Shadowhunters – A Door Into The Dark Recap/Review

Our Rating

Shadowhunters - A Door Into The Dark9
Clary struggles to find where she belongs, whilst Simon seeks Magnus' help.
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Welcome Shadowhunters – A Door Into The Dark

Previously on Shadowhunters – Valentine is doing his level best to warp Jace to his demented world view. The Institute wants to find him, but not all for the same reasons as Alec and Clary. Simon is trying to get a handle on being a vampire. Oh yeah and Jocelyn SHOT AN ARROW AT JACE!

Jace and Valentine escape through the portal and land back on the ship. They argue over the right way to handle Downworlders and why Jace saved Valentine. He could have used the portal to take Valentine to Idris and hand him over to the Clave but something stopped him. Poor Jace doesn’t know which way is up right now. We know being apart is taking its toll on Alec but it seems like his parabatai is also struggling. I think Valentine realises this and is using it to try and break Jace down.

At the Institute, Aldertree blames Lydia for what went wrong with the attempted capture of Jace. Um, dude…you’re in charge. Remember that big speech last week where you took charge. This is YOUR screw up, not Lydia’s!

Clary and Jocelyn get into it about Jace and poor Simon tries to mediate. Jocelyn reveals to Clary about the experiments Valentine conducted on Jonathan. Clary echoes Jace when she says that not all Downworlders are inherently evil while Jocelyn is sounding a lot like her ex-husband. She shows Clary a memory, baby Jonathan killing flowers, and tells her that Ragnar Fell warned her that Jonathan would only ever leave death and destruction behind.

Clary and Simon talk over what they just learned until Lydia arrives to take Simon to Aldertree for his interview. Aldertree tasks Simon to find out who was behind the den, threatening to ban him from seeing Clary if he doesn’t. Aldertree also seems not to understand the concept of personal space.

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Simon backs off under his threats and Aldertree just moves closer again. I felt so bad for Simon in this scene, Aldertree is the very worst kind of jobsworth bureaucrat. Mad props to Nick Sagar though, he is killing it as Aldertree.

Clary goes to talk to Alec and they argue over Jace. Clary says she wants to find him as much as Alec does, that he is her brother too, but Alec isn’t having it. He’s blunt, tells her she isn’t a Shadowhunter and that Jace is gone because of her.

Somewhere in China Town in a dojo some guys are doing some kind of martial art, one throws the other to the floor and as he is about to take the victory all the lights go out. When they come back on several people, including the apparent victor of the fight, are missing. Seems like Valentine is fixing that “lack of fighting skill” issue he mentioned last week by kidnapping and converting already skilled fighters. Lydia orders the Institute to follow the lead and stake out possible places Valentine might recruit from. Alec and Izzy decide this is their best shot to get their brother back. Aldertree wants to sideline the Lightwoods but Lydia stands up for them.

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Clary is feeling totally isolated after a fight with her mother and Alec. She’s questioning everything, including her status as a Shadowhunter but Izzy reassures her that she does belong and that she will always have her friendship. This scene isn’t quite as epic as the Clizzy training scene last week, but it’s still great to see these two kick ass women having scenes together.

Elsewhere, Luke and Alaric are investigating the disappearances of the fighters. Alaric questions Luke’s leadership, especially with regards to letting Simon stay at the Jade Wolf. Luke puts his beta in his place by reminding him that he was once a newbie wolf who needed help which Luke gave, now he’s doing the same for Simon. Honestly, I think I live for the relationship between Simon and Luke almost more than anything else in this show. Luke and Simon are probably the two links for the audience to hang on to through this crazy story – Clary’s surrogate father and brother are the everymen we need. MORE LUKE AND SIMON PLEASE! While Luke is busy defending Simon, the newbie vamp is getting into trouble at the docks.

Gretel and some of the other wolves find him skulking around and after a brief altercation including some classic Simon sass, the vamp turns and runs for the safety of his boatshed. Sadly it isn’t the refuge he was hoping for as Raphael is waiting for him. Welcome back David Castro. Raphael wants to know why Aldertree is on his ass about Maria’s nest. Simon realises that Aldertree has twisted his words, much like he did with Clary last week. Raphael tasks Simon with finding Camille and bringing her back to answer for her many crimes.

On Valentine’s boat Jace argues with one of the new recruits, Jeremy, an idealistic kid who thinks Valentine is right. Having your parents killed by a werewolf will do that to you. Jace is still holding out though, refusing to believe Valentine is right. Valentine appears and as Jace stalks away he talks to Jeremy about Jace. I’ve got an idea for you Valentine. Glamour this obviously brainwashed kid to look like Jace, then you can have your little father-son crazy pants relationship. Let the real Jace go free. Everyone wins. Until Jace comes back and kills your deceitful ass!

Jocelyn brings coffee to Clary, presumably as some kind of peace offering, but finds Clary missing and her stele on the bed. Seems like Clary has taken everyone’s words about her not knowing this world to heart and decided she’d be better off as a mundane. Anyone else think this is a bloody terrible move? Clary, Izzy literally just told you that not only do you belong in the Institute but you also have a target on your back right now if you leave. So you leave…and don’t take your stele. *shakes head*

Alec and Izzy head to a fight club, apparently the one the best fighters in the city go to. Some massive tattooed thug hits on Izzy and Alec gets all protective of his little sister but there really is no need. Izzy is more than capable of handling the meat head all by herself and does just that. She hands his ass to him while Alec stands by and smiles proudly at his little sister. Can we have more of this as well please? Izzy and Alec bantering and working together as brother and sister is just glorious!

Simon portals into Magnus’s place to ask him for help in finding Camille. Magnus agrees after a little bit of grumbling and stealing Simon’s ‘vampire hair’ as payment. This could be a whole lot of fun.

At the fight club, the guy Izzy beat up is still grumbling about being beaten by a girl when a Circle member arrives to try and take him. He finds himself confronted with Izzy (who was glamoured as the big guy) and Alec wielding a freaking seraph blade…first time since what, the pilot? About damn time! Sadly the Circle member kills himself before either Izzy or Alec get to him or get any information out of him. Honestly this new breed of Circle members are completely deranged. Last week they were glamouring themselves as Valentine and getting killed by Jace, this week they are killing themselves rather than give up their leader. This is scary, there’s no reasoning with fanatics.

Clary has gone back to art school, the one place she feels truly comfortable, while Luke meets with Jocelyn. Luke is pissed that Jocelyn didn’t tell him about the demon blood experiments. She says she was scared she would lose him if she told him the truth. I’m liking Jocelyn less and less right now, I mean, she stuck by Luke’s side as he handled becoming a werewolf yeah, but she doesn’t seem to have the same faith in him, even after all these years. Luckily he’s completely in love with the woman, just as well cos she needs him to try and talk some sense into Clary.

Meanwhile in India, Agra to be precise, Magnus and Simon arrive at Camille’s place. Simon isn’t sure he can handle the challenge of finding his sire, but Magnus gives him a pretty awesome pep talk and sends him on his way.

After a bit of a lecture Clary runs from her parents out into the street where she is met by a rather unhealthy looking Dot (YAY) who grabs her and portals them to Valentine’s ship. Once aboard Dot tells Clary that there are things she can do that other Shadowhunters can’t. She uses magic to show her a vision of the freaking apocalypse!

Izzy and Alec talk about their next steps after the bust at the fight club. Alec wants to take a boat out and just sail around until they hit Valentine’s ship. Izzy is obviously concerned for her big brother, he seems to be seriously losing it. She asks if he knows if Jace is okay, if he can feel him through their parabatai bond. Alec looks utterly defeated when he admits that he can’t feel anything.

Luke takes Jocelyn to the Jade Wolf and reveals a secret he’s been hiding. He has a chunk of Adamas from the Iron Citadel. For the non-book readers – Adamas is the substance that Shadowhunter weapons and the Mortal Cup are made of. The only ones who have access to it are the Iron Sisters, the weaponsmiths of the Nephilim. The Adamas has a parabatai rune on, and Luke says it can be used to help find Jace – but not on its own.

On board the ship Clary finds Jace and, after convincing him of her identity, she tells him about the vision Dot showed her. In the future she saw Downworlders killing mundanes – all of them – and Jace (with his demon blood) is the only one who can stop it from happening. Valentine shows up and wants Jace to go on a werewolf hunt. When Jace refuses Valentine asks if Clary wants to go instead to hone her skills. Jace volunteers in her place to protect her.

In Agra Simon is dealing with a very nasty fire breathing cobra while Magnus raids Camille’s place for his own possessions. Magnus seems very perturbed by a particular dagger he finds, and snags it. Simon finally sacks up and manages to encanto the snake just before Magnus returns to find him. Is anyone else getting the feeling that Magnus knows that Camille isn’t home? This is all a set up to help Simon get to grips with his vampire skills.

Jocelyn goes to Izzy and Alec and tells them she can help them find Jace. Alec is wary. He thinks she is only doing it so that she can try and kill Jace again. Jocelyn is only interested in finding Clary.

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She shows them the runed Adamas and Alec decides to try it. He’s ready to go when Jocelyn finally admits that there are some major risks. The person who initiates the contact can get lost if they go too deep into the bond. Well this sounds like just as bad a plan as Clary leaving the Institute. Izzy is dead set against using the Adamas but Alec, bereft without his parabatai, is willing to take the risks. Show of hands – who thinks this is going to go TERRIBLY?

Clary wakes up to find herself in a cage, she has realised that what she said to Jace wasn’t real – it was a spell. Clary manages to convince her old friend Dot to help her escape. Jace returns with the werewolf that they went to hunt – Gretel. Supposedly she’s the one who killed Jeremy’s father. Valentine tells Jace to kill her but he won’t do it. Clary appears and tells him that what she said before was a spell, none of it was real, and that they need to run. Jace fights through Circle members trying to stop them from escaping just as Alec begins to use the stone. It affects Jace but he manages to get away. Dot drops the wards and they jump just as Alec gets lost in the bond. Alec has a seizure & drops the Adamas as Jace hits the water. Seriously, Alec, your timing for tracking Jace through your bond actually sucks. That’s twice now you’ve nearly got his ass killed.

Valentine is supremely pissed that both his children have escaped. He kills Gretel and orders her to be dumped over the side. Dead werewolf – Valentine’s former parabatai is not going to be happy.

A Door Into The Dark crams a lot into its run time. So much angst and drama that’s it’s hard to keep up. It keeps up the tempo from the season premiere. You can feel just how desperate EVERYONE is to find Jace – even if not all for the same reasons.

My favourite thing about this episode though is how the show is subtly including nods for the book fans. The location might be different but the stuff with Aldertree and Simon harks back to events in City of Glass. Magnus telling Simon that he vowed to help if he ever encountered a Downworlder in need echoes a certain story from The Bane Chronicles featuring a different vampire. Not to mention all the stuff about Luke’s mum being an Iron Sister (aka the most badass chicks in the Shadow World) and the references to the Iron Citadel and Adamas.

After the way this ended I am anxious and excited to see what happens next. Check back with us for previews, sneak peeks and our spoiler free review soon.

What did you think of tonight’s episode Shadowhunters – A Door Into The Dark? Sign off in the comments below.

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About author(s)

Clare Hemsworth

Hey, I'm Clare, aka Ciara or C. My current fandoms are RWBY and The Last Kingdom along with a bunch of other stuff I tend to let build up and then binge! I'm a keen, albeit amateur, cosplayer and love attending cons in various cosplays. I'm also the resident comic book girl around these parts, especially small press comics, so if you've got an indie book you want reviewed, I'm your gal! When I'm not doing the fangirl thing I am a keen long-distance hiker, having completed Te Araroa in New Zealand and The Pacific Crest Trail on the West Coast of the US.