Shadowhunters recap: This World Inverted

What do Disney executives do when they have a new movie coming out this summer? Why they promote it on Shadowhunters of course. Clary takes a page from Alice’s book and tries to Wonderland her way to a dimension that can take her directly to Valentine. Sounds tricky, doesn’t it? Why yes. It was. Let me see if I can break it down for you.

Meliorn feels indebted to Clary for helping him escape the Clave. As a thank you, he’s willing to help her find her father. He casually mentions that Clary’s necklace is made of portal glass. The portal this particular shard belongs to just so happens to be in an alternate dimension. Meliorn can get her there using a magical door that is protected by the Seelie Court. All she has to do is find the portal in that universe, find someone to magic the thing to life, and not get sucked up in the other Clary’s world. Piece of cake.

Jace is not happy about this arrangement. Not only does the Clave not know about these interdimensional doorways, but Clary is the only one who is allowed to go through. Plus, there are no shadowhunters in that world. Demons don’t exist. Downworlders have conformed to regular mundane lives. There’s no guaranteeing that she’s going to get out once she’s over there. What if she’s stuck forever?

Clary is Clary. Logic and reason are time wasters. She hands Jace the tarot card with the Mortal Cup for safe keeping and marches straight into the doorway Meliorn has conjured. Suddenly, she’s in her family’s home eating breakfast with her evil father and kidnapped mother. Had she not pulled a knife on Valentine right there in the kitchen, it would have been a lovely reunion.

Back in the real world, Izzy has ditched her professional attire for an outfit that’s a little more her style — short and tight. One of the shadowhunters details the ambush where they lost Meliorn. Although vampires and werewolves were involved, he’s quite confident he was bested by a shadowhunter. All eyes focus on Izzy. Lydia arrests her for high treason, and Alec freaks out that his fiancée is willing to send his sister to trial. I think a few sessions of pre-marital counseling for these two is definitely in order.

WANT MORE? Keep up with all the latest from last night’s television by subscribing to our newsletter. Head here for more details.

Speaking of crossed signals, for some reason Simon thinks that he can waltz up to werewolf headquarters without a care in the world, even though he’s a vampire now. Not so. Luke has to call off his pack when Simon announces that he’s the new vampire ambassador to the wolves. Luke tries to explain that being allies is possible, but it’s not going to be an easy process. Especially when Simon still wants to snack from the neck of everyone around him. Patience is a virtue. And Simon isn’t very virtuous right now.

Meanwhile, Simon in the alternate world is a doll. His glasses are back, and he’s dating Izzy. An Izzy who wears Star Wars T-shirts and is a major technical dork. Alec is a walking ad for Ralph Lauren, and Jace works at the coffee truck where all the nerds hang out, including his girlfriend, Clary. One passionate kiss from Jace makes everything in Clary’s world fuzzy. She settles into the makeout session. Then she remembers a TV spot showcasing physic reader Magnus Bane. He’s her magical way out of this completely lovely and totally normal world. She summons the courage to back away from Jace’s advances so she can convince Magnus to help her.

Magnus isn’t having it. When Clary tells him she’s a shadowhunter, he scoffs, reminding her that they haven’t been around for hundreds of years. Since she doesn’t have any runes to show him, or a seraph blade, she uses an old standby. She draws pictures of demons. Somehow, a few hastily drawn sketches unleashes the will in Magnus to try and restore his dormant powers. Convenient. Clary hands over the portal shard for Magnus to channel its powers, and his magic is restored. He can see the portal’s location. It’s in the Institute. Luckily, Clary’s father is celebrating an anniversary party there that night. It’s a Mad Hatter theme. Regular Magnus would have LOVED this. I suspect he would have dressed as some retro version of the Cheshire Cat.

NEXT: Blast from the past

Over in our current timeline, Simon and Luke have run into a bit of a problem. Remember the Internal Affairs guy who thinks Luke is a mass murderer? When Simon sees that this guy has a gun pointed to his friend’s chest, he vamps out and almost rips the dude’s throat to pieces. While he’s unconscious, Simon and Luke drag the guy to an abandoned warehouse where Simon pretends that he’s going to kill him. Luke valiantly rushes in to save the day by shooting Simon 12 times in the chest. Give this man a key to the city! The Internal Affairs dude is relieved that the murderer is no longer a problem. Let’s put this down in the books as a win, guys. Go team!

While Simon and Luke are basking in their victory, Alec is developing a plan to save Izzy. He wants to trade the Mortal Cup for his sister’s freedom. Lydia is too enamored with the fact that Alec has the actual cup to be mad that he never told her he had this particular, rather large bargaining chip in the first place. Alec opens his magical safety deposit box and is outraged when he discovers the Mortal Cup and Clary’s necklace are gone. Well, he looked as outraged as Alec could look. It was more of a mixture of boredom with a touch of anger, but you get the drift.

Alec confronts Izzy. His facial expressions move to something along the lines of irritated when he learns that she knew Jace had the cup. This is the last time Jace is going to cross him. He makes a beeline to ask Hodge to help him figure out where Jace is by using his parabatai bond. And if the bond breaks, so be it. Jace is DEAD to him. This news would have been more disturbing if Matthew Daddario hadn’t been shirtless during this entire scene. Alec’s abs deserve a standing ovation.

Hodge helps Alec channel Jace, who is hard to reach since he’s in the protection of the Seelie Court. The drama increases when Meliorn mentions that demons are attracted to dimensional doorways because they are peaceful and defenseless. Oh look! Two demons are attacking! What are the odds that they would do this right when Jace is at his weakest? Meliorn takes one down, and the other hops right through the doorway.

Demons at the Mad Hatter party? Things are about to get crazy! Or backwards at the very least. Jocelyn and Valentine are like two kids in love. Simon is asking Izzy to move in with him. Alec is creeping on Magnus, and Jace is macking on Clary. It takes Magnus a few minutes (and pictures of cat holograms) to snap Clary out of her alternate state. Once she’s back, she and Magnus head to a secret door to find the portal. Alternate Jace is super jealous and follows.

Real-time Jace pops up from his weakened state only to find Meliorn attempting to close the doorway. Jace begs him to go through. He understands that the only way out is through the portal in the other dimension, but he has to help Clary. Meliorn gives him permission and closes the door. He disappears just as Alec and Lydia arrive. Jace is gone.

Alternate Jace is pretty upset that Clary would choose to hook up with some random at her dad’s party. He breaks up with her right when the demon attacks. Cary gives it a nice roundhouse kick to the face while Alternate Jace cries like a baby. Clary consoles her whimpering boyfriend. Just when she decides that wimpy Jace is annoying, he transforms into the real Jace. All he needs is a broom handle and that demon is as good as dead.

It was a great plan. Except when the demon’s tentacle stabbed Jace in the neck. That can’t be good. Magnus finds the portal and magics it open. Jace reminds Clary to think of her father (the time she originally heard him speak to her through the shard), and they launch themselves through. Jace slams down on the ground in Valentine’s warehouse, writhing in pain. He draws a rune on himself to help with the venom, just in time to hear a noise.

Someone is trapped in a locker. Jace carefully opens the door and pulls out his blade. He stares in shock and awe. “This can’t be. I saw you die.” Clary wants to know what Jace is talking about?

Say hello to Jace’s father. The father that was supposed to be dead. It looks like returning daddies are definitely a theme of Shadowhunters. This just got really good.