#sh criticism

[anthony-kate]

...... THE LIGHTWOOD FAMILY RING!!! When I say we were robbed!!! 😒🙄😒

The fact that my immediate thought will always be boy we love a continuity error. 🙃

[ketzwrites]

What do you think of the fact that magnus got his spellbook back completely off screen?.... Because i really didnt like it. Would have been so hard to at least include it as a line. Like when alec approaches magnus in the bar he could have said 'at least i got my book back'??? I dont know. Normal tv fans wont ever find that out.

I think that is yet another plot contrivance in a long list of plot contrivances. At least this time we got an apology for the bad writing. 

And that was bad writing; like you said, a sentence would’ve sufficed. Even a shot of Magnus and his book.

But really, the show is full of things like that. Magical solutions to plot points that were important in an episode and suddenly complete disappear. Or attitudes that come out of nowhere because the plot needs them to happen. It’s kind of sad that it happens but it does. Frequently.

Under the cut for examples of plot contrivances in all seasons.

In season 1, we have:

Jace and Izzy suddenly thinking the Clave would use the Mortal Cup to wage war on the Downworlders, something that makes no sense whatsoever because the Clave literally kept the Cup in a magical stone for the hundreds of years it was in their possession > The writers just wanted a reason to escalate things so that Meliorn would send Clary to the other dimension.

Alec never finding out that Magnus helped to steal the Cup from his vault > The writers wanted Magnus there so that Alec would have an opportunity to tell him about his engagement. That is the only reason why Magnus was involved in this plotline. There’s no pay-off for his actions here.

In season 2A:

Clary figuring out Cleophas is on Valentine’s side > Having Cleophas start to call her “Clarissa” instead of “Clary” was such a cheap writing tool it actually makes Cleophas seem stupid instead of making Clary seem smart.

Cleophas going from “an angel is communicating with Clary” to “Valentine has an angel captive.” > There is no logical explanation for this conclusion, only that the writers needed Clary and Jace to free Ithuriel. 

Magnus figuring out Iris was behind the attack at the party and hiding as a cat > Covering up this jump in logical with Magnus casually speaking French in the episode doesn’t make this any more of a deus ex machina conclusion for him to arrive.

Luke locking up Maia in a small room > There were zero consequences after this. Even worse; after that, Luke vouches for a plan that gets 2/3 of their pack killed. There is no reason for Maia to ever trust him again by the end of 2A and, yet, she’s his number two when 2B starts. Maia only stayed when the other wolves left because she’s a main character. Shitty writing.

And, finally, 2B:

Kaelie’s helper > So the Seelie Queen killed him. That was such a cheap way to get Clary, Jace, and Simon to go to a mission in the Seelie Court. I actually thought there was more to this but nope, this plotline apparently died when the unnamed helper did.

Magnus’ spellbook > So Valentine had Iris steal the book just so Madzie could learn how to undo the wards in 2x10. There was a whole episode dedicated to the theft but the payoff was: 1. a thrown-off line that Madzie took down the wards and 2. the off-screen recovery of said book. Yay?

Whatever Valentine said to convince the Queen to let him go > We simply don’t know. Much like with everything else, Valentine just deus ex machina-ed his way out of NYC between 2x19 and 2x20. What the hell could he have offered that was better than simply killing him right there? We’ll never know.

[nightfallgoddess]

I would like to point out that S2 of SH did not pass the Bechdel test once. I hope S3 changes that.

[sprnklersplashes]

Next episode we are once again going to see a guy Maia likes choose a white girl (the SAME white girl) over her. The show needs to stop bouncing Maia between love interests and then having guys she likes pick Clary.

[cowboy-butch]

if any of you were wondering why fans are mad 👀 

(source)

[poademeron]

simon and izzy are really starting to annoy me all they do is use raphael at this point i just ship raphael + happiness.

[lollylokoala]

Malec VS Climon?

There is a difference of development between Malec and Climon (Yes I am talking about that shirtless make out Climon sneak peek), and the thing is they do give them this screentime Malec doesn’t have yet for at least one reason; Malec are going to stick together no matter what. As Alec said in the show, they are not going anywhere. 

I’m not saying I’m happy about Climon (I like them as BROTP but as soon as they kissed I was like ??? that fuck?? incest???) and you guys know there is going to be some drama with Jace anyway. (Besides, it’s fueling the love triangle plot, Jace walking on Climon being intimate.) So they kind of have to push Climon a little bit forward, because I think it’s going to go as fast as it came.  And don’t get me wrong, I really was pissed off when I saw that SP, while we don’t see any moments like this one for Malec.

So, in my honest opinion, I think they are going to take their time with Malec, giving them a little screentime here and there, until they have a major storyline in an episode. Hello, let’s not forget they got an episode named after their ship name in S1. (I’m aware there are new writers now, but come on, they KNOW the can’t just give up on Malec. The fandom has a voice way too loud to be silenced. We ain’t Silent Brothers dude.) 

I can feel there is something like this going on. The writers have done such a great job so far, they won’t waste that much potential. 

Let’s say that Malec are in their own little bubble for now, and the main plot is reaching its climax with the end of season 2A. I’m not justifying what so many people call homophobia and lack of representation (I’m fighting for this since a long time guys, same side) I’m just saying that I don’t think they really think about genders or ethnicity when it comes to storylines, they think about them as characters.

Plus, Matt Hastings (Executive Producer & Director) replied to someone about that Malec screentime issue . Which proves my point; Magnus and Alec are not going anywhere.

Let’s just hope that they will give an equal representation when that “due time” comes! x

[the-burning-tiger]

Thoughts on episode 9

So I'm feeling a little down today not gonna lie and I'm not sure if this makes sense. So...episode 9...I'm really really trying to find a positive but there was so much that bothered me that it's getting hard. I honestly don't know what is going on with this show but two things stood out for me as totally wrong... Firstly what the hell was with the Maia storyline..it felt clunky and wrong. Ok fine I get that Maia would go after Clary but honestly I think she'd be a little bit smarter than to do it under the nose of Simon and Luke AND then make sure she turned back so everyone knew it was her...I mean really.... As for Luke locking her in the storage area (I'm not gonna lie I maybe a little biased here as I suffer with very mild claustrophobia myself and the thought of being in her position made me feel more than a little panicked) but it just felt way too cruel and, more importantly way out of character for Luke. Then we come on to Raphael and Izzy. Words cannot express how much I hate this storyline and how utterly unnecessary it feels. Look I get that they are trying to tackle addiction and to be fair it was well written in the show but when the show runners are tweeting about the scenes being romantic it turns my stomach. At the end of the day it comes down to this...I am rapidly losing faith in the new showrunners and judging by the downturn in ratings I don't think I'm the only one. I know they said they'd go darker but honestly this is just too much. I honestly don't know if the new direction is an attempt to win over some of the book fans (just to make it clear I didn't mind the books) but all it seems to be doing is turning off show fans in their droves and honestly it's not working. All I can say is they need a radical rethink for 2b and I just can't see that happening. My advice would be... A) Lighten the hell up - not everything has to be drama guys..your characters are allowed to have fun you know. B) Bring back cop Luke - where the hell did that go C) Stop sidelining Malec - they're a major pull for the show treat them with respect. I truly hope the showrunners realise their mistakes because I used to love this show and now well...and before I get the obligatory if you don't like don't watch replies I'd like to add that I'm increasingly thinking that's exactly what I'll do but in the meantime let me be sad about the loss of something that was great.