“Shadowhunters” is a TV show based off of author Cassandra Clare’s, “The Mortal Instruments” book series. The series is about a young 16 year old girl named Clary Fray. Growing up, it is just Clary and her mother Jocelyn. Clary has no idea who the rest of her family members are. Her mother tells her that they are dead and that it is just the two of them. A few days before her 16th birthday, Clary and best friend Simon Lewis go to an all-age club called Pandemonium.
Clary meets three Shadowhunters, which are a breed of half-human, half-angel warriors. Their names are Jace Wayland, an orphan who was adopted by the Lightwood family, Isabelle Lightwood and Alec Lightwood who are brother and sister. The Lightwood family, whose parents run the New York Institute, where they live and hunt anything down that risks the lives of the mundanes and their own kind (under The Clave’s watch, which is the government).
That’s when Clary’s journey begins. Her mother is kidnapped and she has nowhere to go, which is when Wayland finds her again. Clary, Simon and the three Shadowhunters work together on finding Clary’s mom and along the way, Clary finds out who she really is and what her mother has kept from her the past 16 years.
In the TV show “Shadowhunters,” major changes were made from the books. Instead of Clary (Katherine McNamara) being 16, she is 18 and attends an art college. Fray’s mom’s best friend, Luke Graymark (Isaiah Mustafa) is supposed to own a bookstore, but in the show he is a police officer watching out for demon or Downworlder activity. Downworlders are vampires that cannot be in sunlight or practice religion, werewolves are people that change on a full moon, faeries cannot lie but twist the truth, and warlocks cast spells and have a distinct symbol identifying them.
The mysterious villain of the series, Valentine Morgenstern (Alan Van Sprang), shows up in the very first episode rather than the end of the book. He has broken Shadowhunter laws run by The Clave.
The Shadowhunter’s laws are known as the Covenant. A Covenant is a biblical term for an agreement for two or more parties.
The Covenant is mainly for Downworlders and to protect the rights of the Nephilim (Shadowhunters), their whole government system is based on it. Shadowhunters enforce civilization with The Clave, the Downworlders and mundanes, as well as the rights of Downworlders so they aren’t being mistreated by the Nephilim. The Covenant also requires ‘The Shadow World’ (Shadowhunter world) to be hidden from the mundanes.
The mundanes cannot be shown this world unless relevant to a situation like life or death. All Downworlders and Shadowhunters have to sign what is called ‘The Accords’ to agree to this term.
The show had changed many things and it does not do the book justice. Simon Lewis (Alberto Rosende) in the book, is sarcastic and witty, but in the show he’s whiny and has no humor. Jace Wayland (Dominic Sherwood) in the book is very sarcastic and has a dry humor, in the show he’s not funny at all or sarcastic. He’s just plain.
The show moves and jumps too fast, adding parts from later books to the very first season without much explanation of what’s happening. The writers changed small things that were so important that the show doesn’t flow correctly. The acting is very bad. It over dramatic and corny. The effects are almost worse than everything combined.
In one scene Clary is being sucked into a portal, and she just stands there screaming.
The producers of Freeform could’ve done more with the show by more carefully reflecting the books. Overall the show is alright but compared to the books, it won’t ever be as great.
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“Shadowhunters” Storm on Freeform
April 15, 2016
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