“Shadowhunters” puts Clary’s life on the line as the blood oath she made to Iris begins to weaken her. Clary, Jace, and Simon head out on a search for Madsy. Meanwhile, the Downworlders call a meeting about what to do concerning Valentine, while Alec learns just what Izzy has been up to.
Raphael gets a little more human
Now that Raphael is spending more time with Izzy, the audience is getting to know a little more about him beyond his vampire abilities and Catholic faith. We’re treated to Izzy and Raphael making tamales, and much to Izzy’s surprise, Raphael is a good cook.
Why? Because he cooks once a week for a Catholic retirement home.
To be fair, Raphael doesn’t do this out of the goodness of his heart. His little sister is a resident there, though she doesn’t remember him. It puts another heartbreaking tac in his repeated efforts to get Simon to give up his family. Raphael hasn’t really been able to give up his own either, and it just reminds you how lonely of an existence the Downworlders who live forever can lead.
Of course, as Magnus points out when he and Alec find out about Izzy’s yin fen use and then find Izzy and Raphael together, Raphael might not actually have feelings for Izzy, and this relationship might not be around much longer. Just as Izzy is addicted to vampire venom, Raphael is addicted to Shadowhunter blood.
Will the two still like being around one another when they eventually overcome their addictions?
Meeting of the Downworlders
We’ve been spending a lot of time with Magnus, Raphael, and Luke, but there are other Downworlders out there. “Bound By Blood” brings back the Seelie leader Meliorn for a meeting of the Downworlder minds.
It’s Meliorn who voices the one thing the other three don’t want to hear: If Valentine’s plan involves using Clary to activate the Soul Sword, they should simply execute her. He also makes a good point that the other three are too close to the Shadowhunters, and Clary, to be objective in the matter.
Killing Clary would potentially solve one set of problems, but really, we all know that no one is going to let Clary get killed.
Even when she comes to the edge of death, someone is going to save her. She’s the main character of the ensemble. Though I’ll admit that Meliorn’s idea makes me wonder how Valentine would proceed if she did die. Would he just wait around for another angel to fall to earth?
Clary is willing to die for the cause
Despite the audience being well aware that Clary isn’t going anywhere, it’s nice to see that Clary, at the very least, is willing to die rather than let Valentine use her. She even remarks that Maia, who attacked her early in the episode after hearing about the Soul Sword, is right, which would probably be music to Maia’s ears if Luke hadn’t locked her up, even though she’s claustrophobic.
As Valentine kidnaps Simon and Maia is on the loose by the end of the episode though, you just know that Clary is going to put herself right into Valentine’s hands to save him instead of subscribing to the idea that sacrificing one life is better than getting everyone killed.
The verdict and what’s next
A relatively predictable episode, the best thing to come out of it might be seeing Izzy and Raphael together, though it was refreshing to see Simon and Jace on the same side for once.
3 out of 5 stars.
In next week’s midseason finale “By the Light of Dawn,” the Institute is under attack as Valentine gets closer to putting his plan for the Soul Sword into action. Meanwhile, a group of Downworlders plans to stop him by getting to Clary.
