Shadowhunters review: A new puppet-master is at work

Jonathan’s not the only one pulling some strings from a distance on Shadowhunters. This week, Heidi rejoins the fray and she’s got a big plan.

Guess who’s back, back again! Jordan’s back, and Heidi’s back, and Maryse is back and it’s a lot to unpack. So let’s discuss last night’s Shadowhunters.

Once again, the episode took us underground on the hunt for a vampire. Only this time, it wasn’t Cain we were searching for. It was Heidi. Considering everything that happened in and since the mid-season finale, it’s easy to forget that she’s still a player in this story. But she’s a lethal one.

In the first five minutes alone, she kills a Praetor, and we quickly learn what significance the episode’s title –  “Beati Bellicosi” – has. It seems to be the Prater Lupus’ version of “Hail and Farewell.”

Having it come up so early in the episode didn’t bode well for the rest of the night, and sure enough, more death followed.

It came when Alec and Isabelle – yay sibling adventures! – went to meet a Shadowhunter who had info on the Downworlders who have been being tortured. It came when the New York vampire clan was manipulated into attacking the Pack, and Russell was taken out.

Fortunately, it missed Maia (barely). Her odds weren’t great to begin with; as Simon pointed out, Heidi attacked Isabelle just because she thought they were dating. He didn’t want Heidi going after his “actual girlfriend.”

At which point, I think just about everyone went “Oh…?” Maia had made it pretty clear in the last few weeks that they were headed for “just friends” territory. Simon was apparently just the last to know. Awkward, but he handled it like a mature champ.

Regardless, Maia wasn’t even on Heidi’s radar; she’s got much bigger fish to fry. These days, Heidi is focused on deepening the divide between Vampires and Werewolves. Her motives are still a bit unclear though.

She may just be mad that Simon tricked, captured, and turned her over to the Praetor. She’s just insane enough for that to be plausible. But Heidi is also smart; there’s likely something else driving her.

Then again, perhaps it’s someone else. Remember in Paris when Jonathan was trying to persuade the shop owner to help him? He mentioned how mistreated they’ve been, and how that is changing.

At the time, he was just referring to demons. But if he’s planning to wage a war, he may need the Downworlder’s help. It could be interesting to see Heidi working with Jonathan, however unlikely it is.

It was admittedly refreshing not having the all the death in the episode come at the hands of Jonathan, though he was sorely missed – quite literally. From his hiding spot, he used his binding rune to Clary to carve “I miss you” into her arm, a la Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

The good news is, Clary and Jace learn that there is definitely a way to break this bond… they just don’t know what it is yet. But they’re working on it! You know, when they aren’t getting steamy in the sheets.

You can’t really blame them. They’ve each died because of the other, and have each come back. They’re young and in love. It’s much less weird than Luke and Maryse. Because evidently, that’s officially a thing now.

Well, it was until Maryse ran out. As odd as the pairing is, who runs out on Luke Garroway/Isaiah Mustafa?  At least she ran to her kids, to provide the series’ first mention of Heavenly Fire! This will be key going forward.

It was an episode heavy with exposition, but it’s setting up the coming weeks quite nicely.

Shadowhunters airs on Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on Freeform.