Mundie Moms

Saturday, March 12, 2016

ShadowhuntersTV: Episode 9: Rise Up / Review #Shadowhunters



Hello Shadowhunters! Today we're sharing our thoughts for Episode 9 of Shadowhunters, which aired this past Tuesday. Some things we liked, and others things we weren't big fans of. 

Katie's Thoughts

"There's no turning back now" was a line that was said a few times during this week's episode and no, there's definitely no turning back now is there. This seems to be the beginning of the end. What in the world just happened? Okay, let's back for just a second. There were some things that were good about this episode. I was able to watch some of this episode this week with the cast at Cassie's Lady Midnight tour in LA. The short amount of time I did watch, I liked. However, now that I saw the entire thing I'm a little worried about the direction this series is going. 

Let's talk about what was good. The acting. Who's heart broke for Simon during his transformation, for Jace when Alec and he fought, and for Magnus when he tells Alexander goodbye? Mine did! I felt the emotion in those scenes, (even if I didn't agree with those scenes, but more on that in a moment), and thought that acting during these scenes was great. Simon's transformation in itself was good. My heart broke for Simon as he battled between accepting who is, and fighting to acknowledge what he's become now. Huge kudos to Raphael. I really liked him in this episode. I swear he had the best one-liners too. The banter between him and Luke was great. I liked the unity of the Shadowhunters and Downworlders together, though it's not something we see until book 3. I was hoping it was something we'd see in the next season, and not now. I also liked that Jace and Izzy stood up to Alec, and didn't support his proposal to Lydia. They at least tried to talk sense into him, which is sad, because book Alec has sense. 

Okay, let's talk about the not so good didn't work at all. First off, Jace is Team Switzerland? Sorry I had a Twilight fandom flashback during that line. Too bad they didn't add a sparkling vampire who makes the sound of wind chimes when he's in the sun, to this episode. There's plenty of lines in the TMI books they could of used, but instead we got a Twilight one... unless I'm really forgetting something about City of Bones. Second, I really wanted to cheer over that Clace kiss, but there just wasn't all the chemistry I've been hoping... Third, Lydia. I can't stand her character, and I'm beginning to think there's definitely an ulterior motive for her being here. 

Lastly, I'm so glad the writers this week decided to ruin Alec's character. *insert sarcasm* Seriously, Alec would NEVER turn his back on his family like he's done in this episode, especially for a girl. Nor would Alec and Jace ever fight like they just did. Take for granted that scene was a little hard to watch between these two. Kudos to the good acting during this scene. Yes, I fault this week's writer for totally ruining Alec's character, and turning him into an unlikeable character. I'm really worried about the direction this series is going to take in episode 10. 


Sophie's Thoughts

Simon's transformation was a little too sparklepyre-ish for me. Was it just me who thought that even the blue-green tones of their cell reminded me of the lighting in Twilight? I'm left with a feeling of having seen all this before.

Putting my criticism aside for a moment, I must give props go to the actor playing Raphael for delivering the snarkiest lines of the episode. I actually began to look forward to them.

As far as my favorite couples go. Clace seems to be as bland as ever. Even the badly placed kiss didn't give me that OHNOYESNO feeling the book did. Maybe because the punchline of them being related hasn't been delivered yet? And then there is Malec. Two words: "Goodbye Alexander." I admit that I felt sadness in Magnus' farewell when Alec told him he was getting married.

The fight between Alec and Jace added to the bizarro fanfic feeling of Pretty Little Shadowhunters. BookAlec and BookJace would never fight that way with each other. "I'm begging you my parabatai, my brother, please come with me?" And Alec's response of "No" mirrored my own knee-jerk reaction. No, please, no. Give us back the plot of the books, and please, please give us back the characters we love.

Memorable line: "Vamps aren't exactly team players".



Em's Thoughts 


Again this is another episode that is very good 90% of the time but then one or two lines or events happen and you go, no just no.  But I’m not so unhappy anymore, maybe it’s because I have worked out that (like Sophie said last week), it is a work of fan fiction.  The basic story and characters are there but we can’t expect them to do or say what we know from the books.

I think the transition from human to vampire by Simon was done ok. We can’t help but compare to Twilight, and they nearly almost went there, but not quite thank goodness.  And by the end of the episode we started seeing a little of normal joking Simon back again, with a little more guts as he comes to terms with being a Downworlder.  I liked Raphael in this episode and thought he was portrayed very well.

I’m not sure if I like the way this Alec is going, but I’m thinking he isn’t supposed to be a likeable character in TV show land. So ok, if that is the case then I will deal and see how this story like plays out, especially after Jace and him clashed big time.  That was a very moving scene and I really felt for Jace asking Alec to kill him because he doesn’t want to live if they aren’t on the same side.  Awesome acting again, probably the best I’ve seen from Dominic so far, and starting to portray the different sides of the usually hard Jace.

You can’t help but feel sorry for Magnus either, and you can see how even though he is hundreds of years old and has had many relationships, Alec seems to have been one of the few he had true feelings for.  I do hope they go back to the book story line with them soon for all us Malec shippers

I feel a little unsure about the story line of Clary uniting the Downworlders to work together. This looks like the story at the end of City of Glass, so again we see a merging of stories between books and a change in the time line. I’m not sure if I’m happy with them fighting agains the shadowhunters or the Clave as they aren’t the enemy, Valentine is. Maybe it’s because Chernobyl is so far away from New York.


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What did you think of this week's episode? We'd love to hear your thoughts! Please leave us a comment below and tell us what you thought. You can read our previous reviews hereCheck out ShadowhuntersTV.com's recap of this week's episode here

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