Synopsis of 2×08: Tasked with arranging his brother Max’s Rune Ceremony, Alex grabs the opportunity for his family to get to know Magnus; with tensions flying, Max’s big event quickly becomes an evening where they all must face their biggest fears.
Well that was a regular Gossip Girl episode, wasn’t it? If Gossip Girl had warlocks and shadowhunters and vampires. But it followed that classic “party” episode plotline, there’s a bunch of things that happen leading up to a big climax that takes place during a party.
Maryse and Max Lightwood are in town for Max’s rune ceremony, and with Robert back at Idris, Alec must take up the duties of throwing Max’s party. Honestly, back in the “Malec” episode, when Alec first came out to his parents, Robert seemed like the understanding parent. Since then, Maryse has kind of been the intolerable one. She’s basically disowned Jace and she’s not happy with Alec dating Magnus. Regardless, she shows up for Max’s rune ceremony, though I’m confused as to why they would have it in New York and not in Idris, that seems like it would make more sense.
Anyways, Izzy is surprised that their dad isn’t there and she says that it’s because of the business with Valentine and tracking him down. We know that Alec and Jace learn later on that that isn’t true, but that Robert is cheating on Maryse. I just don’t know if I fully believe that. If it’s true, that Robert is cheating on Maryse, I’ve got to assume that there’s something else going on. Their relationship doesn’t just suddenly change, and he was there for Alec just a few months ago, why wouldn’t he be here for his youngest son’s rune ceremony? Marital problems or not, something feels fishy. Either that or the writing team is slipping again.
Anyways, Alec enlists Magnus’ help in throwing the party because he wants his mother to accept that Magnus is around for the long haul. I have to say, this episode was a great Lightwood family episode, especially for Alec. We’ve got Izzy prodding him for the deets of his first time with Magnus, and then Jace being prickly towards Magnus and being super protective of his parabatai. It’s all really great Lightwood siblings feels.
The Soul Sword plot takes a bit of break throughout the episode to focus a little more on the character dynamic and I’m totally fine with it. Luke is pissed about not finding out about the Soul Sword earlier and learns of the vision that Ithuriel gave Jace and Clary. He doesn’t seem to completely trust it and storms off.
And after finding herself in a vampire den at the end of last episode, we pick up where we left off with Izzy. Only instead of getting the wrong end of a vampire den, Raphael interrupts his fellow downworlders before they attack Izzy. I really like the connection between the two, other than Aldertree no one else knows about Izzy’s addiction and he’s only been feeding it. Raphael gives her some of his venom, but seems really reluctant, apologizing to god before he bites her.
He later reveals to Izzy his dark past of feeding on humans and how Magnus took him in and got him back on the right track again. He also warns Izzy about yin fen and vampire venom — which is stronger and wears off faster — before giving her another dose when she cuts herself to get it. The two of them have some real chemistry so I’m actually interested in seeing how this turns out. For now, though, it looks like he’s not going to be giving her his venom anymore, and he’s adamant about her going cold turkey before it’s too late.
We see Iris again in this episode, watching over Madzie in the park while she plays. But the fun stops when Valentine decides to roll up and threaten Madzie to get what she wants. We don’t find out until the end of the episode, but Iris finds a way into Magnus’ apartment and ends up stealing Magnus’ spellbook.
Meanwhile, inspired by his talk with Maia, Simon finally tells Clary how he feels about her. The two of them kiss and it’s actually really cute. They even decide to go to the party together.
The party starts off pretty well, with the theme being Spain. Magnus tells Maryse it’s because he knows that Robert proposed to Maryse in Barcelona and he wanted to theme it in Robert’s honor since he wasn’t able to be there. Given what we now know of Maryse and Robert, this was probably a bad idea.
The tension mounts at the party despite the happy occasion. Maia is bartending and throwing sassy dialogue back and forth with Jace when Clary and Simon arrive. He goes and congratulates the two of them, and he seems like he’s genuinely happy for them, and that he’s trying to get over her despite looking a little tortured when she arrives. I guess in his mind, if he can’t be with Clary, Simon’s the next best choice. Also, they had that bonding moment last episode that I loved so much.
Well, the romance doesn’t linger too long between Clary and Simon when she comes upon Simon and Maia kissing. They fight and she’s ready to just leave, but Magnus stops her. Magnus has some great scenes in this episode that were actually kind of subtle. He basically holds the party together. He’s a great host, he’s dousing fires left and right, being super nice to Maryse and Max, boozing up the sangria, all good things. You can tell how hard he is trying to make this party great for Max, and in turn, for Alec.
Which makes the scene when he gives Max his gift that much more painful. After giving Max his gift, Max asks Magnus about his demon’s mark, which Magnus shows without pause. He’s got a pair of yellow cat eyes. Max is taken aback and asks him how much of him is demon. Awkwarrrrd. Oh my god Max, you don’t just ask someone how much of them is demon.
But thankfully Jace swoops in and tells Max to apologize to his friends. Unfortunately, Max decided to just go full boar with the insults and says that according to their mom Jace isn’t his brother and that he isn’t part of the family. I’d like to point out that at this point Magnus straight up just walks away from the conversation. Same.
Jace is hurt and feels totally abandoned and runs away to his room, only for Maryse to come to him. But instead of apologizing, she attacks him! It’s made pretty clear to us that something is afoot at this party, and it seems like Magnus suspects it as well. As he comes to help Maryse, whose been knocked out by Jace, we find out Alec is on the ledge ready to jump off.
He hallucinates that Clary still thinks he’s at fault for killing her mom and is overwrought by guilt. Instead of hearing her pleading for him to come down, he only hears her insults and negativity. Thank god Magnus stops him right before he falls, but it only gets worse. Undoing the hallucination that was put on the gang, Magnus immediately loses his spellbook. We find out that one of the new feral cats that he has is actually Iris. The two have an awesome warlock battle before Magnus gains the upper hand.
He finds out from her that Valentine has Madzie and threatened to hurt her unless she got Magnus’ spellbook, and that she wasn’t to harm Clary in the process. With the truth out, Magnus sends her to the Clave. Before she’s portaled out, she activates Clary’s blood oath and tells her to find Madzie.
The team then figures out what’s going on, with Clary revealing their secrets and the truth of the Soul Sword. Magnus deduces that Clary probably has pure angel blood in her and can activate the sword, which is why Valentine doesn’t want her harmed.
In typical fashion, everyone ends up making up. Simon and Clary kiss and Jace and Maryse reconcile. The former is adorable and sweet, and the later is actually really emotional. It’s nice to see Maryse as something other than just a harsh, narrow-minded mom.
And it seems like this is all part of Valentine’s plan, as the episode ends with him giving Madzie an ice cream cone and telling her that she and Clary are going to get along.
Memorable Moments:
Max: “Mom doesn’t like you having a warlock boyfriend.”
Alec: “How would you feel about throwing a party?” Magnus: “Have you met me?”
Jace: “I know my brother, he’s sensitive.”
Maia: “I thought I smelled cocky””Well, I’m actually happy I didn’t maul you to death.” “Why? So you can slowly annoy me to death instead?”
Maia: “Well, I’m actually happy I didn’t maul you to death.” Jace: “Why? So you can slowly annoy me to death instead?”
Maryse: “I heard you like to drink.”
Magnus calls Clary biscuit!
Magnus: “This is an elegant affair, not The Real Housewives of Idris.“
English