Shadowhunters finale recap: Morning Star

It’s the Shadowhunters season finale, and the writers tie all of our story lines up into a tidy bow on a lovely package. Then they metaphorically rip that package and toss the bow out the window in the final minutes of the episode with a huge win for Valentine. Is Jace calling his father’s bluff? Or is he truly joining him on the dark side? I guess we’ll find out in season 2.

Before he hops through a portal with daddy dearest, Jace grapples with the reality that a horrible man raised and trained him to be a warrior. Evil must run through his veins if he shares the same blood as Valentine. Clary is quick to point out that he also shares her mother’s blood. The only one who really knows what is happening is Jocelyn. The mission? Talk to Camille and make her tell them where she hid the Book of the White, which contains the spell that can wake Clary’s mom. I agree. That woman deserves to be free from her magical orb. She’s been floating around in there for weeks.

Jace and Clary ask for Simon to arrange a meeting with Raphael while Alec confronts his parents. His mother refuses to speak to him not because Alec made out with another guy, but because he made out with a downworlder in front of the entire Institute. Plus, Magnus Bane has a reputation that is questionable. Alec informs the Lightwoods that he is willing to get to know Magnus and they are going to have to deal with the warlock being in his life. He also wants to thank Lydia for saving that life.

Maryse assumes Lydia is halfway to Idris by now. Alec heads to the study and finds Magnus along the way. Magnus wonders if Alec regrets what he did. Alec technically doesn’t answer the question. Instead, he laments about how things are moving so fast. He opens the door to the study and finds Lydia on the ground. Alec barks for Magnus to get help, which I found very confusing. Isn’t Magnus the one they usually turn to in a time like this? Whatever. Alec burns a healing rune into her arm, and she stirs. Lydia utters one word: Hodge.

The entire gang gathers around a wall of monitors as Izzy pulls up footage from the study. Everyone is upset that both the cup and Hodge are missing. When Clary questions Hodge’s loyalty, Izzy defends him. Seconds later, she stares as all witness Hodge knock Lydia out and grab the cup. Then they fast forward to his time in Jocelyn’s room. They watch him twist his ring and begin talking, but they can’t see the hologram of Valentine. A new mystery enters the picture. Where did Hodge get the ring?

Jace blames ex-Circle members, and the Lightwoods once again balk. Clary wonders if the forsaken might have smuggled in the ring? Izzy finds the footage and confirms her fear. There’s Hodge, bending over the gross creature who is wearing a ring. Say hello to the traitor.

This wasn’t a random attack. The demon was a delivery boy. Hodge is now a free man, no longer caged in the Institute for crimes he committed with other Circle members decades ago. He can breathe fresh air down at the docks. Well, maybe the air isn’t so fresh down there, but he’s outside and enjoying his freedom with the other bad guys in Valentine’s army. He hands over the cup and waits in anticipation to see what Valentine will do.

Valentine dips the cup into some red liquid, which is presumably blood. It turns a golden yellow, and Valentine makes his cronies drink. Only the worthy will survive. The first volunteer takes a sip, collapses, and then raises up as a new shadowhunter. He commands the man to find Jonathan and Clarissa. Hodge looks nervous. Why does he want Jace and Clary? He has the cup! Valentine dismisses Hodge. He may be loyal, but he is also a traitor to his friends. He encourages him to run before he changes his mind.

Jace and Alec suit up in the weapons room to go after Hodge. Clary is beside herself. She thinks they need a plan. She thinks Jace’s judgment is clouded. She refuses to let Valentine’s evil poison her boyfriend brother. Besides, how is he supposed to track Hodge? Jace gives her an exasperated look, whips out his phone, and calls Luke. Who needs a tracking spell when you have wolves on your side?

The wolves lead Jace straight to Hodge. Jace’s emotions are high. He tries to control his anger by having a conversation with his mentor as he slams him against a wall. Hodge explains that this betrayal was the only way for him to be free of his cage. P.S. The Lightwoods kind, of suck and no one will be able to beat Valentine. This statement tips the scales for Jace, and he whips out his double-sided seraph blade. Game on.

Hodge and Jace’s fight culminates in a dramatic fashion: Jace slices off Hodge’s hand. Just as he’s about to deal the final blow, Alec tackles him while Luke grabs Hodge. Alec argues with Jace. Is he going to kill off every Circle member from the old days? What about their parents? Jace is quick to report that the Lightwoods are NOT his parents. As Luke and Alec try and mend Hodge’s stump (gross), Jace takes the severed hand and pulls the magical ring from one of the fingers. He puts it on his own hand and twists. It’s time to chat with a hologram version of dear old dad.

Valentine is pompous. He claims he knew Jace would steal the ring from Hodge to find him. He’s also proud that his son chopped off the traitor’s hand. He invites Jace to join him as he raises an army of bad boy shadowhunters to fight the Clave. Jace declines the offer. But not before promising that he will find his father and end this foolishness once and for all.

NEXT: Even bad boys have a soft side

Meanwhile, Simon, Clary, and Izzy ask Raphael if they can unlock crazy Camille from her tricked-out coffin. Hard pass. Raphael compromises and gives them all of Camille’s belongings. While Izzy sifts through the stuff, Simon pushes Clary into the dungeon via a rolling casket. How romantic. He double talks his way past the guards and into the room where Camille is being held. Once they open her coffin, there’s no going back.

Clary breaks the chains, opens the lid, and Camille pops up, ready to attack. Clary holds a seraph blade to her throat, demanding that she tell them where she keeps the Book of the White. Of course it’s in her apartment across town, and of course they can’t just waltz out of a vampire lair without being detected. Especially since the sun is about to rise.

Raphael and his gang of vamps walk into the dungeon just as the trio devise a plan. He announces that the shadowhunter alliance is finished. He believes Simon deserves the same fate as Camille and commands his blood suckers to finish them! Suddenly, Izzy busts through an outside wall and sunlight comes streaming in, separating the group. The shadowhunters are able to escape into the underground tunnels with Simon and Camille on their heels.

Once they’ve reached a safe distance, Camille stops short. She has one tiny demand that must be met before she takes them to her apartment. She wants Simon to sign a document stating that he requested her to turn him into a vampire. Simon agrees because he loves Jocelyn like a mother. You might wonder where ones acquires such a creepy document? Never fear. Camille knows a guy.

That guy is Magnus. She flirts with her former flame and plays with his emotions. Then she straight up kisses him just as Alec walks into the room. Of course. Because Alec has zero patience for such nonsense, he gets straight to business. Where’s the book? Camille smiles, knowing that Alec is Magnus’ boy toy. She predicts Alec will suffer from male-pattern baldness in 20 years and giggles as she presents the document to Simon.

Only Simon doesn’t sign. Camille has to take them to her apartment before he signs anything. Izzy, Clary, and Alec are impressed with Simon’s take-charge attitude. That, coupled with the fact that his hair game is strong, places Simon squarely in the “hot” category. Alec reminds everyone that Valentine has the cup and that Jace went after him with Hodge. They have to find the book, and they have to find it now.

Over at the docks, Jace once again slams Hodge against a wall when he discovers that Valentine’s great big tanker full of the new breed of shadowhunters is gone. Jace twists the ring, and Valentine shows up again. I wonder if he gets annoyed with his kid magically Skyping him all day long? Jace tells his father that he’s reconsidered his offer to join him. Valentine isn’t buying it. He claims he’s about to strike where Jace is his weakest. His friends.

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Back at the apartment, Simon signs Camille’s document while Clary looks for the book because Camille has no idea where Jocelyn hid it. Just as I’m about to curse the writers for making us sit through another round of Find the Magical Object, Clary notices a cookbook that is familiar to her. She finds the second half of the bookmark inside and joins it to her own. The pages morph from a delightful chicken cacciatore recipe into a list of spells. The Book of the White is here!

You know who else is here? Valentine. He portals right into the library, and Simon attacks him. So does Izzy. But both are held off by Valentine’s 2.0 version of shadowhunters. Jace runs through the door (he got the address from Clary during an urgent phone call earlier) and begs his father not to hurt his friends. Valentine seizes the moment to chastise his son for being weak. Jace promises to go with his father if he spares the lives of his friends. Valentine agrees and pulls him through the portal as Clary freaks out in slow motion. Alec keeps her from jumping through after her brother.

The only thing left to do is wake up Jocelyn. As Magnus prepares the spell, Simon tries to cheer Clary up with jokes. Surely after a few days Valentine will get tired of Jace and send him back, right? Clary isn’t laughing. Simon tries a different tactic: saying “I love you.” She repeats it back, and they hug it out. Simon has hope. Clary does not.

Magnus performs the spell, and Jocelyn drops out of the green orb just in time for Luke to catch her. They hug. She and Clary hug. It’s a bittersweet reunion because all thoughts are on Jace, who is currently standing beside his father in front of hundreds of rogue shadowhunters with a mission to take down the Clave.

Has Jace given up? Do you think he really believes he is evil and belongs at the right hand of his father? Or is he keeping his enemy close? We’ll find out in season 2.