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SHADOWHUNTERS Episode 2.09 Recap and Review – “Bound by Blood”

Clary’s blood oath to Iris is more of a threat to her life than originally thought and the team is on an urgent search to find little Madzie in SHADOWHUNTERS.

The “Bound by Blood” episode of Shadowhunters opens to Simon and Clary making out in Simon’s boathouse, getting half naked and stuff when Jace comes in and does what he does best…something about blocking and clocks or roosters, I think. Jace is irritated that Clary is not at the Institute, when suddenly, Clary experiences extreme pain on her hand, which is turning charcoal black.

At Magnus’ swanky place, Alec expresses his concern about the Downworlders, which, as you recall from the previous episode, are in danger of being destroyed by the activation of the Soul-Sword. But Magnus expresses his concern over Alec, who almost off’d himself by jumping off the ledge in the last episode.

Much doesn’t get said, or done, between the two after that because Clary and Jace come in to get Magnus’ help with Clary’s charcoal hand. We find it’s due to Clary’s blood oath to Iris. They realize they have to find the young warlock Madzie, whom Valentine had taken. That’s the only way to break the spell, which is something that not even Iris can do.

At the Institute, Aldertree has returned and Isabelle goes to see him per his request. He finds that she’s completely off the addiction to yin fen. He tries to ask her out, but she is not interested. Hmmm… he gets her to addicted to yin fen then tries to manipulate her to spy on Clary, and now he wants to have dinner with her? Will she say yes??? No. Freakin’. Way.

Clary and Jace go to Jade Wolf to inform Luke of what’s going on. When Clary goes to the boathouse to get Simon’s help for the Madzie search later that night, a werewolf tries to attack her, but she fends it off. When it changes back to human form, it turns out to be…

MAIA! What?!

Luke handcuffs Maia, who has come to the conclusion that Clary has to die since she has the potential to destroy all the Downworlders by touching the Soul-Sword. Both Luke and Simon, who is also there for whatever reason, are sooooo not happy with her.

Now Luke has to try to make sure no other Downworlders will go after Clary while Simon and Jace help her find Madzie.

At Valentine’s hideout, an abandoned carnival park, Dot is going through Magnus’ spellbook. Whatever Valentine is injecting her with since season one is slowly eating away at her and her face is rotting. She’s having a hard time doing any spells, so Valentine suggests she teach Madzie, who’s also there. He reveals he wants to raise her to be his own warlock that he can control, but if Dot won’t teach her, he threatens to give Madzie the injections. Dot reluctantly agrees to teach Madzie.

Alec enters Aldertree’s room asking about why Izzy’s been asking strange since her visit to the Iron Sisters. Aldertree feigns ignorance, of course, giving Alec the subtle warning about going against him, since Aldertree is still in charge of the Institute.

Isabelle is at Raphael’s place, and he’s teaching her how to make tamales! Yummy! A vampire making tamales has to be in some kind of book of “Reasons Why Vampires Are Sexy!” They are getting quite close, getting all flirty. He confesses he visits his 78-year-old younger sister, which he never told anyone about. She gets him to bite her again, them both getting a thrill from it.

Luke locks up Maia in a small storage room, even though she’s claustrophobic and promises she won’t try to hurt Clary again. The problem is that she already let others know about Clary and he obviously doesn’t trust her and tells her it’s for her protection. He locks her up, even as upset as she is.

Simon, Jace, and Clary are at the park where Madzie was last seen and they find her scarf on a transient. The transient gives the scarf to them in exchange for Jace’s leather jacket, which Simon was more than happy to trade off.

Now that they have the scarf, Jace was able to use the tracking rune on the scarf. He’s concerned about how easy it was, knowing it could very well be a trap, but they have no other option. Clary acknowledges that Maia is probably right, and then asks them to promise to kill her instead of having Valentine take her alive. Simon says no, but Jace makes the promise.

A vampire, a werewolf, and a warlock walk into a bar… no, really. Raphael, Magnus, and Luke are visited by Meliorn (in war armor and a scarred face) and some fellow seelies at the Hunter’s Moon. They are there to meet about this whole Soul-Sword/Valentine thing. Luke called them together to see about working together to stop Valentine.

However, Meliorn suggests killing Clary as an alternative. He knows each of them have a personal, and intimate connection with the Shadowhunters – Luke with Jocelyn, Magnus with Alec – including Raphael, which is a surprise to Luke and Magnus. But Raphael saves face by agreeing to kill Clary.

When they get close to the location of Madzie, Simon gets a call from Luke warning them about the seelies and vampires. Jace takes off without Simon and Clary to get Madzie on his own since he doesn’t want Clary anywhere near Valentine.

Maia is freaking out in the storage room, yelling for help, crying, then does the only thing she can and turns to werewolf Maia to escape.

Simon and Clary are at the pier, waiting for Jace to return with Madzie. They have a heart-to-heart, with Clary saying how glad she is that they’re together.

Alec goes to see Magnus about Izzy, who figured out that she was lying to him at the Hunter’s Moon when she said she was doing undercover work. He tells Alec that she seems to have been going straight to the source, meaning vampire venom… meaning Raphael.

Valentine and Madzie are at restaurant when Jace arrives. Jace tells Valentine about the blood oath and tells him if Madzie doesn’t come with him, then Clary dies.

At the vampire lair, Raphael is going to town on Izzy…vampire-like on her arm, of course. When Alec punches Raphael away, he tells him that it was Aldertree that got her started on the yin fen addiction, and then admits he has feelings for Isabelle.

When Alec starts beating him, Izzy is way too strung out to stop him, but Magnus isn’t. Alec is mad at Magnus for not saying anything, even if Magnus didn’t know for sure what was going on with Izzy.

Alec leaves with Izzy. Raphael tells Magnus that he does have feeling for Izzy, but Magnus knows it’s likely not real and it’s only because they’ve been co-dependent upon each other for their highsbecause he’s as addicted to her blood as she’s as addicted to his venom.

When they’re outside, Izzy pulls away from Alec and tells him she doesn’t need him, telling him that Raphael was there for her when he didn’t even notice she was going through problems. They go their separate ways.

Just when Clary is on her last breath, Jace comes with Madzie, saving Clary’s life. But as Simon is thanking Jace, Madzie creates a portal and takes both her and Clary back to Valentine’s hideout. When Clary wakes, she’s chained up, with no way to escape.

Simon and Jace, still trying to figure out what to do, hear screams and come across some vampires attacking and killing a mundane out in the open. Jace believes it has something to do with Valentine (of course it does!) When he calls Alec, Alec confirms that Downworlders are attacking all over Manhattan.

Simon and Jace find a couple of Downworlders attacking a woman and try to get one of them to talk. Luke shows up and kills one of them.

While Maia escapes Jade Wolf, Luke, Simon and Jace find Valentine’s hideout.

At the Institute, Alec tries to order a group of Shadowhunters to look for Clary, but Aldertree stops them. Alec confronts him about the yin fen issue and warns Aldertree not to threaten his family again after taking command of the Institute. Aldertree stands down…this time.

When Jace finds Clary, Valentine is there with Madzie, who’s now under his influence. Simon tries to distract Valentine, but instead gets taken by him. Blah! Madzie creates another portal and Valentine escapes with Simon and Madzie.

Review:

Well, there were some interesting developments in this series. But firstly, if you haven’t realized it already, it’s always best to leave your memory of the books behind. This is a wholly different TV universe. Some things have not changed though, and one of them is Simon’s willingness to save Clary whenever he gets a chance.

Despite no such thing occurred in the books, I am intrigued with Izzy’s storyarc with Raphael. I wouldn’t say I approve of it, but it’s something that should add more character development for Izzy as well as Raphael.

And the tension between Magnus and Alec is palpable. We hope it doesn’t last long.

As for Valentine, he’s just as evil as ever. He has an annoyingly calm demeanor, even when he’s bring cruel.

There were some timeline issues as well, (Magnus says he spoke with Izzy about the yin fen thing a “couple of days ago,” but Simon talks about he and Clary starting their relationship a week ago. Nothing major, though.

Hopefully we’ll find some kind of decent conclusion with next week’s season finale, though. Prepare yourselves!

By Nat, the Geek Girl

Southern California native who likes movies, books (Shadowhunter Chronicles, NA, YA fantasy, Red Rising series), TV shows (The Sandman), and San Diego Comic-Con. I also like to write, but don't get to do much of that aside from on here. I fell into the BTS rabbit hole, and I refuse to leave.