Shadowhunters Review: Bound by Blood (Season 2 Episode 9)
Shadowhunters Season 2 Episode 9, “Bound by Blood,” is, ultimately, weak. It furthers plot lines but doesn’t do a good job of rounding up individual storylines before next week’s finale.
Climon. This relationship that we’ve seen be “official” for two episodes now already has intense make-out sessions, almost leading to sex. It’s not that I don’t like Clary and Simon together – to make it clear, I do not like them together at all – it’s the fact that we’ve never seen that for veteran relationships.
We’ve seen Jace hooking up with a random girl, we’ve seen Izzy seduce people, and we’ve now seen Clary + Simon making out in a canoe. What we haven’t seen is anything of the sort between Magnus and Alec.
Malec has never been seen just flirting, holding hands, or even touching for that matter. Come on, for two people who are supposed to be in a committed relationship they barely show it. Why is it okay to see straight ships get down and dirty, but the one gay ship on the show can’t even touch each other? It’s not.
Malec is regularly used to bait viewers into tuning in, yet that’s all it ends up being; just baiting. We get three minutes of them talking compared to the entire episode focusing on boring relationships that nobody even wants to see.
Case in point, when Magnus confronts Alec about his suicide attempt, he doesn’t touch him once. This subject, them speaking about it openly, is crucial. It helps break the stigma that it’s something that shouldn’t be discussed, that you should keep it to yourself.
During the entire short talk, it’s like they aren’t even together. Alec and Magnus stand three feet apart in almost every scene that they have.
For a show that prides themselves on representation, they sure do know how to screw it up.
Okay, enough of my ranting on Malec when there’s plenty to talk about with Izzy + Raphael.
I truly think that if it weren’t for the addiction storyline, I would like Izzy and Raphael together. They have the chance to be a cute couple, but I can’t even think of that when all they do is feed off of each other’s blood to get high.
At this point, I think I’d of rather had a storyline where she and Aldertree tried their hand at a relationship. ALDERTREE AND IZZY TOGETHER. If that doesn’t accurately tell you how much I hate this drug addiction storyline, then I don’t know what else to say.
In non-relationship drama news, the way Luke treats Maia is very upsetting. Yes, she tried to kill Clary – I kind of wish she had succeeded – but Luke knows that she only did it because she was terrified. All Clary has to do is touch the soul sword, and all downworlders are dead.
The fact that Luke locks Maia up in a fridge in the back of a restaurant makes it even worse when he knows what claustrophobia does to her. He knows the kind of life she had, how she doesn’t trust many people. But, at that moment, it doesn’t matter because Clary is in trouble. That’s not how it should be.
Simon attacking Valentine is both very heroic and stupid at the same time. He knows there’s no way that he’s going to get away, but he does it to save Clary and Jace. I know fans will make this into a relationship type of thing, but I would do something like this for my best friend if it meant saving her life. Let’s also not forget that if Clary touches the soul sword, Simon dies too.
I don’t see the midseason finale ending on an elegant note, in my opinion. Hopefully, it will wrap up a few storylines, but I’m not very optimistic at this point. It seems as if the show has lost sight of what it could’ve been.
Other Thoughts:
- Alec taking charge and kicking Aldertree off duty is the best thing that has happened so far. Alec deserves to be running the institute.
- We’ve never seen Magnus use magic on Alec forcibly before. This could be another pivotal moment in their relationship, but, of course, it’s only going to be something pushed to the side where Clary + Simon or Jace will become the main point.
- All Alec has ever done is the look out for Izzy, so she needs to chill out. I know it’s the drugs talking, but she’s in there somewhere.
What did you think of this episode of Shadowhunters? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Shadowhunters airs Monday at 8/7c on Freeform.
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Cade Taylor
Cade Taylor is a television and film critic living in St. Louis, Missouri. He is a Senior Writer for Tell-Tale TV. His love for television developed at a young age, with a concentration on queer stories, sitcoms, teen dramas, and science fiction thrillers. In addition, he works full-time as a news producer, telling the stories of Missourians and helming "Produced in the Bi-State," a segment spotlighting actors, musicians, and entertainers from the St. Louis area. He can be reached by email at cade@telltaletv.com.
One thought on “Shadowhunters Review: Bound by Blood (Season 2 Episode 9)”
Okay, first of all, can we not with “no one wants to see” because you don’t speak for everyone who watches this show. You speak for yourself and no one else. Sure, there are probably others who agree with you and when you spend all your time talking to only them you start to think that everyone feels the exact same way when in reality there are many different POV out there.
For another thing, sometimes the way two characters behave in a scene is strictly an acting choice. Screenwriters specifically don’t write every action between two characters in a scene so that the actors can make conscious choices on how their character would behave in that moment. We have seen Alec become more comfortable around Magnus and he isn’t nearly as closed off as he was in the first season, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to completely change everything about himself or his personality now that he is out and in an open relationship. He’s still Alec. He’s still the guy who believes in order and duty.
In regards to Malec not getting the same treatment as the others I agree with you, they haven’t. The show has gone to great lengths to show just how important the pairing is to them. If anything, I would say that Magnus & Alec are their most important couple and they’re the couple that they see going the distance no matter what happens with the rest of the relationships on the show. With them, they’re building a great love story, unlike Simon & Clary who won’t last the season or Clary & Jace who will always have the stench of sibling on them no matter what happens from here.
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