Shadowhunters: Episode 1 & 2

Ah, so the time has come. Shadowhunters debuts. To be honest I wasn't that excited about Shadowhunters. The little clips they had shown put my expectation down way low. More importantly it's airing on a cable station Free Form (AKA ABC Family). I just didn't know how I was going to watch it unless they aired it online for free.

Well good news is that Hulu and Free Form are both uploading online. You do not need to pay on either site! Yippee.

Another good thing is that my expectations were so low, I think that contributed to some of my enjoyment.

So now that I can actually watch and keep up with Shadowhunters I will post reviews for each episode. Since I post date my posts it's easier for me to upload them for the Monday after. It might be a little weird to have my reviews for the old episode up the day before the new, but it's easier that way.

Now that I've rambled on let's get to the review.

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As mentioned, because my expectations were so low for the show I think I did enjoy it more than I thought I would. There are definitely some things changed. Certain characters aged down. For poor Hodge it's kind of creepy. While I get who the target audience is supposed to be, it bothers me that there is clearly an age limit for how old people can look on this show. Plus, it was cooler that the New York branch didn't have anyone there. That the Shadowhunters posted there were being punished by being so isolated. Plus, there numbers are low so why is that post so full of other people? But it makes since for the show since they need more fodder, err character options, for the future.

Some changes I did like was that Luke is now a cop!! What? I loved bookworm Luke, don't get me wrong. However, the idea of him being a cop is really cool. Plus, I love the idea that after he could no longer be a Shadowhunter he still wanted to protect people.

Speaking of adults I really like Valentine. His actor may be the typical bald bad guy, but he does better then a lot of the other actors and I could feel his emotions. Enter Jocelyn. Um, yeah. Well she's emotionless and has no chemistry with the cast. She's my least favorite actress and it's probably a good thing that she will be asleep for most of the season.

Which leads me to another sticky point. The actor for Jace has no chemistry with Clary. My personal opinion is that he's vibing Edward from the Twilight movies. Lines are delivered with no swagger and super slow. Jace is all about the swagger! Instead he comes off . . . creepy. (Many didn't like the looks of the movie Jace, but he had the swagger.)

Clary is actually, awesome. Forget that bad wig. I really like the actress they picked. She's cute and when she's given those sassy lines she brings it! There were some really awkward acting moments, but I think it was due to the director giving her those directions.

Alec and Isabelle Lightwood are amazing!! Isabelle is more relaxed and not as mean as the books, but that makes her so much fun. I really love that she's a bit of a comedic relief. Alec is perfection. (If you can't tell from my collage, I'm obssesed.) The actor is bringing that character to life. He's cold and rude. Just how I love my Alec. When Alec and Isabelle are interacting I buy them as brother and sister. It's perfect. 

Ah, speaking of perfect. Dear Simon. Dear, sweet Simon. The actor behind him is amazing. In fact, he saved these first two episodes for me. Not only did he get me to laugh and smile like a fool, but he has a real emotional connection with the cast. Clary and Simon ooze friendship. Even stone face Luke can't help but smile and goof off with Simon. Alec and Isabelle are dynamite when interacting with Simon. Even Jace gets a little better thanks to Simon.

Now I have to mention that the script is bad. So bad. Even when they're borrowing some lines from the book it's written in so it rubs me the wrong way. Oh, but poor-poor-poor Jace. He gets most of the trash lines. Especially when he's talking to Clary. There first meeting was atrocious. It doesn't help when he gets those solid lines from the book that they're poorly delivered.

And I am not joking about the Twilight vibes. The cliffhanger for episode 1 was with Clary having to "choose" between Jace and Simon. Just look how stupid it is.

Plus, I'm not sure what they're doing with Magnus! He looks great, and I already know that the actor is good. But the TV Magnus is running for the hills, and the Magnus from the books would not do that. Pff.

The editing is another sore point. The way things are cut and pieced makes the action scenes bad. Not to mention the visual affects to blur the action sequences. Oh, it's so bad. From what I've heard the actors have really been working hard to deliver those action scenes.

The visual affect for the demons is actually not bad. It's a low budget TV show and they're doing what they can. The swords while tacky, are well done for the budget. It looks like all the monsters are going to have tentacle mouths, that's OK. Having those graphics in the bag are going to save them money and time by not having to customize the demons at this point.

The look of the runes that the Shadowhunters burn into their skin looks like badly colored makeup. It's awful too look at. But I know they have a budget. But I feel like the makeup artist could have found a cheap and less visually garish look.

Obviouslly I'll be continuing the series. The writing quality went up a bit for episode 2 and I have hope. Plus, I'm very curious what twists will go.

Mainly though I have to watch Simon! I'm fan girling all over that! He is the best thing to come out of this show.