Clary isn’t safe anywhere in this episode of Shadowhunters, titled “Bound By Blood.” Several factions from the Downworld are after her, and she starts to doubt whether they are wrong to want to be rid of her. Meanwhile, Alec discovers what’s been going on with Izzy, and he isn’t happy about it.
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Remember That Blood Oath?
Early on in this episode of Shadowhunters, Simon and Clary are just trying to spend some quality time together, making out in a canoe, when they are rudely interrupted by Jace. With Valentine after Clary, he doesn’t think they’re safe there. Just as he and Simon are about to compete to see who’s tougher or something, I don’t know why that’s necessary, but whatever. Clary’s hand suddenly starts turning black and seems to be burning her. That’s … certainly not normal.
They go to their resident warlock friend, Magnus, to get an idea of what’s going on, and he tells them it’s a result of Iris’ blood oath. As long as Clary doesn’t bring Madzie back to Iris, as she told her to do in the previous episode, the blood oath will continue to consume her until it reaches her heart, at which time she’ll die. Yikes.
Attacked from All Sides
So Clary and Jace go show her ailment to Luke, and they decide they need to rope Simon back into the search for Madzie after he had been unable to go with them to Magnus’ in the daylight. Just as Clary goes to get her boyfriend from the dock warehouse he’s living in, she’s nearly attacked by a werewolf. Together, she, Jace and Simon get the werewolf to reveal itself — and it’s Maia.
Apparently, Maia had heard all about Clary being able to activate the Soul Sword, and she thinks the other girl needs to die before she’s used in Valentine’s efforts to destroy the Downworld. Simon and Luke are understandably pissed off at her, and while Jace, Clary and Simon go resume their search to find Madzie, Luke locks Maia in a tiny room at the Jade Wolf to keep her from going after Clary again or telling others in the Downworld about Clary’s abilities. It’s an especially rough punishment because the girl is claustrophobic, but her pleas fall on deaf ears because Luke leaves her there alone. Harsh.
Alec’s Suspicion
Meanwhile, in the beginning of this episode, Magnus and Alec have a heart-to-heart about the whole “almost-jumping-off-the-building” stunt that Alec almost pulled while under Iris’ spell, and Magnus points out that the spell only drew upon fears that already exist. He makes his boyfriend promise to let him know if he ever really does get that bad. It’s clear that the two are getting closer, but as it turns out, that may not be seen as a good thing in the eyes of the rest of the Downworld. Stay tuned.
Anyway, after Izzy has a brief meeting early in the episode with Aldertree, in which he invites her to dinner and she declines, Izzy disappears. Alec gets understandably concerned and goes to Aldertree himself. He says Izzy is acting strange and implies that he thinks Aldertree has something to do with it — which, of course, we know he does; Alec just has a really good gut feeling about it.
But he can’t get the guy to admit to anything, and anyway, he’s walking very careful political lines by accusing the leader of the Institute of anything. So he backs off — for the moment.
Izzy’s New Obsession
Elsewhere, Izzy is relatively fine, aside from her little problem of being addicted to yin fen and demon blood. We see a scene of her and Rafael cooking together at his place, during which he admits that he cooks every Sunday to bring food to a Catholic retirement home in Harlem — where his little sister, now 78 years old and lacking any memory of who he is, resides. That’s kind of sweet, actually.
But they also partake in another sort of treat while they cook together: Izzy offers him her wrist again, and he bites it, fulfilling the addictions they both have. It’s not exactly the most healthy relationship, but they seem to both care about each other in some way.
The Meeting
This is actually brought up at a meeting that Luke, Magnus, Rafael and members of the Seelie call to order, to talk about the problem of Clary, the Soul Sword and defeating Valentine. Luke wants help from the Seelie and vampires. But one of the Seelie, who had once had a relationship with Izzy, instead suggests that they kill Clary, as Maia had suggested.
When Magnus and Luke balk at the suggestion, the Seelie man brings up the fact that the two of them and Rafael are all biased and have become too close to Shadowhunters. He brings up Jocelyn, Alec and Izzy — that last one is a surprise to Magnus. But Rafael agrees that if Clary has to die to protect the Downworld, so be it.
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Alec’s Anger
Magnus goes to Alec after the meeting and tells him that he thinks he knows where Izzy is after all. He then confesses to his lover that he had seen Alec’s sister the other day, asking after yin fen. Alec is angry with him for not telling him, and Magnus says that he had believed her lie that she was working undercover for Aldertree to get the drug. He hadn’t put together the fact that she may be getting a fix straight from the source until the meeting that involved Rafael.
Alec is still upset with Magnus, but he does get him to admit where Izzy is. Together, they go to Rafael’s, where Izzy and the vampire are getting high off each other. Alec attacks Rafael, and Izzy can only yell at them to stop, she’s so out of it. Magnus makes his way into the room and uses his magic to make Alec stop attacking Rafael, who had been trying to explain to Alec that he cared about the Shadowhunter’s sister.
Alec tells Magnus that the whole thing never would have happened if the warlock had just told him what was going on with Izzy, then grabs his sister and takes her out of the building. Rafael repeats to Magnus that he really does care about Izzy, just as Magnus cares for Alec. Magnus tells him it’s not the same thing, and that that’s just Rafael’s addiction talking. There’s really no way to know until he and Izzy are no longer literally addicted to each other, I suppose.
But Izzy pulls away from Alec outside the building, telling him that she doesn’t need his help. She says Rafael was there for her when Alec didn’t even notice anything was wrong and basically tells her brother to get lost. The twins are left at odds when the episode ends.
Unpleasant Conversations
Valentine has Madzie at a warehouse full of carnival games and rides and such for most of this episode, and when we first see him in “Bound By Blood,” he’s trying to get Dot to do a certain spell, threatening to inject the little girl with the same experiment he has been giving to the older witch. Dot doesn’t want to see the powerful little girl harmed, so she continues her efforts.
Elsewhere, as Simon, Jace and Clary keep looking for Madzie, they’re able to use a scarf they get from a homeless man near the park where she was taken to track her. But Jace is worried that Valentine is making the whole thing too easy for them. What if he wants to be found?
As they drive around, Clary admits that maybe she should be killed in order to protect the Downworld from being destroyed at her own hand. She tries to get Simon to agree to kill her if Valentine gets a hold of her, and he won’t agree to it. But Jace does.
Using Madzie
The small group gets to a certain point, and Jace and Simon get out of the van and agree to split up. Simon thinks Jace should stay, since he can actually protect the severely weakened Clary, and it seems like Jace agrees. But then he sneaks away while Simon is on the phone with Luke, who explains about the meeting with the vampires and Seelie.
So Simon is left to comfort Clary, who is getting weaker by the minute thanks to the blood oath, while Jace goes to find Valentine and Madzie. He finds them at a cafe and tells Valentine to hand the little girl over. He explains about the blood oath and basically says that if his father doesn’t hand Madzie over, Clary will die. Valentine thinks he’s bluffing, that his son wouldn’t let his sister die like that, but Jace is adamant.
And just as Clary is on the brink of death, after heartfelt confessions between her and Simon on the roof of the van, Jace and Madzie show up just in time. The little girl is miraculously able to heal Clary, so she is clearly very powerful.
Speaking of powerful, just then Madzie opens a portal and pulls Clary through it before Simon or Jace can stop her. She’s taken to the warehouse that Valentine has been keeping Madzie in, and chained up there. So much for keeping her away from Valentine and the Soul Sword.
Downworld Destruction
As Clary is being taken, the Downworld is falling into chaos. Jace and Simon find two sort of Seelie/vampire hybrids attacking a mundane in public, and after calling Alec at the Institute, it sounds as if similar things are happening all over. Thanks to Valentine’s experiments, the Downworld is descending into chaos.
Though most of the Shadowhunters are out dealing with the attacks happening all over the city, Alec calls on a few to go look for Clary before Valentine makes her use the Soul Sword. Aldertree tries to stop him, but Alec lets the older man know that he knows he was the one to first offer the yin fen to Izzy. If the guy doesn’t want to become the next bit of gossip and suspicion in Idris, he has to go along with what Alec says. So he agrees for the few Shadowhunters to listen to the younger man and go find Clary.
Finding Clary
Simon and Jace work together to find Clary and eventually come upon the same two Downworlders they saw attacking the mundane before going after another woman and a security guard at an apartment building. Even after Jace seems to kill one of them, he reanimates, and it takes Luke showing up and really taking him out for him to die.
They realize that the super-powered, chaotic Downworlders are likely a result of Valentine’s experiments, so it’s become even more important to find him. Luke is able to track a scent to the warehouse that Valentine and Madzie had been staying in, along with Valentine’s “zoo,” but no one seems to be there when they arrive.
Jace eventually finds Clary in the building, chained to the floor, and is able to free her just as Valentine and Madzie appear. Madzie freezes Jace, and though Clary tries talking the little girl into not helping Valentine, he has her convinced that Clary is part of the reason she can’t see her nana, and the little witch is on his side.
Just then, Simon attacks Valentine from behind, but he’s no match for the older man. He subdues the vampire, and Madzie creates a portal that Valentine, Simon and the little girl escape through. Jace and Clary are left in the warehouse, and now Clary’s boyfriend is at the mercy of her father, who is determined to destroy all Downworlders like Simon.
Will Simon make it out alive? Will Madzie stay loyal to Valentine? And what’s going to happen with Alec and Izzy’s sibling relationship, which is now so strained? 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 NBC)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
