I'm still feeling so excited about each episode of the show, so that's a nice feeling. I've said this a million times by now, but the show does have problems. I think that felt particularly true of this third episode, which I liked slightly less than the second. I can't pinpoint why. But that being said, I did enjoy this episode. It included some details that had me trying not to squeal early in the morning when I got up to watch it and my roommate was still asleep.
For the first two episodes, I watched both of them twice before my reviews. This time, I haven't. I only just watched the episode this morning. I do plan on watching it again (mostly to pick out what details I can), but I'm writing this review ahead of time. I feel like I'm going to forget to say more than I did with the first two. Particularly because I didn't write any notes this time. (It was dark in my room while watching it after all.) I think I can still find plenty to talk about.
Considering the cliff hanger from the last episode, it was a given that this episode would center around the vampires. Camille and Raphael are essentially the only two we're introduced to. I suppose there was also the guy Clary talked to, but I don't know if he counts so much.
Having Camille in the story so early is an interesting decision and one of the bigger changes so far. I like it. While I hate Camille as a person, she looks like she'll be a good villain on the show. It'll be interesting to see how many of her actions from the books will work their way into the show now that things are different. Alec knows who she is already, for one, so that means that, if the circumstances from the book play out, it would feel a bit different than in the books.
The change makes sense though. Being the head of the clan, I like actually seeing her early on. We also got Raphael's line where he told her to go instead of confront the Shadowhunters because she was too valuable. I'm wondering if she will regularly disappear throughout the series and be a character who pops up every so often. I think it could be interesting if we're left wondering when she'll make an appearance again.
The hotel itself looked much different than the one I had imagined in my head, but I liked it. It felt like an appropriate setting for the clan. The idea of them having all these artifacts lying around is interesting to me.
I spent the entire episode wondering if Simon was going to get turned into a vampire. Lo and behold, he didn't, but there was that bit at the end with him looking at the vein in Clary's neck, so I think it's safe to assume that we're on the way there. I'm excited for it.
One thought that only just occurred to me: I've been so caught up in when Simon will become a vampire that I haven't thought about when he'll become a daylighter. And that's kind of important considering he would have to avoid the daylight before that. It'll be interesting to see how they handle that.
I haven't said much about Raphael because, for whatever reason, I don't feel like I have much to say about Raphael yet. His actions largely felt like the actions the Raphael of the books would take, so I'm happy about that. We'll see what happens with him in the future.
Meliorn was also introduced in this episode, making him the first Seelie we've seen on the show. Knowing what I know about Meliorn from the books, I hate him, but I think I would even without having read the books. He just gives off that sort of vibe. Which isn't a criticism. It's the vibe that I think all of the Seelie are meant to have, so I'm glad that was in there. I do particularly hate Meliorn though, so I'm not so sure I want him appearing in a lot of episodes. Every now that then would be okay, but I don't want to have to deal with a lot of him.
There was a much larger development of Clace in this episode, with Clary and Jace spending quite a bit of the episode alone together. It felt a little quick to me considering how much time a TV show gives you to develop a romance, but that isn't inherently bad, I don't think. I don't know. We'll see how I feel after a couple of episodes when I can see what their relationship is like then. Clace is my least favorite (which isn't to say I dislike it) of the main couples, so to be honest, I'm less worried about how their relationship will be handled than I am Sizzy or Malec.
Unsurprisingly, Alec was my favorite part of this episode. I know that he's perpetually cranky in all of these episodes (as he is in the first several books), but that's part of what gets me so excited. I love seeing the early version of Alec and knowing how he's going to grow over the series. It just gets me really excited.
What I particularly loved about this episode was the conversation between Hodge and Alec about Alec being like Hodge. Obviously, that's not at all true in the end, but I like what it's setting up. I think Alec's going to get a chance to develop a bit more quickly in the TV show than he perhaps did in the books. Part of that comes from the freedom the TV show has to focus on the characters other than Clary more than the earlier books did. It gives them more chance to develop Alec right now instead of later.
Between that conversation with Hodge and Alec's conversations/arguments with Jace, I'm looking forward to what happens with Alec in the coming episodes. I'm excited to see him build up his confidence, come to terms with himself, and all of that. It's one of my favorite things of the entire books series, and I'm pretty sure it will be the TV series too.
Also, it looks like we're going to see Magnus again in the next episode, which I am, of course, excited about. Who knows what sort of role he's going to play. Maybe he and Alec will finally meet. If they do, you can look forward to me absolutely freaking out about it next week. We'll see though. I don't want to get prematurely excited about that if it takes a few more episodes. I am excited he'll be in the episode in any sort of capacity though. I can't wait for it.
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