S01.E08: Bad Blood

[AmandaPanda]

Alec, Jace and Isabelle's activities with Clary attract the attention of The Clave, resulting in trouble for the Lightwoods; Clary faces a difficult decision.

[madhacker]

Damn Clary you made the right choise and it still blew up in your face. Oh well, on the bright side at least Simon doesn't need his glasses anymore now (is it just me or did he get hotter looking in the preview for next week?)

 

Oh Alec you were doing so well with Magnus, and then you feel sorry for mommy and daddy so you decide to give up the hot warlock for a girl who's only in for it for the power. BTW, I complete agree with Magnus with his "don't get dressed on my account", Matthew is do freakin' hot. Please let the season end with Malec hitting the sheets!!

[GaT]

Why am I still watching this piece of crap show?

[sjohnson]

Hmm. It seemed to me that Simon in the preview had a meaner expression and no glasses. I guess that's hotter than goofy expression and glasses?

 

Does Alec's intended intend to consummate? I'm not at all sure he's thinking that far ahead. 

 

Clary declaring he was the same Simon was an incredible scene...I couldn't believe even Clary could be that stupid. Oh my. 

 

Watching this show is like watching a train wreck. I feel so ashamed but I can't turn my head away.

[doesntworkonwood]

I don't understand why they picked such a bad actress to play the main part. There is literally no nuance to her performance, and she's dragging others down with her. 

 

And the falcon story is just as stupid on screen as it is in print. 

[galax-arena]

Why am I still watching this piece of crap show?

You don't love yourself. Join the club! 

 

And the falcon story is just as stupid on screen as it is in print. 

I always wondered why CC chose that story out of everything else to carry over from her fanfic. 

 

Anyway, I can't help but find Simon really, really annoying. It's a shame because the actor is probably the best of the younger cast. Maybe it's my residual dislike of the book character bleeding over into here. Can anyone who hasn't read the books but is watching the show chime in if they find Simon annoying? 

[dungeonwriter]

I admit, the writing of Simon's Judaism is really touching to me. Burying him in his Tallit (the shawl) made me tear up a bit, it was a subtle but nice touch. 

[Pixel]

Yeah, they need a replacement for Clary. Everyone else seems to be settling into their roles. She's just awful. I've seen Dom in Vampire Academy. He can act. But not when he does scenes with her. She just sucks the talent right out of the room.

[Amelie06]

I agree that the actress playing Clary is just not working for me. I question the decision to age Clary up and then hiring an actress that looks and acts like she is in her early teens. And don't get me started on that hair color.

 

The guy playing Alec is next level hot, but he tends to have a monotonous way of speaking. There is no expression in his voice and it bums me out. I still like him and Izzy more than Clary and Jace.

 

Simon sucks. He's the worst. The actor is pretty good, but the character is a whiny douche. I read the books and found Simon to be irritating, so I could be letting that color my perception of the show. I just don't like the stock character of nerdy best "friend" who wants to bang the girl and mopes around like he is entitled to her love or access to her lady parts.

 

I like Magnus. I think he's doing a good job. I'm actually entertained when he shows up. But if I'm honest, this show blows. Utterly and completely.

[Pixel]

I agree that the actress playing Clary is just not working for me. I question the decision to age Clary up and then hiring an actress that looks and acts like she is in her early teens. And don't get me started on that hair color.

 

The guy playing Alec is next level hot, but he tends to have a monotonous way of speaking. There is no expression in his voice and it bums me out. I still like him and Izzy more than Clary and Jace.

 

Simon sucks. He's the worst. The actor is pretty good, but the character is a whiny douche. I read the books and found Simon to be irritating, so I could be letting that color my perception of the show. I just don't like the stock character of nerdy best "friend" who wants to bang the girl and mopes around like he is entitled to her love or access to her lady parts.

 

I like Magnus. I think he's doing a good just ob. I'm actually entertained when he shows up. But if I'm honest, this show blows. Utterly and completely.

I agree. I think what keeps me coming back is I see glimmers of potential, but every week it's wasted. I hope the showrunner reads these forums, because I think they have a small window of opportunity to fix what's wrong. It's a world of magic-you could easily fix the Clary problem by having a glamour go wrong and stick permanently. Magnus zaps her with a spell and then says oops, can't change you back.

[TVraisedme]

I am really trying with this show. Because there are some bright spots, like Magnus and the Twins. But everything else is just…not good? The lead actress, I'm sorry but it's like every scene is a contest of who can be more shrill and annoying; Clary or her hair color (it's a tie). Plus, I'm getting severe eye strain from rolling my eyes every time I hear someone sneer "Mundane". Every episode just ends with me annoyed that they chose this over Beautiful Creatures. Or Vampire Academy? Sigh. 

[justcris]

I actually liked this episode!

Rafael was really great, and I liked Lydia as well.

Jace and Clary were pretty likeable and not annoying as a unit, and the whole thing with the rules of being a shadowhunter leading into the rules of being a mundane at the end was very cool.

The scene with Simon rising up was one of the best scenes of the show so far, emotionally.

[sjohnson]

Well let's face it, Clary is a little too much of a narcissist to actually understand the people she loves for what they do for her. And she's prone to self-pity. And she's prone to play helpless rather than risk her own action, and apt to wait for a lead rather than think. Given the character, I don't see how the actress is playing her badly. 

 

I'm sorry but the biggest disppointment is the Valentine actor. I don't know why the movie is hated, but Jonathan Rhys-Meyers sold Valentine.

[that one guy]

What I don't get is the Zombie Assassin. It's more powerful than your average mook, but not tough enough to kill either of its targets. But the bad guy at the beginning had two of them with him. Why didn't he send them both? What else does he have the other Zombie Assassin doing that's more impotant? Did he need someone to help him move?

 

"You - go kill Valentine's old enemy. And you - nah, you stay here, I need a fourth for my bridge game."

 

And I forget what the called those guys, but it was silly. The Unbridled? The Unfocused? The Vaguely Annoyed?

 

ETA: The Forsaken. Sounds like an overly emo hardcore band playing an all ages show in a college town. So actually something tonally perfect for this show. Probably still a better band than Simon's.

 

Speaking of which, now that Simon's a literal vampire, hopefully he'll act more like he should have been acting all along. Why is he a nebbishy nerd? Isn't he supposed to be a hipster art student who plays in a band with a hot chick in Brooklyn? It would make more sense for him to be an insufferable arrogant prick, wouldn't it? The character doesn't make sense to me as written. He's cool, he's lame, he's smart, he's stupid, he's a dork, he's a musician with washboard abs. He's a cardboard cutout being paraded around because he has some role in the plot or in Clary's development. 

Edited March 3, 2016 by that one guy

[Pixel]

All I have to say at this point is, please, please, please, Powers That Be - make improvements. I want this show to survive, but I don't know how much longer I can wait for it to get better.

[Stardancer Supreme]

I saw that Harry Shum Jr. was on this show and decided to binge watch the episodes I missed.  I really can't take Clary.  Her character and her actress is really the worst part of this show because I want to smack her every time she opens her mouth.

 

I haven't read the books, so I was able to come into this world unbiased.  All the characters were awful in the beginning.  8 episodes later, mostly everyone has settled into their roles.  Except for Clary.  It's sad because she is the center of the story. 

[AudienceofOne]

Why am I still watching this piece of crap show?

I'm just watching for the hair

[IntrovertGal]

Longtime lurker but first time poster so hello everyone!

 

I agree with the people above, Katherine McNamara is a really bad actress and she is starting to make me dislike Clary. I read the books a long time ago so I don't remember them all that well but I always enjoyed Clary/Jace there. This is just not happening with the TV show, also because I see no chemistry between Katherine and Dom. I want this show to get a second season but I don't see that happening if they don't make some changes soon.

 

What I enjoy most about the show is the brotherly relationship between Jace and Alec and the Magnus/Alec relationship, mostly because I think Matthew Daddario is doing a good job with the role of Alec. Which is why this week's episode really annoyed me. I mean, don't get me wrong, I enjoyed shirtless Alec and all the Malec flirting, but then Alec had to go and propose to Lydia. I really hope this won't go on too long and Alec will come to his senses. I get that he may not be ready to come out and that his duties as a Shadowhunter and his loyalties to his family are important to him but come on.

 

Also, let's hope that now that Simon is a vampire he will become a more interesting and likeable character. So far I find him rather irritating.

[gik910]

I guess my unpopular opinion is that of all of them Simon comes off as most realistic to me.  He is by far the most capable actor of all the "kids," his characters has some dimension (even if he is annoying), and I think he is the only person that is portrayed as having a somewhat realistic reaction to all of this. I actually like him.

 

I did read the books- I have no special feeling around them so I am pretty unbiased.  Essentially, the Shadowhunters are douche-canoes.  They have no special love for mundanes or down-worlders, but want to run the world.  They don't want to share anything, but expect to be obeyed.  No wonder it was so easy to fracture them.  The Clave is awful.

 

Also- are Alec, Isabelle, and the Jace the only people capable of doing anything in the Institute? When there was an alarm breach literally no one else reacted. Same thing when the other Forsaken broke in.  They are super ineffective.  

 

I understand why people like Alec- I get why he does not like Clary and the whole emotionally stunted thing.  Here is the thing( though lets ignore the weakness of the actress for the moment)- Clary has know about all of this for a few weeks now- she mother is missing, her father is an evil sociopath, her other father figure is a werewolf, she has shadowhunter powers, people are dying around her, and now her best friend is a vampire.  She is handling pretty well all things considered.  So maybe take pill Alec.  Get your shit together and marry Lydia for power and have Magnus on the side- but lighten up.

 

I am so much more interested in the Downworlders than the Shadowhunters.  I wish this show was about Magnus and his exploits.  That would be awesome.

Edited March 5, 2016 by gik910

[Pixel]

I guess my unpopular opinion is that of all of them Simon comes off as most realistic to me.  He is by far the most capable actor of all the "kids," his characters has some dimension (even if he is annoying), and I think he is the only person that is portrayed as having a somewhat realistic reaction to all of this. I actually like him.

Not that unpopular. I agree.  His scenes are actually among the most compelling.  I don't find him that annoying, because even though he's supposed to be annoying he's acting it well.  

 

As I've said before, but I think it bears repeating - Dom is actually good in other things.  Working opposite Katherine is dragging down his game.  I wanted to like her, I really did. She's gorgeous, and I had no previous bias toward her, but from the first scene she was in I was cringing with embarrassment for her.

 

Aside from the acting, I continue to feel like they are shoving way too much in too fast.  Why couldn't this first season have focused on character development, maybe took the whole season to tell the story of the first book?  I'm ok with deviation from the original story, but instead of deviating to build a bigger world and make it richer, they're deviating by throwing in everything but character development to see what sticks.  I'd have been very happy to watch the relationships between Jace/Clary and Alec/Magnus develop over a season, or even over into the second season, but I feel like they're trying to shove all 6  books into a few episodes.  It's completely squashed any sort of heart out of the show, and I think that shares the blame for lack of chemistry between the actors.  I don't even feel any chemistry with Alec/Magnus.  

 

Rafael and Simon have more chemistry than any of the OTPs right now.

[Stardancer Supreme]

I'm not going to trip so much about Lydia and Alec, because I can see his motivation for proposing.  He is being forced to marry, so why not turn the outcome to his benefit?  He has no great love for Lydia, but an allegiance with her will get his parents off his back and retain control of their Institute.  He'll have to keep his affinity for Magnus from her, though.  

[AudienceofOne]

The worst thing about this terrible episode - the "best forensic pathologist in the city" apparently being Isabelle. The fuck?

[Pixel]

The worst thing about this terrible episode - the "best forensic pathologist in the city" apparently being Isabelle. The fuck?

I think they were referring to Magnus.

[AudienceofOne]

I think they were referring to Magnus.

They weren't. They cut to shots of Isabelle doing the scientific work. Magnus was brought in for the magical consult but the forensic pathology was being done by Isabelle. Which was so dumb. No words.

Edited March 7, 2016 by AudienceofOne

[Pixel]

They weren't. They cut to shots of Isabelle doing the scientific work. Magnus was brought in for the magical consult but the forensic pathology was being done by Isabelle. Which was so dumb. No words.

Well, crap. That IS dumb!

[justcris]

Why is it so dumb that she's a forensic pathologist though? They even hinted at it in the pilot when Izzy said that if they gave her a sample of the mundane blood the demons were dealing she would tell them what was so special about it.

[mrsnolatron]

Because she's a teenager and you have to go to medical school to become a forensic pathologist. "To become a certified forensic pathologist takes approximately 13 years after high school" according to forensicpathologist.com. Granted, Shadowhunters don't follow the same educational schedule as mundanes, but it's still a stretch. She's a kid, even by their measure.

[krimimimi]

Oh, don't be silly. I'm sure there's a rune for it. *sigh*

(No no, clearly made of stupid, just like all the unflappable extras in the institute that never move, even when under attack. Show, it's okay to use another actor. Less of the parents might free up some budget.)