Shadowhunters 2×20 Review: “Beside Still Water”

Clary has come a long way as a Shadowhunter. She’s no longer the indecisive girl from season one who didn’t know what she was supposed to do. Now she can open portals and kick butt with the best of them. The way she took down those soldiers was impressive. She doesn’t need to be protected anymore. Not to mention that she violently killed Valentine, which was so fitting because she’s the last person that anyone would expect to kill him, especially if you told someone that while they’re watching season one. It’s great that she’s growing as a character. The only issue is that she’s still very, “Oh my god, Jace”. It’s understandable because she cares about him, but it always feels over-dramatic. If she can tone that down then she’ll definitely be a better character than she is now.

The death of Valentine is both deserved and shocking. The most surprising element of it is that he’s actually gone. He’s been the villain for so long and he’s been so good at being ahead of everyone else that the next villain will have to be better than him. That’s some big shoes to fill. Hopefully John’s mother can do the job. Azazeal was a really good villain this season, too. Hopefully they’ll find a way to bring him back. John also needs another chance because he got snubbed.

Just wanted to mention real quick that I loved how Raziel was so willing to grant anyone’s wish. It seemed so mundane to him that he didn’t seem to care what the wish was. It showed the differences in the angels because Ithuriel seemed to care a little more about Clary and what was going on.

Jace’s death didn’t work for me. I knew that they weren’t going to kill off a major character like that, but Alec’s moment dealing with his death did add emotion to the scene. It’s unclear why Jace lied to him, and it’s really annoying. Hopefully Alec can figure it out sooner rather than later. The big question is what price will Jace have to pay for coming back?

Hands down, the weakest part of this episode was the demon attack. Nothing really happened. Plus the graphics didn’t look good. They weren’t bad, but they could’ve been better. The demons were simply a device to serve for next season’s teaser. Although, Magnus taking down that demon and closing the portal was cool.

Another teaser for next season is Simon’s death with the Seelie Queen. What did he promise her in order to save Luke and Maia? He said, “till death do us part”, so was that simply a Simon joke or did he marry her? No matter what the case, it doesn’t look good for him. Also, what is the Queen planning? She’s all about self preservation so how does she plan on keeping her people safe?

Alec and Magnus getting together was inevitable. They both care about each other too much for them to be apart. We’ll have to wait and see what challenges they’ll face as a couple next season.

The season finale was a good episode and it leaves viewers with enough questions for them to want more. We’ll have to wait for awhile until we see our Shadowhunters again.

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Shadowhunters airs Mondays at 8/7c on Freeform.

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