Shadowhunters Review: The Descent Into Hell Isn’t Easy (Season 1 Episode 2)

Shadowhunters undergoes quite a bit of improvement in its second episode. Don’t get me wrong; there’s still a lot not sitting right with me. But after the train wreck that was the series premiere, my expectations for “The Descent Into Hell Isn’t Easy” were at the sub-basement level. Long story short: I’m actually mildly impressed!

The breakneck speed of action and exposition definitely slows this week. Best case scenario: the show just wants to get all of the background “out of the way” (so to speak) to clear time to do bigger and better things, fully immersing us in this alt-New York. Worst case scenario: nobody in the writers’ room knows what pacing is.

This episode picks up precisely where the last left off, with Clary caught between the two men in her life. On the one hand, her BFF Simon, who is very reasonably alarmed and disturbed to have been brought in to this Shadowhunting world. On the other hand, hot guy Jace. I call him that because I detect no other personality traits yet.

Listen, I understand perfectly well what they’re trying to do with Jace. He’s the rough-around-the-edges badass guy with a tragic past, who melts for the first girl to truly get him. They’re hitting all the beats, yes, but he still just seems like a caricature of an overdone stereotype to me.

As revealed in this episode, he’s got a murdered dad, a dead/vanished mom, and a quest for vengeance against Valentine, the man who killed his dad. All the pieces of the puzzle are there. It’s just not working for me. Maybe it will all click into place later?

Clary and Simon spend some time in the Institute, getting debriefed on a bit of Shadowhunting 101. Now that the show has slowed its roll significantly, it’s much easier and more palatable to digest all of the information being presented.

Of course, there’s still the occasional overwhelming narrative clunkiness. One example is the scene with Hodge Starkweather, the ex-Circle member turned weapons trainer, in the training room. Conveniently, Hodge knows exactly who Clary’s mother is (they were best friends, naturally) and Hodge explains the following:

• Valentine is a really bad dude whose plans would mean the death of most of humanity
• Valentine was presumed dead in a fire years ago
• Jocelyn is an ex-Circle member, too
• The Mortal Cup can create more Shadowhunters/control demons

All the while, Hodge is in tremendous pain because of a mark that flares up whenever he talks about the Circle. The exposition is just too important for him to shut up, guys. It’s not like they could have uncovered this information naturally!

Between this early-on reveal of Jocelyn’s past and Valentine’s motivations, and Clary’s later discovery that Valentine is her father, I’m honestly not sure what other twists could be coming down the pipeline. I admire the chutzpah of the show, telling all of its secrets so quickly! I hope that they haven’t front-loaded all of the good bits.

While Jace and Clary are touring the Institute, getting things explained, Izzy entertains Simon. Unfortunately for female viewers, Izzy is still a sauntering human sex doll at this point. The portrayal of this character is so disappointing. Sizzy (the Simon/Izzy ‘ship) is so clearly going to be a thing, but I can’t take Izzy seriously at all. I’m not sure if it’s the writing or the acting (or both), but every time Izzy interacts with Simon all I can think is, “Oh my god, is she going to eat him?” She’s scary! Their interactions are not coming off as alluring at all. Izzy is far more bearable when she’s platonically interacting with Clary. The “pep talk” scene between the two was very cute.

I do enjoy Simon and Alberto Rosende’s portrayal of him, though. He deserves better than both Clary and Izzy, at this point.

Was anyone else surprised to see Dot alive after the fight in the premiere? I was fairly certain she was dead at that point, for some reason. She seems to have maybe died for real now, at Valentine’s hand, so I guess that settles that anyway. Too bad; as a warlock helping out a Shadowhunter (something they implied via Magnus’ disdain was unusual), she could’ve had an interesting dynamic with the rest of the kids.

After Clary and the gang fail to rescue Dot following Clary’s necklace-induced visions of Dot in danger, Clary decides that she needs to get her memories back ASAP. Since Pandemonium was cleared out in a hurry by warlocks fleeing the Circle members, Jace suggests going to the Silent Brothers, a group of creepy underground-dwelling dudes who look like this:

The Silent Brothers use a dangling sword to pull erased memories out of people. What they pull out of Clary is the fact that her father is Valentine, a fact which Luke and Jocelyn apparently chose to discuss over a sleeping Clary. Between that and Dot whispering to comatose Jocelyn after escaping her cage in Chernobyl instead of, you know, escaping to go get help, these people are a bunch of morons.

I have to say, though, the show is aesthetically pretty damn good. I love the look of the Silent Brothers, and most of the sets/special effects have been surprisingly effective so far. Again, I didn’t have high expectations (mostly because ABC Family/Freeform typically doesn’t do higher-budget supernatural dramas, so I had no idea what they’d go for), so this far exceeded any thoughts I had about that aspect.

While Clary is getting a sword dangled over her, Izzy leaves Simon in the car alone. Bad move, girl.

In two seconds flat, Simon is spirited away by vampires. The “Night Children” comically dangle Simon upside down off of a bridge above the Shadowhunters, demanding the Mortal Cup in exchange for their captive. The two vampires we meet are a young man with crazy-eyes who looks fresh off the Jersey Shore, and a skinny Asian woman, so that’s fun, I guess.

Other thoughts:

• So Luke is a werewolf? Or something? He rips apart the female Circle member, but we don’t see anything definitive because they are behind a car during the fight.
• Alec’s disdain for Mundanes (in general) and Simon (in particular) is very amusing. Alec is still one of my favorites, second only to Simon. He needs to chill out with the rule-following thing, though, because that’s getting a bit repetitive and grating.
• Dominic Sherwood (Jace) is pulling some crazy over-the-top facial expressions that are making me laugh hysterically for all the wrong reasons. His reaction to Clary’s “Valentine is my father” thing? Priceless.

What did you think of this episode? Was it an improvement over the premiere? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Shadowhunters airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on Freeform.