Shadowhunters season 3 episode 12 review: Clary’s reunion; Izzy’s sacrifice
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For Clary Fairchild, that meant finding a way to simply survive her imprisonment at the hands of Jonathan. There was a cruel irony within her presence there in Paris — it’s one of the most romantic cities in all the world and there she was, traveling around with her evil brother while he looked for a sword and tried to check off some orders of business. He continued to have this demented (and creepy) image in his head for what the two of them should be, and the only move Clary could make for most of the episode was trying to buy herself enough time so that she could send out the Shadowhunters version of a signal flare for her friends to hear. That meant having to put up with an awkward meal at a cafe or being stuck on some of his errands.
It was only because of his attempts to locate the sword that she was able to get away, temporary, and try to send out a warning. She was eventually rescued by the likes of Jace, Alec, and Luke (who seemed very relieved that all of his efforts to locate her were not in vain) and soon after, she stuck a dagger in her knee to make Jonathan disperse. She was hurt, he was hurt, and nothing mattered to Clary other than being reunited with the people she loved — especially the man she loved in Jace. That photo above (from their reunion) is enough to melt the hearts of all Clace fans around the world.
On the flip side, how crazy was that final scene featuring Jonathan completely losing it? Clearly, the dude is not a fan of being bested or having the connection that he wanted with Clary completely spoiled. He realizes now that everything was a trick and a ruse, and there was no real substance to their relationship at all.
Simon’s own struggle
Simon was desperate to remove the Mark of Cain really to the point of meeting Cain himself in the sewers underneath the city. It was there that he started to get a sense (with Izzy’s help) of some of what needed to be done. Unfortunately for him, that was not easy … and it was certainly painful.
The scenes at the Seelie Court tonight were a shot to the gut, mostly because of how difficult it was to see Simon suffering once it was clear the painful procedure that needed to be done in order to free himself from the burdens of the mark. It was enough to nearly kill him and it would have, were it not for Izzy sacrificing her own blood to heal him. Is this the most impactful Izzy/Simon scene in the story to date? For us, this is the moment that best showcases just how deeply Izzy cares for him and how far she will go to ensure he is okay.
Malec make time for each other
Earlier in the episode, there were still some lovely domestic Malec moments! These are some of the best that the show has to offer, and tonight we had both a wonderful sequence of them first thing in the morning and then an intense training montage. Magnus does have some skills! His problem here mostly is that Alec is a little bit of a distracting trainer. He’s already starting to realize that he may need a different one…
Emotionally, Magnus is still dealing with his mortality and because of that, probably is trying to rush moments that could happen organically over time. This is something that he is going to have to figure out and he probably will once he gets more into the rhythms of his new life. A tiger can’t just change their stripes overnight, especially when they’ve been living the same way for decades.
CarterMatt Verdict
Shadowhunters season 3 episode 12 is a story of sacrifice and that is most likely why it was so effective. This is not an episode that you could’ve done in season 1 when these relationships were still so new to us as viewers. It took years to develop the love, sacrifice, and suffering to push these characters to the brink. On the other side of Clary’s rescue, perhaps she can better plan for a future with Jace and the rest of the Institute … and perhaps Simon can let go of some of his guilt and start to repair his life. Knowing that Clary is still out there, alive, will almost certainly help.
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