Since the discourse of 2.07 has returned due to the petty ravings of she-who-shall-not-be-named… I’m going to offer my two cents on the matter (NOTE: while this post is a follow up to what was tweeted, I will not mentioned nor acknowledge what was said. We all already know… this is purely a critique of the episode and the backlash it continues to receive)
First off, I think we can all agree that Shadowhunters episode 2.07 lacked tact - from the Jace/Seelie “sex scene” to the Magnus/Alec “first time scene” to the captured Angel story being used as an afterthought - something was severely off about this entire episode.
Now, I skimmed this episode a few times as I was writing this so…- First we see Valentine torturing someone, it was unclear who the man is until later on in the episode - Then we come to Magnus and Alec returning to the loft after a date of shopping around the world (which sounds pretty epic by the way) - they are almost immediately interrupted by a loud giggle coming from Jace’s room (can’t Magnus cast some sort of silence spell? Or soundproof Jace’s room? Or tell him to take his hootchy back to her place if he wants to get his bump on?… #justsaying) -anyway, next we see Magnus and Alec gently making out on the balcony until Alec’s phone rings and he’s called into the institute… naturally, he goes to get Jace. Even if Aldertree doesn’t trust him, they still have a job to do… Now, this is where things get gross…
Jace and the Seelie girl (Kylie?) are full on in flagrante - to the point where she has to cover her breasts with her hand/arm as she OFFERS TO FUCK BOTH JACE AND ALEC IN ALEC’S BOYFRIENDS HOME!?!? I cannot even begin to explain how wrong that is. Furthermore, everything that Jace does while staying at the loft is disrespectful to Magnus, but I digress…
Moving forward, I should point out some other major points of this episode:
Izzy’s Yin Fen addition worsens, she becomes desperate to find a fix as the lies stack up around her
Both Alec and Magnus discuss their growing relationship with an outsider (“someone special?” And “the right time?”)
Simon and Jace flirt over who’s got better game with the ladies. Maia wins.
There’s a whole deal with Clary, Luke and Cleophas that leads to them finding out that Valentine has captured and is torturing an angel - which seems like a big deal - The whole thing is disjointed and difficult to follow and Clary and Jace free the Angel by the end of the episode... So I guess it’s a whatever thing…
There’s some mention of Aldertree meeting with the Clave and Clary disrespecting the hell out of Luke… I think I got the just…
Now, to the scene that caused such uproar, and I’d like to start by saying that I believe this was an issue of editing and tact. One of the first things we see (as pointed out above) is Jace and the Seelie girl in bed and it is graphic - having the actress cover herself with only her arm makes it just barely meet censorship standards for a TV show that airs before 10pm and isn’t on HBO…. . But in the end we come to the Magnus and Alec scene, their first time. This has been building for 2 season and it limited to kisses that move offscreen… did we get an amazing follow-up scene to explain what happened? Yes - 11 episodes later. Was 2.07 Malec left open ended? Yes. However, I personally think most of the audience saw that moment differently than was intended by the writers and actors… So bare with me here:
When Alec reaches for Magnus as he says “You have nothing to worry about. I want this” - a lot of the viewers seemed to interpret this as him saying “I want sex” or something to that point (as in he doesn’t care about Magnus’ worries, he just wants to bone) - when in reality what he was saying was that he wants to be with Magnus (This=US) and if you actually listen to their conversation, Magnus never says he doesn’t want to move forward with Alec. Only that he doesn’t want to move too fast and risk losing Alec. Magnus’ vulnerability here is based on his past experience of being left, but that had never occurred to Alec. He wants a relationship with Magnus. If all Alec wanted was sex he would have slept around like Izzy and Jace… But for Alec, none of his arc is framed as being about “sex” - it’s about “being with Magnus” - romantically, intimately, etc. - we see that throughout s2 (and even as he struggles with coming out in s1)… And once Magnus understands that Alec’s focus is on them moving forward, together... he willingly offers himself, heart, body and soul because he wants to this, too.
If you take what Alec says out of context and just focus on the “I want this” and him grabbing Magnus - then sure, the scene can look a little selfish and sketch… but that’s not the whole scene. When Alec first arrives, he lunges at Magnus - kissing him quite desperately, as though afraid he’ll lose his nerve. When Magnus begins to protest, Alec pulls away. He stops and he listens… he doesn’t reach for Magnus again until he understands what’s going on… then he assures him that he has nothing to worry about and he lets Magnus kiss him first as they stumble down the hall. Is it the best scene ever written? No. Can it be interpreted in other ways? Yes. We all hear and experience things differently - but in the context of the scene, no one can claim that either of these men is unwilling or without agency in himself. To do so is simply ridiculous.
Furthermore, this is not the only instance of tasteless or tactless writing in s2 - the Jace/Maia hook-up was unnecessary, graphic and hurt both characters because it was cheap and vulgar - having Dot try to kiss Magnus after spending the day talking about his boyfriend and implying a romantic past for them that wasn’t there before - Every second of 2.12 that was done for dramatic effect and compromised the characters in the process - or trying to make rizzy more than a mutual drug addiction - But 2.07 was perhaps the most obvious fail in tact for s2 and in a lot of ways, I think it would have been less so if they had cut out or edited down the Jace/Seelie bedroom scene to be appropriate for prime-time viewers… without that scene, it wouldn’t have seemed quite so weird to have Magnus and Alec walk off screen. Plus, the episode spent way too much time focused on Jace when his storyline was legit to fuck his way around Brooklyn until Clary was in danger and then run off to save the day. I mean, the Angel didn’t even get enough screen time to be properly explained…
My point being, the issues with 207 were completely misconstrued because of lazy or tasteless writing/editing choices - the real issue here wasn’t a bad story or bad actors or bad character intentions - It was just poorly executed. Much like a large portion of those books someone is so damn proud of… #justsaying
magnus being all heart-eyes over alec in that trailer is everything and i bet it’s bc he showed him his cat eyes and alec is like “i want you, all of you” and magnus is just so gone for this man who is just as gone for him???
