Shadowhunters episode 8, “Bad Blood,” was probably one of the best episodes of the season. Filled with action and emotion, this episode had something for everyone.
Cue the Taylor Swift music and let’s talk about squad goals or just the latest episode of Shadowhunters.
Raphael brings a dead Simon to Clary. He explains that Simon is a fledgling and that he can be turned into a vampire by burying him or she can stake him. Such appealing choices, how does one choose? Clary is of course distraught by both choices. Jace is against Clary allowing Simon to turn so she visits Luke for advice. The flashback to Luke changing was a great way to highlight what it might be like for Simon.
Lydia Branwell is fantastic. As mentioned before she a completely new character for the series. She steps in to the Institute with a chip on her shoulder and I have to admit I don’t mind her ruffling Maryse’s feathers. Lydia takes over the Institute and works with Alec trying to figure out what attacked the Jade Wolf.
It seems Lydia has a sad back story with the death of her husband and the loss of her dream job at the Lisbon Institute. She gives Alec some advice about only being in love with the job because you couldn’t love anything else and do it. Lydia also lets slip that Alec’s parents were in the Circle, the look on his face, priceless. Luke, who clearly knew this information, at least had the decency to be embarrassed.
Dear Alec, please don’t ever stop being adorable. “Magnus is quite magical, he’s a, very good at magic.” Best line of the night from Alec when he realizes Lydia is calling Magnus to consult on the Forsaken. Alec is also enraged at his parents, and rightfully so. If we look back at how Alec has behaved the entire season it is in complete disgust of Valentine and all he stands for. He even has difficulty with Clary because she’s Valentine’s daughter. Learning his parents were involved with Valentine kind of rocks his world. To say that Alec has zero trust or respect for his parents would be an understatement. However, I think Isabelle’s reaction will be better after her mother laid on the guilt last week.
One of the best moments of the night goes to Magnus and Isabelle who find it completely appropriate to gossip about Alec over a corpse. Magnus is, of course, trying to figure out if Alec is actually interested and Isabelle just wants to dissect the Forsaken. This scene transitions into an excellent Malec moment. There can never be too many of those.
Then Alec goes and wrecks it by proposing to Lydia. I get that by being married the two can run the Institute however it is such a horrible idea! We don’t really get much more on that subject because a second Forsaken enters the Institute and attacks Hodge. Alec manages to help Hodge and they kill the Forsaken.
The end of the episode sees Simon emerging from the ground a vampire. He is not happy with this and runs off. Raphael, who has managed to take down Camille as the leader, promises to keep an eye on him. Clary is, of course, ridden with guilt. I kind of wanted to tell Clary it wasn’t all about her. It felt a little too much like a personal pity party.
Let’s take a moment to appreciate some book moments such as Jace telling the falcon story, sort of. The emotion from Jace was probably the most we’ve seen from him all season. Then there was the mention of Henry and Charlotte Branwell who ran the London Institute in the Infernal Devices series.