REVIEW: Shadowhunters – 3.20: “City of Glass”

“Just go on and kiss the girl, Simon!” – Sizzy shippers simultaneously.

When it comes to Shadowhunters’ season finales, my emotions are usually all over the place. But this is only amplified knowing that this would of been the third season finale, what could of been in season four (more Heline!), and how we only have the series finale left. So without further ado, let’s unpack this epic season finale (which is what I’m calling this episode for simplicity’s sake and because of what could have been).

The Good…: There were so many lovely moments sprinkled throughout this action packed episode. In typical fashion with most finales for shows, at least a few storylines have to be resolved in order to present us with a shocking new one. Or they at least have to provide us with several cute and fluffy couple moments while the madness occurs around them. Given that our faves had to deal with the uprising of Jonathan and the brief stint of Asmodeous, I would say this tactic is certainly met.
What I think is everyone’s favorite good thing that happened in “City of Glass” was the start of Sizzy. These two have had so many near-kisses and moments that I’ve honestly lost track. But in the season three finale, there was a beautiful scene between the two that really sailed these two into the “something more” category. Simon visits Isabelle to see how she’s doing after the battle with Team Evil. There’s a level of vulnerability between the two that I really appreciate. And I don’t just mean that because Isabelle’s “indisposed” in front of Simon and the awkward touching between the two. I think the two are finally starting to realize that they care for each other on a deeper level and it’s a beautiful sight to see. With the series finale being a time jump and these two having not even kissed yet (I swear, the amount of teasing we’ve had for these two!), I wonder if they’ll be in a relationship in the last episode?

Speaking of pairs that I would have loved more of: Helen and Aline. We had the brief “I admire you” scene episodes prior and then in this week they totally became canon with their “we were doing…research” comment. But I’ll admit I’m very upset that they happened off screen. I shouldn’t be too surprised, since that’s exactly what happened in the books, but I just wish we saw more onscreen moments from these two. I think personally for me, that’s one of the big reasons why I’m gutted we didn’t get another season.

Name a more evil redhead duo…I’ll wait.

The Bad…(or in this case Evil): Technically Team Evil is a good thing in my books, but I guess since they were a giant threat and all to everyone around them, I guess we can consider them bad. Every time we saw evil Clary on our screens, I was completely floored! Who knew our sweet Katherine McNamara could play a villain?! In some ways  she was more troublesome then the great Jonathan himself; case in point: the Seelie Queen kidnapping.

Similar to the books, Jace was able to stab Clary with Glorious to sever the twinning rune. Although it looked more painful compared to the books? Or I could just be saying that because I have a soft spot for Clary (and Katherine McNamara). Now that we’ve seen Team Evil come and go, book fans – how do you think this storyline was handled? I for one am very glad that in having Clary be connected to Jonathan, that we had as minimal Jonathan/Clary scenes (of the romantic variety…you know what I’m talking about) as possible. I don’t think I could of stomached seeing Jonathan or even Jace take advantage of Clary.

“I’ll be fine. I have to be. I’m an Alpha remember?”

And the Ugly Crying: By the angel, when I reached the last ten minutes of the episode, not going to lie – I was an absolute wreck. It’s almost as if the writers made a conscious decision to present us with a heart-breaking moments one after the other, ultimately probably making the finale that much more gut-wrenching for us. First up, we had the passing of Jordan Kyle. Since his arrival, I’ve had many opinions on his character and his affect on Maia. I think the show portrayed him in a good light throughout his run, so come the reveal that he would die soon via silver dagger poisoning, I felt so bad. Even as I type this I realize that why he was hesitant to be Maia’s Beta was because he knew he wouldn’t have much time left! Sadness! But great foreshadowing on the writer’s end! I think had we of had a season four, we would of dug deeper into how his death would of affected Maia, Luke and even Simon

I think I speak for everyone when I say I bawled during the Malec happenings towards the end of the episode. First, because we got the Malec proposal! Second, because in order to save the Institute and everyone in it, Magnus needed to take his newly magicked self and head back to Edom. The moment I was seeing Alec fall to his knees in full on tears had me doing the same (minus the falling). He just got his boyfriend-now fiancée back and now in order to save everyone, they have to be separated?! It was really too much to handle. The only bright side to this is that we don’t have to wait months to see how this gets resolved now. But with that said, we’re facing the beginning of the end. And that alone is sad.

Besides the obvious dread for the end, what were your thoughts on 3.20: “City of Glass”?

Leave all your thoughts in the comments below!

The next new episode of Shadowhunters, 3.20: “City Of Glass” airs next Monday at 8/7c on Freeform. The promo for it can be viewed below.

Bring tissues, everyone. This series finale is bound to hurt. For instance, I can’t get through that brief Clary crying clip without sobbing. Oh, boy.