Shadowhunters season 2 episode 15 review: Tale of two Sebastians
During the closing minutes tonight, what we had a chance to effectively learn is that the Sebastian running around posing as the Institute member / Shadowhunters overseas is actually a very different person. He may be going by the same name, but he’s actually Valentine’s son posing as Sebastian, using his identity in order to get information on Clary and the rest of the team. Unfortunately, everyone has fallen for this hook, line, and sinker, unaware that the person he’d been holding captive (at least until his escape tonight) as the real Sebastian, the one that his cousin Aline was so worried about. Everything that she said at the New York Institute was the first warning sign for Clary and company that this guy was not who he seemed — after all, the real Sebastian apparently would not up and leave his friends and family without some sort of advance warning.
By the end of the episode, what we ended up seeing effective was Sebastian making this big reveal to Valentine, who’s clearly in a very different position than he’s been in for most of the season so far … which is probably bad news for the Shadowhunters.
Maybe one of the reasons why so many characters are oblivious to the Sebastian shocker is simply because they’re all distracted, and understandably so, by everything else that is going on at the moment. Just remember for a moment here everything else that is happening, especially when it comes to Simon Lewis’ road to recovery. After what happened with Clary at the Seelie Court, he decided that he wanted to get a little bit of human blood in his system. It’s too bad that after that, we saw a murder case that forced Luke to do some drastic measures in order to cover it up.
Luckily, Simon was framed for what happened to a certain extent, and he didn’t actually kill anyone. It was still terrifying to see him in this predicament, where he legitimately thought that his heartache had pushed him too far into becoming a person who was far and away different than who he knew himself to be.
By and large, though, the Simon storyline was powerful and believable, with the exception being the police being so willing to give him information about what happened to the deceased. Were it not for the reveal that there was blood taken from the woman’s feet, he probably would still think he was responsible for what happened.
Good news for Alec and Magnus
We had our concerns for these characters entering the episode, mostly because of Magnus not opening up when it comes to his tragic past. We were optimistic that he would share with his boyfriend, mostly because open communication is important for any relationship. If Magnus’ isn’t willing to tell him what happened with his parents, who could he tell? While there could have been tension if he’d kept his past locked away longer, this reveal should only bring the two stronger.
Overall, a pretty powerful episode
This was one of the best in the second half of season 2, mostly because the writers did a good job of keeping the Sebastian secret locked away for non-book readers. Simon’s decision to take time to figure things out with Clary made some sense, as did some of the relationship decisions as a whole. Grade: B+.
Now, what is coming up next?
If you want to get some other news on the next episode, including some more Clary – Jace drama right now, be sure to head over to the link here! (Photo: Freeform.)