Shadowhunters - 'Blood Calls to Blood'

"It's trial time; break out the community theatre set."

With Jocelyn gone but Jace's supposedly dead father - Michael Wayland - found, Jace and Clary head back to New York, where Simon and Clary go to Raphael for blood supplies for the demon-venomed Jace. Impressed by his chutzpah, Raphael takes Simon off werewolf ambassador duties and takes him on as 'special adviser for warning people not to take the piss.'

Back at the Institute, the Clave puts a rush on Isabelle's trial and sends an Inquisitor to act as judge and, apparently, also jury. The law must be upheld, they say, and the kind of rule bending that has been going on is exactly the sort of brouhaha that preceded the Circle's uprising. Isabelle asks Alec to approach Magnus Bane to be her defense attourney, which is of course all kinds of awkward.

Based on information overheard by Michael, Jace, Clary and Luke head off to get Jocelyn back. Surrounded by demons, Clary tries to use the cup to control them. When she has trouble, Michael offers to try, before revealing himself to be Valentine under a glamour. His triumph is short-lived, however, when Clary reveals that she was suspicious all along and has passed him a glamoured mug instead of the cup. Valentine flees, but as a final fuck you tells Jace that he was always Michael Wayland, and Jace's real father, making our nascent supercouple brother and sister.

Irony, motherfucker*!

Magnus basically swans through the trial quoting courtroom movies ("This whole court is out of order!") until Lydia breaks down and refuses to prosecute the case against someone whose 'crime' is showing compassion and not acting exactly the kind of angel supremacist tools who populate the Circle. The Inquisitor declares Isabelle guilty, although honestly I feel that the prosecution recusing herself and dropping all charges is at least grounds for a mistrial. The Inquisitor's immediate announcement that the sentence will be struck if the Mortal Cup is handed over basically makes a mockery of all her claims of upholding the law, and I think a little rebellion may be on the cards here.

With Jocelyn recovered, Clary hands over the cup and Isabelle is freed. Magnus gives Alec a 'why you suck' speech, telling him that he doesn't deserve to be trapped in a loveless marriage and neither does Lydia. Jace and Clary are agonised. Luke tells Simon the news and Simon's gleeful reaction pretty much jettisons my last remaining shred of respect for the character. It's now official: TV series Simon isn't a nice guy; he's a Nice Guy (TM).

So, there it is; the bombshell those of us who know the source material have been waiting for. It's not done badly, but maybe could have had a bit more dramatic punch. It's a scene that calls for a lot of emotional intensity, and Katherine McNamara and Dominic Sherwood don't quite have the range to pull it off. Perhaps it is because of this that Clary and Jace come off as incredibly selfish, but it might also be because they are written as incredibly selfish. Overall, however, Shadowhunters is doing better than could have been expected.

* This is also irony.