Shadowhunters, 2.09: “Bound By Blood” REVIEW

The “burnt flesh” spell gives a whole new meaning to breaking/keeping promises.

Remember Clary’s blood oath she gave to Iris? Well, that plays a large part in this Shadowhunters episode, “Bound by Blood.”

I guess warlocks are mighty serious about promises, seeing how Clary spends the majority of the episode in pain from the spell.

“Bound by Blood” does a great job at showing the similarities and differences between Simon and Jace’s love for Clary. Both would do almost anything for her; but would they kill her if it came down to it? I’ll discuss my thoughts about that in a bit.

The first scene of this episode is a Climon hook-up scene which, I had to admit, was rather sweet (not to mention hot). This show is going to make me fall in love with them, then immediately crash and burn the ship, aren’t they? I know in last week’s review, I mentioned I found their relationship to be incredibly rushed and random – but they’re certainly growing on me. The moment is cut short by not only Jace walking in on them, but the surging pain from Clary’s blood oath spell.

“City of Stars. Are you shining just for me?”

The entire episode from this point on centers on finding Madzie, Clary’s cure, and saving her from her impending death in every direction. I love Clary Fray, I do! But with this Soul Sword subplot, I feel that she’s slowly turning into the typical main character that is perfect at everything, yet constantly needs to be rescued and/or protected (I know there’s a trope name for this). Or was she always like this and I’m just now seeing it?

To recap: Clary’s life is so valuable now because she is the only one that can activate the soul sword, her body containing pure angel blood. If Valentine activates the sword, the entire downworld community is eliminated. So it’s one life against thousands of others. “If killing Clary is the price of saving the entire downworld – then I’m willing to pay it,” Maia states after nearly doing just that to Clary. She does have a point.

Who doesn’t have a point (or a clue) and acts rather out of character in a scene is Luke Garroway. As established, Maia tried to kill Clary. So Luke thinks it best to lock her up in a small room. Even after making it known that she’s easily claustrophobic (which Luke knows!), he does it anyway. While a small moment in the episode, this rubbed me the wrong way. It’s one thing to keep an eye on Maia, but to put her in this anxiety inducing situation? Unnecessary.

These two have more in common than we thought.

From the get-go, it was pretty obvious that Clary was going to survive her ordeal with the blood oath. But as I mentioned earlier, what worked so well about “Bound by Blood” was seeing the similar/different ways Jace and Simon love Clary. Simon’s been Clary’s friend for years, and now is her boyfriend. He can name countless memories the two have shared throughout their friendship. But does he think he can win a fight against Jace or Valentine? Not really. “Bound by Blood” shows that Simon can be the hero, whose job throughout is to protect Clary from harm. And the Fault in Our Stars mention was actually hilarious.”That’s not the plot of that book at all!”

Jace, on the other hand, gets the job to track down Madzie and stand up to his father. Clary tells her two leading men if it comes down to it, to kill her before Valentine gets her hands on her. “I promise,” Jace says, without hesitation. Think about it, he was previously kidnapped by Valentine and went through all that horrible trauma. Who’s to say that once Valentine uses Clary to activate the Soul Sword that she’s just going to be his prisoner from that point on – maybe be put through injections like Dot!

Jace finds Madzie and his father and it’s great! But I wish we got more! I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I wish Jace was developed more in this first half of season two. Here’s hope for season 2? Yes, Clary’s blood oath goes away the second she hugs Madzie – but they immediately have another problem. Valentine takes Simon! You’re a vampire and you’re still getting kidnapped and bullied?!

“I’m not your baby sister anymore, Alec.”

Isabelle’s drug story-line continues to play out in this episode. It starts with Aldertree asking Izzy out on a date. It’s not the least bit romantic. Is this their way of forcing Raphael/Isabelle on us? Seeing how we get a cute romantic cooking scene between the shadowhunter and vampire, I’d say so. However, I think it’s unclear if the pair really enjoy each other’s company or the high their blood/venom offers them. “Isabelle and I are no different from you and Alec….” Raphael mentions to Magnus. “If you truly believe that, see if you still feel the same when you’re not getting high.” Does anyone enjoy these two? Or are you like me and you wonder how they’re even still a “couple”? At least Alec finally knows of Izzy’s yin feng problem. But it’s met with a sad realization from both parties.”You didn’t even notice when something was wrong,” Isabelle yells at Alec.

Don’t blame your boyfriend, Alec! Even Magnus said Izzy was an excellent liar. With her yin-feng problem being common knowledge now, does that mean this storyline is coming to an end? I hope so. Isabelle, you need to reign in that season 2B premiere as strong and badass as ever!

What did everyone think of Shadowhunters‘ 2.09: “Bound By Blood”?

The mid-season finale airs next week, Monday March 6th at 8/7c on Freeform! The trailer can be viewed below

Is it just me, or does it seem like this half of season 2 went by super quickly?