Shadowhunters Review: 1×04 “Raising Hell”

Everything is more fun with a little magic

Clary (Katherine McNamara) and the Shadowhunters, Jace (Dominic Sherwood), Isabelle (Emeraude Toubia) and Alec (Matthew Daddario), are looking for The High Warlock of Brooklyn hoping that he would be able to give her back her memories. But getting his help wouldn’t be that easy as Magnus Bane (Harry Shum Jr) is in hiding and he’s not that fond of Shadowhunters. To get Magnus’ attention they use a necklace that, according to Hodge, is special for Magnus and he will do whatever he can to recover it.

Meanwhile, Simon (Alberto Rosende) is feeling strange after seeing Camille (Kaitlyn Leeb) and blood on his face when he looked at his reflection at the mirror and realizes it’s time to leave the Institute. But things keep getting worse when Simon gets home. Maureen comes looking for him and demanding to know where he has been. He keeps feeling wrong when he arrives home and right after Maureen (Shailene Garnett) gets hurt and blood r finger. As soon as Simon saw the blood, he got kind of hypnotized by it and after Maureen left, feeling neglected by him, he even tasted the blood on the broken glass. Concerned about his best friend and still feeling weird about the blood situation, he calls Clary but after not getting an answer, he leaves her a message telling her how sorry he is for leaving her at the Institute and expressing his concern over all the vampire related things he’s experiencing.

Clary and the Shadowhunters find Magnus Bane at a Downworlder Party and give him the necklace right before he tells them he gave Clary’s memories to a Memory Demon. As danger appears to have found him at the party, Magnus makes a Portal and leaves the Shadowhunters behind. Clary managed to steal a button from Magnus’ jacket right before he leaves and Jace and Alec use it to track him. The circle members seem to have found Magnus’ place but when the shadowhunters arrive, they take care of them.

After seeing that he can trust the shadowhunters, Magnus decides to help them summon the demon, stating that Clary has to be the one who makes the demand. But things don’t got as planned and when they summon the demon they loose control of it after Alec breaks the bond. The demon gets hold of Jace and Isabelle and Alec are doing their best to save him but it isn’t enough and they need Clary’s help. Clary draws the seraph blade inside the demon, loosing the chance to ever recover her memories along with it.

This episode was a fun and entertaining ride for us, let’s talk about the moments that made it the best Shadowhunters episode yet.

Clary proves that she’s not a “little girl”

Clary continued the search for her mom on this episode. But now, she is focusing on recovering her memories first, which can help her find her. She is determined to find Magnus and getting answers out of him, so once again the shadowhunters have a new mission in their hands and set off to look for the warlock.

“I will do what I have to do.”

Clary proved that she can stand up for herself and that she won’t let anyone intimidate her. Even though she is not a trained shadowhunter, she is not afraid to step in and do herself to protect others. She’s being a great role model for girls who see her on the show and we can’t wait to see her grow both as a shadowhunter and as a person as the show continues.

We had a few issues on some small details like the effects used when she fights the Circle Member outside from Magnus’ lair. It made her kick looked like a very strong one, even though the circle member only appeared to be slightly affected. And when she drew the Pentagram to summon the Memory Demon, there is no way that she could’ve drawn that good, specially those straight lines, without the help from other tools. And it just can’t be possible to draw with chalk without getting a little messy. We would like to see her actually drawing something other than just seeing her finish the final product. These kind of details make things more believable. We get most things that happen on the show are supernatural, but if they keep the human things human, the show can feel more real and more entertaining to watch.

Clary is oblivious to Simon’s feelings, so she doesn’t think twice when she shows how excited she is to see Jace or how much he already trusts him, even though he met the guy less than a week ago. The looks that Jace and Clary give to each other confirm that they are already special to each other. But we still need to see a special kind of romantic scene between the two of them, because yes we have seen them talking and looking at each other a lot, but we can’t wait to see some conversations where they actually talk about each other and not the mission or the things they’re about to do.

Vampires, blood, and feelings can’t seem to leave Simon alone

Our hearts were with Simon during this episode. This has clearly not been a very good week for him. After being friend-zoned by Clary at the end of last week’s episode, Simon was already in a breaking point. And now, after Clary ran to tell Jace the news about Magnus, he just had enough. He exploded towards Jace, saying arguments that, other than proving why Jace is not a good influence on Clary, just showed how much he is jealous of him. Simon did his best to convince his friend to come with him saying they could figure out things together, but Clary just said she thinks her place is with the Shadowhunters, which crushed Simon, and us too.

“Clary. We’ve had each other’s backs our whole lives. We’ve never needed anymore. Let me help you.”

If you ask us, all the arguments that Simon said on his rant did nothing but made him look vulnerable. He has clearly never been in a position like this before. Clary being interested in someone else is so strange to him, not that she has ever shown romantic interest in him, but he’s just not used to having to share her with anyone. Stating that Jace is like a bully they had in school, makes Simon look like he’s just blurting out arguments trying to avoid saying he’s just jealous.

Apart from his struggles with his feelings for his best friend, Simon is also dealing with the repercussions from his encounter with the vampires on the night before. He feels something is wrong with him, and even though he said it might be the flu, we are convinced he knows it definitely has something to do with the vampires.

At the end of the episode Simon ends up going to the Hotel Dumort and seeing Camille there. It was a good cliffhanger because it left us wondering if he’s going in or not. Simon going to the hotel and seeing things that made him think he’s turning into a vampire is something that’s in the books, but we don’t get to read. The writers are trying to hook the viewers and make them think that something is happening to Simon.

Magnus comes in to shake things up, as Alec struggles to hide his feelings

There is a reason why Harry Shum Jr was a fan casting choice from no one other than Cassandra Clare herself. He was born to play Magnus Bane.

Magnus is not like any normal character, he’s been alive for quite a long time so he has been trough a lot. You can tell by just looking at him that Magnus is very confident, he has a unique and strong personality that can be seen in the way he dresses, his facial expressions, the way he does magic and the way he communicates with others. When he meets Alec, he is intrigued by him and doesn’t hide away the fact that he is interested. He keeps flirting with Alec, caughting him by surprise. Alec is not used to getting anyone’s attention, so seeing him react to getting it it’s quite funny and cute at the same time. When they summoned the memory demon, each one of them had to give away one memory from the person they loved the most, and when it was time for Alec to give away his, one of Jace appeared in the center of the circle, which freaked him out making him break the circle letting the demon free.

“There is nothing to be ashamed of, Alec.”- Magnus.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”- Alec.

“You will.”- Magnus.

We can’t help but feel for Alec, what he’s going through is not easy. He has an internal battle with his feelings and doing what he thinks is the right thing to do. Having Magnus come into his life is going to be a good thing for Alec, we can already tell Magnus is having an impact on him and he might help him understand that there is nothing wrong with him. After realizing what Alec is struggling with, not only his conflicted feelings but the relationship with his Parabatai, Magnus offers comfort to Alec with his words, proving to him that he is a person to trust and giving Alec something to think about.

Final Verdict: Magnus Bane came in the picture to shake things up and bring that something we needed to get our excitement back on.

Two words: Magnus Bane. The episode 4 of Shadowhunters was all about our favorite warlock, and we are not complaining. Ever since Harry Shum Jr was casted on the role we’ve been dying to see him on our screens. And we can say that we were not disappointed.

It was the right time to bring Magnus into the picture and make things a little more interesting for the shadowhunters. What we are loving from the show is getting to see all the different characters’ stories unfold. The show is not just centering on Clary’s journey, it’s also taking the time to show us why all the characters are important to the story. Following Alec’s journey, for example, is so important to the fans who would’ve loved to see more of him in the books. The scenes between Magnus and Alec left the fans wanting for more and counting down the days for episode 12, which is titled Malec. Both the actors understand their characters so well and know how to show the feelings their characters are experiencing at the moment. The plot of the show had some alterations from the book, but the writers did a great job on this episode and we are excited to see what more they add to the story.

Another thing worth pointing out is that Izzy finally got her necklace in this episode. The way they made it fit into the story was clever and by them mentioning that Camille and Magnus have romantic history, we know that we’re probably going to see the two in some scenes together in the future. The writers are picking up things from other books, not just from The Mortal Instruments saga, but also from The Infernal Devices, like Magnus mentioning Tessa who is one of the main characters on them.

This episode has been our favorite so far. And we still think the show keeps getting better and better. The actors are doing a great job and we can’t wait to see more of our favorite moments come to life on television!

Questions, Comments and Concerns

• How did Maureen knew exactly when Simon arrived home?
• How can Clary be so blind and not see that Simon has feelings for her?
• How does Isabelle and Clary manage to have perfect makeup?
• If Clary is still using her phone, why doesn’t Luke try to contact her or Simon that way?
• We still don’t understand why there are so many shadowhunters at the Institute and why they aren’t doing anything to help Clary.
• Our hearts break for Maureen, been there done that.
• We are really liking Simon’s Mom. Hopefully we’ll se more of her!