Shadowhunters: Episode #1 (The Mortal Cup) Review

I'm confused, I'm so confused by this episode. Some of the things that they added in and changed just don't fit with the whole theme of the show, and other parts like Simon and others worked really well. Yet, I'm disappointed with this episode, and I'm worried about what's going to happen with series as it moves forward. Also, where is the theme song? I did not hear a theme song and it has so much potential for such a great theme song.

So there's a lot of things they've added into the plot that just don't make sense. First of all, Jocelyn gave Clary a stele for her 18th birthday, and this is the Jocelyn that doesn't want her to be involved with the Shadowhunters and she gives her a stele; how does that even work?! And then there's this new necklace which Jocelyn gives Clary (what is up with mother giving her daughter weird stuff?), and it allows Clary to see her mother when she thinks of her - I'm very worried about where they're going with this because it makes no sense, why include a new necklace that allows this weird connection? There's also the new busy institute, and there's all this high tech stuff and workers. The point of an empty institute was to make Alec, Max, Izzy and Jace lonely - which is way the characters have changed so much in this show, and why make the institutes busy, how does that help the plot at all?

And then on top of all of all these weird changes that didn't make sense to me was the appearance of some of the things unique to the Shadowhunter world. First off, the blades were kinda cheesy, I mean they were cool, but they don't look like they belong to a Shadowhunter; I thought it kinda looked like a drunk lightsaber that just needed to go home. I also understand they don't have the biggest budget for this series so I can understand why the portals don't really look like portals, but what happened to running into them? Clary just stands in front of one and it looks like she's abducted by aliens, you don't see her actually travel into one which is just weird. And then you have the demons, they're not awful and you can tell what they are, they're just very similar and all do the same thing - it would be nice to get some variety, and truly represent all classes of demons.

The fight scenes in this episode looked so badass, and Izzy's whip is the best thing, she is so badass in  that fight. The one problem with the fight scenes was due to the camera angles you couldn't see a lot of it and it got slightly confusing, but I enjoy any fight scene so
I can't really complain. I just liked how Simon couldn't see the fight outside of the institute and it was genuinely quite funny to watch his reactions to everything.

For me, Simon makes the show just like he makes the books. I find him hilarious in both, and Alberto delivers each one of his lines brilliantly and his relationship with Clary is believable - you can tell they're best friends. Izzy confused me a bit as she didn't come off as snarky and dark like she did in City of Bones when we first met her, but I think this will tie in with plot as the institute is more crowded and possibly she isn't as lonely and well guarded as she is in the books, but I still enjoy the way Emeraude plays her. We don't see much of Alec or Magnus in this episode so I haven't formed any opinions on them yet but I have high hopes for the two characters - especially Magnus, his actions to create magic is stunning, those hands. The scenes between Jace and Clary confused me as they're quite different from the book, at first Jace sees Clary as a burden and he's not happy to have her there - which didn't translate in this episode; but that may be because they're going for a faster story arch, and there connection and response to each other would make sense if that is the case.

The one thing that really got to me was the ending, I hate it when TV shows present this idea of choosing between two guys, and I understand that is largely what happens in the books, but this early on and in the first episode? Really guys? It felt extremely corny to me, and I hope this isn't a theme that will keep appearing throughout the season.

Overall, I didn't hate it, it made me laugh with it but sometimes at it as well. However, you can never really judge a TV show for it's pilot because they can completely change, and I feel this is a series that will need time to grow into itself and I will need to get used to the differences to enjoy it. What did you all think?