Perhaps seeing a parallel universe can help us better understand our own. This week’s episode showed us another side of many characters, but also left a whole lot of unanswered questions.
If you haven’t seen the episode yet, here’s the written Official Recap, or watch it on Freeform.go in the US, or on Netflix (check your country)
Lydia really shouldn’t be running an Institute. She claims she’s blindly “following orders” from the Clave, but surely those orders are in response to the information that she gave them. She doesn’t seem able to think things through: She arrests her future sister-in-law, and Alec has to explain to her that this will mean that Izzy will be stripped of her runes and banished eternally. Shouldn’t Lydia, with all her knowledge and experience, have known that before she told the Clave whatever she told them, which resulted in the order to arrest Izzy for high treason?
Is Lydia not very smart, or is she smarter than we know: deviously getting Izzy out of the way, along with Robert and Maryse, and weakening Alec’s bond with Jace, leaving Alec isolated and completely under Lydia’s influence? Was Lydia expressing concern, or dropping a hint, when she told Alec: “You don’t know how dependent you are on the bond, or…on each other.” Was arresting Izzy an attempt to get Alec to offer the Mortal Cup? If so, it would have worked, if Jace hadn’t taken it! I’m wondering what’s really going on. What’s Lydia’s real agenda?
Stern Lydia: what is she really up to?
Learning more about the Seelies this episode was pretty cool: they don’t just flit about spying and carrying messages. They have their own secret places, almost like another dimension within our world, and are guardians of interdimensional portals. Discovering the extent that “the earth provides” was amazing!
Simon, as usual, provides plenty of light relief, in this dimension AND the other! Watching Simon and Jace as mates was nice: Something to hope for in “our world”. Aren’t Simon and Izzy cute in the other dimension? I do wonder, though, what she’s going to say when he offers her that key…
In our world, Simon and Luke really do have a “close personal connection”. It’s sweet to watch them. Their collaboration should also help build Werewolf/ Vampire trust. Vampire Simon continues to prove himself a serious badass! His “performance” as a blood-draining serial killer, shot and killed by Luke, was inspired! Now that Luke is beyond suspicion, and the demonic killings are no longer being investigated by Police, our favourite Downworlders have their freedom back. HOW cheeky is Simon though: “Moo Shu Pork for life” for an undead Vampire…that’s a LOT of Moo Shu Pork!
Simon the Serial KIller
Speaking of cheeky: even in the alternate dimension, Magnus still calls Clary “biscuit”. So cute! Really so many similarities in a world with such a different context: no demons, no visible Downworlders, no Shadowhunters.
It was a nice parallel to have Alec and Magnus switch roles in the other dimension. It is Alec who is chasing Magnus, and Magnus who is focussed on work. It kind of illuminates what was happening with Malec in “our world”, seeing it in reverse. It’s not from lack of feeling, just different priorities.
Although, pretty much everyone in that alternate dimension was “softer”, less confident, more insecure and anxious, which is not really such a good thing. Except, perhaps, that Valentine was also more relaxed. Clearly still a visionary “go-getter”, 4D internet sounds much nicer than an army of Zombified mixed-blood mutations taking over the world. I’m wondering if he knew about that portal in his basement. ‘Through the Looking Glass’ seemed like a bit of a hint. Has he been travelling through it to our world? It was also nice to see Clary’s parents getting along so well in a world without demons or Shadowhunters, and Jace and Clary as a ‘real’ couple.
Clary and Alt Jace are lovey-dovey on the dancefloor. (Image from Disney Freeform)
It was hardly surprising that Clary found it easy to just “sink into” the Clary of that world. So many things to lull her into a life where there are not deadly threats at every turn. With Jace so affectionate, and everything so peaceful, she would have completely “lost herself” if Magnus hadn’t brought her back. It was obviously much easier to remember our world once “her Jace” was there with her. The demon probably helped a bit too!
I must say: the whole: “blood travels with you [between dimensions]” thing seems like a plot-hole. If your consciousness uses the “alternate body” in an alternate world, there’s no room for double the volume of blood. Then again, this is Fantasy, not “hard science fiction”, so perhaps I need to just gloss over it and not notice. Similarly: Jace not going with Clary in the first place; and Alec & Lydia suddenly being able to find and enter the secret Seelie glade.
I wonder what happened to the Jace and Clary in the “other” dimension, when they regained their own consciousness, and found themselves with Magnus, whom they don’t know, in the sub-basement of the Institute, with a dead Demon (‘malodorous monstrosity’ – Magnus is so poetic!). Did that Jace need treatment from Magnus for the Demon venom? How much would Magnus explain to them? Will Malec happen in that dimension now? What will that Magnus get up to, now that he has his magic back?
Jace and Clary with Magnus at the Portal in the Alternate Dimension
Other unanswered questions that I hope will be resolved before the end of the Season:
Is that really Jace’s father? If he didn’t die when Jace thought he did, where has he been? Why is he locked in a cupboard/cell in Valentine’s Chernobyl laboratory? Has he been treated with different bloods? If he’s not really Jace’s father, who is he?
Has Jace and Alec’s bond been irreparably damaged? Can it heal? Can they still be friends and allies, even if they stop being Parabatai? How will losing their Parabatai bond affect them? We saw how the bond caused them pain, and caused a problem because a Demon got past Jace. Will it disrupt other things in the future, now that Alec and Jace aren’t working together? Did Lydia encourage this on purpose?
What’s really going on with Lydia? Is she working with Valentine? She arrived at The Institute “disguised as Valentine”, but is she really Valentine, disguised as Lydia? Will she and Alec really get married?
A really big question is: What will happen with Izzy and her trial? Will she actually be convicted of High Treason, stripped of her runes and eternally banished? Could she join the Seelies or Downworlders if that happens, or will she just become a Mundane, and have to create a whole new life?
So much uncertainty, so many reasons to wish the next episode would arrive sooner!
Featured Image from Shadowhunterstv.com
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