My Brief-ish Thoughts on the Shadowhunters TV Show

The new Shadowhunters TV show has been getting a lot of buzz lately. Some of it is not so good while some of it is beyond ecstatic. Where do I fall on that scale? I’d like to say I’m somewhere in the middle.

And please note, these are my opinions. I totally understand if you feel differently about the show. I’ve heard mixed things and I can generally agree with both sides, so I’m not saying one way or another that it’s good or bad.

As for the bad, I understand that there are aspects of the show that are not only absolutely ridiculous but are also absolutely stupid.

Here’s my list of those bad qualities:

-The sometimes corny dialogue.

-The terrible special effects. (Umm… hello. Flying bike thing? WTH?!)

-The weird Valentine stuff that’s been going on like with the Seelie spies. (That’s what they were, right?)

-Isabelle’s overdone sex appeal. (Lots of women are comfortable in their bodies, but it’s not talked about every single day. If the Shadowhunters are used to it, why is it constantly referenced?)

-The whole memory demon & Alec thing. That angered me. Alec would NEVER do that.

-Please don’t hate me, but I’m not really a fan of Dominic Sherwood. I am mainly watching the show right now for two reasons. Numero one being MALEC. Numero two being Simon. (This is weird because I didn’t really care for him in the book. He’s just such a good actor in the show.)

-The terrible techy Institute. Enough said.

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I think my main problem are the special effects. I’ve liked a majority of the aspects so far, but I could probably turn if things get a little too wonky. I have a feeling my comfortability with the show stems from the fact that I’m not a die-hard Clare fan. I don’t memorize quotes or know the names of every family/character, so when Freeform changes something, I tend not to notice unless it’s a pretty big change.

Here are my list of positive things about the show:

-ALEC!!!!! I love him. LOOOOOOOOOVE. Matthew Daddario, you are fantastic.

-Simon (I’ve already explained why.)

-The Parabatai thing, while sometimes cheesily portrayed, is actually pretty cool in the show.

-The character’s ages. I hate it when characters are too young to be doing the things they are.

-The light-up seraph blades. (They’re like lightsabers, only slightly less cool.)

-Malec (I’ve only seen the one episode with Magnus and Alec first meeting, so I’m not sure how I’ll continue to feel about the portrayal of them once things get rolling. I’m crossing my fingers so hard right now that everything’s good.)

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All in all, there may be a few more negatives than positives for me, but I’m not going to give up on it. It takes some time for a show to get into its own and I feel like once this season is over, Freeform can take the criticism into consideration and give the fans a better Season 2.

So those are my brief-ish thoughts about the show. What do you guys think?

Oh, and before I forget, I just want to say that I’ve heard the Cassandra Clare/Sherrilyn Kenyon controversy. I’m not passing judgement now, but I can see where Clare may be in some hot water.