Something that is continuing to bug me about Shadowhunters is that the ‘last time on’ for the previous episode could literally be the entire episode, which is not a good thing. If you can literally put the few exciting moments from your episodes in a minute or two, it doesn’t say much about your already relatively long episode runtime. Except now, as ‘Of Men And Angels’ finally had something interesting going on.
Directed By: Oz Scott
Written By: Y. Shireen Razack
The episode jumps straight back into the aftermath of ‘Moo Shu To Go’ with Luke and the werewolves. Thankfully a visit to Magnus is in order, and I am sorry but anyone who thinks this series would be anything without the Magnus Bane character is wrong. Not only does he bring a certain fabulousness to the series but also a sense of mystery and danger and all with an air of party attitude. What more could you want? We see the more mysterious part of him in this episode but the darker side is really warranted. Since this is an explanation episode of Valentines and Clary’s mother’s past, he relives the pain and anguish his people went through which brings out his darkness. Harry Shum Jr’s performance is brilliant, he turns from being the easy-going and camp version of his persona to darker and more troubled, but still holding his character in mind. His performance throughout the episode is perfectly balanced. never seeming overly camp nor over-dramatized. On the other side of this is McNamara as Clary, who is taking her character to almost comically over-dramatic heights, Thankfully, she is completely out-shined by the amazing Magnus performance.
This episode has an interesting under current to it in terms of the family drama that is happening in the Lightwood house. Alex and Isabelle’s mother is still in town, with their father and brother soon joining the family reunion. There is a serious disturbance in the sheets in the bond between the Lightwoods and the Clave with their children’s involvement with Clary and her mission to save her mother. This leads to a major rift between children and parents but we finally see some more development for Alec as a character. Although still the goody two shoes we all know and love he comes to the rescue, and not because of his ‘feelings’ for Jace but for himself and what he feels is right. This also meant we finally got some more interaction between him and Magnus, which is worth every second! Alec’s awkwardness around Magnus is adorable and Magnus is so set in his own ways but yet he is so kind and warm to Alec and it takes the two of them to a new level.
Also still developing is the Simon storyline, which has been going on since his vampire kidnapping. There has been something slowly (very slowly) building in the background with him, with little hints here and there that have been leading viewers into what is happening to him. Anyone who has read the books knows what it is and I think some viewers of the series will know exactly what is happening too, but it’s really getting time to get going with his storyline. It’s just becoming annoying as the other plot-lines play out with this just there, looming like a bad flu. It has been so well intertwined into the series with Alberto Rosende doing a fantastic job playing Simon, especially in his confused and volatile state where his mood can change with the drop of a hat, going from the geeky sweet character of Simon to an easily angered and violent version of himself. I understand there needs to be a move in the entire plot to make it fit, and they are keeping Simon’s storyline as a recurring slow-burn narrative but now feels like a good time to really get his arc moving.
My biggest complaint about ‘Of Men And Angels’ is more of an ongoing problem. This episode truly showed that the balance between action and dialogue has not yet been worked out in the series. Last week’s episode was action-packed whereas this week’s was very talk heavy, with a lot of backstory. This is fine in theory, but the execution of the two needs to be worked on. Some more action and where there’s lots of dialogue and some more exposition where there’s big fight scenes would really help the episodes flow!
Have you been keeping up with Shadowhunters? What do you think so far?
