SHADOWHUNTERS Episode 1.02 Recap and Review | “The Descent Into Hell Is Easy”

Get the details of the second episode of Shadowhunters, “The Descent Into Hell is Easy,” plus my thoughts

“The Descent into Hell is Easy” recap

Clary brings Simon with her into the Institute, knowing that Jace can help her. Jace makes it so that Simon can see what’s truly inside the abandoned church, and Simon sees the Institute for what it really is.

Jace and Clary explain what Shadowhunters are to Simon as they see through their live video policemen outside the entrance, doing their “typical mundie thing” before leaving.

Alec is now annoyed that Simon, a mundane, is in the Institute. Jace explains that a Circle member followed Simon to the Institute to get to Clary. They explain what the Circle is, a group of rebel Shadowhunters who revolted and killed a lot of other Shadowhunters, including Jace’s father. They are forbidden to hear about the Circle.

Jace has Clary follow him, and while Simon objected of being separated from Clary at first, he is lead away elsewhere by Isabelle quite easily.

Shadowhunters episode 1.02 "The Descent into Hell is Easy" | I'm Isabelle

Luke Garroway confronts another Circle member in a parking garage as she was about to attack an unsuspecting warlock looking for Magnus Bane. He tries to get her to talk, but instead they fight it out off camera and we hear a growl and crunch. We find out later that he killed her, although there were huge claw marks in the nearby vehicle indicating she was killed in an inhuman way.

Jace introduces Hodge Starkweather, their weapons trainer and former Circle member, to Clary. He explains that Hodge is not allowed to leave the Institute and is especially forbidden to talk about the Circle, because if he does, physical pain is inflicted upon him.

Hodge calls Clary Jocelyn when he first sees her, and he tells her that Jocelyn’s last name was Fairchild and that she, too, was a Circle member. They tell him that Valentine is still alive and they surmise that Valentine still wants the Mortal Cup. Hodge admits they didn’t know how far Valentine was willing to go for the Cup all the while the pain gets worse and worse for him as he talks about it.

Shadowhunters episode 1.02 "The Descent into Hell is Easy" | Jocelyn was a member

Hodge tells Clary that she has to stop Valentine before he gets the Mortal Cup, or he will destroy them all.

Clary doesn’t know anything about the Cup and admits to Jace that there’s this “empty blackness,” which Jace concludes that her memory’s probably been wiped by a warlock. Clary realizes that Dot was a warlock since she created a portal to transport her to the police station where Luke was in the previous episode.

Luke is at the apartment gathering what he can from the burned remains when the real Dot appears. She tells him that she portaled Clary to the police station, but doesn’t know where they are now. He continues to gather what he can, including some tarot cards, to prevent anyone from tracking Clary. Dot leaves to find Clary, with the help of Magnus Bane.

Shadowhunters episode 1.02 "The Descent into Hell is Easy" | Can't trust anybody

At the Institute, Isabelle and Simon talk a bit about runes and the affect it has on humans, and Jace being the fastest, strongest, and hottest. As she tries to get Simon to eat her not-too-tasty-looking breakfast, she does admit that the Circle is not a good thing for any of them.

Luke’s boss asks about Clary, where he finds out that Clary was there the night he was talking with the Circle members, which he communicates to his partner, Alaric.

Clary asks Isabelle about Jace, and Isabelle explains Jace is like a brother to her, that they trained together since they were kids. Isabelle admits that she’s attracted to Simon.

As they’re about to go, Alec tells them he doesn’t approve of this mission and that he spoke to the Clave about it, and that Clary is supposed to stay in the Institute. But Clary and Jace and Isabelle disagree. Clary is able to find out where Dot when she touches the necklace that Jocelyn gave her, and they go on there way to Pandemonium. Simon drives them.

Shadowhunters episode 1.02 "The Descent into Hell is Easy" | Magnus portalWe see Magnus getting all the warlocks out through a portal in the cleared out Pandemonium club when Dot arrives. She can’t convince him to stay and help and is stranded there by herself. She is low on magic and is then captured by The Circle before Clary and the rest of them are able to get to her.

Their next step is to go to see the Silent Brothers to recover Clary’s memories, per Jace’s suggestion. Alec and Isabelle are opposed to going there, but Clary asks for other suggestions, which they do not have. So they go.

They arrive at an underpass that’s kind of creepy looking. Alec confronts Jace about Clary, but isn’t sure why Alec is so against having Clary around. But Jace also knows that they need to find the Cup before Valentine does.

Shadowhunters episode 1.02 "The Descent into Hell is Easy" | Born afraid

Simon confronts Clary about all this and why she isn’t freaking out, but she feels that things are starting to finally make sense for her.  Jace takes Clary’s hand and they go while Simon follows behind.

In Chernobyl, Valentine has Dot imprisoned and wants her to break the spell that is keeping Jocelyn in a coma, but Dot tells him she didn’t do it, so he wants to know who did. But she doesn’t say.

Clary and Jace go into the City of Bones, the home of the Silent Brothers, while Alec, Isabelle, and Simon wait outside since Simon cannot enter the City of Bones. Isabelle notes the closeness of Jace and Clary to Simon. He’s not amused.

Shadowhunters episode 1.02 "The Descent into Hell is Easy" | Can't be here

At the police station, Luke is confronted by his Captain about the Circle members’ killing, and tries to smooth it over with her, although Alaric confronts him the moment after she leaves to say that he needs to find Clary soon, or “they” will.

Jace turns on his witchlight as they walk through the tunnels, having to explain what it is to her, and they come across the statue of an angel holding a replica of the Mortal Cup and a sword, which says “The descent into hell is easy.”

Clary and Jace have a little heart-to-heart, and he admits that his father was in the Circle, which is why he’s not buried in the City of Bones, even though he tried to do the right thing.

They meet the Silent Brothers, robed Shadowhunters with their mouths and eyes sewn shut, and Clary is made to go into the circle on the floor, where they search for her memories using the soul sword. Through the sword, she finds a memory of her on her 16th birthday and the memory shows Jocelyn and Luke talking about Valentine and that Valentine is her father. The Silent Brothers say that they were only able to retrieve fragments of her memory.

Shadowhunters episode 1.02 "The Descent into Hell is Easy" | Father Valentine

Outside, Isabelle tries to distract Simon’s worries by talking about his music. They go the van so she can listen to some of his songs, but she hears something and tells Simon to stay in the van. But someone is in the van with him.

Dot escapes her cage although it has weakened her tremendously, and tries to tell Jocelyn through the coma that Clary is fine, but after that, she is caught by Pangborn. They fight and she stabs Pangborn in the neck, then crawling away. However, Valentine is there and finishes off Pangborn before killing Dot.

When Clary and Jace finally come back, they find that Simon is missing.

In the bridge overpass that the van is parked under, we see that Simon has been captured by a couple of vampires. Jace wants to kill them, but Alec reminds him they can’t or they’d be violating the Accords. The male vampire says they will bring Simon back to them unharmed in exchange for the Mortal Cup. Then they fly off with Simon.

Shadowhunters episode 1.02 "The Descent into Hell is Easy" | Tick-Tock


Review

I’ve seen this episode a few times already (thank you Freeform for making it available online) and I have enjoyed it each time.  It’s still not a perfect show, possible due to the majority of it’s cast being somewhat still new to being in a TV series, but I do like where the storyline is going, even if it’s different from the books.

We are still seeing the same characters, but in a different way, and again, I stress, it’s not necessarily a bad way.  It’s just different.

The humor was definitely more in tune with the book, and I appreciate the writers for giving some of them some pretty memorable lines, especially Alberto Rosende, who just seems the most natural with his character, and is quickly become the favorite of the cast.

Unfortunately, it still suffers from other line deliveries and stiff acting from a few of the cast members (I won’t say who, but they’re pretty obvious.)  I can only hope that it gets better with each episode we go through.

By Molly

Molly is a proud Canadian who is currently attending university in Scotland. She loves to read, write, watch films, and talk about Sarah J. Maas books. If not snuggled up with a book, Molly can usually be found tapping at the dance studio, or writing yet another essay.