Shadowhunters Parabatai Lost Recap/Review
*takes deep breath* Hey, you guys okay after that? Assuming you’ve seen the episode I’ll give you a second to gather yourself before I start my Parabatai Lost Recap. Ready? Here we go.
The episode opens on a flashback. A ten year old Alec Lightwood practicing with his bow and almost shooting a ten year old Jace. This is their first meeting and it’s so sweet. Baby Jace is as cocky as the older version we know and love. Baby Alec looks at him like his entire world just changed – which I guess it kind of did!
In the present Magnus is in the Institute desperately using his magic to try and bring Alec back. He explains to Izzy that Alec is stuck somewhere between himself and his parabatai. Without Jace they may never get him back. Izzy says she’ll find Jace and bring him back to help their brother.
After leaping from the ship with Clary at the end of last week’s episode Jace washes up on a beach. He’s alone, his stele is missing, and there are mundanes everywhere. One stumbles upon him as he finds a body on the beach, it’s Gretel the werewolf. The mundane freaks and starts screaming about calling the police and Jace, unable to glamour without his stele, runs. Jace is on the run, isolated and stuck in the mundane world while looking kinda like an escaped convict. This is not going to go well is it?
A bloody, barefoot and bedraggled Clary arrives at the Institute where Raj insists on her seeing Aldertree. Clary only cares about finding Izzy and Jocelyn has to tell her what happened with Alec.
Down at the docks Simon has a missed call from his mom, he checks his phone and finds loads of voicemails from a very worried Elaine and he freaks out.
Luke and Alaric have caught the case of the body on the beach. They have a sketch from the witness and it’s clearly of Jace. Luke seems to be losing his faith in the Shadowhunters as the evidence points to Jace having killed Gretel.
Jocelyn goes to Alec’s room to bring Izzy to Clary but instead gets a full on dressing down from Magnus. He tells her in no uncertain terms that he is done with clearing up her messes and then magically slams the door in her face. I’m not going to lie, I cheered for Magnus.
Aldertree and Clary have a ‘chat’. Clary tells him she doesn’t remember what happened when he asks her about the ship. They have found it in the East River, abandoned, but all signs point to it being Valentine’s. She says she doesn’t remember anything after Dot grabbed her off the street. Aldertree tries to jog her memory, saying he will protect Jace if Clary helps bring him in but she isn’t budging. She thankfully isn’t stupid enough to believe him even if he is recording the conversation. Not after the last time they spoke he used her words to condemn Jace as a traitor to the Clave.
Izzy is stunned when Clary reveals she lied to Aldertree. Izzy says they know Jace is alive otherwise Alec’s parabatai rune would have faded but they are pretty sure they don’t have long to find Jace and save Alec.
Somewhere in Chinatown Jace stumbles into a bar, the Hunter’s Moon, and we finally meet Maia! She clocks his runes, he sees her scars and knows she is a werewolf. He asks to use the phone and she gives him the phone and a beer, on the house. Jace calls Izzy and the girls tell him about Alec. They make a plan to save Alec. Since Jace can’t come to the Institute what with the Clave wanting him dead, the girls and Magnus will take Alec to Magnus’s place and meet Jace there. Sounds like a solid plan. What could possibly go wrong?
When he hangs up Maia puts Jace on the spot. The wolves need his help – one of their own has been kidnapped and it’s the Clave’s duty to investigate. Jace tries to stall, he knows he has to get to Alec. Unfortunately the wolves know he was the one who took Gretel and they want payback. Things get ugly fast. Jace might be the strongest, fastest and fiercest Shadowhunter of his generation, but he’s also exhausted, weaponless and weakened. That makes him an easy target for a bunch of pissed off werewolves. After a severe ass kicking they hurl him through a window and Jace runs.
Elsewhere in the city, Simon is torn between his family and his vampire responsibilities. With Raphael’s threats ringing in his ears he goes home to see his mom but she is missing. There are signs in the house that she has been drinking. He calls Clary and she goes to meet him, leaving Izzy to get Alec out of the Institute.
Luke is at the Hunter’s Moon talking to Maia. She’s furious and wants retribution. She also needs to remember her place because even when Luke tells her he will handle it she back talks to her Alpha.
Alec is mumbling when Aldertree shows up. He refuses to allow Alec to be transferred to Idris (the cover that Izzy and Magnus came up with for getting him out of the Institute) and pours scorn on Magnus’s attempts to wake Alec. Magnus tells him this isn’t like waking Sleeping Beauty with a kiss, he can’t use his magic properly inside the Institute because of the Wards. He accuses Aldertree of using Alec as bait to catch Jace. Honestly I’m amazed Aldertree still has a head. The High Warlock of Brooklyn‘s boyfriend is in a coma and he can’t help and this assclown is saying Magnus is slacking.
We get another flashback – a teenage Alec and Jace hunting together in what turns out to be their final test before they become parabatai. It’s an interesting exchange. They are clearly a great team (the best team) but Alec seems like he is apprehensive.
In the present, Maia is tracking a beaten and bloodied Jace, despite Luke telling her he would handle things. Jace blunders into the street and is surrounded by mundies, meaning Maia has to back off. Jace passes out as one of the mundanes calls for an ambulance and he wakes up on a gurney in a hospital. This fascinated me, because we’ve never truly seen any of the Shadowhunters in the mundane world like this. Also to see Jace’s struggle. He is desperate to get to Alec, even at the expense of his own survival. He’s running from the werewolves and the Clave who all want him dead but he won’t stop.
Elsewhere in the city Clary and Simon are looking for Elaine. Clary still hasn’t got the Shadowhunter tracking thing down and she’s stressing about it. They start talking about Simon’s mom and as they talk about their memories of her it allows Clary to focus and her tracking works.
Back at the Institute Magnus is starting to lose it over not being able to help Alec. We finally get a glimpse of the power simmering below that elegant exterior when Raj pushes him too far and Magnus slams his annoying ass into the wall. When Magnus is pissed his magic changes from the normal static-y blue to a sizzling fiery red. Extremely awesome. About damn time we got a look at what this badass warlock can really do.
In the hospital the doctors are discussing the fact that Jace’s blood is weird when Luke and Maia show up looking for him. Jace bolts and Maia chases him. She corners him and a doctor in a hallway and changes into wolf form RIGHT THERE IN THE FREAKING HOSPITAL. They’ve changed the wolf transformations for this season – another thing to add to the list.
I know Isaiah mentioned it in a recent interview but I was not expecting this. Gone is the green flash of light. Instead now we have bones breaking and contorting, skin and clothes tearing. This is kinda awesome. Jace attempts to explain but Wolf!Maia is not interested. Jace – you need to run. NOW! He heads for the roof and is rescued by, of all people, Jocelyn. They share a brief moment on the roof but he isn’t interested in her lame attempts at a reconciliation. He runs.
Aldertree finally figures out what is going on and busts Izzy and the glamour on the unconscious Raj. Magnus and Alec have left. Izzy makes a deal with Aldertree when he tells her that the wolf pack is after Jace. Let her use a portal to get to Jace before the wolves do so they can save Alec…and she’ll let Aldertree have Jace. Izzy you better not be planning to follow through on that deal girl.
At Magnus’s loft the warlock is broken – he has tried every bit of magic he can except one – true love’s kiss. *Waits for the Malec fans to regain consciousness* Okay, there has never been a call back to an earlier line sweeter than this I swear. I teared up the second I realised what was happening and had to pause to calm myself down afterwards.
In another flashback we see teenage Alec and Izzy. It’s right before the parabatai ritual and Alec tells his sister he is having second thoughts. She can’t understand why, the only reason people don’t want to go through with the ceremony is when they have fallen in love with their intended parabatai. Alec gives her a look and she understands perfectly. Alec has feelings for Jace. Yep, that’s right, Alec comes out to his little sister and it’s not a big, unnecessarily showy moment. It’s handled beautifully. Izzy tells him to get his shit together, he will find someone else who will love him heart and soul but he might never find another parabatai.
Clary and Simon find Elaine and Clary leaves her best friend to talk and goes to find Jace. Unfortunately Raphael got to Elaine first. Posing as Simon’s band manager he has created an excuse for why Simon hasn’t been around. Things are extremely tense. Raphael makes some veiled threats right before Elaine invites Raphael to dinner…at her house. Raphael now has an open invitation to be able to get to Elaine should Simon not do what he wants and find Camille.
Clary goes to Luke and tries to convince him of Jace’s innocence and to call off the pack but Alaric says Maia almost has Jace. she and two other wolves corner him and are on the verge of taking Jace down. He even offers to go back and let the wolves have him if they let him save Alec first. Luke arrives with Clary and after a moment’s standoff (seriously, Maia, learn to respect your alpha) Izzy arrives by portal just as one of the wolves goes for Jace. By the order of the Clave she is taking Jace with her.
The last five minutes of this episode are just perfect. In flashback we see the younger Jace and Alec completing the parabatai ritual while in the present a sobbing Jace cradles his parabatai and repeats the oath. You’ve never seen pure love and relief like that on Magnus’s face when Alec awakens and repeats the final line of the oath. The perfect moment shatters as Aldertree and a bunch of Clave goons show up and arrest Jace on a charge of high treason.
The parabatai ceremony depicted in the show is slightly different to the books, but pairing it with what is happening in the present gives it a powerful emotional punch nonetheless.
Favourite thing about this episode (other than the parabatai stuff) has to be Magnus. Both the Sleeping Beauty moment and those glimpses of his true level of power were excellent and Harry Shum Jr was absolutely flawless in this episode. He ran the emotional gamut from despair, to fury, to incredible tenderness and it was all totally believable.
This episode is great, verging on perfection for me. The only thing stopping me from giving it full marks was the casting of the teenage versions of Jace, Alec and Izzy. They gave Maxim Roy a slightly different hair cut and expected us to believe Jocelyn was 20 years younger, but we have to have totally different actors for the teenage Lightwood siblings. Also, no offence to these actors (Dale Whibley – Jace, Alex Eling – Alec and Romy Weltman – Izzy) but did they go through some kind of second puberty to end up as the hotties they are now?
