someone hand me a Prozac and let's try to get through this episode together, shall we?

Image found on Freeform's website.
Now, all sarcasm aside, I did absolutely love the special effects of Clary coming up with a rune that opens portals (the fact that she was inspired by a map of Idris is not canon, but I won't be picky).

Image found on Freeform's website.

The Adventure in Vampire Dating segment, however, was a little weird to say the least. What was the purpose of this bit? To see Simon lie to his family? To have Simon partnered with Maia? To see Simon's sweet grandmother? It's Yom Kippur dinner at Simon's house and what we get to see is an absolutely awkward segment on atonement. I'm still processing it and shaking my head. If I was editing this, I would've deleted it entirely.

Image found on Freeform's website.
And then we get what I'm calling Book Glimpses. Teeny moments of hope for those of us who cling to the thousand plus pages of beautifully written stories by Cassie -- there are portal shards which lead Robert (yes, Daddy Lightwood's back), Alec and Izzy to Jace and Clary by Lake Lyn. Clary begins to hallucinate (that was kinda-sorta true to the book) and sees Ithuriel.


And she doesn't recognize Jace until he hugs her. I know we would all recognize Jace in a hug, right?

My favorite part of the episode (and feel free to put Jace air quotes around "favorite") was the scene between Big Bad Daddy Valentine and Seb baby. They argue, they fight, they make up. Seb Anthony Bourdain makes dinner for Daddy. Whether you watch this sober or drunk, by this point, you are feeling queasy. Are we hallucinating along with Clary? Do we all need a hug from Jace to bring us back to reality? Yes, yes, we do. 

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Was the episode uneven for you, too, Mundie Moms? Emm and I had pretty much the same feelings about it -- a bit better, but still horrible in parts.

Shadowhunter TV Series, S2E15; A PROBLEM OF MEMORY / Review #shadowhunters

All images courtesy of FreeForm's website.


We're a little behind here on our Shadowhunters viewing because of summer vacations, but hey, we watched back-to-back episodes, so now we're all caught up. And nothing says summer like a good murder mystery. Did Simon really drain someone of all their blood in a strip club, er, bleeder den? Scroll down to read our thoughts on episode 15.

EMM'S REVIEW

So we begin this episode with Simon feeling sorry for him self after realising Clary is still in love with Jace. After drinking some plasma at the bar, Vampire tequila shots it seems, Simon goes to the bleeder den a place to feast on willing humans. Now we know Simon is a good guy so we know this can’t end well. I do like it showing the bad side of being a vampire and the struggles our “boy next door” now has to deal with

Speaking of “boy next door” we get Sebastian burning himself again. So although super good looking, maybe not the ideal person to bring home to mum.

And while Seb is burning himself for fun, Magnus is not coping with his flash backs of his mother. I know I’ve said it before, but Alec and Magnus are my favourite in this show, characters and actors. They really did well with this casting. We get to see Magnus being the one who needs help this time, and Alec being able to give it to him.

Back to Simon having a bad night out on the Vampire tequila and waking up in someone else's blood. Did Simon kill a mundane? Is her name Maureen? Oh no this one is dead, I do hope we get to see Maureen in the future I can see her being a fun element in this show that takes it’s self too seriously. Book readers, you do remember this story being funny in parts don’t you? Not sure the TV producers got the memo.

By the way, Luke needs to sort out his police partner. Surely he has a way of keeping her out of it better, like not meeting her at the chinese restaurant all the time! Lucky for Simon he realises he didn’t kill the mundane, he can’t have killed her, remember he is the “boy next door”. The other bad vampire did it. So now Simon confronts him in a crowded bar full of other angry vampires. But yay of course Simon wins the battle and the bad guy is dead. Also Rafael sorts out Luke’s partners memories so we all get to go on with our day in the Shadow World .

We get to see Simon and Clary end there nice short "more than friends” relationship that was never going to last. Lets hope it doesn’t take to long to see Clary and Jace back together but with the nature of TV I’m thinking that might be a season finale story line

The other main plot of this eps is moving Valentines to Idris and what that entails His Circle rune is removed and Jace gets the pleasure of doing this with some weird rune shaver eraser. It is odd having Valentine talking to Jace about his experiments on him and his real parents. But I guess this is a good way for the non book readers to understand more about Jace’s real parents.

One of my favourite parts of this episode was the introduction of Aline, Sebastian’s cousin, and how we can see cracks in who this Sebastian character is. Then it is finally revealed that the real Sebastian Verlac is being held prisoner by our evil Seb explaining why he has gone missing. When the real Seb escaped I really wanted him to make the institute, but of course he is meant to be dead, and so he doesn’t quite make it. Evil Seb taking his place for ever now.

So with evil Seb on the loose he helps Valentine escape and reveals himself as a demon charred to a crisp. You’d think if he was so burnt he wouldn’t like to keep doing it to himself. And did he call Valentine “Father" at the end? And we got a glimpse of Alicante and Idris, yay!!


SOPHIE'S REVIEW

I've decided to sum up my feelings in song lyrics because honestly,  this was another ridiculous-plot-wrapped-up-in-one-episode moment.


"Go make that money, money/ Your money, money, money..." (-"I Don't Mind" by Usher)
Strip Den or Bleeder Den, you decide? I would put the Freeform image up here, but Simon dancing seductively while his teeth are sunk in a woman's wrist is not exactly something that you want your small children to see. I watched this with my teen daughter, and we both turned to each other and eyerolled at the same time. Why is Simon talked into going to a Bleeder Den? I honestly don't know. He's stronger than this. 


"I am seeing in me now the things you swore you saw yourself." (- "Vindicated" by Dashboard Confessional)
Emo Sebastian causing self harm with an iron. Oy vey. We get it. You're a demon. You like causing pain and pain is the only thing you can feel. Eyeroll #2 for you guys keeping count.


"And I'll find comfort in my pain / Eraser" ( - "Eraser" by Ed Sheerhan)


Images found on  Freeform's website.

And we have the Winner of the Worst Lines of the Episode. Eyeroll #3 and in rapid succession #4. On the other hand, it's kind of comforting to see Izzy give such good advice. I mean, wouldn't you trust a former meth, I mean, yin fen addict? She's your go-to girl for relationship advice because all of her past relationships have been built on solid ground. I know, I know, you can feel my sadness at how all of this could have been written.


"Just a puppet on a lonely string / Oh who would ever want to be king? (- "Viva La Vida" by Coldplay)
That moment when Jace tells Alec to try to run the Institute like archery. I know,  I was lost, too. Not exactly the political theory I was expecting Jace to quote. Feel free to assume eyeroll #5.


"If you can see that I'm the one who understands you / Been here all along so why can't you see / You belong with me" (-"You Belong with Me" by Taylor Swift)
When Simon said to Clary,  "There’s something between you and Jace that you can’t deny.", I felt a slight bookish moment. It seemed real for once. And collectively, we all sighed, "Oh Simon."


"Papa don't preach, we're in trouble deep..." (- "Papa Don't Preach" by Madonna)
"Your love for Clary will be your downfall." Ah Valentine. Reminding us of why we're still watching. Props again to the actor, who delivers these cheesy lines with malignant believability.


"We’re coming after you, this is the Hunt..." (- Shadowhunters theme)
Sebbie baby killing other Sebbie baby was the best moment of the show. Why? Because it had to happen eventually, right? I actually started singing the show's theme song right at this moment. It was all overwhelmingly dramatic.



“I get by with a little help from my friends.”  (- "With a Little Help from My Friends" by The Beatles)
It's handy to have a friend like Raphael who can just memory wipe Luke's partner's memory of Simon and his link to the murder of the mundane. Convenient to say the least. Also, super-duper lazy writing, but it's in keeping with the let's-solve-it-in-one-episode trend of this season.


"Dying is easy, young man / Living is harder...." ( - "Right-Hand Man" from Hamilton, the Musical)
"I mean I thought dying was bad. This is way worse."   Simon's conversation with Clary, and my eyeroll #6. This was in reference to murdering a mundane. Yes, my poor Simon, murder is worse. Also, this qualifies as the Understatement of the Century. Eyeroll #6 for those wanting to know.


"Just the two of us / We can make it if we try..." (- "Just the Two of Us" by Will Smith)
"What do you want from me?" said Valentine to Seb. Ah, the question that could launch a thousand demonic answers. What was cool is that we got to see Sebbie's grotesque demonic form and he called Valentine, father, in the most chilling way.
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So, Mundie Moms, what did you think? Are you enjoying the show? Was the episode one of your favorites? Let us know in the comments.

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