Shadowhunters season 3 episode 7 review: Salt In The Wound

Lilith’s plan has temporarily been blocked, thanks to an unlikely source. But the Shadowhunters are far from out of the woods.

Lilith’s identity has finally come to light, but she’s still safely out of reach. Luckily, her plan has hit a snag. Let’s dissect this week’s Shadowhunters, and every emotion that came with it.

The episode picks up just minutes after last week’s discovery. Jace is on the run with Clary hot on his trail. She catches up to him on a rooftop, ready to fight her true love.

This time, their sparring isn’t as flirty as at the Institute. Clary’s quick enough to catch Jace, but not quite skilled enough to beat him in combat yet. He grabs her by the throat and, as promised in the episode’s promo, confirms he doesn’t love her anymore before throwing her off a roof.

Unfortunately, this one wasn’t just a nightmare. Clary lands on a car, temporarily paralyzed.

As luck would have it, she has enough consciousness and range of motion to call Simon to come get her. Her timing is a bit rough though, considering Simon has just learned that his roommate Kyle is actually Jordan Kyle, Maia’s ex.

Apparently, the Praetor Lupus and Jordan learned all about what Simon likes so he’d want to stay at Jordan’s apartment — but didn’t know he was with Maia. They might be revered guardians, but their investigative skills are a little half-baked.

None of that matters though, because Simon needs to get to Clary. Thanks to his vampire speed, he reaches her in minutes and holds her (perfectly manicured) hand until they can get her to safety.

Perks of being a Shadowhunter: falling several stories, onto your back, onto a car, doesn’t actually keep you down for long. In no time at all, Clary is cleaned up and strategizing at the Institute with Alec, Izzy, Simon, and Magnus.

SHADOWHUNTERS – “Salt In The Wound” – With the OwlÕs identity revealed, Alec, Isabelle, and Clary head to Alicante to try and find a way to stop him. Luke and Simon team up to track LilithÕs latest possible victim. Maia reflects on her past. This episode of “Shadowhunters” airs Tuesday, May 1 (8:00 – 9:00 p.m. EDT) on Freeform. (Freeform/John Medland)

MATTHEW DADDARIO, HARRY SHUM JR., KATHERINE MCNAMARA, ALBERTO ROSENDE

It took seven episodes but they finally know: Jace’s master is Lilith, Queen of Edom. What they don’t know is why she targeted Jace.

Well, Clary knows why. At this point she finally reveals hers and Jace’s secret, even telling everyone about Ethuriel’s death. Perhaps the most admirable thing about Clary is her dedication; she’s still willing to be sent to the Gard, if that’s what Alec has to do.

That’s not what he’s going to do, though. Instead, he hugs her and reassures her that he would’ve done the exact same thing. It’s one of the best Clary/Alec moments to date, albeit a heartbreaking one.

With everything out in the open, the focus is just on getting Jace back. It’s going to be hard, but it’s not totally hopeless. Magnus thinks he can get Jace free of Lilith’s hold, if they can capture him. And thanks to her role as weapons master, Izzy knows how they might go about it.

Shadowhunters may primarily rely on steles and seraph blades, but they do have other tools. The problem is the one they need never made it to the field. Basically, it’s a powerful demon cage, called the Malachi configuration.

Once again, the Shadowhunters writers have perfectly blended a book element with the show. Alec mentions that the tool is named after Malachi, the disgraced. In the books, Malachi was the Shadowhunter consul for years, secretly serving Valentine.

There’s one other problem with the Malachi Configuration: the Clave won’t give it up. If they find out about Jace, they’ll be forced to kill him. But Jace’s grandmother Imogen might be willing to help.

She is, but her main question is how Jace got possessed in the first place. Honestly, I’d like to know too. This is one plot hole that’s a little too gaping.

The real hurdle is getting past security. After everything that’s happened in the first two seasons, Alicante has beefed up security. To get the Malachi configuration, they’ll need Imogen’s thumbprint.

This week, Alicante is the hot spot. Not only are Alec, Izzy and Clary there for help, but so is Jace — only, he’s not looking for help.

Jonathan is now nourished and ready to rise, but Lilith needs one more thing to make it happen. So, for his potentially final mission, she sends Jace to the Cemetery of the Disgraced to obtain the flesh of Jonathan’s father: Valentine. (Magic can require some seriously gross ingredients).

While everyone else is in Alicante, Magnus, Simon and Luke stay behind. Lest we forget, Jace’s master possessed her final disciple last week. But before Ollie can join Team Lilith, she has to kill a loved one.

Her girlfriend Sam is the obvious target, and Luke is determined to get to her before Ollie can. The good news is, he does. The bad news is, Sam wasn’t the target. Ollie ended up killing her mom (in the most gruesome way).

All that’s left now is the hope that maybe they can save Ollie in the same way they can save Jace. But first, they have to find her. And, after weeks of having no clues, now they have a location pinpointed!

Recruiting Simon for “extra protection,” they make their way to Lilith’s stomping grounds and find her altar. Because some clichés are unavoidable, Luke and Simon decide to split up and investigate.

It works though. Luke finds Ollie, but Simon finds two other disciples. Thanks to the Mark of Cain, they’re no serious threat to him. He even tries to warn them about this fact. But they’re possessed henchmen, and make a move on him anyway.

As expected, they’re quickly taken care of. But they aren’t just injured like the others; they’re totally disintegrated, and Lilith feels every bit of it. Now she’s got a new target.

Meanwhile, Magnus feels every bit of guilt right now. He knew there was something off about the “warlock” he met, and yet he still gave her the anti-love brew. Now, it’s proving to be pretty irreversible.

HARRY SHUM JR.

But he’s determined to fix it, “if it’s the death of me.” Let’s not say things like that, Magnus. Please.

After smoothing things over with Alec, he’s got his love back, along with the best hype woman in the Shadow World. Caterina reminds Magnus exactly who he is and how powerful he is. Magnus just needs to think outside the box (and not about doing things that could kill him).

Now, Malec might be all patched up, but Maia and Jordan are not. Shadowhunters expanded its storytelling this week, giving their backstory in flashbacks. It was a smart choice; having Maia and Jordan explain everything that happened through dialogue would’ve been time-consuming and hard to follow.

With those flashbacks, we got to see just how cute Maia and Jordan were together. And they were truly #Goals once upon a time. He’s basically the reason she got over her fear of the ocean and decided to pursue oceanography. They even dreamed of moving to Fiji together. I mean, who wouldn’t want to move to Fiji with an attractive, Australian surfer? But, being turned into a werewolf tends to change things.

These days, Maia has no interest in even being friends with Jordan. See, it’s not the fact that he changed her that makes her mad, it’s the fact that he ran after he did. So she’s not going to let him run again. He’ll stay on Simon’s case, but she won’t be extending her friendship any time soon.

Back in Alicante, Jace’s friends have managed to get their hands on the Malachi configuration and are ready to hunt him down. It doesn’t take long; he made it to Alicante too and is focused on his mission.

After disposing of his grandmother — a particularly sad and gruesome death this season — Jace is in the graveyard, digging up Valentine. It’s Alec who gets to him first. True love was able to shake Jace from Lilith’s hold before, but the parabatai rune cannot. Jace is ready to battle until he realizes he’s been lured into the cage.

He’s not the only one behind bars though. She’s been saying it all season, and now it’s Clary’s time to make good. After portaling Izzy, Alec and Jace back to Magnus, she’s off to the Gard.

Now, on top of freeing Jace from Lilith’s hold, the gang has to worry about springing Clary. We’ve still got a ways to go this season.

Shadowhunters airs on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on Freeform.