Shadowhunters 2×15 Review: “A Problem of Memory”

This week’s Shadowhunters was the answer to the question: Why do a Shadowhunter, a werewolf, and a vampire walk into a bar? Simon getting himself into trouble, it seems. “A Problem of Memory” didn’t tie up several outstanding plots so much as it did nudge them in stark new directions, and its reveals, realizations, and respites shaped an enjoyable, complex chapter in the story so far.

Following last week’s Seelie Court kiss, Simon nursed his broken heart with the help of Daylighter groupie Quinn, who introduced him to the drinking of blood plasma and the local world of bleeder dens – the vampire equivalent of a strip club, where consenting mundanes give themselves over to a vampire’s bite. Hungover, drawing blanks, and fretting over news of a dead girl the next day, Simon eventually learned Quinn was the one responsible for her death and set out to make him accountable with his newfound Daylighter finesse. It’s the worst couple of days he’s had in a long time, but it ultimately pushed him to take a much-needed pause from Clary’s presence in his life so he can accept where he is and return to where he once was: the committed role of Best Friend.

Things grew tense for creepy hostage-keeper and shape-shifted imposter Sebastian Verlac, who found his plans unraveling when Aline Penhallow turned up at the Institute looking for her cousin. His closet abductee, the real Sebastian, successfully escaped in order to get to Aline, but was killed, tragically, mere meters before he could reach her. His killer – and the man who has been wearing his face – is the true heir to the Valentine empire, Jonathan Morgenstern.

Fearing another attempt on Valentine’s life, Alec got Clave permission to relocate him to the waiting guard in Alicante, doing so under the guise of a goodwill gesture to the local Downworlders in order to protect Luke from any Clave punishment his foiled assassination plan would reap. He was also preoccupied with his growing concern for Magnus, who hasn’t been his usual self lately. Meanwhile, Luke’s partner, Ollie, got a little too close to the Shadow World, and Magnus finally bowed under the pressure of his painful resurfaced memories – that of his mother’s suicide and the murder of his stepfather, of which he committed by his own hand.

In a nutshell, this episode may as well have been titled “Simon and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, Part 37.” Alberto Rosende’s screen time made up the majority of the hour, as Simon fumbled through a major turning point in which he navigated the grief of losing the biggest love of his life so far. Alberto’s emotional performance was incredible and the writing here did him justice, but this particular doom has been slowly incoming since we met him and his puppy love for Clary all the way back in the pilot, which had it feeling not so much, “But you guys were perfect for each other!” as it was, “Called it.” This episode also cut one more tie Simon had to his previous mundane life – his childhood love for Clary – and, in that sense, it was much deeper in its sadness.

Harry Shum Jr. is a wonderful stand-out performer, and anyone who has seen Harry’s entire catalogue of acting work will agree that this episode was some of his finest work ever. It was subtle in the showcasing of his damaged psyche, in his thousand-yard stare, the blurring of memory encroaching on reality, the unspoken meaning behind the sudden mask of makeup on his face. And it was heartbreaking as the floodgates finally gave way, and as Magnus put his most fragile, defining insecurity on display for Alec to see.

But Magnus’ story this week just didn’t have the space to make it count. His final scene, the one that really mattered, was beautiful, but over so quickly. Even the transitioning in and out of his flashbacks felt like someone behind the scenes was snapping their fingers to move it along. We’ve been waiting a while for Magnus’ ongoing plot to get its due, and I don’t think it hit the mark. I felt his emotions, wanted to have it rip my heart out, but the scene was coming to a close before I could fully get there. Which was a bit of a slap after getting not one, but two lengthy scenes of Clary and Simon staring at each other and crying for moments on end, being granted the screen time to dwell on and draw out their pain.

I hope it isn’t the resolution of Magnus’ trauma the show had in mind, because this is the center of how Magnus defines himself. It’s the reason why we see him pull back so much around other people when he feels vulnerable or attacked, why he so often stands there and takes the criticisms of Shadowhunters in complete silence – because one moment of confused emotional lashing-out as a child made him afraid of himself, and worse, loathe himself. That’s a devastating realization about Magnus for us as an audience, but it’s even more devastating that it wasn’t further explored in the episode itself. A centuries-old immortal with childhood trauma, and the fundamental reason why he is the way he is, ended up tacked on to a teen break-up story like an afterthought. The opportunity here wasn’t taken full advantage of.

It highlights a recurring problem we’ve seen in Season 2’s overall plot structure – that there are too many things happening at once and too many players vying for screen time each episode. “A Problem of Memory” better handled this issue by making Simon the main focus and nailing his story. And while it worked, the problem was that the episode’s smaller plots were just as important – Sebastian’s unraveling, Magnus’ unraveling in particular – and they didn’t get the full focus they needed. The structure of ‘big main plot supported by tiny plots’ is a sound one that I believe will serve this show well. I just don’t think Simon’s version of The Hangover was worthy of being the big main plot here. If at all.

Sebastian – or really, Jonathan – presents a twist on a preconceived character of mayhem, and knowing who he is now paints a broader picture of every little nuance we’ve seen so far. Will Tudor’s intricate portrayal gives us a Jonathan who isn’t just a demon-blooded monster, he’s a boy who has been abandoned in every visceral sense of the word. In speaking of his mother in 2×11 – who we now know was Jocelyn Fairchild – and seeing his intense, straight-faced reaction in 2×12 as Clary explained she was dead, can be seen now for what it was: Jonathan reacting to his mother’s death. In interacting with Jace in last week’s “The Fair Folk,” Jonathan learned that while Jace had endured an abusive childhood, he was still afforded small joys like piano lessons and time with his believed father, Valentine. This can also be seen now for what it was – Jonathan realizing his own father had not only abandoned him but replaced him entirely with a boy who received more care than he was apparently ever shown. Looking back now on his lone piano playing then takes on a more heartbreaking context – was he taught the same piece by Valentine? Or was he falsely comforting himself by playing it and putting himself vicariously in Jace’s shoes? He’s a mutilated mess of a man, who we can now recognize as the little, blond boy screaming in the fiery pentagram we saw during Valentine’s torture in 2×11. The way he keeps burning himself – is it punishment or comfort? And who is the greater villain here? Jonathan, the demon-blooded monster forged from pain? Or Valentine, the psychopath who created him? It’s a delicious development to the story and has been executed here wonderfully.

As for the Shadowhunters this episode, I’ve mentioned before that my biggest peeve on this show is when Shadowhunters are stupid. They are trained from childhood to handle very brutal battle and delicate political situations, so the fact that they spent the entire day prepping to walk Valentine through a portal and still cocked it up astounds me. Had Isabelle and Jace simply walked Valentine through themselves – and as the heads of that mission, with very specific history of how slippery he is, they should have – none of this would have happened. The fact that it had to go down for plot reasons isn’t the issue I have, because characters are allowed to make poor choices, but the writing around them needs to be smart. Sebastian has shown he is smarter than everyone, but Jace and Isabelle’s lack of here proved the bar to meet wasn’t all that high to begin with. It reflects the same sentiment I had in watching Clary’s demon-killing hero moment in 2×04, and Isabelle’s rooftop smackdown in 2×10. Instead of fighting at a high skill-level, the surrounding characters were brought down to be less adequate. I like legitimate badassery and cleverness. If you need to surpass those, always go higher or you run the risk of making your brutal, angel-blooded, demon-killing Shadowhunters look useless. Our mains are supposed to be the best of the best! And they had one job!

Alec’s part this week felt like a whole lot of foreshadowing – he’s so rusty at listening to his gut that he’s unsure of the calls he’s making, and it’s probably going to cost him his job if the Clave get a hold of his indiscretions. He knows he risks de-runing for withholding the truth of Luke’s attempt on Valentine’s life, and now with Valentine going missing under his authority…sweet baby Jesus, that’s enough of an invitation for the Clave to strip him of every opportunity he will ever have and justify it.

As expressed a couple of times this episode, one thing Alec is confident in is how he understands Magnus. The Malec relationship this hour was a dream to watch, from the softness of their morning together to Alec’s protection of Magnus by excluding him from a mission that would put him in a room with the cause of his recent troubles to pushing Magnus into opening up and then comforting him. And he did so wholeheartedly and fiercely until there was no room for doubt in Magnus’ mind that he is anything but loved and seen. That’s a good boyfriend right there, and not only was he everything Magnus needed, you could see Alec’s quiet resolve to love him a little harder, and Magnus, as he fell a little deeper. I’m hoping it’s a continuing thread because Magnus’ view of himself can’t be entirely fixed with a beautiful declaration and a hug. He has hundreds of years of negative mental tapes playing in his head, and he’s going to need patience and loving reminders in order to re-record them with happier messages. Watching him get there will be everything.

It was great to see more Luke! I love him in dad mode when he’s looking after Clary and Simon, and I’m enjoying the hint of a gatekeeper role Luke fulfilled this week in protecting the Shadow World from Ollie and her mundane curiosities. Seeing him and Raphael teaming up to erase her memories gave me hilarious Men in Black vibes and I always find the joining of enemies for the sake of preventing bigger picture consequences strangely satisfying. Though I don’t think this is the last time we’ll see Ollie get herself in this situation, somehow.

Jace and Isabelle’s parts this week were minimal, though fittingly. I enjoyed Jace’s slight vibe of, “But I won, right? Clary and I can be a thing now, right?” and Isabelle telling him to rein himself in and helping Clary better understand her predicament. Isabelle is the right character for such things, as she’s a great listener and a very intuitive observer of the people around her. I wasn’t too surprised when Duncan was the one who popped Valentine through the portal, as it’s a dead giveaway that things are about to go wonky when random members of the Institute start getting screen time. I loved the beautiful, almost heavenly visual effects of Alicante, and whoever the hell Consul Dieudonne is made me giddy to see just how big, bad, and grumpy the Clave can be beyond mere singular representatives.

Allison Rymer’s writing always has a great emotional balance. I enjoy the way she plays with the bonds between characters, and her conversational writing feels effortlessly human and relatable. She also tends to write heavy hitting stuff – Simon’s mundane death, Luke’s grief for Jocelyn, the flashback of Maia’s turning, Malec’s first date – and manages to dig into character drama without being dramatic. I’m definitely going to miss her work on this show.

Having actors as guest directors is becoming a really good trend this season and seems to have a great track record of producing fabulous emotional performances. Peter DeLuise was yet another seamless fit on the roster of Season 2 directors, and it would have been a faultless piece of work had Magnus gotten a little more time and breathing room to present the full scope of his misery.

All in all, it was an exciting, solid episode with outstanding performances. I happened to watch some of Season 1 earlier this week and the difference between then and now is mind-blowing. Enjoy your happy pause now, kids, because I have a feeling the last five episodes of this season will require seat belts. Who’s excited?!

---

Shadowhunters airs Mondays 8/7c on Freeform and Tuesdays internationally on Netflix.