Shadowhunters continues with ‘Heavenly Fire’, and much like last week, a lot of stuff is getting pushed toward a conclusion. In many ways though, it was all about love. Let’s talk about what happened.
Sibling Love
The Jonathan/Clary story arc took an interesting turn. On Jonathan’s part, we got to see some flashbacks about how cruel Lilith was to him. She burned him regularly and tried to verbally beat him down, telling him that none will love him as she does. What made this all very interesting is that it tied into something from Clary’s past. She used to have a recurring nightmare as a child where she was a princess trying to climb a burning tower to save a prince. The prince was held captive by an evil queen that wanted him to love nobody but her and she always failed. When She tells Jonathan that they have a way to remove their binding rune now, he echoes this, saying she was supposed to be his princess.
The thing is, Jonathan has exerted a fair bit of control over Clary before, so at least part of this could be his influence. From his reaction, it may be entirely legitimate, mind you. And Clary’s guilt is a good example of her character. I feel like, if it wasn’t falsified, then this is going to push Jonathan even further over the edge. He’ll start to truly believe that Lilith was right and nobody will love him like her, and will once again be at her side. Perhaps that will eventually lead into him sacrificing himself to kill her? I’m certain someone is going to sacrifice themselves at some point before it ends, and it’s making more and more sense that it’ll be him. I mean, everyone apart from Clary seems to think that he can’t change, so perhaps it’ll be her love that makes him take the righteous path.
Loss and Love
Oh boy did Magnus and Alec have a mixed time of it this week. For Alec, he’s looking to the future with optimism. He now has the family ring and is planning to propose to Magnus over a romantic meal. The problem is, Magnus is still hurting, and when he finds a grey hair, that sets him on a dark path. By the time he arrives for the meal, he’s drunk, and in the end, he breaks down in Alec’s arms, with no proposal having happened.
I did wonder if something like this would happen. Magic has been such a big part of Magnus’ life for so long that losing it twice has left him feeling useless. He says that he’s now only good for comic relief and drinking, and responds to Alec’s declaration of wanting him to be happy with a yelled, “Well, I’m not!” Magnus is in a dark place right now and refuses to see this as a phase, but rather feels like his hurt will last forever. Honestly, I think it’ll take Magnus doing something that he himself can see as useful for him to start healing here. It’s going to be a rough but compelling ride.
Corruption and Growing Love
So, the brunt of the episode was given over to the exploration of the Heavenly Fire project that Izzy discovered. In this instance, she enlists Simon to infiltrate the facility in question and find out a) what’s going on, and b) retrieve some Heavenly Fire to help Clary. This took a lot of twists and turns. The key points though were thus:
- Victor Aldertree, still hurting from the death of his wife (she was a werewolf that went feral), has been experimenting to cure Downworlders of their demon blood. Rather than offer this as an option to those unhappy with their lives, he wants to dump it in the city water supply as a trial for the mass curing of Downworlders against their will.
- Raphael is cured of his vampirism, and Iris is no longer a Warlock. Raphael is happy about this and views it as a gift until he finds out what the overall plan is. Iris is not so happy and wants a quick death rather than a long life. She gets it during a scuffle with the guards.
- Izzy and Simon got to use the cool telepathic Seelie rings to communicate and his daylighter powers came in useful.
- Most of the remaining Heavenly Fire is eventually destroyed thanks to Simon, Raphael, and a half-Seelie Shadowhunter called Helen. Helen didn’t know what was going on and felt the need to act.
- Izzy and Aline arrest Victor, and in the end, there’s a lovely moment where Simon and Izzy call each other badass and smile sweetly at each other.
So, with all that, lots of stuff is happening. First up though, I loved Izzy’s jacket; the leather with the red motif was really nice. More and more, she’s been getting the best outfits in the series. As far as the story goes though, as much as I loved Simon and Maia together, it is nice seeing him and Izzy having some genuinely sweet moments. The Heavenly Fire arc is also great as a means to push things forward because Simon managed to save several vials of serum. Of course, part of it will be sued to remove Clary and Jonathan’s rune, but there should be some left afterward. What will it be sued for? My guess is to help create another heavenly sword for use in the final battle with Jonathan and Lilith.
So, overall, I really enjoyed this episode. I hate to say it, but for all the cool stuff that’s been going on with her arc, Clary is actually the least interesting character for me. So, when an episode focuses on the other cast members more, it’s a real bonus. And this time around, it did a great job with that. Here’s hoping that the final five episodes are just as fun.
But what about yourselves? What do you think of the series? How did you find this episode? Let me know in the comments below.
