'Shadowhunters' | 'Day of Atonement' S02E16
The attention of 'Shadowhunters' Episode 16 was seemingly focussed on what was going on behind-the-scenes with guest director Paul Wesley being promoted than . 'Day of Atonement' is visually stunning and well put together, but that does not make up for the lack of plot or character development in this one, unfortunately.
Episode 16 is titled around the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, which Simon and his family practice every year. Simon is nervous but devout as he recognises he has made plenty of mistakes in the past year in need of forgiveness. Maia, who has come to get Simon out of his “pity party”, decides to tag along to Simon’s family dinner as his fake girlfriend but this fact gets a little blurry by the end.
Running with the theme of regrets, Sebastian, who has been revealed to be Valentine’s son, has kidnapped Valentine and is holding him prisoner in a cabin on the off skirts of Idris. He intends to punish his father by sending him to the same demon realm “Eden” that Valentine banished him, which said man is now regretting very much. Most of the episode is them talking in circles trying to out-villain the other.
Jace and Clary, in the meantime, are trying to get to said-cabin and achieve this through Clary unlocking her powers to create a portal to Idris, which is supposed to be impossible. It backfires on her quite spectacularly when she ends up 'portalling' into Lake Lyn, which turns out to have hallucinogenic waters that threaten to make her lose her mind.
Finally, Robert Lightwood (Paulino Nunes), the father of the Lightwood family has suddenly returned to the New York Institute as a clave envoy to investigate how Valentine escaped. This causes tension in the family, especially for Alec who is fiercely and rightfully on his mother’s side but who ends up needing his father’s help and unintentionally learning a deep clave secret that puts him in a very tight position.
It was very positive to have Robert Lightwood in this episode, as he has been the most silenced character of the Lightwoods, and now gets a chance to speak for himself in all the family drama. Of course, nothing he can say is excusable and it is so welcoming to see Alec point that out to his father in a terse but not unkind confrontation between the two. In fact, seeing Alec be the most reasonable and fair out of all the characters is a lovely trend that most fans will get a kick out of.
Other applause-worthy moments include Clary being a badass: first when creating a portal out of the blue, and obviously proud of herself for doing so; and secondly for fighting off Jace and Izzy whilst having a breakdown, even if they were going easy on her.
Of course, the new development of Maia and Simon’s relationship is very cute, sweet and right, although it might have Climon fans unhappy with how fast everything is moving. But it was especially enjoyable to have Maia’s character be fleshed out, showing she is not just conventionally strong but strong in her vulnerability, too.
Will Tudor did an excellent job portraying the homicidal maniac that is Sebastian, especially one who is sore from not being his father’s favourite; this is about where the praise ends because the writers really let this episode slip by drawing out Sebastian’s tirade.
Sebastian would have been much more ominous if he had acted on that rage rather than walking around Valentine, staring into mirrors and reminiscing the past while making what ended up being empty threats; this is especially cliché and dull when all the dialogue revolves around all the bad things he did that had him sent to some demon realm to build up how evil and foreboding a threat he is.
All-in-all, this episode was beautiful to watch; Idris and the special effects were exciting to see but it would have been even better if there was more substance behind the imagery.
'Shadowhunters' Season 2 airs weekly on Netflix.
