Our Shadowhunters “Major Arcana” recap brings to light Simon’s fear and Clary’s confidence
This was a very interesting Shadowhunters episode as we see changes in people and in relationships. Basically, Simon’s changes are becoming more and more of a problem for him, all the while, Clary is in search of the Mortal Cup and finds herself getting closer to Jace. Also, Isabelle is trying something different. Check out our “Major Arcana” recap and review to find out more.
Immediately following the end of last week’s episode, Clary reveals to Jace and Magnus that the Cup is in Dot’s tarot cards in the Ace of Cups. Luke enters the conversation and tells them that the cards are in his desk at the precinct.
(As much as I see the Old Spice guy, Isaiah is turning out to be a really decent Luke)
Maureen awakes with Simon in her bed. Yes, they had sex, and Maureen even says that he was “Pon farr” amazing. But while talking to her, he suddenly hallucinates and sees Clary instead of Maureen. He tries to act casual but says Clary’s name aloud, annoying Maureen. He apologizes but rushes out anyway.
(Oh, Simon. In his blubbering, it’s kind of sad what he does to Maureen here. As for aging up Maureen, I don’t mind this version of Maureen. It sets up a totally different dynamic, but that’s not a bad thing, it’s just not canon to the book. As much as I love the books, I can still appreciate what’s being done here. Plus, it gives me something new to see in future episodes.)
Clary and Jace wait outside the precinct, while Luke goes in to get the cards, but is intercepted by an Internal Affairs officer named Fisk. Captain Vargas is there, but she can’t stop it. Fisk attains his badge and gun and take him in for questioning.
While waiting outside, Clary gets a call from Simon, but she ignores it. Jace and Clary see Luke being taken away by Internal Affairs as he’s able to read the badge from a long distance with one of his runes, so they go for another plan.
Isabelle locks up her usual sexy clothes, along with a picture of Meliorn into a suitcase.
(Okay, that was a little bit cheesy to have Izzy keep a picture of Meliorn. This is an interesting thing as we’re supposed to believe that she had more of a fling going with Meliorn, even it didn’t seem like that much more of a relationship in previous episodes.)
She approaches her father, who’s knocking on Alec’s door. She insists on filling out the incident reports that Alec was supposed to write up, and Robert tells her that Maryse will be glad to hear it.
Fisk is interrogating Luke about the murders against the two Circle members he killed. Luke wants a lawyer, and Clary and Jace sneak in to the interrogation room when the door opens. He tells them his stuff and the cards are at his desk, but they have to try and get it while not attracting attention from Downworlder eyes.
Alec arrives back at the Institute and reveals to Izzy that he had cocktails with Magnus, but he assures her nothing else happened. Izzy tells him she broke up with Meliorn as he wasn’t Shadowhunter-ish enough. Alec knows she’s trying to help take the burden off him, but he tells her she can’t change who she is.
(I’m liking the brother-sister relationship between the two more and more. She does seem rather protective of him, even though he’s not the easiest to get along with.)
Jace and Clary deglamourize themselves in a storage closet, and she comes up with a plan, with Jace just following her lead. Clary walks into the office and all eyes are on her. When they get to the office where Luke’s desk is at, she slaps Jace as a means to pretend they’re having a fight. Jace is totally suprised. Clary goes into Luke’s desk drawer claiming that he has an extra key to her loft. Clary can’t find Luke’s items and Captain Vargas tells her that IA took all his things and it’s in the evidence vault.
(Okay, this part was actually pretty hilarious. Fans of the books have been waiting for the slap, and although it’s quite different than in the book, I think I find this moment funnier. Dominic has a good surprised look on his face from it, too.)
Simon is at a Java Jones food truck trying to eat his garlic with garlic bagel and French pressed coffee, all the while writing a list of reasons he’s becoming a vampire vs. not becoming a vampire. Too bad he starts hallucinating blood in his French press.
We see inside that Captain Vargas goes to the IA guy and demands for Luke’s list of inventory immediately, which he gives. They come across one of the K-9 dogs and the dog starts barking viciously at Captain Vargas.
Alec and Izzy meet up with Jace and Clary outside the precinct and try to come up with another plan. Simon calls again and this time Clary answers. He’s freaking out and he tells her he’s sick, but Jace hangs up her phone before Simon can say anything else. He tells her they have another plan.
IA releases Luke from custody for now, and when he goes to see Captain Vargas in her office, he finds her dead. Fisk knows Luke didn’t do it, but he also knows something’s off. Alaric tells Fisk it’s not a demonic murder, and that’s she’s been dead for at least 2 hours, although Fisk says he talked to her less than 2 hours prior. When Fisk leaves, Luke tells Alaric to find out if it’s a demon.
Simon is in his room searching on a medical site when his mom Elaine and his sister Rebecca do an intervention since Maureen called Rebecca and Rebecca told their mom. They think he’s on drugs, and Simon tells him that he thinks he has a disease. At that, Elaine and Rebecca start arguing, and he goes all Hulk in front of them by breaking his table in half with his bare hands.
(This is an interesting moment, but it’s good to see Simon with his family. I’m looking forward to seeing how this plays out in future episodes.)
Jace and Clary get in an elevator with their second plan. He tells her to put a Nyx (nightvision) rune on her. In the meantime, Alec and Izzy enter through the front and Alec approaches the front desk officer to distract her by flirting while he gets her badge to Izzy. Somehow he’s able to get her badge to Izzy.
(Another humorous moment with Alec trying to flirt, though not knowing exactly how to do that. Matthew’s smile certainly helps in this scene.)
Izzy finds the power unit to the building and puts a rune on the box to create a power surge. Alaric tells Luke that a shapeshifter killed Vargas. Luke plans to go after the killer, and tells Alaric to alert the pack of the demon as well.
Clary and Jace find Luke’s belongings in the evidence vault where they find the tarot card with the Mortal Cup on it, but Clary can’t seem to figure out how to get it out. They meet up with Alec and Izzy outside and Izzy’s ruby necklace starts glowing, alerting them to demons around, one almost getting to Clary before kills it. Clary leads them to a short cut through the tunnels underneath the building. Alec tells them to go while he holds off the demons in uniform.
Simon is still in his room and leaves a message for Clary that he thinks he’s becoming a vampire and hallucinates Camille, which only makes things worse and he breaks his mirror.
(Alberto Rosende does an excellent job of freaking out appropriately and then breaking down in sobs. He really hasn’t had a miss throughout the whole season.)
On their way to trying to get back to the Institute through the tunnels, Clary pauses for a moment to say thanks Jace for all he’s done for her. He just tells her that’s his job. She questions his motivation, but he also tells her she’s doing a great job herself.
Izzy’s ruby necklace is glowing red again, and They are attacked by Shax demons – they look like a mix between a dog-sized cockroach and a scorpion – the bloodhounds of the demon world.
Jace tells Clary to get to the Institute while Jace and Izzy draw them away, but on her way, some of the Shax demons find her. In that moment, she manages to get the cup out of the card and uses it to fend off the demons.
Simon’s mom and Rebecca try to talk to Simon again and find that he is gone and his room is trashed.
Clary finds Jace but realizes that it’s not really Jace. She stabs him through with her seraph blade when he tells her to give him the Cup. He shifts back into his demon self and dies. Luke and Alec find Clary there and head back to the Institute.
Jace is already at the Institute and is ordering everybody to try to find Clary, but she arrives with Alec and Izzy following behind her, and overhears him tell them that finding Clary is the first priority. She hugs him and tells him how she was finally able to get the Cup. Jace says he doesn’t care about the Cup, and was worried about her. She tells him about the shapeshifter demon, and he asks how she knew it wasn’t him. She says she just knew. Jace is trying to act casual, telling her that she has the Sight and is like them, but she interrupts him by kissing him quite passionately, and he kisses back. Alec and Izzy look on, but Alec leaves looking annoyed, with Izzy following behind.
(As a fan of the books, it’s certainly hard to not compare between this and that. However, this scene. This moment! As much as I love the sweet, romantic moment narrated in the book, I love this scene just as much. I love that it’s Clary who instigates it. I love how Jace tries not to let his feelings show, even though she calls bs on it once she kisses him. I love how she’s confident enough to do so because she knows that Jace has feelings for her, too, just like she knew that demon wasn’t Jace. And I love how the show made this first kiss between them their own. It really was a good moment for the show, and Kat and Dom did a great job.)
Simon breaks into the Hotel Dumort, pleading for help. Camille enters and she tells him that it’s her blood that’s in his veins that’s causing his problems, and that eventually her blood will dissipate from his body and he’ll be back to normal. He shows relief on his face, but then Camille attacks him.
(Nice push for the next episode.)
