Shadowhunters | By the Light of Dawn | 2x10 | Review & Discussion | Faith

THE MIDSEASON FINALE OF SHADOWHUNTERS AIRED ON TUESDAY AND MAY I JUST SAY THAT THIS WAS THE BEST EPISODE YET.

This was probably the first episode of Shadowhunters where I had very few problems with the events that occurred in the episode---like WHAT? Although, what I will say is that it's so hard keeping in my giddiness from non-book fans of Shadowhunters. I want to so badly to be like "SIMON STILL A VAMPIRE BUT HE IS NOW A DAYLIGHTER," but I can't because they haven't revealed that and non-book fans wouldn't know what that is... I'm also restricting going "READ. THE. BOOKS."

There were so many amazing things that happened, and I think one of the reasons on why I'm so excited over this particular episode is because things from the book were showcased in this episode, and those were things I didn't think we would be seeing at all in Shadowhunters if I'm going to be honest with those of you who are reading this.

Alright, so from the very moment Jace and Clary were revealed to be "siblings," I had been itching to see the moment it was revealed that they weren't. AND---I was so not disappointed. Yes, very different from the book, but what matters is that they included an aspect that's so important in the story and episode. To be honest, I was not expecting it to be revealed to soon---I mean only Jace knows but still. There were so many great moments in the show that were leading and hinting to the true nature of the two and it all flowed together really well.

The first moment we see of Jace is when he touched the soul/mortal sword. Most people are probably expecting it to be destroyed because of the whole demon blood thing but NOPPEEE. Throughout this entire scene, I had this HUGE grin on my face because I knew what was going to happen. Jace was going to activate the sword revealing that he too had angel blood. 

I thought that the whole backstory behind this was very interesting. It was all part of Valentines plan or maybe back up plan. It was just super clever because he knew that Clary would most likely refuse to activate the sword, leaving Jace to destroy it and he knew HE KNEW that Jace would sacrifice himself for the down world. Honestly, in that moment I was just so impressed with how that plot was developed and how it was pieced together.

Those plots/sub plots are the kinds of plots I want to see from Shadowhunters---Not stupid shapeshifting rune ones!

The aftermath of that scene really reminded me a little bit of The Infernal Devices in the sense that Jace wants to tell Clary the truth but he sees her happy with Simon. It hurt my heart to see Jace in that sense of mind, and he was so hopeful to. Thinking about it is tugging at my heart. I freaking love Dominic Sherwood as Jace.

Another concern that some book fans have been worried about is the Seelie Court scene as this was confirmed to be in season 2B.  I thought about it, and I think that scene is going to be a sort of revealing scene if you know what I mean. Clary will still be with Simon, and Jace is still keeping the secret of them not being siblings. The Seelie Queen will be like "Kiss the one you most desire," and Jace is gonna be like "Oh it's totally SIMON," Simon and Clary will kiss but it won't work. Then, it will be revealed that it's Jace and Jace will be all like "WHATTT?" and during all of this, Clary still thinks they're siblings and this will reveal that Clary still has feelings for Jace despite what she believes. And this will reignite the fire that's inside of Jace.

Shadowhunters has this trend of wanting to surprise book fans and while that usually never works, I still was on the edge of my seat. However, whenever a major/main characters life was threatened I knew they'd be okay so they never go me there. Yet there were still moments where my jaw did drop just because of the way things were put together which I believe to be a very good thing.

Like, it's not a coincidence that Maia, Luke, Simon and Meliorn didn't die from the blast. It's not a coincidence that Meliorn got slashed by a rogue Shadowhunter. You get me? Those characters still have a purpose and role in the show, therefore they cannot die.

An interesting trait or aspect of a character was revealed in this episode, very briefly but this was another thing I never thought they'd mention in the show. And honestly, Shadowhunters has been doing a pretty decent job with including things that aren't typically and regularly discussed in the fandom. The revelation that was made was Raphael's asexuality. Emeraude Toubia revealed that there would be a sexuality that has never been talked about on the show, so I'm assuming it's Raphaels. When this was revealed, it was like a boulder had been dropped within me. I was so, so shocked---it hit me like a ton of bricks I was like WOW. For me, as a book reader, his sexuality was always a very important aspect of his character in my opinion and I love how they incorporated it in the show and kind of broke the stigma that asexual people cannot have romantic feelings for others. However, I will say that the whole "Rizzy" relationship is a little sexualized at the moment and I'm not the biggest fan because of Isabelle's addiction.

Since Sebastian is coming in, in the second half of the season I'm a little concerned for Max and not in the way you might think. We've barely spent enough time with Max to really form that emotional connection to him. And in my opinion, every single time we've seen him he's been very cute but unlikeable. Although he is a minor character, he still needs depth and his character is currently lacking that at the moment. We've barely seen anything memorable about his character, while Max in the book did have those memorable traits even though we only saw him for a very short period of time. 

The reason why I'm bringing this up is become of a young warlock child named Madzie. We've seen Madzie in maybe three episodes, and I've already become so attached to her. And yet she's barely spoken... The reason why I care for her is not only is she so adorable, it's the fact that she has motive, she's so lost and innocent yet so incredibly powerful. And all of the other characters interactions with her make me want to care for her, we get the feeling that she shouldn't be involved in this. So if she were to die in the next episode, I would most definitely be impacted.

Just a side note, I wouldn't be mad if Madzie was the warlock child Magnus and Alec adopted. 

With Max, we need to be spending so much more time with him and getting the sense and his place in the Lightwood family as well as the institute. Where are his comic books? You know how much more depth would be given to him? Because right now, he's kinda annoying because he absorbs way too much from his parents. I only mention this before we are going to see him die very soon. And I'm not saying that I will not be impacted by his death whatsoever because I'm sure I will, but the fact is that I get this feeling that his death is going to be played out just as big as Jocelyns. And right now, we are not seeing enough of his character to get that major impact we should be having when he does eventually pass.

ALEC SAID I LOVE YOU TO MAGNUS. I literally jumped out of happiness when I heard those words come out of their mouths. It was done so well, and wasn't cheesy in any shape or form. It fit the moment really well, and I could really feel the love between them and I couldn't be happier for Malec.

Clary in this episode really felt like book Clary for me, in my opinion. All of her actions felt very true to her character in the books, you know we saw her bravery and her stubbornness which was so nice to see.

Maia is a character that I love more and more with each and every episode she appears. You can really tell that she has this really dense and intense backstory, and it is a story that I am so looking forward to seeing as the actress who portrays her is so incredibly amazing with playing Maia.

Not long ago, there was a theory going around that Aldertree is Sebastian which wouldn't really make sense considering Sebastian was a disguise for Jonathan and----um... With this episode, I can't help but believe that theory even MORE. They're really trying to play out Aldertree as this good and trust worthy character, but they are still building that suspicion... Honestly, if they use the same plot twist as last season many fans will be so pissed---myself included.

Alright, so Simon to become day lighter Simon he needed to drink Jaces blood and for a second I thought it was gonna be Clary which I was fine with considering she has angel blood too. I don't really know how vital and important the shapeshifting rune was in that particular moment, it honestly felt a little out of place because we didn't really get a sense of the teams plan before going into the institute. It was weird, however I was very happy with the fact that it was Jace's blood and not Clary's. Not really for any other reason than it's accurate to the books.

That was the last moment (or one of them at least) we saw in this episode, it was Simon in the sun! There were so many little scenes in this episode that put a huge grin on my face because it reminded me of the book and I truly felt like I was watching the characters come to life in front of my eyes.

Those were all go my thoughts on the winter finale of Shadowhunters, I'd love to know what you think! To me, this was the best episode out of the two seasons!

I hope you enjoyed reading this review!

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