It’s a “Dead Man’s Party” Recap & Review

The third episode of Shadowhunters has Simon trapped in the vampire lair and Jace and Alec frustrated with each other in this “Dead Man’s Party” recap and review.

“Dead Man’s Party” recap

Clary is upset with the group for not protecting Simon. Now the vampires have Simon to trade for the Mortal Cup, while Valentine has Jocelyn

The group knows that the vampires were local and thus located at the Hotel Dumort. Clary wants to go immediately, but they need Clave approval since they can’t go to war with the vampires. But Clary can’t stand around and wait, and pushes them to do something, pleading with Jace. Jace agrees, but Alec doesn’t, especially since they need weapons and they can’t get them without someone noticing. Jace has a plan.

Meanwhile, Simon is freaking out in a locked room, until Raphael comes and seems to freak him out even more.  Raphael brings Simon into a room filled with antiquities even though Simon tries to find a way out by throwing a dagger at Raphael, Camille enters the room, all seductive-like.

The group goes to a church graveyard for weapons as all religions store weapons to use against demons. Alec remarks distastefully about mundane yet again, and even Izzy is annoyed with him. Jace has Alec walk away while he has a moment with Clary.

Clary mentions how she used to wish her father were still alive, until he was. Jace tries to assure her that it’s not her fault, but she still blames herself for everything.

Izzy gets a text from someone and leaves the group, stating she has to find a way to get into the vampires’ lair.

Alec talks with Jace about what they’re doing, saying that he doesn’t even like Simon and that’s he only doing it for Clary, hinting that Jace only wants to help to get laid, yet risking their lives. Jace is indignant, but Alec asks him why he trusts Clary so much. Jace doesn’t care whether Alec trusts Clary, but he asks if Alec trusts him. But before Alec can respond, Clary finds the grave.

They uncover the grave and Clary grabs a seraph blade, which gives Alec another reason to be annoyed at Clary, stating she doesn’t know how to use it, but Clary points out how she used it at Pandemonium (but she didn’t really “use” it, more like had the pointy end turned in the direction of the demon that Jace pushed against it, so one point for Alec.)

Alec decides to go back to the institute to grab his bow and arrows, saying that he’ll go in the back and no one will question him. Before he does, he tells Jace that he does trust him, using the word “parabatai,” and not to ever forget that no matter what. They clasp hands in understanding before parting.

Jace shows Clary how to use the seraph blade, telling her that it knows because she’s part angel.  Once she gets the hang of it, she praises Jace, saying she doesn’t know how she could do it without him, and he tells her she’s already doing it without him.  They get close, close enough to almost kiss, but Jace backs off suddenly.

She changes the subject and asks why Alec is helping even though he doesn’t like her. Jace explains the parabatai connection, that he and Alec are bound together for life, to fight together, to protect each other.

At the hotel Dumort, Simon is now again freaking out, pacing back and forth, and actually trying to apologize for throwing the knife at Raphael, while Camille and Raphael watch in amusement. Camille freezes Simon and Raphael states his opinion about breaking the accords and kidnapping Simon. But Camille knows that Clary will come after her best friend. Raphael warns her about the Shadowhunters coming along, but she argues that they won’t get through and they’ll be outnumbered.  Plus, Camille finds Simon appealing, stating so, and then unfreezing him. Raphael leaves Camille to watch over Simon.

Isabelle visits a seelie named Meliorn and they start seducing each other, while trying to get information from each other. Meliorn asks about the Mortal Cup but she needs to ask him questions as well.

Jace and Clary go to a biker bar and he shows her how to “see” using her Shadowhunter sense. She realizes the people that she thought were just making out are actually vampires and feeding off each other.  Jace gets Clary to flirt with one of the vampires and when she does, he uses his vampire charm, what we later know as encanto, on her while Jace watches.

Camille uses encanto and starts making with Simon and interrogating him about the Mortal Cup and Clary, and Simon can’t help but tell her what she wants to know. She finds out that Clary’s memories were erased and mentions Magnus Bane’s name.  She then offers Simon a “Bloody Mary.”

After Izzy and Meliorn have sex, she asks how his visit to Idris was and what the Clave was like. He mentions that seelies are treated as if they were inferior to Shadowhunters, not even getting to vote on whatever matters they’re all dealing with apparently.  Isabelle does state that not all Shadowhunters are like that, but Meliorn still doesn’t trust her, no she him.  She proceeds to talk about him being with Camille also and works the conversation into how he sneaks into the Hotel Dumort to see her.

Alec, back at the Institute, looking over his arrows, is interrupted by Hodge. Alec tries to act casual, but failing humorously, but Hodge doesn’t pry. He does say that Alec reminds him of himself, standing in the shadows of “the chosen one,” meaning Jace, but telling him not to make the same mistakes that Hodge did.  Alec contemplates this, of course.

As Clary is charmed onto getting on the bike with the vampire guy, Jace interrupts, starting a fight and taking off on the bike with Clary. Being that it’s a vampire bike that runs on demon energy, he knows it’s fast, but it’s also been modified and it flies off into the sky, leaving those chasing them behind.

Camille and Simon are again making out and she offers her neck to him, which he bites and sucks on, leaving a trail of blood on her neck and on his lips.

Izzy and Alec meet in another building next to the hotel which has an entrance into it. They plan to distract the vampires while Jace and Clary rescue Simon.

Camille stops in the middle of her and Simon’s makeout session, smelling Shadowhunters nearby and calls on two other vampires to find them. It seems the encanto on Simon is wearing down, but she doesn’t notice.

Jace and Clary are on the top of the hotel making their plan, and marking themselves for protection. She finds out Jace has never been in love, and Jace asks why her and Simon are friends. She mentions parabatai, and says that her and Simon’s relationship is like that of a parabatai.

Jace and Clary are in the hotel and are confronted by the bike owner again. Alec and Izzy catch up and Alec shoots the wall to let the sunlight in, killing the biker. Clary finally kills a vampire with her blade all on her own. Jace and Izzy look at her with pride.

As Camille tries to find out what is going on, Simon tries to escape, but is blocked by Raphael. He holds a knife to Simon’s neck. When Camille says she’ll take care of Simon, Raphael counters by saying that the Shadowhunters are going to be there and she’ll be caught, urging her to escape before they get there. She does so, with Raphael to deal with Simon.

The group confronts Raphael with Simon being held in front of him and a blade to his neck. Raphael has them follow him and Simon and leads them out to the exit to the roof of the hotel. Raphael lets Simon go with them and hides from the light. Raphael doesn’t care for Simon, but knows that Valentine is a problem for even them. He reminds Jace to remember who his friends are.

On the roof, Clary hugs Simon as the others look on, telling him she couldn’t live without him. Simon is at first hopeful that it could mean something more, but then she kisses him on the cheek, dashing his hopes for something more.

Alec takes that moment to talk to Jace about Clary and who her father is, but Jace yells at him to stop, surprising everyone there. Alec tells him he’s older and not in his shadow, repeating Hodge’s words. Jace asks why Alec helped if he felt so strongly about not trusting Clary, but Alec doesn’t answer, just walks away.

Jace looks at Clary, and Clary at Jace. Simon also looks at Clary, but he’s staring intensely at the pulse in her neck.

“Dead Man’s Party” Review

You should probably figure it out by now that the series is definitely doing things a little differently than in the books.  And as much as you love the characters, the actors portraying them see a different Clary, Jace, Alec, Izzy, and Simon than you do.  But as I’ve stressed before, it’s not better or worse, just different.  It may be hard for those purists to see that and enjoy, but I’m having fun with it.

We move away from any Valentine and Luke Garroway scenes in this episode to focus more on the four young Shadowhunters and Simon’s transition into the Shadow World.  In this, we’re able to see more of Jace and Clary connecting and even getting a little close.  I like the teasing of them eventually getting together, as it doesn’t always have to happen right away.  We can see Jace struggling to keep his emotions at bay when it comes to Clary.  We see Clary becoming the stubborn girl that kind of annoyed me in the books, so that works.

I also appreciate the parabatai connection between Alec and Jace, which we haven’t been able to see much of yet.  It’s still probably not as much as I’d like to see, but it’s still something, especially when they join hands.  It makes the anger that rises out of Jace at the end of the episode all the more sad when it’s towards Alec.

Of course, the hint of what’s changing in Simon is a nice tease for future episodes.

What I liked about this episode and the past two is seeing familiarity with the characters, even though the story doesn’t run exactly the way it does in the books, and that’s what makes it interesting to watch.

Watch the promo and check out the photos for next week’s episode.