Shadowhunters The Final Hunt recap: “Lost Souls”

Shadowhunters is finally here! The supernatural drama returned to Freeform on Monday night after a lengthy hiatus. Did it live up to the hype? Keep reading for our take on the midseason premiere.

Warning! Spoilers for the latest episodes of Shadowhunters follow. You’ve been warned.

With episode ten ending on a cliffhanger that left the fate of the Shadowhunters characters uncertain, the midseason premiere needed to bring its A-game to satisfy the fans who have been waiting almost ten months for new episodes—and boy did it. While there were definitely some over-the-top moments, the premiere was a fantastic re-entry into the Shadow World.

The newest episode takes place three days after the events of episode ten “Erchomai”. Though it would have been nice to see what happened immediately after Clary’s (Katherine McNamara) death—the show’s timeline doesn’t quite allow for this direct approach. There’s a nice montage of all the characters remembering Clary, and while it’s meant to be moving the effect is a bit lost when it’s revealed that she’s alive a minute later.

As predicted, Clary has been kidnapped by Jonathan (now played by Luke Baines), who has been newly resurrected. Thank’s to Lilith’s foresight, she managed to relocate her lair to Siberia and effectively protecting Jonathan and Clary from the Mark of Cain’s blast. While Jonathan tries to convince Clary that he simply wants to be a loving brother, she doesn’t buy it and takes her chances in the Siberian wilderness.

Back in New York, Jace (Dominic Sherwood), Simon (Alberto Rosende), and Luke (Isaiah Mustafa) are all coping with the loss of Clary in different ways. Jace has been spending his time hunting down the prisoners who escaped from the Guard and trying to avoid his memories of being the Owl. Even with Isabelle (Emeraude Toubia) and Alec’s (Matthew Daddario) love and support, there’s no simple and easy way for Jace to deal with his trauma and his role in losing Clary.

Simon is also blaming himself for his part in Clary’s death since the Mark of Cain is what wiped out Lilith’s entire penthouse. In the midst of his brooding, Maia returns, and it’s obvious her leaving has put a strain on their relationship—however unfair that may be. Despite the distance between the two, Maia is able to convince Simon to get out of the house and actively investigate how to remove the Mark. This leads him to contact Raphael, who tells him there is an ancient vampire, maybe even the oldest vampire ever, in the New York City sewer system.

Where Jace and Simon are barely coping with Clary’s death, it seems as though Luke is in complete denial. Jace arrives at the hotel Luke is staying at, and it doesn’t seem as though he’s convinced Luke is correct about Clary being alive but hidden by Lilith. In the promo for next week’s episode, however, it looks as though Jace has had a change of heart, and goes off to Siberia to look for Clary. And with Luke out of the country, this seems like the perfect opportunity to hand the leadership of the pack over to Maia, especially now that it looks like she and Simon are over.

While Clary’s death is affecting many of the characters across the canvas, Magnus (Harry Shum Jr.) has even more serious problems to deal with. After a quiet night of babysitting Madzie with Alec is interrupted by Iris Rouse, Magnus is forced to defend himself without magic for the first time in centuries. His attempts to help Alec and Isabelle track down Iris don’t go as planned when she kidnaps him instead to find out Madzie’s location.

Luckily for Magnus, Alec and Isabelle manage to lure Iris into a trap before too much harm is done to Magnus, but he later reveals to Alec that he feels helpless and hates being taken care of. Alec assures him that it’s not a burden, but this definitely won’t be the last we see of this issue. Next week’s episode is rumored to be Malec heavy, so perhaps we’ll see a more in-depth look at Magnus’ struggle with mortality.

While the characters in New York are dealing with their own set of problems, Clary has been facing an even bigger one in Siberia. After her venture out into the wilderness ends badly, Jonathan tries to explain that he’s changed, and that “whatever good exists inside of [her], at least some of that has got to be inside of [him] too.” Clary isn’t convinced, but when she makes her move to incapacitate him, the same wound is mirrored onto her. If killing Jonathan means killing Clary, can he ever be defeated?

One plot point we’ll definitely see more of this season as well is whatever torture the Clave is doing to the Downworlders. In the one instance, we see this, it looks like a Seelie is being injected with something, but we don’t know what it is. Valentine was always fond of these inter-species experimentations, and (spoiler!) Jonathan is as well. Could this be a rogue faction in the Clave loyal to Jonathan? And could this be leading up to the introduction of the Endarkened? Let us know down below.

All three seasons of Shadowhunters are currently streaming on Hulu, with new episodes being added on Tuesdays. For more on Shadowhunters, follow us on the Hulu Watcher Twitter Account @HuluWatcherFS or on the Hulu Watcher Facebook Page.