In this episode of Shadowhunters, “How Are Thou Fallen,” Cleophas goes to Clary and Luke, claiming to want to help them — but is she lying? Meanwhile, Simon, Jace, Alec and Magnus all get a little action in the romance department.
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Cleophas’ Arrival
After the previous episode of Shadowhunters, in which Cleophas — Luke’s sister and a member of the Iron Sisters — killed a fellow Iron Sister and left the Citadel, she approaches Valentine in this one and tells him about her ability to create a new rune. Apparently, back in the day, she was a member of the Circle and one of his followers. Now she needs to prove herself worthy of following him again.
In order to draw Clary back to Valentine, Cleophas cuts herself, badly, then goes to the Jade Wolf to seek help from Luke and his pack. She claims that Valentine attacked the Citadel, killed the other Iron Sister, Magdalena, and took her, but we know she’s lying. Privately, Luke and Clary talk about what to do with her, and Luke, having told Clary about Cleo’s connection to the Circle, doesn’t believe his sister’s story and wants to turn her over to the Clave. Clary, who’s told Luke about her new ability as well, isn’t so sure and seems to think they at least need to give her another chance.
But while they’re talking with her, Cleo claims she can take them to Valentine but calls Clary “Clarissa” in the process. Clary tells Luke that only Valentine calls her that, so she must know that Cleo is in with Valentine — but that doesn’t stop her from shocking Luke with his taser and running with Cleo before Luke and the pack can turn Cleo over. Apparently, Clary thinks that they can use Cleo to go undercover and get the soul sword, and she’s willing to go against Luke to follow her own plan. That should go over well.
Malec Takes the Next Step
Alec spends most of this episode of Shadowhunters either with Magnus or stressing over his relationship with Magnus. It’s kind of adorable. They get back from a whirlwind trip from what seems to be exotic locales like Tokyo and Prague, and settle in for a little alone time together at Magnus’ apartment, only to be interrupted by Jace and a girl he’s brought home giggling in the bedroom. Magnus turns on some music to drown it out, but before they can get too hot and heavy, Alec is called away by the Institute.
Later, Magnus goes to the same bar Maia works at and chats with her a little bit about a gift he has on hand that Alec got him. She asks if it’s from someone special, and he says he thinks so. It’s very cute. He’s then distracted by Izzy showing up and the relationship gossip is halted, but it’s not long before Magnus and Alec are together having a little relationship chat of their own.
At the Institute later, Alec, who had told Izzy he wanted to talk, approaches her and starts asking about how you know when you’re ready to have sex with someone. Izzy is clearly delighted that Alec is going to take that step and gently reassures him that if he cares about Magnus, and Magnus cares about him, it’s okay and he shouldn’t overthink the whole thing.
So the next time Alec goes to Magnus’ apartment, when he finds out Jace isn’t there, he starts kissing the warlock and tells him he’s ready to take that step with him. Magnus reveals that he’s worried about rushing things and losing Alec, but Alec basically tells him that’s silly, and they start making out and moving into another room. We don’t see any more than that, but it’s pretty clear what they’re going off to do. Long live Malec!
Simon’s Big Date
Early on in this Shadowhunters episode, Clary finds Simon getting ready for a date with Maia, and she’s clearly impressed when she sees him shirtless. He can tell something is up with her and offers to drop his plans to help her, but she tells him to go on and enjoy himself. He then goes to meet up with Maia at the bar she works at, getting there two hours early, which she clearly finds very cute.
Simon’s approached by both Izzy and Jace while he waits for her shift to be over, but it’s Jace who sticks around to give him some pointers about dating. Earlier, Alec had had to pull Jace away from his latest conquest at Magnus’ for a mission, and Jace basically blew it off, and it’s pretty clear that issues at the Institute are not his main focus at the moment. He’s at the bar with a group of women and orders tequila shots from a severely unimpressed Maia to give to them.
Jace tells Simon he’s the “safe choice” for women, even mentioning Clary, as he clearly knows how Simon feels about her, and offers to share some of his “wisdom.” Jace asks how Simon approaches a girl, and his technique is a little awkward, so Jace offers to show him how it’s done. He basically tells him to stop being himself entirely, then approaches a girl while disguised as Simon to show him how his methods work. He gets the girl’s number, which makes Simon think Jace’s way is the way to go.
But later, Maia gets off of work and goes to sit with Simon, and he tries to follow Jace’s advice, only for it to backfire. He basically acts totally uninterested in Maia, and she tells him to call her when the Simon she actually agreed to go out with shows up, before storming out. Yikes.
Before the end of the episode, Simon goes to Maia again, gifting her with a collection of the Blade Runner movies, as their date would’ve involved seeing some of them. He apologizes for acting like a jerk, trying to explain what he was doing, and Maia sees right through it. She tells him she was able to hear his conversation with Jace and knows that Simon is in love with his best friend. She encourages him to tell Clary how he feels, and they seem to end on good terms, as friends. I hope that’s not the end of that because I actually really like them together!
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Izzy’s Addiction
Izzy spends most of this Shadowhunters episode on the hunt for more yin fen. At the Institute, she reveals to Clary that she knows about her rune ability and is upset with her for shutting her out. When Clary tries to explain, Izzy’s not interested, and she leaves to go find more yin fen, presumably in Aldertree’s office. But she’s dismayed to find that there’s nothing there, and she has to find another way to get her fix.
Izzy next goes to the bar Magnus is at, and when she tries to hit up a Downworlder drug dealer to get more yin fen, Magnus approaches them and reminds the other guy that he’s banned from North America indefinitely. He stalks away, and Magnus confronts Izzy. She makes up a convincing lie about Aldertree sending her on a mission to break up with the yin fen trade, which Magnus doesn’t believe until she drops Aldertree’s name. He directs her to the Night Children (vampires) and warns her to be careful, but Izzy is clearly too obsessed with getting the drug to care about that.
Izzy has a quick conversation with Simon at the bar just after he arrives, in which she alludes to him biting her in order to cure his anxiety. Of course, it’s really so she can get vampire venom directly into her system, and when he asks if she’s serious, she laughs it off as a joke. She then leaves to go search for Night Children using technology at the Institute, and it’s clear that she’ll stop at nothing to get what she needs.
She eventually goes to an alley alone and is approached by a vampire. It’s soon joined by several others, but Izzy holds off an altercation, telling them that she’s there because she needs something. And that’s where we leave Izzy at the end of this installment of Shadowhunters.
Clary’s Newest Gift
Throughout this episode, Clary periodically hears a horrible, mournful wailing that no one else is able to hear. When she’s running with Cleo, she suddenly hears it again and attacks the former Iron Sister, demanding to know what she or Valentine are doing to her. Cleo has her activate her hearing rune so she can hear what Clary is, and she’s stunned when she’s able to listen in.
Cleophas reveals that what Clary hears is an angel crying out in pain, and she says she believes Valentine has one captive and is torturing it. We do get a few brief shots of Valentine imprisoning and dragging an older looking figure and learn its name — Ithuriel. This is enough to turn Cleo from Valentine’s mission, as she explains to Clary that hurting an angel goes against everything they believe as Shadowhunters.
But Clary, who tells Cleo she knew all along that she was working with Valentine, still thinks Cleo is a traitor for following him in the first place. But Cleophas makes her a deal: she’ll go with Clary to where Valentine is, and they’ll save the angel together. Afterwards, she says she’ll turn herself in.
Clary is still unsure, but Cleo lays out the severity of the situation — a storm is coming, and Valentine has both an angel and the Soul Sword. All he needs is a bolt of lightning, and all hell will break loose.
Saving the Angel
Luke, who called on Jace to help after Clary used his taser on him, finds Cleo and Clary, and he and Jace go with them to wherever Valentine is. Cleophas approaches Valentine alone and confirms that Clary is gifted. But just then, Luke comes out of the shadows, gun drawn. A standoff ensues, where Cleo and Valentine struggle, and he eventually gets a knife to her neck, forcing Luke to decide whether he wants to shoot at Valentine while the Shadowhunter has his sister.
Valentine taunts Luke with the reminder that they were parabatai and tells him he feels that Luke betrayed him by “stealing” Jocelyn from him. He’s able to drag Cleo away, and Luke shoots — but he misses, as he waited too long.
Meanwhile, Clary and Jace make their way to the roof of the same building and find a group of Valentine’s minions guarding the chained-up Ithuriel. They both fight, and eventually kill, all of them, then work to free the angel.
The angel screams again, but apparently Clary is able to understand something in the cries because she activates something with her rune finder thing, and the chains glow hot before Ithuriel is able to break them. He then spreads his wings before taking both Clary and Jace’s hands, showing them some sort of strange vision, before he departs into the skies.
What exactly did Ithuriel show Clary and Jace? Will Simon and Maia stay just friends? And did Izzy get her yin fen fix? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
Shadowhunters season 2 airs Mondays at 8/7c on Freeform. Want more news? Like BuddyTV’s Facebook page.
(Image courtesy of Freeform)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
